Texas Titans

DEVOTIONALS

DALLAS, TEXAS

Home

MESSAGE OF THE Month: “The Athlete's Secret”
Taken from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Webvotions (Author: Dan Britton - FCA Senior Vice President of Ministries)

What's your secret as an athlete? Your speed, strength, size? Is it tough training or a killer workout schedule? Maybe it's a great diet. Any of those things will give you an edge, but none of them is the real secret. The most powerful secret for an athlete is actually a spiritual discipline that should be done in private. What is that secret? It's prayer.

I know what you're saying, "I already know that, and it's not a secret." Well, let me ask you this. When was the last time you got away from everything and everyone and really prayed? Not the prayer that says, "As I step onto the court, God, help me with this big game today." And not just the prayer that says, "Help me to play well so I can glorify Your name, God. When I score the winning goal, I will praise Your name when interviewed by the newspaper." I know those prayers because I have prayed them before. The kind of prayer I'm talking about is intense prayer--a time of truly seeking God's face and asking for His will to be done through both victory and defeat, blessings and burdens.

Many athletes may want to pray but simply don't know how because no one has ever taught them. Well let me share with you right now eight simple tips to help you move toward praying more real prayers:

1. Reveal, don't tell. Don't report to God what He already knows. Let God reveal to you what you don't know.

2. Shut the door. Find a place of solitude that is not in the locker room or on the playing field. Go to it each day. This can be your place where you meet God.

3. Open your mouth. Don't think your prayers, but say them out loud. Your mind wanders. A spoken prayer is intentional and slows down your thoughts. Your prayers will become more focused.

4. Prepare your heart. Try listening to worship music to prepare your heart for prayer. Combine your times of prayer with singing to God.

5. Pray Scripture. This is a great way to get started if you can't think of anything to pray. Pick a Psalm and pray it out loud. Stop on something that hits home and pray through that particular area.

6. Petition, devotion, intercession. These are three kinds of prayer. Ask God for your needs, wants and desires through petition. Seek God and know Him through prayers of devotion. Pray for others' needs and concerns through intercession. (By the way, it's okay if this is hard to do.)

7. Journal it. Write out your prayers. Sign each prayer as a commitment to Him. Go back and reflect on where God has brought you.

8. Find a prayer partner. There is power in numbers, especially with prayer. Find a prayer partner (maybe a teammate) to pray with each week. But be careful not to spend your whole time just talking about prayer.

Sound intimidating? Don't let it be! Understand that God WANTS to communicate with you. And remember, the more you pray, the easier it will become.

So, teams, coaches and athletes today can stop looking to self-promote and boast in what God has gifted them to do. . . use all they are for His glory!