Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Here we go…school has started and we are moving into the joy of football season! As a mom that has always had active, competitive children, I have had the joy of teaching many life lessons through the years. We all want the very best for our children; fun, protection, success and ultimately, wins. As my three boys got older, I started to get better at taking the time as opportunities presented themselves to parent through and to learn from all the challenges and victories of sports. As this years team prayer mom, I am hoping to share some teaching moments with you, as I gather topics for our weekly prayer circle for my youngest son’s team through his senior year of football. My prayer is that you can gain wisdom from the twenty plus years I have been cheering my boys on from the stands and coaching them up in life as they become young men and ultimately, confident spiritual leaders.
Hebrews11:6 says without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
As I thinking about this scripture, it is evident that faith is one of the most important subjects that we must master. It is perhaps the most important thing to master in our walk as Christians and parents of our children.
Everything starts with faith! The bible says that Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith, so it is pretty clear how precious this topic is. Let’s kick off our sons and daughters seasons with great faith for the result of a winning season. Ultimately, we all want to win. Why would we put our children in something to expect to lose? The result is one of the key focuses of this message. Our final results will be determined by our thoughts, our words, and our actions.
Everything begins with our thoughts. The bible says that, “…as a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). I have been telling my boys since they were itty-bitty how talented, fast and strong they are, to build up their confidence on how they think of themselves. How we think is critical because it is our thoughts that influence what comes out of our mouth. I loved it when the boys were little and they would say, “mom, look how strong I am!” as they were lifting something over their head. Or, “mom, watch how fast I am!” as they took off across the yard as fast as their little legs could run. Every time they spoke in confidence about themselves, I knew they were catching it. What they were speaking was what they were thinking about themselves. I would remind them regularly that it would be so real to them that setbacks would set them up to become even better instead of instantly defeated.
What comes out of our mouth is of the utmost importance because “death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those that love it will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21). We will actually eat the fruit of what we speak. This is a reminder that we can’t just avoid the negative words but we must speak the positive ones. If we speak words of expectation, victory, encouragement, excitement, confidence and enthusiasm into the lives of our children, we will eat the fruit of that later on. But more importantly, our words will determine our actions.
Boy, have I seen action! All three of my boys always went into every season, every game expecting to win…still do! They believed that they would put forth the action necessary, in confidence, as talented, fast, strong boys to help their teams get the victory. It didn’t matter if it was making a tackle, catching a long pass, or scoring touchdowns. They expected to make an impact and expected to win.
Our actions are the outcome of our words and they will produce results. The bible says that faith without action is really not faith at all (James 2:14). Our actions will always follow our words because our words produce life or they produce death; victory or defeat. We get to choose.
Actions produce results. It’s all about results. We get exactly what our faith expects (Matthew 9:29). So, we as parents have the power to provide a significant amount of influence upon the outcome of our children’s season by expecting the successful result…like my son is expecting a Texas HS State Championship for our football team! How will this happen?
Results are the outcome of actions. Actions are the outcome of our words. Words are the outcome of our thoughts. So, guard your heart, guard your tongue, speak life, and drive this team in the spirit of expecting victory on every occasion.
Let’s make sure we parent and protect the thoughts of our champions as we push through this season! Listen and encourage them as you lead them into faith filled thoughts. There is never room for stinkin’ thinkin’ or negativity. Our thoughts will produce our words; good or bad and our words will create our world. Don’t let them speak badly about themselves, teammates, or their coaches. Don’t allow them to speak defeated words about their upcoming practices or games. We must speak only life giving and victory believing words. Pay attention to the words you and your players speak. Make an intentional decision that only words that are positive and fruitful will be spoken. There is absolutely no room for negativity! How we speak with confidence, how we pray for the things we hope for, and how we prepare for what is unseen is all determined in our faith. Moving in faith with positive, optimistic words, thoughts and actions will produce the winning results we all desire for our young men. By faith!
Thoughts = Words = Actions = Results
Excellent review of how powerful our words can be! Thanks Diane for all your thought and prayer into writing this blog.