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“Spiritually Fit - Ready to Serve: Soldier” Copyright © 2020 Campus Crusade for Christ, Inc. All rights reserved.
THIS BOOKLET IS NOT AN OFFICIAL U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLICATION.
Published by Cru Military, a division of Campus Crusade for Christ, Inc. Cru Military, 100 Lake Hart Dr, Orlando, FL 32832, USA.
For more information visit our website at www.crumilitary.org, call 757-928-7200 or 800-444-6006 (toll-free in the USA).
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), © 2001, Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishing. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from the Holy Bible, The Living Bible © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-57334-134-9
Printed in the United States of America
SFRS SOLDIER
WWW.MILITARYSFRS.ORG
Spiritual fitness is critical both for mission success and for your own personal success. As a United States soldier, you will face many challenges—personally and in your military service. This guidebook and the website, www.militarySFRS.org, offer resources and guidance to enable you to be spiritually fit and ready to serve. This guidebook defines being “spiritually fit” as being in a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ, which empowers you to be “ready to serve” those around you.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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3 Spiritually Fit - Ready to Serve .................................... 1 Army Core Values ....................................................... 4 Holistic Health and Fitness ......................................... 6 The Bible ................................................................... 8 1.0 Identity of a Faithful Warrior ................ 10 2.0 Becoming Spiritually Fit ........................... 16 • 2.1 Who is God?.................................................................................. 18 • 2.2 How to Know God..................................................................... 20 • 2.3 The Power Source ..................................................................... 32 • 2.4 Spiritual Breathing .................................................................... 38 • 2.5 Six Key Promises ........................................................................ 45 3.0 Building Spiritual Fitness ........................ 52 • 3.1 The Battle Ground ..................................................................... 54 • 3.2 Your Enemies in this Spiritual Battle ................................ 55 • 3.3 Strategies for Victory .............................................................. 58 • 3.4 Spiritual Fitness Drills .............................................................. 62 o Drill #1 — Put Jesus First ...................................................... 63 o Drill #2 — The Word ............................................................... 64 o Drill #3 — Prayer ....................................................................... 66 o Drill #4 — Witnessing ............................................................. 68 o Drill #5 — Fellowship .............................................................. 70 o Drill #6 — Obedience ............................................................. 72 4.0 Ready to Serve ............................................ 74 • 4.1 The Great Commission ........................................................... 76 • 4.2 Marriage and Family ................................................................. 78 • 4.3 Dealing with Adversity ............................................................ 80 • 4.4 Suicide Awareness.................................................................... 84 • 4.5 Resistance to Combat Trauma ............................................ 86 5.0 Spiritual Ammo Bunker .............................. 87 Endnotes ................................................................. 96
Army Core Values
Loyalty Duty Respect
Selfless Service
Honor Integrity
Personal Courage
The Army Values1 reflect the values that God desires for you to live out. Soldiers are called to live out these core values in every area of their lives. What you will discover in the following pages is that God embodies these core values; you can even say that they come from him. You will see that true honor is not just living with integrity, it is righteousness bestowed upon those who are connected to God and his family. As you read about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, you will understand what ultimate courage, loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, and personal courage looks like. The whole teaching of the Bible communicates God’s relentless commitment to his creation.
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Loyalty — “Bear true faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, the Army, your unit and other soldiers.”
Duty — “Fulfill your obligations. You fulfill your obligations as a part of your unit every time you resist the temptation to take “shortcuts” that might undermine the integrity of the final product.”
Respect — “Respect is what allows us to appreciate the best in other people. Respect is trusting that all people have done their jobs and fulfilled their duty. And self-respect is a vital ingredient with the Army value of respect, which results from knowing you have put forth your best effort. “
Selfless Service — “Put the welfare of the Nation, the Army and your subordinates before your own.”
Honor — “Honor is a matter of carrying out, acting, and living the values of respect, duty, loyalty, selfless service, integrity and personal courage in everything you do.”
Integrity — “Do what’s right, legally and morally.”
Personal Courage — “With physical courage, it is a matter of enduring physical duress and at times risking personal safety. Facing moral fear or adversity may be a long, slow process of continuing forward on the right path, especially if taking those actions is not popular with others. You can build your personal courage by daily standing up for and acting upon the things that you know are honorable.”
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Holistic Health and Fitness 2
THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THE H2F SYSTEM IS SOLDIER READINESS. THERE ARE
FIVE KEY DOMAINS OF SOLDIER READINESS (PHYSICAL READINESS, NUTRITIONAL READINESS, MENTAL READINESS, SPIRITUAL READINESS, AND SLEEP READINESS). IN THIS BOOKLET YOU WILL BE FOCUSING ON YOUR SPIRITUALREADINESS
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Spiritual readiness strengthens us by identifying our purpose, core values, beliefs, identity, and life vision. The spiritual dimension helps us to develop our sense of motivation, character, and integrity. It enables us to build inner strength, make meaning of experiences, behave ethically, persevere through challenges, and be resilient when faced with adversity.
Spiritual readiness develops the personal qualities we need to sustain us in times of stress, hardship, and tragedy. It gives us the ability to endure and overcome these times by making meaning of life experiences as we exercise beliefs, principles, ethics, and morals arising from our faith. Spiritual readiness is demonstrated as we successfully develop, sustain, and repair our state of being while facing adversity.
Spiritual readiness is developed by studying, connecting with, and understanding the value systems such as the ones found in this booklet. As our spiritual readiness grows, we become a leader of character and build the resilience necessary to thrive in a wide range of vigorous operational demands.
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The Bible
OUR FOUNDATION
The Bible is more than one single book. It contains 66 smaller books within 2 sections: The Old Testament and the New Testament. The books in the Old Testament were written before Jesus was born. The books in the New Testament record the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and the early years of the Church.
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