How to Pray Before a Sports Event
I get the feeling that people out there want to know how to pray before a sports activity or event; seems that sports performance can be quite impaired if prayers are not properly said. My idea of a what kind of prayer we should say before and/or during the time we are practicing or playing or watching a sport:
God,
If it be amenable to thy will, let it be that somehow myself and others are drawn closer to thee through this sports activity.
If it be amenable to thy will, let it be that somehow thy name is hallowed through this sports activity.
Notes Re this Prayer:
How should we pray prior to playing in a sports event, practicing for sports, watching sports events? Especially since people nowadays have such an enthusiasm for participating and watching sports, the matter becomes of importance.
I found that coming up with a prayer to say before I practice sports, or before a team I am involved with in some way plays in a game, was not as uncomplicated as one might expect.
Early on in the prayer-invention process, I conceptually came across a stumbling block that impaired my ability to pray well in the circumstances: what if, unbeknownst to me, it is not God's will that I engage in the sports activity I am about to engage in after saying the prayer?
I am able to tell by looking into my conscience, if my conscience is for, or against or neutral re a given activity. But I often am not able to tell if God is for, or against, or neutral re, a given activity; thus my ability to pray can be impaired when I am engaged in some activity regarding which I don't know what the will of God is.
As of now my cure for the impairment of prayer produced by such mental travail is as follows:
If I do not know or believe that God is opposed to me practicing basketball for a couple of hours, this indicates that practicing basketball for a couple of hours is not a sin for me; and it indicates that I should be able to pray unimpaired prayers before or during practicing basketball.
It could be, that God is neither for or against with regards to me spending a couple of hours practicing basketball. One of the inspired men who wrote the New Testament, Paul, wrote of how there is kind of liberty and freedom rooted in belief in Christ, which points towards the idea that a Christian whose conscience does not condemn him practicing basketball for a couple of hours, does nothing unclean by practicing basketball for a couple of hours.
New Testament writer Paul's advice was,"whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord" (Col 3:17); Paul's advice was to basically at all times give thanks and pray--this would include times when I am practicing basketball without knowing that it is God's will that I practice basketball. Along these lines I can rest assured that there is nothing unseemly about me praying before or during my basketball practice, even if I do not know what God's will is re him and basketball.
Still, there remains the fact that we should maintain a certain humility in our prayers, remembering that the idea is that God is our boss, not that we are God's boss* (see note at end). This is why the prayer meekly and humbly uses the word "if" in the line "if it be thy will", and the word "somehow", in the line "let it be that somehow".
The prayer uses the word "hallow", in part because the line "hallowed be thy name", is perhaps the most notable line in the "Lord's prayer" which starts, "Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name". "hallowed be thy name", implies that our actions should result in the name of the God we proclaim, being "hallowed". It is not inconceivable that the name of our God could be "hallowed" through our sports activities.
The prayer speaks of ourselves and others being drawn closer to God, because the basic ambition of our lives should be that we and others draw closer to God. By "closer to God", I mean more spirited, spending more time being spirited, being more spirited when spirited. It is not inconceivable, that sports activities could bring us and others closer to God.
The prayer does not pray for victory. Are not the people we are competing agaisnt human beings also? I believe that those who avoid praying for victory, but rather pray along the lines I have suggested, will perform better than those who pray for victory.
Some out there might scoff on the grounds that the writer Paul said that "Exercise for the body is not useless, but godliness is useful in every respect" (1 Tim 4:8). My response: Paul is not saying exercise is useless; we live sedentary lives compared to the hard-working folks of Turkey of 2000 years ago Paul was preaching to; exercise can help us our immune systems deal with the many environmental pollutants present today that were not present in ancient days; we have an opportunity to consume nutritionally valuable substances that the folks of ancient Turkey lacked and we need to work off the calories we consume in the process of consuming such substances; the modern environment is filled with stresses not present in ancient days and exercise helps us to negate such stress so as to be able to enter into 'godly' states of mind.
Paul wrote, "to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some".
Interpretation: we now live in a society that is very enthusiastic about sports; it could be that we should conform ourselves to such enthusiasm and 'hallow' God's name through sports.
Yet we should face the facts that contradict fanatical jockiness. It is foolish to say that if someone is confined to bed after a car crash, that such a person will not be able to draw close to God simply because he can't go jogging. All kinds of thoughts words and actions can help to draw people closer to God and sports is just one of them. The broken body responds to exercise differently compared to the uninjured body.
I estimate it is reasonable to say that God helps those who cannot jog to improve without jogging; at the same time God expects those who are able to improve themselves by way of various activities they are capable of and have opportunity to engage in, to improve themselves through those activities that they are capable of. As far as I can tell it is not God's nature, to provide persons with new methods of self-improvement when they fail to avail themselves of the methods that are available to them.
* Sarah Palin, judging from her words, basically speaking seemed interested in forcing God to change his mind so as to approve of what she and others had done, as opposed to being interested in learning God's will for herself and others so as to be able to perform God's will. I consider this reversal of the God bosses manking principle to be a serious misdemeanor. Even if the impression of misdemeanor resulted from carelessly inaccurate language on Palin's part, careless inaccurate words tend to indicate careless inaccuracy in the mind producing said words. But this is a separate topic.
