"Christianity is not a religion. It's a relationship." What does this adage actually mean?

John 15 gives a picture of this when Jesus describes our relationship to Him as branches attached to a vine. Relationships are attachments. Christianity is about forming an attachment with Jesus Christ, then spending the rest of our lives walking deeper with Him. And if we want to be relationally engaged with God, it makes sense that we'd want to know and cooperate with how He designed us to function relationally.

In this On the Trail episode, we discuss Building Bounce Chapter Eight: Connecting with God, where we talk about our faith being in God not the process, listening prayer, discernment, and lifestyle. We also unpack the V.C.R. tool (Validate, Comfort, Recover).

This episode wraps up our Building Bounce book study. Next week we're asking the question, "Is Spiritual Warfare optional?" with a two-part prequel series before launching our next book study: What Every Believer Should Know About Spiritual Warfare!

Thank you for joining us – father-daughter duo Marcus Warner and Stephanie Warner – on the trail to a deeper walk with God! 

🎁 FREE DISCUSSION GUIDE: https://deeperwalk.com/building-bounce/

Access through the button that says "Free Discussion Guide" in the top description block for the book. This is also next to the "free webinar" button.

📖 BUILDING BOUNCE BOOK: https://deeperwalk.com/building-bounce/

🎨 LEARN MORE ABOUT STEFANIE HINMAN: https://www.bounceproject.org/

📸 Follow OTT on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onthetrail_podcast

👑 THE HEART-FOCUSED COMMUNITY COURSE: https://deeperwalk.com/heart-focused-discipleship/#heart

🕊️ THE SPIRIT & SCRIPTURE COURSE: https://deeperwalk.com/sp/spirit-course/

💝 PAY IT FORWARD: https://deeperwalk.com/donate/

🎓 SCHOOL OF MINISTRY: https://deeperwalk.com/school

🙏 PRAYER MINISTRY REFERRALS: https://deeperwalk.com/ministry-referrals/

Stay On the Trail toward a Deeper Walk with God with father-daughter duo Marcus Warner & Stephanie Warner. Listen in on conversations about important models and concepts that inform the way we live the Christian life. We talk philosophy, theology, and practical issues related to heart-focused discipleship. This podcast is presented by Deeper Walk International.

Chapters -

00:00 "Numbers are fun..."

1:11 VCR: Validate, Comfort, Recover

10:35 Relational Prayer

15:12 The Passing the Peace Model

18:25 Listening Prayer: Fears & Practice

23:54 Discernment Tests & Pitfalls

27:28 Legalism vs. Relationship

30:13 John 15

33:24 There Is a Path that Leads to Resilience