From Pity to Praise

The word team is defined as a “group of people working together on a specific task.” It is true to say that all who follow Jesus form a team. We are a group of people who are called by Jesus to work together with the common purpose of carrying out His will on earth. Understanding this all of us are part of God’s purpose.

Since we as believers are part of the team, we can say that God is our head coach, along with His Son Jesus (who saved us) and His Holy Spirit (who empowers us) can play in this game of life.

The game’s schedule is tough and lengthy though. 365 days a year, seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. We never stop playing because life never stops happening.

More than that, we play against the same opponent every day. Satan’s team is powerful and determined. Their coach is crafty and clever. He is committed to his game plan of killing, stealing, and destroying (John 10:10). He’s playing to win, and he already has many victories. Just take a look at what’s going on in the world today. There’s a lot of evil in it that we can clearly see. Many lives have been impacted for the worse. Confidence when facing satan can be hard to come by, which is important that we always remember what Romans 8:37 says, “In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.”

This is so important to understand, “that we are more than conquerors.” We will be victorious.

Romans 8:37 guarantees that even with all the power that Satan thinks he has in his arsenal, it is those of us on God’s team who will ultimately see the victory. God’s players will be the champions. There is nothing that can stop God’d game plan from succeeding in the lives of His players -except one thing. What can stop His plan?

His own players. It might not seem possible. But, we can stop God’s plan in our lives by abandoning His plan and doing our own thing.

Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in Me and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. Doing our own things means that we have abandoned God’s plan.

Many times, as players on God’s team, the toughest battles we face in the game of life are the ones against ourselves. We get in God’s way by not allowing Him to have His way. When we decide to take on a role of head coach, we replace God’s plan with our own.

What comes to mind on the above verse John 15:5 are the words remain in Me. This is a challenging task for each of us. Not only should we let Jesus take the lead, but also allow Jesus to keep up the lead. It means staying connected to God which causes fruit bearing to occur. Jesus makes it clear that we will never be able to accomplish anything meaningful for God without a connection to His Son.

We may start off obeying His game plan but then be tempted to give up on it as some point. Jesus clearly warns that whenever we try to live according to our own set of rules, plans, or opinions, we are getting set to accomplish a whole lot of nothing.

There is only one way to play on God’s team – His way. Knowing that the game plan of Jesus is the only one that will work for His team is an important aspect to grasp because we live in a world that tends to ignore this truth. Many people, rather than depending on the Bible’s instructions have chosen to trust their own wisdom when determining what Jesus will or will not accept from them.

This is how some players become game-day players. They don’t pray or read scripture that much during the week, but on game day – Sabbath day, that’s when God gets a lot of attention. It’s like wanting protection from injuries, the vision on the field, and the victory all wrapped up in one day. We cannot ignore Jesus all week and expect all His blessings.

No one can change God’s Word. He wants all of us, not just one or two days a week. We can’t pull this off. We cannot redefine the way Jesus works. Our earthly opinions will never be able to replace God’d breathed scripture. We need to follow Jesus only. Without twisting, manipulating, or tailoring it. The Bible must be our ultimate source of truth and guidance. It alone is the complete playbook and perfect game plan of God. All other methods will fail if they try to replace or compromise God’s truth.

When people accept Jesud and join His team but then make a lifelong continued effort to play by their own rules, they will become players He cannot use. By ignoring the game plan of God, you are cutting yourself off from the team.

Choosing to live by our own rules is like walking up to Jesus and saying, “I’m sorry, Coach, I love being on your team, but I just don’t like certain parts of your game plan. So I’ll just go with mine instead, but I’m gonna need your blessings on my plans.” If this is your approach to the biblical plan of God, then you need to consider yourself a withered branch disconnected from the tree.

Nowhere in scripture do we read about a Jesus who allows us to ignore Him yet use and abuse His power.

A player on God’s team is defined by the fact that we strive to follow Jesus every day, because for each of us, every day should be a game day.

Remember we get out what we put in.

On any team, it is not the game plan alone that determines success, but also the effort given toward executing it. As believers, we face an opponent who gives maximum effort every day. Satan’s team plays with relentless effort bent on destroying our lives.