January 14, 2018 - Scoring Opportunities

I loved when I was on the sidelines coaching basketball… that was the time that I could help my teams implement the plans/plays we had established in practices. The job on the defensive end was to close up the holes the opponents wanted to attack; and on the offensive end to take advantage of the holes the opponents had open…

I wanted our players to be aware of the other teams’ tendencies, so they could compete at their best. For instance, if a team was super athletic and loved to get to the basket, we would run a defense that forced them to shoot outside… we needed to be aware of what type of defense the other team was playing to know what offense would attack it best…

But the bottom line is that I had these things called time outs that allowed me to stop play and bring the team together; during those times I could adjust our defensive approach, or I could design a series of passes, cuts, picks, and/or screens to create openings on the offensive end… to show them opportunities to score.

Simply put, the better we were at finding the holes and getting to the basket, the more successful we were going to be!

I teach often about the importance of understanding our culture in order to be able to reach them. (See 1 Corinthians 9:19-23) Yet this week’s devotion is going to be short and to the point. Just like my players needed a time out in order to hear from a coach that was showing them where the openings were to score, we all need time outs with God for Him to show us how, where, when there are openings for us to reach people… opportunities to score!

So, a quick reminder of two things this week:

1.       God’s Word is the Playbook that diagrams how we should live life… Spend time in it! (Psalm 119:105)

2.       As players, when we enter God’s huddle, we should open the Word, but we get to the huddle through prayer. Seek God for guidance/help! (See James 5:13)

And while you are at it praying for direction and opportunities, take a moment and lift us up as well. We want to run through every open hole that gets us an opportunity to share the Gospel… to score!

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ,… (Colossians 4:2-3)