When I was a young man I did not have a lot of confidence. I played Baseball. I was a good defensive player but I did not have a lot of success in the batter’s box. The coach told me that I had to be confident in my swing. He told me that I did not believe I could hit the ball. I tried to improve. I tried to believe that I could hit the ball.Then he tried another approach. He said for me to see myself hitting the ball. Imagine I could hit every ball pitched to me. Then imagine hitting the ball and running to first base. See it in my mind. I tried that. Again, I was not very successful. Then he gave up. He told me to just do the best I can and leave it in the hands of the Almighty. The next time I stepped up to the plate I said a little prayer. God, I’ll swing the bat. You will have to make sure I hit it. It worked. I got a hit. In fact I got several more hits. I wasn’t the best but I wasn’t the worse. The coach said he could tell that I had developed confidence that I could hit. I had confidence all right. I had confidence in God. Sometimes we lack confidence when we say a prayer. Maybe we think God isn’t listening. Maybe we think our prayer isn’t important to God. We must pray with confidence knowing that He will hear and Respond.
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16 comments:
Praying with confidence has always been a bit of a problem for me. I'm what Charles Stanley so kindly (but probably truthfully) called an immature Christian. I have no doubt about what God CAN do, only what He WILL do!
God already does the hard part, we only need to do the easy part~believe~ Why do we make this so hard?
~God Bless~
This is a good point. Although I guess it could lead to being irresponsible if we don't feel responsible it is a tremendous freedom to realize that the results are really up to God. Sometimes Paul was beaten, sometimes he walked free.
I can live with that.
Grace and peace.
Thanks for your comment Gorges.
Thanks for your comment Never Forsaken.
Thanks for your comment Pumice.
Very powerful hit, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your comment Lon.
Oh the power of prayer and asking God for help - it needs to be our first step and not our second or third - still on a learning curve here as a Chrisitan after all these years; I am learning to turn to the Great Physician first and foremost:-) Thanks for your post about baseball - we are a baseball family for generations:-)
God Bless!
Thanks for your comment Carole.
THE BEST CONFIDENCE TO HAVE, IS IN God, I get all mine from Him..I don't know how I could survive without Him... I bet many would confess this. I read how you found it hard to find things to do now your retired. I grieved to be back at work, as an accident forced my own retirement when I was 63. However, when we live with the Lord He is the ultimate one who instigates our changes.. and He doesn't make mistakes, so we are where we are meant to be.. Blessings from Oz (Australia)
I love that you're so down to earth. You could have been disappointed in God because He didn't make you the next Babe Ruth, but you saw that He is at work in all things. Love it!
Blogger showed a missing post earlier today. Are you having problems posting?
Georges - I am having all sorts of problems with my blog. I think someone hacked it. I have had over 200 comments with lists of medicines for sale. There have been lists of ladies pocketbooks for sale. When I check my e mail I find e mails sent to others from my contact list. I deleted my contact list in my e mail and that stopped. I delete all the crazy comments from my blogs. I stopped posting for a while and I hope everything is ok now. Thanks for your concern.
Crystal Mary - I retired at the end of June 2007 at age 65. I have worked at the same job for over 40 years. I miss it every day. I bought a home computer about a month after I retired and that has helped. Blogging helped. Prayer always helps. God bless you.
Deborah Ann - Thanks for your comment. God is always there, waiting for us to talk with us about all our deep rooted feelings. God bless you.
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