We live in a world where we are constantly going, often to the point of exhaustion. Sure we work hard and are productive , but honestly, when was the last time we can say we felt renewed and strengthened within?

Hebrews 4:11 states that we must ‘labour to enter into rest‘ and while we know that after a hard day of work, we must sleep to rest our bodies; how exactly do we rest and lighten our heavy hearts after a day full of pressure and stress?

The unfortunate reality is that even right now, it would be difficult for us to pause for a few minutes and experience true rest because we are so accustomed to the opposite.

We have lost ourselves in the chaos of life and are in need of Restoration; a bringing back of our hearts

One of the challenges we face is that we haven’t trained ourselves on how to enter into periods of intentional and focused rest. In the same way we pause for a rest between reps during a workout, so we must learn to rest between strenuous moments in our day, as this is the key to building strength and endurance.

Why is it that we will go to great lengths to strengthen our physical heart which we all know will ultimately come to an end, yet the spiritual heart which lives on – our true core, is often not included or even considered in our training plans?

Perhaps the challenge is that unlike exercise plans, which have a clear outline we can commit to, the training of our hearts is somewhat of a mystery. Let’s just say there was a clearly established workout plan we could adopt into our deeper hearts, would we commit ourselves to this with the same priority?

For those in the fitness community, the term Core Training is likely a familiar one. Core Training refers to the targeted strengthening of the core muscles; Our core being the area between the torso and thigh that represents the body’s center of gravity. These demanding exercises train the core muscles to work in harmony, leading to better balance and stability.

While core training in our body relies heavily on our own strength and self-control to achieve results; maybe a core training plan in our hearts would look slightly different. Instead teaching ourselves how to give up control and trust not in our own efforts or strength.

Isaiah 40:31 tells us that ‘those who trust in the Lord will find new strength…’

So then, the labour or workout we face is the tough act of trusting under the weight of heavy burdens; which if we are able to do, will bring rest, balance and new strength of heart.

Surely we can all think of areas we have a tough time trusting; Areas in our heart where we could use some new strength and restoration.

Men, it is here where we need to focus our training and set ourselves apart from the rest.

It is here, that will be the difference in our…

Core Renewal