Winning is Easy
“Born again, Born to win“
I got that line from one of my best friends, a warrior and a flat stud who is genius in every measure of the word. God hand picked him and placed him in my life a few years back in 2007.
He is my original accountability partner. He has been pushing me to be a better man and a better version of myself ever since. We’ve prayed for each other, cried with each other, celebrated with each other, and grown older with each other.
In many ways we are exact clones. Both played basketball all the way through college, both have miraculous stories of God saving our parents and healing our bodies as kids, and seen God do things most of you would never believe. God introduced us when he moved both of us to the same city. How ironic is it that we were looking for a basketball team to put our 2nd and 3rd grade daughters on?They were too young to play in the 4th grade YMCA league, but they took our money and told us we could make our own team. So we met in a little church gym on that first practice and we been winning ever since!
You see who you are running with will determine if you winning or not. Now 14 years later, I have a circle of accountability partners. I call them mighty men. Yea I stole that one from the Word of God. I tend to do that often.
Jesus called his boys disciples. Both of these groups were interesting choices to say the least. A group of low level, messed up, and far from perfect dudes that got together and followed Jesus and His great great great… Grandpa David.
They followed them before they knew they would become King. They did their part in helping make him king. They used their gifts, which just happens to be killin people and saving people, and followed the anointed Man of God no matter what. When others walked away, they did not!
You ever think about this? God let the Israelites pick their own King, after they chose not to accept Him as their King, because they couldn’t see Him. After that epic failure in their choice of King Saul. God then handpicked His Grandpa to be David.
A few years later, Jesus handpicked his twelve disciples. Talk about an interesting choice of men. He gave them the small responsibility of winning at all cost by saving the world. They agreed and all but John was martyred for that decision. John survived poison snd being boiled alive for His best friend Jesus. Jesus had left John with another small task of taking care of His mother Mary. You think Jesus was gonna let him die?
So how can I even have the couth to make the arrogant statement that
“WINNING IS EASY”
I will leave you with this. I’m not a genius like Coach Wooden who said, “Winners never lose, they just run out of time on the scoreboard.” Instead, let me say it like this.
There is only one scoreboard that matters. The clock is ticking and Jesus is coming back soon. You want to win, then become born again. Winning is easy. Just ask Jesus to become the Lord of your life.
Do you want to know what is hard? Allowing him to remain Lord of your life. The Introduction is easy, becoming a close friend is the challenge, because it requires seeking Him with all of your heart.
It is exactly like a marriage. Anyone can get married, but a great marriage takes work and requires daily seeking to please and know your spouse intimately. Placing their desires before your desires.
Do you know what else is hard? Saving others is hard. It was Jesus’ great commission for us. Go and share the Love, Forgiveness, and Grace that He freely gave us through a horrendous crucifixion death. He left us so He could give us the Helper. The exact same power that He walked in while on earth after age 30. Yes, he walked 30 years as a man-God without sinning without being full of the Holy Spirit. That’s hard. That’s impossible. It is a good thing Jesus is the Master of the Impossible. We are made in His image you know. The secret to success in fulfilling His mission though! The Holy Spirit. God sent His Son the Holy Spirit the day He was Baptized in Water by John the Baptist. He was from then on filled with the Holy Spirit without measure and for the next 3 years He fulfilled His mission impossible.
I said winning is easy. The decision to win and be born again is an easy decision. The choice of being baptized in water as a public confession of following Jesus daily with all your heart is a little tougher win. The decision to be baptized in Fire, so you can face persecution and win team championships by saving others, now that’s an impossibly tough decision! That’s where the warriors show up. The Rebels with a cause!
Sign me up for that! An Elite Special Force Team of Warriors that have one goal and that is to serve the King at all cost! I’ve talked plenty about my love of and family heritage with the Navy Seals. You can go back and read my post regarding that and my post about the similar Creed I wrote for our team. There is absolutely nothing easy about being part of the Special Forces, but to me that’s an easy choice too! To me that’s Winning at a whole other level. Championship Level.
Striving to be a David. A man after God’s own heart. One that God looks down and smiles, saying that one, that one right there. He makes the impossible choice daily to try to have a heart for Me. He tries to place my desires before his own. No matter what the enemy throws his way, no matter how many times he fails, he continues to look to Me. Wanting to please me, His Coach, with just one more win before I come get him and take him out of the game.