Category: Dr Tim Jennings Blogs

Used by Permission: by Dr. Tim Jennings

Does it really matter whether we give thanks to others, live lives that express our gratitude outwardly, or whether our thanks is a more inward experience focusing on how we have been blessed and relishing our gains and advances? The answer is a resounding Yes! – it makes a huge difference.

Medical science^1,2,3,4,5 has shown that those who experience an outward focused thankfulness experience a greater sense of wellbeing, happiness, optimism, satisfaction with their lives, greater sense of feeling loved, greater success in achieving life’s goals, and lower incidence of stress and depression when compared to those who don’t express outward thankfulness.

Grateful people also live healthier lives, they exercise more, engage in healthier lifestyles, experience more fitful and restorative sleep, have healthier immune response, lower rates of headaches, stomach problems and pain, and are more alert, mentally sharp and efficient in their activities.

The thankfulness that results in all these positive changes is the thankfulness which moves one toward actions of appreciation. It is when we recognize our appreciation, develop a sense of goodwill toward those to whom we are thankful and then express our gratitude in meaningful ways that we experience positive mental and physical outcomes. Further, expressing thankfulness has positive impact on social relationships resulting in greater sense of cohesion, connectedness, and bonding within one’s social group. We are more valued and loved and we love and value others more when we are thankful.

Those who tend to focus on self, who are thankful for what they get, rather than for those who are gracious in giving, fail to express genuine thankfulness. The verbal expression of “thanks” mumbled as someone opens the door, or as one birthday present after another is opened, is not the healing, life transforming thankfulness. It is when we take time to allow ourselves to genuinely care about and appreciate others and then take purposeful action to express that care that we experience mental and physical wellbeing.

Our thanks should also extend beyond the people in our lives to our amazing Creator God who has provided so much and sacrificed so much for our health and eternal well-being.

If you are not already living a thankful life, then I encourage you to begin today. Each day purposely examine the events of the day and choose 3-5 things you are thankful for. The only requirement is that the items on your list are meaningful to you. It might be a new toothbrush, the fact it didn’t rain after you washed your new car, the umbrella you had with you when the storm hit, a friend who shared a lunch, the person who stopped to help when your car broke down, the pastor whose sermon touched your heart, or your family members who love and care for you. Whatever it might be take time each day to purposely reflect on what you are thankful for in that day. And then consider how to express that appreciation in meaningful ways, a phone call, letter, email, text, gift, cookie, or whatever is meaningful in your life in order to show someone how their kindness brightened your day.

Remember, offerings given from a thankful heart are the only acceptable gifts to God. Why? Because God wants us to experience the blessings of living the thankful life and He knows if we return tithe and offerings from a sense of obligation we don’t experience the healing and life changing benefits that thankfulness brings. Therefore, God loves the cheerful giver because He loves it when His children are healthy and happy. Finally, one of the best ways to give thanks to God is to remember what Jesus said, “as you have done it unto one of the least of these you have done it unto me.” When you recognize how God has blessed you, when your heart is warmed with gratitude and appreciation for His love in your life, go and give to someone in need, seek to share with another the love and joy you have received from God. Let this be your thank offering to God.

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1. Wood AM, Joseph S, Maltby, J. Gratitude predicts psychological well-being above the Big Five facets. Pers Individ Diff. 2009;46(4):443–447.

2.; Sheldon KM, Lyubomirsky S. How to increase and sustain positive emotion: the effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves. J Positive Psychol. 2006;1(2):73–82.

3. Froh JJ, Sefick WJ, Emmons RA. Counting blessings in early adolescents: an experimental study of gratitude and subjective well-being. J Sch Psychol.2008;46(2):213–233.

4. Kubzansky LD, Sparrow D, Vokonas P, Kawachi I. Is the glass half empty or half full? A prospective study of optimism and coronary heart disease in the normative aging study. Psychosom Med. 2001;63:910–916.

