Why Accountability Helps You Thrive in God

Would you like consistency in your walk with God? Here’s why accountability helps you thrive in Christ and how it worked for me.


Imagine for a moment what is valuable to you. We all have people we hold dear, items we cherish, and precious experiences and memories.

What is your most valuable treasure? If you’re not sure, ponder for a moment what your heart runs after.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21 ESV

I love my perfect-for-me husband and spending happy moments with my kids. I enjoy creating in tranquil blocks of time and worshipping with my church family.

But my greatest treasure trove is my relationship with God.

I delight in the gems I find in His Word. His promises are like gold. That Daily Time spent with Him is like a life raft alone in a vast ocean. God’s voice is like a precious pearl—a whole string of them. The wisdom He provides is a chest overflowing with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. And His tangible presence at times during worship is matchless.

I have stars in my eyes as I think about it all. I must be dreaming, but nothing could be more real.

That same treasure can be found of anyone who seeks after Him with their whole heart.

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 NASB

But do you want to know how I have kept mine? It wasn’t always this way, you know. I used to lose valuable insight. I let it get kind of dusty in the past.

A New Challenge

Several years ago, one of my Twitter friends was tweeting about a new challenge she had joined. I followed the link and watched a lady I’d never heard of share her story—except it was mine. She gave an honest confession of struggling to keep up with three important necessities. She’d wake up to one of her kids at her bedside asking for breakfast in the late morning, and would give them a grumpy greeting. She realized if she would wake up early, spend time with God, exercise, and plan her day, it could be a game changer. That’s when she (Kat Lee) started the HelloMornings Challenge.

I knew I needed that, but I hesitated at first. People were going to find out that I had that problem, too. If I joined this challenge, others were going to read my mail. Between the fear of missing out and the fear of God I decided to join.

I was put into a group that was going through a Bible study together online. I realized others were up against the same struggles: Fluctuations in our fervency for God happen. Various circumstances arise. Seasons of life change. After all, we are humans living on earth.

The Truth about Accountability

I learned a powerful truth during those months of participation: every treasure needs a guard. We put our valuables in a safe, and money in the bank. A vault guards money the same way accountability guards consistency in our walk with God. It is the guard of our treasure.

Now I know we tend to evade the word accountability. I used to cringe at the thought of it. There were times when I didn’t like being answerable to another human being, but it was what I needed.

A vault guards money the same way accountability guards consistency in our walk with God. Click to Tweet

It works and that is why accountability helps you thrive. God spoke through an influential person’s 40 days with God devotional I read as a teenager. I was fangirlin’, but she was the one that acted as an encourager through her book. I was able to build a Daily Time with God habit.

As a young adult, I desired to rebuild the habit I had lost. My mentor supplied me with another 40 days with God devotional. After that, my mentor suggested I read the “daily Proverbs” when I wanted to be consistent with my God time.

Accountability helped me thrive in my walk with God during those times. I wanted that again, so when I heard about HelloMornings I embraced the whole package—including the “checking in.”

A vault guards money the same way accountability guards consistency in our walk with God.

Why Accountability Helps You Thrive: 9 Positive Aspects

  • The expectancy of your presence
  • Someone cares and checks on you
  • Sharing of insights
  • A group and/or person prays for you
  • Building of community
  • Questions about what is being studied are answered
  • Regular encouragement and cheering on
  • “Iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17)
  • We form friendships

Ways to Find Accountability

Online groups. Tons of online groups exist. Plug in with HelloMornings or the First 5 app, to name a couple. Or you could start your own. What other groups do you know of?

Face-to-face. Some wonderful mentoring can occur in real life. It’s biblical (Titus 2:3-5), and it’s where I found my greatest growth spurts in my walk with God. I highly recommend this, besides regular church attendance. Ask God to show you someone, or ask your pastor to suggest someone.

Right here. Check out my 21-day, no frills, Daily Time Challenge. It’s a more pleasant reminder than your iPhone alarm reminding you.

The thought of being answerable to another person might make us evade accountability altogether. It takes humility.

But if we need it, then we need it!

I can remember a few distinct seasons in which I needed to build the habit of spending time with God on a daily basis. I couldn’t have done it on my own.

Accountability is the support system to make goals become habits. Click to Tweet

What other ways can we find accountability? Has it worked for you in the past? Why did accountability help you thrive in Christ?

 


Need to solidify your God Time? Take this habit starter! 
Daily Time Challenge: End the inconsistency. Build the habit.


Want to encourage someone in their walk with God? Share this post! 

The benefits of accountability aren’t always apparent at first glance, but here are nine positive aspects of this often shunned shield of strength and why it helps you thrive with God. #ThrivingInChrist #DailyTime #DailyBread #relationships #accountability #BibleStudy #GodTime #HelloMornings #quiettime #devotions #community

SaveSave

Similar Posts

22 Comments

  1. Nicole Kauffman says:

    Love this. “Every treasure needs a guard” I’ve never thought of the treasure of God that way! Great reminders and I love what you are doing here 🙂

    1. I was delighted when I made that connection—or rather that God showed it to me that way. Thanks for your kind comment, Nicole! 🙂

  2. I love the reminder above that all of this forms and strengthens relationships too… we get real, and other people really can connect with that! Beautifully encouraging today, Kelly! Visiting from #TeaAndWord xxoo

    1. Yes, indeed! I think we were meant to do life in community. Great to see you here, Christine!

  3. Kelly, Thanks so much for this encouragement! A great reminder for me today. : )

  4. mareedee2016 says:

    Accountability is golden for me. I need it to thrive. Maree

  5. One of the greatest gifts of my life is my friendship with a woman with whom, for at least 15 years, I have read the Bible on the same schedule. We don’t even live near each other anymore, but check in at least once a week. It’s such a blessing to have that accountability.

    1. Wow, that is awesome, Michele! It’s nearly unheard of to have such lasting accountability. Thanks for sharing that.

  6. I have been part of a small group of women for over ten years. We have completed numerous Bible studies but the what has made a difference is the community we developed and the willingness to dig deeper into relationship. Thank you for your words today. Blessed to be your neighbor at Messy Marriage.

    1. Hi, Mary! How wonderful! Isn’t it great how friendships are formed that way? Thanks for your visit today.

  7. I don’t know where I would be without the many accountability partners I’ve had along the way, Kelly. They’ve surely kept me on the right path. And I’m definitely tracking with you on time spent with God! So very important, but we don’t often see this until we’ve made it our habit and daily indulgence. I’ll be praying for you as you work on this project you mentioned! Happy to be a part of what you are doing in that very important way!

    1. I hope others will see the benefits and keep at it. You are such a blessing, Beth! I appreciate your prayers!

  8. We always do better when we know someone is going to ask us about our progress, and we are always prone to sneak and hide when left to ourselves. Thanks for the reminder about opening ourselves to be accountable!

    1. Thanks for hopping into the conversation, Karen. Great to see you here!

Comments are closed.