Training the Faith Muscle: Teaching Kids to Grow Spiritually Like Athletes Train Physically
Anyone who is athletic and wants to excel in their chosen sport learns to care about diet, exercise, skill and rest. They strive to gain every advantage they can to maximize their performance. Many athletes are always trying to come up with the best protein shake or recovery drink, the best exercise to improve that weak muscle and the best technique to master a particular skill. Great attention to even the smallest details can make all the difference, and the same is true for our spiritual well-being and strength. In the same way that athletes need to train and strengthen their bodies with exercise, adults and kids alike must also learn to exercise the muscles of their faith.
The thing about exercise is that it can be hard to get started, but once you do it for about a month, you enjoy it more, it becomes easier, and you get excited about your progress. You’ll find yourself wanting to do more and pushing yourself harder because success breeds success. You also learn to be careful and exercise properly to avoid injury and setbacks. Exercise combats a plethora of health issues, gives you more energy, and improves your mood, sleep and overall self-confidence.
Physical exercise can be likened to the exercise of our faith. Faith in kids is similar to a muscle — it has to be exercised in order to grow. It takes effort, and when the effort pays off, you start reaping the benefits and it gets easier to walk in faith and continue growing in stronger faith. James 1 says that the testing of our faith produces perseverance.
Just like one can accidentally hurt themselves by exercising one area too much, too little or inconsistently, it’s important that faith for kids is exercised correctly. For example, kids need to have faith in the right thing, which is faith in God and in the truth of His Word. It can be easy for someone to have faith in faith itself, rather than faith in God or any of His teachings — saying things like “I have my faith, it will get me through,” as if they can simply will themselves to brave hardships or to grow in their faith. What if one day you wake up and are discouraged, is your faith gone? It’s important to teach kids to rely on God and His Word, like the patient instruction of a personal trainer or dedication to a workout regimen, rather than their own inconsistent feelings. God doesn’t forsake us, so the basis of faith for kids needs to be in God and His promises.
Sometimes, it’s hard to get off the couch and exercise, especially if negative thinking is a habit or you don’t exercise consistently enough. The same can be true about faith for kids if their spiritual health isn’t frequently being tested through consistent spiritual strength training.
In physical exercise, strength training is one of the best ways to build lasting endurance and muscle by having a specific number of repetitions, or “reps,” and then a number of sets within those reps. Repeating the truths of scripture and statements you believe about God is like doing strength-building reps as an athlete, helping to increase daily spiritual health and faith. The more reps we do on a regular basis, the more faith grows and gets stronger. If building faith for kids is a struggle on a particular day, you can say to your athlete child, “Let’s exercise our faith muscle” and treat approaching their spiritual health the same way they would their physical strength — as a worthwhile challenge that should be conquered with God given perseverance.
The benefits of Godly faith are numerous. Faith is essential for salvation and also brings answers to prayer. It is faith that activates the power of God in our lives for good works, ministry and an abundant life. Help children learn how to be successful athletes in God’s race of life by having a good diet of God’s truth and by exercising their faith muscle.
Fred Pry is the Vice President of Administration at Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), the most impactful child evangelism ministry in the world, reaching over 25 million children with its face-to-face ministry in 2023. Fred joined CEF in 2003 as director of a local chapter in Pennsylvania before being appointed state director of Virginia. Later, he was invited to lead USA Ministries, and since 2024, he has been serving in the role of Vice President of Administration and providing further leadership to the organization as one of CEF’s executive staff.