5. McCullough ME, Kilpatrick SD, Emmons RA, Larson DB. Is gratitude a moral affect? Psychol Bull. 2001;127:249–266.

Timothy R. Jennings, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist, master psychopharmacologist, Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Fellow of the Southern Psychiatric Association, and an international speaker. He served as president of the Southern and Tennessee Psychiatric Associations and is president and founder of Come and Reason Ministries. Dr. Jennings has authored many books, including The God-Shaped Brain, The God-Shaped Heart, and The Aging

Used by Permission: by Dr. Tim Jennings

Winston Churchill said, “There is nothing to fear except fear itself.” Have you ever wondered about that famous statement? Imagine walking a four-inch wide balance beam placed securely on the ground, your feet only a few inches from the dirt. Now imagine walking that same beam raised 100 feet in the air. Would your ability to successfully traverse the beam be negatively affected as you look down from such a height? What changed? Fear!

When we are afraid, the brain’s fear circuit (amygdala) activates, which floods the body with surges of stress chemicals (adrenalin and glucocorticoids). We experience the classic “fight or flight” response in which blood is shunted from our internal organs to our muscles and glucose is dumped into the blood stream. This is to bring us to quick attention in the face of an external threat, like the house being on fire. However, chronic fear, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of what others think, fear of financial ruin, and chronic worry of any kind keeps the fear circuits firing, which activates the body’s immune system, increasing inflammatory factors that injure our bodies. Under chronic fear, worry, and stress these inflammatory factors damage insulin receptors, increasing the risk of diabetes mellitus, obesity, high cholesterol, heart attacks, and strokes.

Chronic fear also impairs growth of all types. A recent study documented that Iraqi children growing up in war zones were measurably shorter than Iraqi children growing up in rural safe zones. Fear impairs physical growth!

Maybe you have known someone with test anxiety or someone who froze when getting up in front of an audience. What happened? Their fear circuits fired, paralyzing their prefrontal cortex (thinking circuits). Intellectual and cognitive growth is impaired when we are afraid.

When something really frightens you, like smelling smoke as someone yells fire in a theater, where does your focus turn? Do you become more concerned with the strangers in the room or more concerned with saving self? The more fearful we become, the more self-focused we become.  Fear impairs relational growth!

When we believe God concepts that incite fear, the ability to grow spiritually is impaired. It is in the prefrontal cortex (located right behind the forehead) where we reason, plan, organize, focus, concentrate, and self-restrain. It is also in the prefrontal cortex where we have our conscience, redirect inappropriate behavior, and worship. A special part of the frontal cortex, called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is our neurological “heart.” It is here where we experience altruistic love and empathy.  The ACC is also the seat of the will, the place we choose right from wrong. The proverb, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he” (Proverbs 23:7) is referring to the ACC.

Amazingly, brain research has demonstrated that people 60-65 years of age who meditated on a God of love, just 12 minutes a day for 30 days, experienced measurable growth in the ACC of their brains. This was directly correlated with reductions in heart rate, blood pressure and a 30% improvement in memory testing  [ii]. Meditating on a God of love reduces fear and is healing to our being. Science confirms what the Bible tells us, “perfect love casts out all fear” (1John 4:18).

But, just as strikingly, brain research confirmed that meditating on angry, wrathful and punishing god concepts did not result in positive growth in the ACC, nor provide the beneficial reductions in blood pressure, heart rate, and improvement in memory. In other words, angry or wrathful god concepts do not heal the brain, improve love, or enhance prefrontal cortex function. Instead, believing such concepts activates the fear circuits of the brain and contributes to impairments in healthy growth, thinking, reasoning, and relationships.

Love acted out is also healing. Research documents that youth who volunteered (love others with acts of altruism) experienced greater academic achievement, civic responsibility, and life skills that include leadership and interpersonal self-confidence than those who didn’t [iii]. And adults who volunteered (after accounting for variables such as education, baseline health, smoking, etc.) lived longer, had less illness, less disability, less depression, less dementia, and lived independently longer than those who did not [iv].

