LIVING BY THE RULES 4

TRAINING

II Timothy 2:1-5 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (2) And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. (3) Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (4) No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. (5) And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

Great athletes have to train hard. They have to prepare themselves for the competition and stay mentally and physically in shape. Having natural talent is not enough. You have to build on the gifts that God has given you, in sports and in your Christian life.
Many people are not ready to serve God when the chance comes because they are not properly trained. We must study, we must pray, and we must exercise spiritually. By exercising spiritually I mean that we must put the things we have learned into action.
Many people start training and teaching their children about spiritual things when they are born. Sadly some of the same ones stop training and teaching in their teen years when they face the most trials and some never start back training on their own. If all the spiritual training you are getting is at church then you are under trained. You must strive to grow on your own by study and prayer. If you have trouble understanding the Bible there are many good books and there are devotionals such as this. This is the information age. How much information and learning are you receiving to help physically train yourself?
Please feel free to contact me by email at shilohkosciusko@gmail.com with questions, comments or even suggestions for further devotional studies.
If you know of someone new to the Kosciusko area and would like for our church to visit them please let us know. Our prayers are that this devotional ministry will be an outreach to bring people into a closer relationship with Jesus. I do appreciate you taking the time to read these devotionals and please keep us in your prayers.