Training Day“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.” (Titus 2:11-12) In his Oscar winning performance in the 2001 movie Training Day, Denzel Washington is a rogue detective who isn’t what he appears to be when he works with a rookie cop Ethan Hawke on his first day on the job as a narcotics officer. Many of us have no trouble going to the gym or yoga classes to train and shape our bodies, but we tend to ignore our souls and spirits. As a result, many of us do not live in victory enjoying the prosperity, salvation and abundant life that Jesus died on the cross to give us. When an athlete goes into training, he practices to improve his skills. He works hard, repeating the same motions countless times until they become second nature to him. We know how crucial that kind of training is physically, but the good news is we can train ourselves spiritually for Hebrews 5:14 says we can train our senses to discern between good and evil. When we train for something we expose ourselves daily to whatever it is we want to become. Spending time with God by meditating the Word of God daily so we can renew our minds is a highly profitable spiritual discipline. As we do it diligently, our spirits will grow stronger by the grace of God and will start to overcome the sinful habits and lusts of the flesh. Day by day, we’ll be changed from glory to glory as we become more majestic like God our heavenly Father. If we’ve been watching too much HBO, sports, news, reality shows and network sitcoms and have no time for prayer and Bible study, then we need to stop. If we have trouble getting up in the morning to spend time with God before the busyness of the day begins, if we’ve been giving in to our flesh and staying in bed, then we need to get up earlier. If we don’t check our emails daily, only read business emails, or work overtime chasing the dollar or loose women, then we are not putting God FIRST in our lives like we’re supposed to. We will be missing out on Eddy Ministries’ daily devotional and God’s daily message for us to train, motivate, empower, exhort, edify, educate, entertain and comfort us. The more we practice spending time in the Word, the easier it will be. Don’t expect to do it right from the beginning, but don’t get discouraged when we stumble and fail. Just get back on our feet, take a deep breath and do it again. Be a spiritual athlete and let every day be training day by spending time in the Word and practicing the things of God. The truth is we don’t need Denzel Washington in our Training Day. Build our spiritual muscles by lifting the Bible every day, load up and reload on the protein of the Word and train with God’s private trainers, and we’ll be surprised to find out just how much of a buff and spiritual giant we can be.Copyright © 2003 Eddy Ministries. All rights reserved. Subscribe/Unsubscribe: eddyn@earthlink.net
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