Fear is our enemy, it infects us, drives us toward destructive thinking, living and reacting. Whereas, love is the only power capable of freeing our hearts from fear and bringing genuine healing to our minds, bodies and relationships. So love well. Love always.

You can download a pdf of the full article Dr. Jennings posted in 2010

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Iraqi war stunts children’s growth https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100329082121.htm

[ii] Newberg, A. How God Changes Our Brain. Ballantine Books, New York. 2009: p.49.

[iii] Post, S. Altruism and Health Perspectives from Empirical Research, Oxford University Press, New York, 2007: p. 20, 21).

[iv] Ibid. p. 22, 26

Timothy R. Jennings, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist, master psychopharmacologist, Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Fellow of the Southern Psychiatric Association, and an international speaker. He served as president of the Southern and Tennessee Psychiatric Associations and is president and founder of Come and Reason Ministries. Dr. Jennings has authored many books, including The God-Shaped Brain, The God-Shaped Heart, and The Aging Brain.

Used by Permission: by Dr. Tim Jennings

Please explain Fasting to me. I have never understood this topic too well. It seems that fasting is a way to make God answer your prayer when He wont answer it otherwise.

Somehow that doesn’t seem to fit too well with all that I have been learning about His character. I have a prayer request that I have been presenting to God with no answer and I was thinking about fasting but then I realized that the only reason I am fasting is because I am trying to convince God to answer my prayer even though He promises to give us all we need. So my question is. What exactly is fasting? What purpose does it serve? Are there different kinds of fasting? Does it change Gods attitude or mind toward us? Or does it change us toward Him?

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You are not alone in your uncertainty about fasting. As a child I always wondered why abstaining from food was called a fast when it went by so slow? Many have struggled with understanding the purpose of fasting and have falsely concluded it is a work, penance, action we can take to somehow influence God. This conclusion occurs when we first believe God is the kind of being who needs to be influenced to be kind, loving, gracious and interested in our welfare. When we realize that God is exactly as Jesus revealed Him to be then we realize that, whatever the purpose of fasting, it is not to influence God.

Misconceptions about fasting have been around a long time. In the book of Isaiah we read that the people fasted as a work to somehow influence God, but simultaneously went around living selfishly and out of harmony with Him. So God corrects them and tells them that real fasting is not mere denying oneself food, but to say no to selfishness and yes to loving others. It is in living with hearts that have been renewed to be like Jesus that we can have certainty that God will answer our prayers.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. Isaiah 58:6-9.

Then what about fasting from food, what is its purpose? When we eat we shunt blood to the digestive organs, this slows the thinking and causes the release of certain polypeptides which have neurological impact. Fasting can help improve our mental focus, clear the mind, reduce distractions and allow for better contemplation, meditation and appreciation of spiritual themes. In other words, in a time of crisis fasting may help a person understand more clearly what God is trying to communicate to them and thus enhance the ability find answers to their dilemma.

Timothy R. Jennings, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist, master psychopharmacologist, Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Fellow of the Southern Psychiatric Association, and an international speaker. He served as president of the Southern and Tennessee Psychiatric Associations and is president and founder of Come and Reason Ministries. Dr. Jennings has authored many books, including The God-Shaped Brain, The God-Shaped Heart, and The Aging Brain.

Used by Permission: by Dr. Tim Jennings

The topic I would like to request is a topic that I have heard good Christians support and other good Christians decry. The topic is the benefits or detriments of Yoga. I guess I would like to know if Yoga is something a Christian should participate in?

Thank you

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Thanks for your question. The reason you may have heard a variety of viewpoints on yoga is that yoga has many forms and can mean different things. For example, consider the word exercise. Exercise can have many permutations. We can engage in physical exercise, mental exercise, religious or spiritual exercise. We can exercise demons, engage in military exercises and so forth. Likewise the term yoga can be applied to a range of experiences.

Traditionally, yoga refers to a variety of physical and spiritual exercises or disciplines that originated in India. In many Eastern religions, such as Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, yoga is often associated with certain forms of meditation. These meditations generally do not include communion with a personal God as revealed in Jesus.

