You do not try to run a marathon, you train to run it, and otherwise you end up exhausted and defeated. The kind of training we’re talking about isn’t teeth-gritting, white-knuckle, do-or-die attitude towards things like prayer and Bible reading. No it’s training yourself to be more sensitive to God. It’s learning to do the right thing, in the right way and with the right spirit. Your goal may be to read several chapters of the Bible each day but what if God tells you to linger at a certain scripture because He want to make that particular truth a reality in your daily life?
The difference between trying and training is like the difference between a motorboat and a sailing boat; you can turn one on and drive it away but with the other you have to wait for the wind. Jesus said,
“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 3:8 NIV) It’s the wind that does the work. We can’t turn it on or off. We can’t engineer it to take credit for it. But like good sailor we can train ourselves to ‘read’ it and respond to it. Once we learn to do that, we’re walking in the Spirit instead of straining in the flesh
