Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Living by Faith

Hebrews 11 is a chapter all about faith. For me verse 6 really stands out. “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” In another biblical version it reads as follows Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he is real and that he rewards those who truly want to find him.” Within this chapter of Hebrews we look at faith and the whole aspect of blind faith. Faith is blind, we cant necessarily see the outcome of our faith, but we must believe that we are doing the correct thing. This is so similar to the sporting world where faith is such a vital and critical component of performance and improvement. There are many instances that as athletes we need to have faith. These are endless for example having faith in our coaches abilities, having faith in our own abilities, having faith in the program we are following, having faith in the plan that is set out for us, having faith in fellow team mates and having faith that the desired outcome will be achieved.

These instances of being faithful as an athlete can be paralled to the our faith in God. In both instances we are living by a ‘blind’ faith with every now and then receiving snippets that we are either doing right or wrong. This for example is when we read from the bible or receive confirmation from the Holy Spirit or compete in a competition and either have good or bad performances. Just the same as we need to have faith in our coach we need to have faith in God. Just the same as we need to have faith in the plan (periodisation plan in sport set for us) we need to have faith in the plan that has been laid out for us for our lives by God, a plan for our lives set up before we were even born. Just the same as we need to have faith in fellow team mates so too be need to have faith in the Body of Christ the church and the people around us, supporting us in our walk of life.

Faith is difficult, but as it says here in Verse 6 of Hebrews 11, without it is impossible to please God and that if we come to God we must believe and truly want to find him. So too our athletes, have faith firstly in the Lord our God and also in what the plan is laid out for you!

1 comment:

Gods Champions said...

After Publishing this post I thought of a song we often sing that is very appropriate. Hoep i get the words right!

"I walk by faith...
Each step by faith...
to live by faith...
I PUT MY TRUST IN YOU!"

Challenging Thought

How do I commit to spending time in God's precsence, even when i am 'busy'? What am I doing to live up to God's expectation of me?

Prayer Requests

  • Spiritually lead & focused coaches who have a critical role in the development of their athletes.
  • Athletes participating around the world in various sporting feats. That they do it not for personal clory but for glory of God
  • All soccer / football players coming to South Africa in just over a month's time for the FIFA 2010 World Cup
  • Focused Godly Athletes
  • Guidance and Grace to all Athletes on all levels in their training
  • MORE ATHLETES THROUGH THIS BLOG CAN SHARE THEIR TESTIMONIES
  • Praise God for the unbelievable performances, the dedication & perserverance of our Paralympians

Book Review Corner

We will be soon reviewing books read and share any key thoughts found and identified.

So watch this space!