CONDITIONED AND CONFIDENT

DAY 28 Winning Edge Devotions

PHIL. 1: 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Moments before a big game, I look around the locker room at my team. I know that we have done all we can to be ready for this moment. It takes hours of training to prepare a team for this game.

We have conditioned in the heat. We have run gassers, and shuttle runs, and cone drills. We have hit the ground and gotten up time and time again. I have seen almost all of these players hang their heads in fatigue- sweat dripping off their bodies, chests heaving for breath.

We have lifted weights and done sit-ups and push ups. We have diagrammed every formation and play. We have done drills every practice. We have used cadence and stance, we have rehearsed almost every conceivable formation and motion. We have worked substitution patterns, personnel packages, and injury plans.

We have put out and put up our equipment day after day. We have watched hours of film and discussed our plans for untold hours. We have worked together, cried together, broken up soldier fights, and iced sore bruises.

I look over this incredible group of young men and they seem so conditioned and very confident. The repetition together has produced an expectation of success. We are ready to translate the preparation into a product of winning plays and we seek a win.

I also know that we are prepared for all kinds of situations that the game nay present. We have worked situations on offense, defense, and in the kicking game. I also have trained us to be tough and conditioned in the late stages of battle. We are ready!

In our spiritual development, Christ takes on the role of training. He takes us through life and gives us the rehearsal and life experiences we need for future victory. As I look over my 25 years of walking with Him, I see moments where He was preparing me. Sometimes those moments were incredibly painful. I have spent lonely nights in darkness asking the whys. He never directly answers, but He will never miss an opportunity to show me where He was leading.

It is hard to wait for Him in this training; I get impatient and want the reward- NOW. But He gently guides in His perfect timing and plan. A friend of mine told me that ‘God is never late, but He is seldom early’. I have waited sometimes 10 or 15 years for Him to finally come through and realize that it was just the right moment.

So I am back in the locker room. The training has us conditioned and the conditioning has sprouted confidence. It is time to go and fight for the prize!

Father, You are always working on us. As we move forward in this partnership of the gospel, thank you that You care enough to prepare us. I thank You for Your timing and grace. I thank You that You always provide the training we need. Help us be patient in the process!