Using the condensed Heart Training is a faster way to cut off earthly idolatry. The disadvantage is that because there isn’t any scripture, it doesn’t build faith and wont help you take the second step of actually turning to depend more fully on God. This section is powerfully helpful but please don’t miss the cautionary statement I have at the end of these pages about motivation.
Heart Training Condensed
A Tool for Repentance According to Grace
Emotional Reward and Benefits List:
(By endorphins released when “drinking” from something that has glory!)
(defensive security benefits) escape, reassurance, stress relief, joy, happiness, refuge, security, protection, satisfaction filling, love, approval, soothing, comfort, calm, help, assurance, righteousness, goodness, perfection, attention, acceptance, support, hope, sense of belonging, goodness, inner peace, quietness, health, healing, well-being, finances, provision…
(offensive confidence benefits) confidence, boldness, specialness, influence, joy, treasure, glory, beauty, attractiveness, impressiveness, happiness, courage, power, strength, honor, dignity, importance, thrill, delight, significance, audience, applause, fearlessness, adequacy, authority, what convinces people, pleasure, excitement, newness, recognition, greatness, validation, worth, value, justification, sense of meaning, identity, provider, fruitfulness, shine, reason for faith…
“Thank You God that I don’t have to get the (benefit above) that I need, from (source below). I cut off receiving from that! I turn to enjoy the (benefit above) I need by presenting my body before You so I can receive heaven here and wear Your radiant presence. By praise, I will enjoy You as my (benefit)!”
Core Classes and Electives
Source List:
(Idols we “drink” from by self-directed praise resulting in pride that harden us toward God)
What I know and my not being wrong
What I do and how much I control
The approval and acceptance I feel from others
What I say and how I appear
Sabotaging myself into depression as a way to feel secure
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Emotional Reward and Benefits List:
(Note: Emotional rewards are good! We just need to be getting them from the closeness of God.)
(defensive security benefits) escape, reassurance, stress relief, joy, happiness, refuge, security, protection, satisfaction filling, love, approval, soothing, comfort, calm, help, assurance, righteousness, goodness, perfection, attention, acceptance, support, hope, sense of belonging, goodness, inner peace, quietness, health, healing, well-being, finances, provision…
(offensive confidence benefits) confidence, boldness, specialness, influence, joy, treasure, glory, beauty, attractiveness, impressiveness, happiness, courage, power, strength, honor, dignity, importance, thrill, delight, significance, audience, applause, fearlessness, adequacy, authority, what convinces people, pleasure, excitement, newness, recognition, greatness, validation, worth, value, justification, sense of meaning, identity, provider, fruitfulness, shine, reason for faith…
“Thank You God that I don’t have to get the ( benefit above) that I need, from ( source below). I cut off receiving from that! I turn to enjoy the ( benefit above) I need by presenting my body before You so I can receive heaven here and wear Your radiant presence. By praise, I will enjoy You as my ( benefit)!”
Source List:
(Idols we “drink” from by self-directed praise resulting in pride that harden us toward God)
How well I avoid risk
How well I avoid losing control
How well I avoid disapproval
How well I avoid being less impressive
“Heart, I am turning my heart to believe that I am receiving the presence of God and the kingdom of heaven around me here. I commit to enjoying that God is washing me holy (inside and out) with the LIVING and HOLY Spirit God!”
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Increasing Motivation!
Turning from earthly sources changes your natural basis for motivation! So change how you find motivation, or you could struggle to find motivation to do anything! Motivation normally comes from hope of receiving glory and then praising ourselves for it. So, rather than pushing to earn the right to praise yourself inside, manage your level of motivation by heart-training that builds your hope of more glory HERE: “to the end that we…would be to the praise of His glory (Eph 1:12).
