LEARNING TO REJOICE

DAY 10 Winning Edge Devotions

PHIL. 4: 4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.


Losing kills me. Some of the worst kind of losses are we had opportunities to win. It is hard to communicate how much my heart hurts when I experience losing, it is a deep, empty, and fragmented sense of failure. I always feel like I have let my players down.

It is interesting some of the ministering spirits God has sent to me in those times. One night my children ran to me on the field right after we lost a heartbreaker. Their hugs numbed the pain… a little. It was so sweet.

On another occasion as I walked off the field, an opposing parent came to me. She asked if I was the coach and I said ‘yes’. She said, "I went to your (school) website this week and wanted to commend you on your stance for Christ." That was a soothing minister who helped.

Psalm 112 says, "1 Praise the LORD! Happy are those who fear the LORD. Yes, happy are those who delight in doing what he commands. 2 Their children will be successful everywhere; an entire generation of godly people will be blessed. 3 They themselves will be wealthy, and their good deeds will never be forgotten. 4 When darkness overtakes the godly, light will come.”

When Paul wrote of rejoicing always…he was in prison! He was being unfairly persecuted for his faith. He encourages us to find Joy- “rejoice” literally means, “find again your joy!”.
Paul pushes us to quickly lose the depression and pray. As we hurt, we need to be ‘thankful’. Our pain is going to produce good fruit down the road. There was one school in particular that had caused us a lot of pain. We shed a lt of tears on their field for three straight years. We prayed, we cried, we thanked, and we kept our spirit of rejoicing alive.

The next year, we finally pushed through a win and we celebrated! Learning to rejoice, makes life all the more sweet and keeps us unbeatable in any circumstance!

Father, teach me to rejoice in all things. Help me to see You in the midst of my pain and let me praise you even in defeat. Give me again the joy of knowing you!