Build Yourself Up

Jude 1:20 But you, dear friends, use your most holy faith to build yourselves up even stronger. Pray with the help of the Holy Spirit.

As any athlete will tell you, if you want to grow stronger you have to exercise. The problem is that so many of us, me included, I have to say, simply don’t enjoy exercise.

At age 15, Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger decided that he wanted to become a Mr Universe, so he set about building his body – I guess that’s why it’s called bodybuilding – by training five to six hours a day.

Yeah, no thanks. I mean, I’m active, but that’s just over the top as far as I’m concerned. And sadly, that’s kind of the attitude that many people take towards prayer.

Hang on just a minute … how did just we segue from bodybuilding to prayer? Well, here it is.

Jude 1:20 But you, dear friends, use your most holy faith to build yourselves up even stronger. Pray with the help of the Holy Spirit.

So you grow stronger by praying with the help of the Holy Spirit. Yet way too many of God’s people don’t spend time each day in unhurried, Spirit-led prayer. And then we wonder why we’re feeling weak in our faith.

We’re not talking five or six hours a day here; maybe 20 minutes or half an hour. Yet amidst our busyness we treat it as though it’s akin to Arnie’s Herculean bodybuilding regime; as though it’s “over the top”.

Question: do you want to be weak or strong in your faith; a cork on the ocean, or ready in Christ for whatever life throws at you?

Use your faith to build yourself up even stronger. Pray with the help of the Holy Spirit.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.