Faith Gains: Why Your Spirit Needs Resistance to Grow (Ep 346)
Just like muscles need resistance to grow, your faith needs tests to develop. In this short episode, discover how challenges are God’s signals to develop your spirit and advance you to the next level in Christ.
Don’t just survive the pressure—train through it. God is preparing you for greater things.
----------
See the full episode transcript below.
👉 Enhanced show notes: Go here
👉 Explore more episodes: JesusSmart.com/podcast
If this episode gave you a fresh perspective on Kingdom Living, share it with someone who needs encouragement.
Be sure to follow the podcast—each episode is designed to help you think more clearly and pursue the kind of life only Jesus makes possible.
Stay current via The Smart Edit newsletter—Elevate your faith. Live smart. Make an impact. Free. Weekly. 5 minutes to grow. Unsubscribe anytime. Sign up at JesusSmart.com.
----------
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to the Jesus Smart x Podcast, Episode 346. I’m Brian Del Turco, and today we’re talking about faith gains—why your spirit needs resistance to grow. Think of this episode as a short, punchy kingdom protein shake for your spiritual life.
Just like the body needs weights and resistance to develop, your spirit grows when it encounters challenges. Let’s explore how trials, tests, and even spiritual warfare can actually serve as catalysts designed to strengthen our spirit.
The Body Thrives on Resistance
In fitness, you don’t get stronger by lifting air. Runners don’t improve by jogging in place. Muscles need weight, lungs need exertion, and the body adapts when faced with stress.
Lift heavier weights, walk faster, or surprise your body with something new—rucking with a weighted vest, or mixing intervals into your walk. These fresh, novel signals push the body to adapt and grow. Without them, the body atrophies.
It's the Same with Our Spirit
Here’s the connection: your new life in Christ is designed to grow under a load. Under resistance. Your spirit is like a muscle. It only develops when it’s tested. Trials, obstacles, and pressures aren’t meant to crush you ... they’re opportunities to be trained by God.
Colossians 3:10 says we “put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” Your new nature is dynamic, not static. Just as the body responds to weight training, your new man is renovated and renewed when tested.
Trials Are Growth Signals
James 1:2–4 reminds us to “count it all joy” when facing trials, because the testing of our faith produces endurance. And endurance leads to maturity, becoming complete, lacking nothing.
God is not trying to break you. He’s training you. Every challenge (and even an opportunity that requires faith) is a faith workout. When you see trials as invitations rather than interruptions, you shift into growth mode.
Takeaways for Faith Training
- Shift your view — See tests as opportunities to grow, not as obstacles to avoid.
- Lean into resistance — Pray, declare God’s Word, and obey His leading through the challenge.
- Track your progress — Notice how your faith, peace, and endurance increase through past trials.
- Don’t just survive resistance. Train through it. Let it shape you into a strong, mature follower of Christ.
The Joy Beyond the Test
Hebrews says Jesus endured the cross “for the joy set before Him.” Likewise, your trials are not the end. They’re the path to joy and fruitfulness.
So lean into the resistance. Train through the trial. Let God turn your test into a testimony and your faith into strength.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You that no trial is beyond us and no resistance is wasted. Train us through every challenge. Give us joy, steadfast faith, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Make us more complete in Christ, fruitful in every good work. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Transcript
Welcome to the podcast today.
Speaker A:Brian Del Turco here with the Jesus Smart x podcast.
Speaker A:Episode 346.
Speaker A:What's it called today?
Speaker A:Faith gains.
Speaker A:Why your spirit needs resistance to grow.
Speaker A:This is going to be short and I'm hoping it's like a kingdom spiritual protein shake for you.
Speaker A:You know, in fitness, a bodybuilder or even let's say a 60 year old who's trying to get fit and healthy, they don't grow by lifting air, okay?
Speaker A:Runners don't improve by jogging in place.
Speaker A:Muscles need weight, lungs need a challenge.
Speaker A:And your spirit, it needs resistance too.
Speaker A:That very pressure that you're uncomfortable with and you want to avoid are like likely signals.
Speaker A:And we'll talk about that in a second.
Speaker A:Signals that God is sending to your spirit to cause it to adapt and to grow.
Speaker A:Before we get into it, I want to encourage you to take a look at the episode preceding this.
Speaker A:Episode number 345 is the Micro ecclesia.
Speaker A:God's new mega move is small, the new big in the kingdom.
Speaker A:And what is the power of a micro ecclesia?
Speaker A:And then episode 344, sort of a practical wellness episode.
