The Top Twenty-five

College football is upon us! We’re approaching the fifth week of the season and, as far as I know, no coaches have been fired yet. Every week the AP Poll and Amway Coaches Poll comes out ranking the top twenty-five teams. For a coach whose team is ranked, they can feel secure in their job. For a coach whose team isn’t ranked, they might want to step it up.


In the world of athletics, success is based on victory. Iconic coach, Vince Lombardi, is quoted as saying, “Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.” But winning all the time is a struggle because, not only is your opponent trying to beat you, but also you have to overcome adversity during the course of the game; and your own self-doubts and weaknesses.

Our life is like that too. Sometimes the circumstances of life can be very difficult; or you might face a struggle within yourselves. Sometimes we even face a competitor that wants to bring us down. There’s a constant battle going on. Paul wrote about this struggle to the Galatians.

 

¹⁷ The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.       NLT

As a believer, what we have going for us is that our sinful nature has been crucified on the cross, and although we still struggle, and may not win every battle, the war has already been won. So we have been called to live by the Spirit.

²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. ²⁵ Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.   NLT

A college football coach can easily measure his success by wins and losses and by where his team ranks in the weekly polls. What about you? How do you measure your success as a believer?

Even though you struggle; even though you aren’t always victorious; your name will appear in the top 25 as undefeated. You are undefeated because the victory has already been won by Christ.

 Galatians 5:13-26

A GREAT WEAPON

Scripture Reading: James 5: 13-18

“Prayer is a Great Weapon,” so says the heading for James 5: 13-18 in the Phillips Translation.  As I’ve considered the Armor of God, I think perhaps prayer may be the over-arching weapon of all the others we studied in our sermon series [resist, rejoice, love] and of those Paul describes in Ephesians 6:14-17 [the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, feet fitted with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit].  Paul finishes off the armor list with “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. … keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”  It would seem that prayer, with the help of the Holy Spirit, activates God’s armor.

But Paul wasn’t very specific as to what occasions and what kinds of prayers to pray. “All” of course is all-inclusive, but it leads me to wonder, “How can I make prayer more practical – in the details of my life that I may see the power of prayer in my every day, specific, “small” instances of my  life?

James gives us many “for instances” of the Prayer Weapon in today’s verses:

·         When to pray:

o   In trouble, hurting (vs 13)

o   In good times, flourishing, happy (vs 13)

o   In sickness (vs 14)

o   In confession, when we sin (vs 16)

·         Results:

o   Healed of sickness (NIV)

o   Restored by the Lord (Phillips)

o   Forgiven of sin (Phillips)

o   Live together whole and healed (Msg)

o   Tremendous power is made available through a good man’s earnest prayer (Phillips)

We are told to include other believers in the prayer action when we are sick or when we have sinned.  It seems to me that these two circumstances are when we are most vulnerable, so to let people into our lives at these times takes forsaking pride and allowing people to know us at our worst.  We balk at this notion – we want to somehow keep up our façade and still enjoy the results James speaks about.  It’s the old idea of having our cake and eating it, too.

 

But, do we really want to be healed, forgiven, and victorious over the enemy?  If we are serious about walking by faith, we need all three of these in our lives.  And prayer and inviting others to walk beside us are the keys to living the victorious Christian Life God calls us to.

 

Lord, help me to want to walk healed, forgiven, and victorious.  Holy Spirit, strip me of my pride that keeps me from the life you have for me. Amen