Within Hinduism yoga also refers to six different schools of philosophy. Within these philosophies a series of healthy principles are espoused, such as the five abstentions: non-violence, non-lying, non-covetousness, non-sensuality, non-possessiveness. Other healthy principles include purity, contentment, austerity, study, surrender to god (however there are many god concepts which are not healthy), mental discipline and the study of nature.

The mental disciplines of yoga trend toward an emptying of self, or self-denial, but without the focus on a real, loving, personal God as revealed in Jesus. This leaves practitioners operating under their own strength in their effort to overcome human weakness and propensity to selfishness. Without the supernatural indwelling of the Holy Spirit all such human effort will fail. In Eastern religions there is a very subtle danger. The practitioners’ agenda is to empty self, over come self, deny self, which is the very goal of Christianity. However, in Eastern religions the worshipper does this by their own effort, works and mental discipline so that while their focus is to “overcome self” they actually elevate self. Without the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit selfishness cannot be eradiated from the heart.

One should not conclude however, that the Holy Spirit will not reach out to practitioners of yoga. It is not our place to judge and the Bible gives every indication that the Holy Spirit is working to reach all people who sincerely are following the truth as they know it. But without the revelation of Jesus Christ, as revealed in Scripture, Eastern religions are not the best source of truth about God and their practices can obstruct or delay a person from coming to the true knowledge of God as revealed in Jesus. Therefore, I personally do not recommend the religious practices of Eastern religions.

However, in Western society yoga is most often associated with its physical exercises and postures and it is this aspect that most westerners practice. To the degree that the practice of yoga is restricted to the physical postures and exercises it can be quite beneficial and health promoting and I do recommend people engage in routine exercise to keep their bodies as youthful and fit as possible. The exercises and postures of yoga are one means to improve our physical health.

Therefore, the next time you hear a person espouse the benefits of yoga and another person its dangers, clarify exactly what the person means when they use the term yoga.

Timothy R. Jennings, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist, master psychopharmacologist, Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Fellow of the Southern Psychiatric Association, and an international speaker. He served as president of the Southern and Tennessee Psychiatric Associations and is president and founder of Come and Reason Ministries. Dr. Jennings has authored many books, including The God-Shaped Brain, The God-Shaped Heart, and The Aging Brain.

Written By Dr. Tim Jennings, Come and Reason Ministry

There are five requirements for physical life, health, growth, and development, and God uses these five elements to teach us truths about spiritual life and health.

The five requirements for physical life are air, water, food, rest, and exercise. Let’s examine how each of these elements have a corresponding spiritual application.

Element One: Air

In order to live physically, we must breathe. Inhaling oxygen is a requirement for life, as well as exhaling carbon dioxide. This is breathing, the active exchange of gases that physical life functions upon.

When God created Adam, He breathed into Adam the “breath of life” and Adam became a living being (Genesis 2:7). The breath of life represents the life-giving spark, energy, the vitalizing or animating power that comes from God. We do not possess life apart from God. We do not have life original to ourselves; rather, our life comes from God.

Jesus told Nicodemus,

I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit (John 3:5–8 NIV84).

Jesus first comments upon the physical birth of the flesh, with its amniotic fluid (when a woman’s water breaks), then describes the new birth brought about by the Holy Spirit. Notably, in the Greek, the word for spirit is pneuma, from which we get the words pneumonia and pneumatic; it is translated into English as either spirit, wind, breath, or ghost—as in the Holy Ghost or giving up the ghost.

When a person dies, they stop breathing and are described as having “expired,” which means an end, a termination, but also to exhale—or in this case, to breathe one’s last breath.

Let’s look at two versions of Luke 23:46, which says this about Jesus’ moment of death:

• KJV: “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.”
• NIV84: “Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.”

