Without feeding on God's Word and the empowering of the Holy Spirit, our standard direction of spiritual health is downward. In our passage, those whose hearts returned to the Lord banded together in a covenant, confessing the truths to which they returned. Each person in the body commited to using his/her gifts and resources for the community of faith to keep growing. God responds with affirmation and assures us that we will be saved from the coming wrath (Day of the Lord).