Have you noticed that left alone, things do not improve?
You know how it is. The dirty garage needs the floor swept in order to get clean. The messy room needs things picked up in order to be neat. The sour relationship needs conversation and forgiveness in order to be sweeter. When left alone, things often get worse.
We know that change takes effort. We know that in order to improve something we must exert the effort. Do we recognize that we should also apply this to nurturing our relationship with God?
After being rescued by God’s grace through Jesus’ sacrifice to pay the price for our sin, we need to continually choose to submit to his will. As the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV).
That can be a daily challenge. We need to ask ourselves, “What is holding me back?”
Why do we resist putting forth the effort? Is it hard to admit that there is room to grow in a situation? Are we merely not motivated? Are we struggling due to resistance from others?
To help you exercise your faith, the Heart Training books provide daily structure to focus on God’s Word – meditating on it, praying it, and applying it. Developing this as a habit leads to hungering and thirsting after God, longing to spend time in his presence. To nurture and live out our faith takes consistent effort on our part. Through this, the Holy Spirit will produce the fruit of godliness in our lives.
When you work through a Heart Training book with an accountability partner, you get to encourage and pray for each other as you both exercise your faith. The extra blessing comes as you minister together in prayer for the persecuted believers who are also growing in faith as they read their treasured copy of God’s Word.
Keep tending your relationship with God. It shapes how you live both now and for eternity!
Check out the Heart Training Reviews and see how using one of the books could also help you exercise your faith!