… ( Your name) , even though I know that human energy and motivation normally come from finding reasons to give internal praise toward my self, I am still turning away from that! I am setting my heart to love finding meaning and energy humanly speaking from 1) believing that I CAN always receive more of God here! And, 2) believing that I am exalting God, even with simple activities, because living to the praise of God’s glory has far more value for eternity than being to the praise of my own human glory. So, I turn my heart to believe I CAN have LOTS more of YOU God! And, I WILL enjoy believing that I am exalting YOU God! My childlike faith and dependance on God actually makes Him feel pleased (Heb 12:1,6). I WILL enjoy believing it!
Emotional Reward and Benefit List:
(By endorphins being released in your brain because of God!)
(defensive security benefits) escape, reassurance, stress relief, joy, happiness, refuge, security, protection, satisfaction, filling, love, approval, soothing, comfort, calm, help, assurance, righteousness, goodness, perfection, attention, acceptance, support, hope, sense of belonging, goodness, inner peace, quietness, health, healing, well being, finances, provision…
(offensive confidence benefits) confidence, boldness, specialness, influence, joy, treasure, glory, beauty, attractiveness, impressiveness, happiness, courage, power, strength, honor, dignity, importance, thrill, delight, significance, audience, applause, fearlessness, adequacy, authority, what convinces people, pleasure, excitement, newness, recognition, greatness, validation, worth, value, justification, sense of meaning, identity, provider, fruitfulness, shine, reason for faith…
”Lord, YOU are MY ( benefit above). Lord, YOU are my God who is ( below)!”
God is wanting to institute more of His wisdom and knowledge
GOD IS … Aware of the answers; Steady; Totally wise; the Understanding teacher; Faithful; Trustworthy; Right; my Guide; Giver of wisdom; my Justifier; Righteous; Accurate; the Spiritual director; the Perfect judge; Complete; the Planner; Dependable; Unchanging; the Counselor; the Advisor; Just; Unshakable; the Convector of sin…
God is wanting to accomplish more by His power and authority
GOD IS … All powerful; Strong; Lord of all; In control; the Sovereign authority; Totally adequate; All seeing; Protective; the Provider; the Warrior; the Fighter; Fearless; the Standard of all standards; the One who works; Confident; Power for miracles; One who is not weak; One who causes the result; Authority over all evil and all sickness …
God is wanting to lavishly give more of His kindness and love
GOD IS … the Savior; Loving; Compassionate; Good; Kind; the Listener; Patient; the Forgiver; the Giver of blessing; Live and health; the Healer; One who soothes; Caring; Humble; the Shepherd; the Helper Gracious; One who shares; Merciful; Self-giving; the Comforter; the Nurturer; Accepting; Aware of me; Concerned; my Personal friend; Aware of my hopes and dreams; Aware of others; Approving; the Conversationalist; the Minister; the Relater …
God is wanting to express Himself, His glory, and greatness more
GOD IS …Supreme; Glorious; Majestic; Close; Bright and shining beauty; the Messiah; Social; Intimate; Loves music; Powerful with words; One who feels pleasure; Fun loving; One who enjoys causing pleasure; Strongly influential; Creative; Involved; Intense; the Lover; Strong in His emotions; Fun; the Life giver; the Baptizer; the Creator; One who works BIG miracles; Inspiring; the Regenerator; Loves dance; the Renewer; Witness, Testimony …
“I turn away from motivation by self-directed praise as what motivates me. I turn my heart to find motivation from believing that I am being “to the praise of YOUR glory God!” So, I turn my heart to find strong motivation from knowing and enjoying that my childlike dependence on God, my love for Him, and my praise greatly honors and exalts God in heavenly realms, and here!”
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This topic is so important I feel I need to clarify what I am saying. Please read it carefully.
Remember that we all fall short of the glory of God. And deep down, we feel our lack of glory so strongly, that easing our sense of falling short becomes the essence of all motivation. When we find glory we believe we can receive, we praise it. We then feel motivation, energy, drive, and courage to face the challenges of the day. This all can be applied toward God, but few take it that far.