Speaker A:Sleeping your way to a better brain.
Speaker A:Sleeping, Getting good rest is one of the most important things we can do to cultivate brain health over a lifetime.
Speaker A:But let's get into this today.
Speaker A:It's going to be tight, it's going to be short and punchy.
Speaker A:The human body adapts when it receives signals from stress, like lifting heavier weights or running a longer distance or walking faster.
Speaker A:Just pushing outside of the normal comfort zones creates an adaptation in the human body.
Speaker A:So if we're interested in like wellness, if we're interested in increasing our lung capacity, our breathing, our circulatory system, our oxygen to our brain, our functional strength so that we can lift things and move and have mobility and walk without injury or stress and strain, we have to put healthy resistance on the human body.
Speaker A:And what this does is it signals.
Speaker A:I've been doing a little research lately because I've been on a wellness kick here lately.
Speaker A:It signals.
Speaker A:These experiences signal the human body.
Speaker A:Hey, surprise, there's something new here, something novel here, something that you've not done before.
Speaker A:And it signals and catalyzes the human body to adapt.
Speaker A:That's how you get stronger and getting fitter.
Speaker A:You know, when you lift weights, for example, let's say you're doing a bit of resistance training, some dumbbells for your upper body strength, you actually break down your muscle tissue.
Speaker A:It's actually breaking down and getting Weaker temporarily.
Speaker A:But then as it recovers, let's say over a 48, 72 hour period, it not only recovers to where it was at before, but it makes these micro adaptations and increases the muscle tissue both in size and strength and fitness.
Speaker A:And as you maintain consistency, that's why eventually you have to increase the weight a little bit or the reps, likely the weight.
Speaker A:Or let's say you're walking and yeah, okay, you're walking 40 minutes a day.
Speaker A:That's good, keep doing that.
Speaker A:Get about 150 minutes of movement a week to maintain your wellness.
Speaker A:But if you're noticing that I'm not, you've plateaued.
Speaker A:Maybe you're losing weight and it's plateaued.
Speaker A:What we need to do is to signal the human body with something novel, surprise it and shock it just a little bit.
Speaker A:And so I'm going to, let's see, I'm going to walk faster or I'm going to add a little bit of time to the walk or I'm going to walk for eight minutes and jog for two.
Speaker A:Walk for eight, jog for two, do this intermittent running a little bit with our walk or I'm going to do what's called rucking.
Speaker A:R U C K I N G I haven't started this yet, but I'm thinking about it where you put on a backpack or you put on a weighted vest and you walk with say 20, 30, 40 pounds of weight on your body.
Speaker A:Well that would be a new, fresh novel, surprising signal to your body and your body will respond, bond.
Speaker A:Okay, now without these signals, the body will atrophy, it will decline, it will weaken and shrink over time.
Speaker A:Now here's the not only an analogy, but nature biology is speaking to us about new life in Christ.
Speaker A:The new creation life that we have in Christ operates the same way.
Speaker A:Our new man, our spirit, our new man in many ways is like a spiritual muscle.
Speaker A:It only grows when it's tested.
Speaker A:Well, I don't want to be tested.
Speaker A:It's uncomfortable.
Speaker A:I'm tired of going through test.
Speaker A:I know, but those, those are the reps, trials, obstacles, could be spiritual warfare, resistance and friction on something they can serve.
Speaker A:They will serve especially as we process right with the Lord as growth signals.
Speaker A:If we respond in faith.
Speaker A:Your new man, your new nature that you receive when you're born again, it's not static, it's dynamic.
Speaker A:And here's a great verse, Paul, in Colossians 3:10 we put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge.
Speaker A:Wait a minute, my new man is renewed.
Speaker A:It could also be translated renovated.
Speaker A:Yes, it's renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him.
Speaker A:Our new man has that potential to be renovated and renewed in alignment with, in harmony with.
Speaker A:According to the image of the Creator.
Speaker A:We carry the image of God in the earth.
Speaker A:We are image bearers, and as such, we are vice regents to execute royal authority on his behalf.
Speaker A:In his stead, we are kingdom emissaries, ambassadors and kingdom agents.
Speaker A:But this comes with training.
Speaker A:Training develops.
Speaker A:Our new man renovates.
Speaker A:Our new man.
Speaker A:Now, in James one familiar scripture.
Speaker A:You might be familiar with it.
Speaker A:Two to four, count it all joy.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Knowing something.
Speaker A:Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
Speaker A:And let endurance have its perfect or complete result, that you may be perfect and complete in everything, lacking in nothing.
