How to Pray When You Exercise
This article is part of the How to Pray series.
How We Ask for Help
According to 1 Timothy 4:4–5, it is not enough only to hear what God has to say about our bodily exercise. Making bodily life holy involves prayer—asking God for help. We consecrate our bodies and exercise to God “by the word of God and prayer” (1 Tim. 4:5)—through what he says to us (in his word) and what we say back to him (in our prayers). So what do we say?
Receive Exercise as a Gift
First, we thank him. “Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim. 4:4).
Step one in responding to what God revealed to us is receiving our bodies as the gifts they are—not taking physical movement and exertion for granted but explicitly thanking God. Gratitude is the very basic and appropriate response of the creature toward his Creator, fulfilling our purpose to “honor him as God” and “give thanks to him” (Rom. 1:21). And so we may pray something like this: “Father, thank you that my legs and lungs work like they do. Thank you for arms that swing and lift. Thank you for balance and that I don’t have an ailment or other condition that confines me to bed.”
A Little Theology of Exercise
David Mathis
In our sedentary age, many feel either sluggish or trapped in a self-focused fitness culture. A Little Theology of Exercise encourages readers to healthily steward their bodies for the service of the soul, the praise of God, and the good of others.
Whatever body God has given you with its strengths and weaknesses is an occasion to thank him and to do so regularly. Just as each new meal can be a good prompt to thank him for his provision of food, so also the beginning (or end) of a workout or physical activity is an opportunity to thank him for the gift of your body and energy. It’s also a chance to thank him for his grace to us in Christ. As Christians, we not only acknowledge God as our Creator but Christ as our Redeemer. We are doubly “not our own”—we did not create our bodies (and souls) nor did we pay the price to redeem them. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19–20, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
Receiving thankfully the ability to move and exercise is a vital starting point, but there’s more.
Ask God for Help
We do more than simply thank God for what he has given us and done for us in Christ. We also turn to the future with faith—to activity ahead, the energy we will need, the life to be lived—and ask him for help.
To get practical, perhaps you pray this the night before exercising: “Father, please give me sleep tonight and the will to overcome laziness tomorrow morning. Help me to get out of bed, put on my workout clothes, lace up my shoes, and put one foot in front of the other—and then work such discipline throughout my life in the fight against sin.”
Or maybe at the beginning of your workout you ask, “Father, give me the drive to push my body beyond comfort, to ‘discipline my body and keep it under control’ (1 Cor. 9:27). Work in me, by your Spirit, so that this physical training serves the ripening of the spiritual fruit of self-control (Gal. 5:23).”
For me, my typical prayer point for exercise is the beginning of the activity. My most frequent exercise is running, and I’ve made it a habit to pray as I’m setting out on a run: “Father, make this run holy to you this morning.” I may say, “I consecrate this half hour to you. Give me energy, help me endure, keep me from injury, and use this exercise to boost my brain, joy, and body. And help me love others well today. May you be glorified in my body.”
Whatever body God has given you with its strengths and weaknesses is an occasion to thank him and to do so regularly.
Another way you might pray regarding exercise is this: “Father, guard me from valuing bodily training more than godliness. Rather, make these efforts holy, through my acting in faith, so that this exercise serves my Christlikeness instead of competing with it.”
Or: “Father, loosen my grip on my own performance, results, and personal goals. May my exercise not ultimately be about me but about my richer enjoyment of Jesus and my readiness to love and serve others.”
Or: “Father, grant that I would know you and enjoy you more through pushing my body in this way. Let me feel your pleasure through this natural gift so that I am spiritually satisfied enough to sacrifice my own preferences and personal routines to meet the needs of others.”
Exercise Christian Faith
You might pray the night before. And pray as you begin a workout. And even pray at key moments during the workout—as I often do when starting up a long hill with little energy late in a run. And pray afterwards, thanking the one who designed your body, made it, and sustains it.
Exercise as a Christian by exercising in light of what God says about your body in his word and by praying with gratitude for his help, blessing, and smile on your bodily training. Don’t exercise with the presumption of unbelievers but consecrate your workouts—make them holy—through the word of God and prayer.
This article is adapted from A Little Theology of Exercise: Enjoying Christ in Body and Soul by David Mathis.
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