Just as we need air for our bodies to live, we need the presence of the Holy Spirit to live, grow, and thrive spiritually. The action of breathing is a well-known sign of life, and to live in God’s kingdom we must inhale the Spirit of God and breathe out in our words and actions the truth and love of God in how we live and treat others, which is the sign of a new life in Christ. Jesus said:

All men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:35 NIV84).

The life-giving power of love comes from the Spirit of God, the animating power that recreates us in His image and through whom we partake of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing (John 6:63 NIV84, emphasis mine).

We say this because we have confidence in God through Christ. There is nothing in us that allows us to claim that we are capable of doing this work. The capacity we have comes from God; it is he who made us capable of serving the new covenant, which consists not of a written law but of the Spirit. The written law brings death, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:4–6 GNT, emphasis mine).

Air is the most critical element we need to physically live—deprivation of oxygen causes death more quickly than the loss of any of the other elements. Likewise, cut off from the Spirit of God, we do not have spiritual life. It is only through the life-giving connection with the Holy Spirit that we are reborn and experience a new life—an eternal life in Christ.

Element Two: Water

Our bodies are approximately 60 percent water, and water is essential for life, health, and functioning. Without water, physical life will cease.

Water refreshes, washes away dirt, cleans wounds, and is essential for physiological life. To the Israelites, the ancient nomadic people who lived in an arid land and through whom God provided the Scriptures, water was understood to be life—and water came to symbolize life.

Jesus told the woman at the well:

If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water … [and] whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:10, 14 NIV84).

In the book of Revelation, Jesus tells His faithful:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life (21:6 NIV84).

And the apostle Paul wrote,

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5 NIV84).

The Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of both truth and love (John 14:17; Romans 5:5, 15:30). Our minds are cleansed of the lies of Satan through the truth brought by the Holy Spirit, and our hearts are cleansed from fear and selfishness by the love brought by the Holy Spirit.

And just as we are to drink physical water every day, so also we are to drink in the truth and love of God via the indwelling Spirit every day to maintain our health, vitality, and development.

And just as in this world we become dirty and clean our bodies with a bath, and quickly become dirty again and need to bathe again, so also after having our hearts and minds washed by the Holy Spirit, this evil world of sin assaults us with new falsehoods, mistreatment, accusations, exploitations, abuses, disappointments, loss and grief, temptations—all kinds of “dirt” that works its way into our thoughts and feelings, and needs to be removed. It is through the life-giving connection with the Holy Spirit that we daily wash our hearts and minds in the truth and love of God in order to prevent the dirt of this world from darkening our hearts.

In order to have spiritual life and health, after partaking of the Holy Spirit and being reborn, we must drink in the truth and love of God to be cleansed from past guilt, shame, fear, heartaches, discouragement and to be invigorated with new motives and empowered for victorious living. We must daily drink the water of life!

Element Three: Food

In order to be physically healthy, we must not only breathe air and drink and bathe in water, but we also must ingest food to provide proper nutrition and energy.

The Bible uses the metaphor of food for our bodies to teach the truth about food for our souls. Jesus said:

I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:53–58 NIV84, emphasis mine).

Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:1, 2, 14). When we eat physical food, meat or bread, the food is broken down into molecules that 1) give us energy and 2) also get reassembled to become the building blocks of the various tissues of our bodies. Likewise, as we ingest Jesus, the “Bread of life” who is the source of all truth, we are ingesting the truth of God as embodied, lived out, and revealed by and in Jesus.

These eternal truths, as they are taken into our hearts and minds, become building blocks of our ideas, beliefs, perspectives, schemas, values, and morals, and they form the way we see and understand reality. Just as our bodies are built out of the food we eat, so too our minds, hearts, and characters are transformed, rebuilt, and purified as we feed on the truth of God that is found in Jesus Christ.

And just as the quality of physical food has a direct impact on our physical health, so also the quality of our spiritual food directly impacts our spiritual health. Junk food might taste good and be filling, but it ultimately undermines health, causing physical disease and shortening life. Likewise, “junk” theology, ideas and so-called “truths” that people ingest because it might “taste good” and be “filling,” ultimately causes all kinds of spiritual and relational sickness.

