Build yourself up - workout with Jesus

"But you beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."                                                    Jude 20-21    NKJV

There is a lot that we need to be weary about in our Christian walk. Jude speaks of apostates and false teachers. Apostates may have had a fleeting commitment to Jesus but, they have soon fallen away refusing to be involved with Him any longer. They tend to be rebellious people. There is a big difference here with the backslider, who may have fell away because of something that has happened in their life but still believe and do return to Jesus. The apostate can become like poison to the church.

Then there are the false teachers. Jude describes these perfectly in verse 4, 'For certain men have crept in unnoticed.' This is the hallmark of the false teacher; they turn up and begin to mislead people teaching their own version of scripture and, because of their persuasiveness, can lead people astray and also split a church. Notice the words, 'crept in unnoticed'. They just turn up therefore, a believer needs to be weary and alert in all they do (1 Peter 5:8).

We build ourselves up in our faith by being aware of such things and we can only do this by spending time with God. We need to grow and then grow some more, Check out a bodybuilder; to get to the level where their muscles are bulging, they have to work out and watch their diet. Thus, their appearance responds to their commitment. If they stop, their body becomes flabby. Don't be a flabby Christian. Keep building yourself up.

Then we need to pray and we never pray alone; the Holy Spirit prays with us. Sometimes it helps to just pray in the Spirit - praying in tongues - the prayer language that you were given if you have been baptised in the Holy Spirit. It's powerful and much needed. Sometimes we don't know how to pray about something; praying in tongues therefore, meets this need.

Jude then tells us to, 'keep yourselves in the love of God.' How do we do this? Praying God's Word back to Him is a start, making the prayer personal to your needs. Jesus is your friend, the greatest friend you will ever have. Speak to Him, listen to Him and do this on a daily basis while you're doing your regular workout.

Copyright 2022 Grahame Howard.                                

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