The Sports-Related Prayer

When I was in High School I did full seasons of five different sports at different points in time. Few memories stick with me like the time my JV Football coach picked me out of the team of over 70 to pray. I didn't really know how to react at first--questions about the relevance of prayer in public school, the morality of praying for a game's outcome, and many other things quickly swirled through my mind before instinct took over, and I simply bowed my head and started praying as I had done many times in the past. I prayed for safety, that God's hand be over us, and that we grow as a team. It seemed to satisfy the coach enough that he continued to ask me to pray before each game, and I prayed basically the same prayer 10 times throughout the season while wording it slightly different any time. Why was I so nervous, insecure, and awkward, and what could I have done to fix that in such a rough time in my life?

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." -- Romans 8:26

Its not easy to know exactly how to go about prayer. New believers or questioning folk certainly see the idea of talking to a supposedly omniscient and all-loving God to be somewhat trivial, nonsensical, or downright silly. As new believers grow up they often take up a mantra which may sound something like "Pray for the strength, but get the job done yourself." Its a good thing the bible tells us how to pray since we can't figure it out for ourselves (at least most of us can't.)

"This, then, is how you should pray:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one." -- Matthew 6:9-13

What can we learn from this prayer (that we've all heard before, and even memorized?)

1) We need to begin prayer with affirmation and praise for God. There's nothing awkward about praising God for all that he is--powerful, loving, great, etc. We need to remind ourselves of this as much as anything; starting our prayer with these affirmations puts us back into the mindset that God is fully capable of answering prayer. We need to pray with confidence and faith, and not simply hope and routine. Asking for prayer but not expecting anything is a defeatist attitude which sets us up for failure--let's believe that God will help us when we go to him.

2) God's plan is better than whatever we have in mind. While Jesus does tell us that he wants us to come to him with everything in our lives (and the lives themselves for that matter,) adoration of God should beget the wisdom that he can take care of it much better than we can. If I am hungry, I do not ask God for a brown haired man in a black suit to come by and drop off his half eaten BLT from the local deli; I ask God for food. Whatever way God wants to give me food would be more than I'm capable of doing at that time, and I can be confident that God will provide for me. Let's take the same attitude towards the outcome of the game. We don't need to pray for victory; desiring God's work in the outcome seems infinitely more fruitful than me getting my way. Furthermore (and this is me spitballing) I'm happy to know that God doesn't limit his ways of working to my feeble and short sighted mind-he works on a much bigger scale to provide for his children.

3) Pray for the grand scale as well as the immediate. Its good to give up things that press on you to the Lord, but be careful not to become too wrapped up in them. God has everything else about us in mind, and he wants us to give that all up to him too. So we may pray for our current job search or difficult exam approaching, but we also need to affirm his guidance and continue to rely upon him in the future.

So as players, fans, and coaches we need to take this model directly for our game related prayers. Thank God for his providence in allowing you a field to play on, fans supporting you, the money to enter the league, and the fact that our ability to execute athletic achievements has zero bearing on our salvation. Pray that God can work through the game and the competition; that he uses the time spent competing and striving for him rather than our own proud devices. Pray for humility in victory and for confidence in loss--God is working beyond the scale of this one game. Most importantly, pray that you do not allow the evil one to use your passion for sports as a way to draw you from God. Pray for the wisdom of how to use your God-given talents and passions in a way that glorifies him.

There's nothing wrong with praying for Sports--they're part of the everything that Jesus wants to handle for us. We simply need to take the same attitude towards it as we do the rest of our lives. God wants to use it, you, and everything else for his glory, and we need to pray for the wisdom to recognize his plan as he reveals it to us.