For there will come a time when people will no longer listen to reason, truth, or evidence. Instead, in harmony with their selfishness, they will amass professors, teachers and theologians to delight them with what they want to hear. They will refuse to listen to reason and truth, and–instead embrace fantasies (2 Timothy 4:3, 4 REM).

The Spirit plainly says that in the last days, some will reject the Remedy and promote a deadly false concoction originating in the minds of demons. These toxic constructs are peddled by deceptive charlatans whose characters have been forged in the Satanic mold. They oppose God’s design for life — like marriage, and eating the foods God created to be eaten — which brings blessings to those who know and love God (1 Timothy 4:1–3 REM).

If we want to be spiritually healthy, we must not only be reborn by the Spirit, cleansed in heart and mind by the truth and love of God, but we must also reject the corrupting philosophies of this world and daily partake of heavenly food—the Word that was made flesh, the eternal truths that originate in and lead us back to God and from whom all life, health, and happiness are built. 

Element Four: Rest/sleep

Just as our physical bodies need rest and sleep, so also we need spiritual rest.

After God created Adam and Eve, while they were still in a sinless, Edenic paradise, their first full day was spent in Sabbath rest with God. That rest was not a physiological rest; it was spiritual rest, the rest and peace of loving unity with God; the rest and peace of experiencing oneself being loved, cherished, and valued for who one is and not for some work or performance; the rest and peace of not having to prove oneself, of not having to earn one’s way, of not having to work for approval, of not having to fight for affection; the rest and peace of intimacy and loving connection with God, with a corresponding love, admiration, and appreciation for God as their Designer, Creator, and Friend. This rest is the spiritual rest of being fully known by God and in turn knowing God (John 17:3).

God has prescribed for our spiritual health one day in seven to come apart from the cares of this world and rest in Him. Just as Adam and Eve rested before they went to work in the garden, so also we must first be reborn, be cleansed by the washing of the Spirit, ingest the Word of truth, and rest in loving relationship with Jesus before we are prepared and enabled to work in the Lord’s cause.

Jesus said,

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28–30 NIV84).

Spiritual health starts by being reborn, then cleansed, then nurtured, and then resting our cause, our life, our health, our future, our everything into the hands of Jesus. We must rest in Him, rest in intimate connection, and in doing so, we are transformed by both experiencing His love for us and responding with loving admiration and appreciation for Him. We must stop the work of trying to save ourselves, the desperate and frantic effort to prove ourselves, to earn our way, to be “good enough.” For “we are God’s special creation brought to existence by Christ Jesus to showcase his character—his living law of love—which was always God’s design for us” (Ephesians 2:10 REM). Come to Jesus and rest in His loving arms!

Element Five: Exercise

All physical and mental development, growth, and advancement occur only through physical and mental exercise, through application, through purposeful action. This is the law of exertion. After Adam and Eve rested that first Sabbath in their relationship with the Lord, God gave them useful labor to engage and apply their abilities for their growth and development (Genesis 2:15).

If you want to become strong in any way, you must exercise that ability. If you want strong muscles, you must exercise; strong math ability, you must work problems; strong musical skills, you must practice your instrument. And if you want to be strong in the things of God, then you must choose to live out and apply in life the principles and methods of God.

If we don’t use it, we lose it. Jesus taught this reality in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30). Those servants who invested and used their talents gained more. Likewise, when we apply ourselves and use the abilities God has given us, we gain more skill, insight, wisdom, and we grow in godliness. But if we bury our talents, then we lose what we had. If we don’t actively choose to live out the principles of God, then while we may claim legal salvation, our spirits atrophy and we become spiritually weaker and less capable of fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives.

I encourage you to be spiritually healthy—to be reborn, washed and cleansed by the Spirit, nurtured by ingesting the truth of God into our hearts and minds, rest in the goodness and grace of God, and actively choose to apply God’s principles to your life in all that you do.”