The prize of inner praise toward our human glory increases pride, and damages faith in God. A lifetime of growing as a Christian often will change this way of finding motivation. Or, you can use Heart Training to greatly shorten the process. But you MUST note that Heart Training is effective enough that when it helps you cut off depending on earthly sources, it will also completely cut off your worldly basis for what gives you motivation for living life with energy and drive. When this happens, you MUST keep going with the Heart Training so that you find energy and motivation, believing and enjoying that your depending on God to draw near honors His glory and grace (Eph. 1:6, 12) so much that He finds pleasure in your faith (Heb. 11:6). Let me repeat.
Be warned about what is coming. You must use CAUTION and NOT stop! When your Heart Training is effective, you change so much that you don’t want to find motivation by inner praise toward your own human glory anymore. When this happens to you, your natural human basis for motivation will die. Please don’t be alarmed by this! Your Heart Training is working as intended! But, you must keep going with the heart Training at that point so that you change to motivation and meaning coming from enjoying that you are living to the praise of God’s glory instead of yours and you are boldly confident that God is being honored by your childlike dependence on Him for His presence and kingdom (Eph. 1:12; Mark 10:15; Matt. 19:14). If you don’t keep going with the Heart Training, you can stay stuck in a horrible middle place where you have cut off the worldly prize of praise toward yourself for motivation, and you won’t have the motivation to want to do anything at all. Please don’t let yourself stay there! Motivation on a practical level comes from 1) Hope of finding glory in this life and 2) being able to give praise toward the glory you find and receive. The Bible says that everything should be “to the end that we…would be to the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:12). So, keep going with the Heart Training until you learn to enjoy the motivation that comes to you this way! Let me explain.
Remember again that when God is being God to you, HE is being your reason for feeling confident, secure, and protected. And those things we depend on in the natural are always things that are ours and are close to us. So, “living to the praise of His glory,” means that just by how you live, by your learning to fill your neediness with the presence of God, you know and believe that God is being honored, greatly worshiped, and exalted just because you are depending on Him in a childlike way. Here, you learn to believe and enjoy that even simple activities while depending on God to freely give you His presence, exalts God in heavenly realms, in such a significant way that your motivation and drive is constantly being refreshed because of it. You are motivated because you know that you are filling the earth with His glory by what you are receiving—even while doing the simple activity.
When you make this shift you will also learn that you have to take responsibility for your level of motivation on an everyday basis. This means that you keep your faith high by reminding yourself that hope of more glory in this life is realistic for you personally because more of God is always available to you. You can ALWAYS receive more, and by that, fill earth with more of HIS glory.
Keep going with your Heart Training so you can make the transition time as short as possible. Be conscious of the fact that the Heart Training is helping you to change from finding earthly glory and praising yourself inside for how much glory you have. It is also helping you to change TO receiving the glory of God all around you here and praising His glory that is close. When praise toward God that way becomes motivational for you, God gets honored for His being God to you and you find a practical kind of motivation that stays with you all during the day. And it works even when you are doing things you have to do that are boring because the motivation you are enjoying comes independently of the boring activity you are having to do.
I am convinced that when people learn to motivate themselves with the glory of God, that is when these prophecies will be fulfilled: “They raise their voices, they shout for joy; They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the Lord” (Isa. 24:14). And, “…the nations will bless themselves in Him, / And in Him they will glory” (Jer. 4:2).
NEW BOOK
Barry Hall’s first book,
Receiving God’s Kingdom by Joyful Repentance, will help you to recognize the practical evidence of how we try to fill our need for God’s presence and kingdom with what we get from worldly substitutions, other
people, sinful behaviors, and ourselves. It explains that in doing this, we receive pride that we put on like a coat around us for identity. Without realizing it, we put faith in our pride and try to abide inside it for protection,
strength, and worth instead of receiving God’s kingdom and presence as needed. This book also explains repentance as a joyous process that changes our minds one step after another as we listen to ourselves, making bold and
joyous declarations of repentance and faith.