Dear God, Is it OK for Us to Pray for our Team to Win?

This is Super Bowl Sunday and if you're not a Rams or Patriots fan, you may not be inclined to feel "passionate" about today's game. You probably don't care one way or the other who wins. But if you are one of those team's fans, you may be as passionate about your team, as I would have been if my Dallas Cowboys had made it the distance.

I heard my son and his buddy talking about the game yesterday. Ryan was giving his support for the Patriots: “Why wouldn’t we want to see the Patriots set records and win again? They have proven themselves to be champions. They have arguably the greatest quarterback of all time and Bill Belicheck is the greatest NFL coach of all time. They’ve created one of the most dominant sports dynasties in American sports history.” Then his buddy declared his case for the Rams: "Sean McVay is the youngest coach in history and Jared Goff is the youngest quarterback at 24 to go to the Super Bowl since Brady won his first Super Bowl at age 24. It’s time to give others a chance to prove themselves!” I was amused at their bantering.

I was also amused by a Fox News story of a pastor who was asking: “Is it OK for us to pray for our team to win the Super Bowl?” I was so taken with his article that I make it part of my post today. Here are some excerpts: “I grew up in New England so you can guess who I am rooting for to win the Super Bowl. I was an athlete and my two boys played college football, so I’ve always prayed for a win.

The majority of people don’t believe you should pray for God’s help. I’m sure most of them think God has better things to do than concern himself with whether the Patriots win their sixth Super Bowl. But the Bible tells us in Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything.” Everything includes sports. If you care about your team you can pray for them. Of course, there will also be people praying for the other team. We can pray for success because God wants us to be successful. He wants us to live life to the fullest. My definition of success is fully living out your life’s purpose. God equips us with talents, gifts, passions, and opportunities. And He expects us to fulfill our potential. When we do, we are a success.

Genesis 39:23 tells us, “The Lord was with Joseph and made him successful in all that he did.” We can certainly pray for God to make us successful too. For the players in Sunday’s game, success means doing their very best with the gifts, talents, and opportunities God gave them. They can certainly pray for that and we can pray that for them as well.

Go ahead and pray for your team on Sunday. Pray that every player on the team plays to his fullest potential. It’s likely that the ones who don’t on either team will decide the outcome of the game. And if by some chance all the players perform to their fullest ability, then the Super Bowl champions will of course be…the Patriots!" -- Pastor Rick McDaniel

I loved the “take away” from this pastor’s post. Pray about everything. That’s our call to action. Pray about our country. Pray about our families. Pray about our neighbors and our friends who need prayer. In the end, God will still be the ultimate, great and sovereign Umpire Who calls the plays and gives penalties OR rewards. That’s what God asks for – to perform to the greatest of our ability and keep praying. We are on the winning team, God’s team and we always win! Just check out the end of His play-BOOK!

What Are You Passionate About?

Day 34 of Photo Inspirations -- What are YOU passionate about?
This is Super Bowl Sunday and if you're not a Seahawks or Patriots fan, you may not be inclined to feel "passionate" about today's game.  You probably don't care one way or the other who wins.  But if you are one of those teams' fans, you may be as passionate about the Seahawks as my Seattle family is. 

Not only do they have season tickets for the Seahawks, but their cars and homes bear Seahawks flags, they are decked out in full Seahawks apparel, they paint their faces, cut their hair (i.e., my youngest grandson's new "12th man" style), they promote it on social media and other public forums, and they have "watch" parties where you'd think they were at the live game.  I've been to a few Seattle Seahawks games, and it's true -- the "12th Man" are the loudest fans I've ever heard. 

And, to take it a step further, my son and his buddies rented one of the "Ride the Ducks", loaded it with Seahawks flags and banners, and rode through the City and Lake Washington screaming and hollering about their Seahawks.  Honestly, in my lifetime, they are the most relentless, passionate sports fans I've ever seen. 

Quite frankly, just about everything our family does -- whether it's a favorite football team, a business we believe in, a heart for missions, celebrating a birthday and/or a special event, remembering the sweet things about our past, and mostly, our faith --our heart for God and His Word.

What are you passionate about?  What gets you out of bed every morning?  When motivational speakers and vocational counselors ask this question, they're not looking for answers like "The baby was crying" or "My alarm rang."  They want to help you identify your "passion" -- something you love to be doing with your life, the purpose that fires you with energy.  Bottom line -- a personal encounter with God can be the X-Factor in your life.  Having Him at the center, causes life-at-large to become your passion.  Having Him as your greatest passion, will cause just about everything else in your life -- your job, your family, your hobby, your favorite team or favorite outreach to become your "Wake-Up-With-Passion" each and everyday!