@2008 David Virgil Hobbs
God,
If it be amenable to thy will, let it be that somehow myself and others are drawn closer to thee through this sports activity.
If it be amenable to thy will, let it be that somehow thy name is hallowed through this sports activity.
Notes Re this Prayer:
How should we pray prior to playing in a sports event, practicing for sports, watching sports events? Especially since people nowadays have such an enthusiasm for participating and watching sports, the matter becomes of importance.
I found that coming up with a prayer to say before I practice sports, or before a team I am involved with in some way plays in a game, was not as uncomplicated as one might expect.
Early on in the prayer-invention process, I conceptually came across a stumbling block that impaired my ability to pray well in the circumstances: what if, unbeknownst to me, it is not God's will that I engage in the sports activity I am about to engage in after saying the prayer?
I am able to tell by looking into my conscience, if my conscience is for, or against or neutral re a given activity. But I often am not able to tell if God is for, or against, or neutral re, a given activity; thus my ability to pray can be impaired when I am engaged in some activity regarding which I don't know what the will of God is.
As of now my cure for the impairment of prayer produced by such mental travail is as follows:
If I do not know or believe that God is opposed to me practicing basketball for a couple of hours, this indicates that practicing basketball for a couple of hours is not a sin for me; and it indicates that I should be able to pray unimpaired prayers before or during practicing basketball.
It could be, that God is neither for or against with regards to me spending a couple of hours practicing basketball. One of the inspired men who wrote the New Testament, Paul, wrote of how there is kind of liberty and freedom rooted in belief in Christ, which points towards the idea that a Christian whose conscience does not condemn him practicing basketball for a couple of hours, does nothing unclean by practicing basketball for a couple of hours.
New Testament writer Paul's advice was,"whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord" (Col 3:17); Paul's advice was to basically at all times give thanks and pray--this would include times when I am practicing basketball without knowing that it is God's will that I practice basketball. Along these lines I can rest assured that there is nothing unseemly about me praying before or during my basketball practice, even if I do not know what God's will is re him and basketball.
Still, there remains the fact that we should maintain a certain humility in our prayers, remembering that the idea is that God is our boss, not that we are God's boss* (see note at end). This is why the prayer meekly and humbly uses the word "if" in the line "if it be thy will", and the word "somehow", in the line "let it be that somehow".
The prayer uses the word "hallow", in part because the line "hallowed be thy name", is perhaps the most notable line in the "Lord's prayer" which starts, "Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name". "hallowed be thy name", implies that our actions should result in the name of the God we proclaim, being "hallowed". It is not inconceivable that the name of our God could be "hallowed" through our sports activities.
The prayer speaks of ourselves and others being drawn closer to God, because the basic ambition of our lives should be that we and others draw closer to God. By "closer to God", I mean more spirited, spending more time being spirited, being more spirited when spirited. It is not inconceivable, that sports activities could bring us and others closer to God.
The prayer does not pray for victory. Are not the people we are competing agaisnt human beings also? I believe that those who avoid praying for victory, but rather pray along the lines I have suggested, will perform better than those who pray for victory.
Some out there might scoff on the grounds that the writer Paul said that "Exercise for the body is not useless, but godliness is useful in every respect" (1 Tim 4:8). My response: Paul is not saying exercise is useless; we live sedentary lives compared to the hard-working folks of Turkey of 2000 years ago Paul was preaching to; exercise can help us our immune systems deal with the many environmental pollutants present today that were not present in ancient days; we have an opportunity to consume nutritionally valuable substances that the folks of ancient Turkey lacked and we need to work off the calories we consume in the process of consuming such substances; the modern environment is filled with stresses not present in ancient days and exercise helps us to negate such stress so as to be able to enter into 'godly' states of mind.
Paul wrote, "to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some".
Interpretation: we now live in a society that is very enthusiastic about sports; it could be that we should conform ourselves to such enthusiasm and 'hallow' God's name through sports.
Yet we should face the facts that contradict fanatical jockiness. It is foolish to say that if someone is confined to bed after a car crash, that such a person will not be able to draw close to God simply because he can't go jogging. All kinds of thoughts words and actions can help to draw people closer to God and sports is just one of them. The broken body responds to exercise differently compared to the uninjured body.
I estimate it is reasonable to say that God helps those who cannot jog to improve without jogging; at the same time God expects those who are able to improve themselves by way of various activities they are capable of and have opportunity to engage in, to improve themselves through those activities that they are capable of. As far as I can tell it is not God's nature, to provide persons with new methods of self-improvement when they fail to avail themselves of the methods that are available to them.
* Sarah Palin, judging from her words, basically speaking seemed interested in forcing God to change his mind so as to approve of what she and others had done, as opposed to being interested in learning God's will for herself and others so as to be able to perform God's will. I consider this reversal of the God bosses manking principle to be a serious misdemeanor. Even if the impression of misdemeanor resulted from carelessly inaccurate language on Palin's part, careless inaccurate words tend to indicate careless inaccuracy in the mind producing said words. But this is a separate topic.
@2008 David Virgil Hobbs
posted by David Virgil at 4:48 AM
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