Let my mind to be clear and focused so I can execute to the best of my abilities.” “God let the practice of my craft be expressed fully in the game today when I have opportunity. May my love and worship of You supersede all things in my heart today whether we win, lose or draw.” “God help me today to honor you and all I do and say in this arena of sports (insert: field, court, mat, pool etc). In light of that I offer these as a few examples of ways to pray: You are literally preparing to walk with God in the midst of a highly competitive, fast moving and intense environment. But let’s focus here on your personal prayer life.īefore competition, the word I want you to have in your mind is prepare. Many times there may be even be opportunities for group prayer among Christians on your team. That would stoop into superstition and silliness (I’ve got my eye on you baseball players!).īut including prayer in our pregame is not difficult. Just remember you don’t win or lose because of your lucky socks or your lucky prayers. Doing the same or similar things before matches or games can help calm the mind and focus the athlete’s heart on the task at hand. Pregame routines are important psychologically and spiritually for athletes. May it give you ideas for your own prayer life and move you towards action. So what follows is both practical and provocative. All of life is in relationship with God for the Christian and this certainly includes the moments before, during and after our games. It does mean that all of life is spent in the presence of God and in a posture of heart that is prayerful. This doesn’t mean that we spend our entire day with hands folded or held up to the heavens saying formal prayers. I Thessalonians 5:17, 18 tells us that part of walking with Jesus is to “pray without ceasing.” 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:9-13
11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Keep Jesus’ words in mind as we reflect on how we should pray:ĩ Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Prayers as athletes who follow Jesus should be no different. Christian prayer should express our dependence upon God for all things and the centrality of forgiveness found in the gospel. Prayers from God’s people should hold Him up as high and holy and desire for his kingdom to come and His ways to rule on the earth. It is a wonderful prayer to recite but we must not forget that it was also an example of HOW we should pray.
Some athletes in America recite this prayer before competitions in our day. When Jesus was asked to teach his friends to pray he gave them an example which was passed down to us as “the Lord’s Prayer.”
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