Speaker A:Then it goes on to say, if anybody lacks in wisdom, let them ask of God who gives to all.
Speaker A:Don't you want to be there?
Speaker A:Don't you want to be asking God for wisdom?
Speaker A:Don't you want to come to a place where, in a real sense you're lacking nothing?
Speaker A:Not just money, but lacking in all of the domains of life?
Speaker A:Being more complete, more mature.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Remember this.
Speaker A:God is not trying to break you.
Speaker A:He's training you.
Speaker A:There's a big difference between being broken and being trained.
Speaker A:Every challenge that we we face is a faith workout.
Speaker A:And so what do we need to do?
Speaker A:I told you this is going to be short.
Speaker A:Think about this.
Speaker A:Apply this.
Speaker A:What do we need to do?
Speaker A:What is the takeaway?
Speaker A:Shift your view.
Speaker A:Shift the way you see it.
Speaker A:See tests not as interruptions, but as invitations to grow.
Speaker A:It's a call to become more, to be more.
Speaker A:It starts with being.
Speaker A:Be more, become more.
Speaker A:Out of that will flow doing more.
Speaker A:As we serve the Lord Jesus said, and this needs to be our statement.
Speaker A:My Father is working until now, and I am also working.
Speaker A:In other words, in harmony with my Father.
Speaker A:So doing more.
Speaker A:Here's another takeaway.
Speaker A:Lean into it.
Speaker A:Lean into the resistance.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Pray declare the truth of God's word and obey God's leading by his spirit in the challenge.
Speaker A:Lean into it.
Speaker A:This is your opportunity.
Speaker A:This is your chance.
Speaker A:Lean into the resistance.
Speaker A:Resistance isn't something.
Speaker A:Oh God, just take it away.
Speaker A:I can't adore it anymore.
Speaker A:Lean into it and train through it or be trained through it.
Speaker A:Here's another takeaway.
Speaker A:Track your progress.
Speaker A:What you track, what you write down, what you think about in terms of your progress will help you and motivate you and inspire you.
Speaker A:Notice how your faith is increasing after Past trials, notice how your peace and your endurance and basically your internal capacity to be more, carry more, do more, track your progress so that shift your view about it.
Speaker A:Don't whine and complain about it.
Speaker A:Become an athlete.
Speaker A:Get athletic in the Lord, right?
Speaker A:Become a soldier.
Speaker A:Be trained.
Speaker A:Lean into the resistance.
Speaker A:The resistance is there to train you, to not only help you to survive, but to thrive, track your progress.
Speaker A:So if your faith is being tested and whose faith isn't, you will go through cycles and seasons of testing.
Speaker A:Don't just survive it, let's optimize it.
Speaker A:Let's train through it.
Speaker A:Let the test, let the trial be a signal from God that grows you into that strong, mature follower of Christ you're called to be.
Speaker A:Train right through it.
Speaker A:See the victory.
Speaker A:See the trophy.
Speaker A:It said of Jesus that he endured the cross because of the joy that was set before him.
Speaker A:You're going to come into joy.
Speaker A:Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
Speaker A:Again, it says in James 1, consider it all joy.
Speaker A:When you encounter these things, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, steadfastness, completeness, it turns you into a winner.
Speaker A:So train right through it.
Speaker A:Father, can we pray just for a minute?
Speaker A:Father, we come before you and we thank you that there is no temptation that's beyond us, that there's always a way of escape.
Speaker A:There's no trial that you would allow to come into our lives, that we cannot train through it and become more, be more, do more.
Speaker A:There's no resistance that we could encounter, that we cannot go through it and bring you glory and pleasure.
Speaker A:And that we can come out saying, I see my father working on some things and I also am working.
Speaker A:You'll be working more.
Speaker A:You'll be more fruitful.
Speaker A:You'll do more with your father.
Speaker A:Be about your Father's business.
Speaker A:So, Father, we thank you.
Speaker A:We pray for the perspective of joy.
Speaker A:We pray for the steadfastness of faith.
Speaker A:We receive the energy and power of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker A:And we give us that winner's attitude, Father.
Speaker A:Give us that winner's attitude.
Speaker A:Thanks be to God who always leads us in his triumph in Christ Jesus and diffuses through us everywhere the fragrance of his being.
Speaker A:Thank you, God.
Speaker A:We give you glory.
Speaker A:I pray for my friend today that you would bring all of this into their life, that they would run with others in the body of Christ and that they would fully develop into all that you have for them in Jesus name.
Speaker A:Amen.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:We'll see you soon on the podcast.
