How long does it take to get strong muscles? Not a very simple question to answer, is it? But it’s the same as a question I often hear, “How long does it take to learn how to praise the Lord and see good things happen?”

Babies take a long time to develop strength. How long depends on many factors including health, nutrition and exercise. Some people never develop above average muscle strength. Others wait until they are adults before they have a sudden desire to be stronger. But regardless of how strong anyone becomes unused muscles will rapidly deteriorate.

New Christians may have an instant determination to be strong in obeying God’s spiritual laws. Their development depends on how long and how consistently they retain that desire.

The development of physical strength requires repetitions that are difficult for those who do not want to persevere. It’s easy to find other activities that are more instantly gratifying. But some folks “stick with the program” and go on to be stronger than the average person.

It’s easier still to never develop a faith that God is always working for our good. It often doesn’t seem to be true, so we can take the easier route of never finding out for ourselves what Romans 8:28 actually means; All things work together for good, to them that love the Lord.

If we decide to persevere, there are a multitude of pressures that come our way. Satan knows God wants us to learn to trust Him, so he tries many tactics to draw us aside from the goal of really learning to trust that God is working for our good.

During most of my time in the Army we did an exercise called “squat jumps.” They were painful, but the instructors fully believed the exercise was beneficial. Later it was discovered that those millions of squat jumps were harmful to men’s knees. Now we know not to do that exercise. Men’s suffering resulted in our learning a better way.

Many people have worked at learning how to praise the Lord and how to cause our praise to produce results. My books are filled with illustrations. Some personal accounts need to be read over and over before we can enter into the heart of what that person learned. We will be wise to study their experiences and benefit from the lessons they learned. David’s Psalms and Paul’s letters show how these men of God learned to praise the Lord in all kinds of difficulties.

Spiritual exercise requires perseverance and determination. My brother has a T-shirt that says, “Getting old isn’t for sissies.” Learning to praise the Lord and see God work, isn’t for those who only want to find the “easy way.” Some people have told me that they had once learned to praise the Lord for everything but stopped practicing it and then found themselves falling back into grumbling, complaining and being discouraged. Fortunately, most of them realized what was happening and returned to praising God as before – and experienced great joy and peace once again.

The dedicated life of praise to God requires that we practice praising Him many times every day. We praise Him for everything that comes to our attention. We praise Him with increasing zeal and gladness. We grow in believing that our God is always working for our good and that it pleases Him to see His children growing in the assurance that He is a wonderfully good God. I plan to keep learning for as long as He keeps me here on earth and I plan to continue doing everything I can to encourage you. The benefits are enormous! (Reprint from November 1996)