Renee Andrews's Blog - Posts Tagged "praying"

Mondays with Jesus 2015

“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16 (NLT)

The local football team has a former attorney for a coach. Not your typical criteria for a high school coach’s resume. He was also a collegiate player at the University of Alabama, so he has the athletic merits as well, but when I learned that he’d given up practicing law to coach high school football, I had to ask why. It turns out that this man wanted to touch the lives of teens, to be a Godly example and help them be successful, and he chose to do that with the best way he knew to relate to them, football.

I’ve seen a change in this team since they’ve gained Coach Ozmint. He is their supporter both on and off the field, but he is also their guide, steering them in the right direction and admonishing accordingly when they head down the wrong path, both on and off the field. Coach Ozmint also allowed and encouraged a group of parents and local citizens who also wanted to have a spiritual impact in the athletes’ lives to start a “Praying Moms” group. This group gathers each Thursday morning at 7:00 a.m. at the football field to pray over the team and the opposing team, to ask God to grant good sportsmanship and to keep the athletes safe. They put Bible verses on each athlete’s locker. They remind the boys on the team that the “game” most important in life is the one that involves living for their Lord.

Has the spiritual coach and the praying moms caused the team to automatically win every game on the field? No, though they have won every game this season. But we aren’t promised that we will always receive a “yes” to our requests. We are promised, however, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14).

Those athletes step on the field each night knowing that their coach has prayed for them, knowing that the community is praying for them and ready to face whatever obstacle is ahead, both on that field and off. How awesome is that power of prayer!

Faith Step: Form a “Praying Moms”, “Praying Dads” or “Praying Fans” group in your local community. Watch the bond form in athletes and community with the awesome power of prayer.

Author Renee Andrews

This devotion is from Mornings with Jesus 2014. Next year's devotional, Mondays with Jesus 2015, is available now online wherever books are sold (Amazon, BN, Kobo, iTunes, etc.), and autographed copies are available at www.MondayswithJesus.com ($3.99 ebook, $9.99 print)

Mondays with Jesus 2017: Devotions to Begin Each Week of the Year“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Hebrews 7:25

Last week, Ariel, my daughter-in-law, had several items to put in her car as she was preparing to leave her house for the day. While Naomi, our nine-month-old granddaughter played just inside the door, Ariel took her purse, the diaper bag and some other items to the car. Then she returned to the house to get her little girl…and realized she’d accidentally locked the door.

She ran to the side door, which has a window, and peered in to see Naomi, crawling around, happy as she could be. Ariel tapped on the window, got her little girl’s attention, and Naomi smiled, clueless mommy couldn’t come in.

With no spare key and her phone still inside the house, Ariel began to panic. She thought about going to a neighbor’s home to use the phone, but she was fairly certain that her neighbors were all at work. Then she thought about attempting to break through the window to get to her little girl. But she wasn’t certain how that would fare either. What if Naomi crawled toward the glass, or if Ariel cut herself badly in the process?

Deciding her best option was to find a neighbor at home, she prayed for help, ran to her car, sat in the driver’s seat and glanced down to see the key that our son, Rene, had left in the cup holder. She began thanking God immediately as she grabbed the key and ran to the door to get to her baby girl.

When Ariel told me the story, I could feel her anxiety. She knew she had to get to Naomi, but she didn’t know how…until she found that key.

Aren’t we like Ariel, when we know what we want, what we need to get to more than anything else, and yet we need the key?

What do we want to get to most?

God.

What is the key to getting to God?

Christ.

He is our interceder, our path to the Father. He is our means to getting what we need most, what we want most, what will give us more joy than we can ever imagine.

To get to her daughter, Ariel needed the key.

To get to our Heavenly Father, we need Christ.

Thankfully, He is there, waiting to intercede, wanting us to gain access to what we need most. To give us even more joy than Ariel found when she opened that door and found her baby, safe on the other side.

This Week: Make a spare key for your home. Put it somewhere safe, but a place that you would remember if you’re ever locked out. Whenever you look at the key, remember the Key we have to access the door to our Father. Thank God for Christ’s ability to intercede.

Renee Andrews