How to Win, When it Seems Like You Should Lose

How to Win, When it Seems Like You Should Lose

      Growing up in Steubenville, Ohio football isn’t a hobby; it’s literally a way of life.  The high school, better known by its nickname “Big Red” has one of the premiere high school football programs in the nation.  Almost every week Big Red faces an opponent who is bigger, has more star players or is faster.  However more often than not Big Red walks off the field with a win.  How is this possible?  On paper other teams have the advantage, but what we need to realize is that the real battle starts right between our two ears, in our head.  When I was in 7^th grade I was introduced to a concept called PMA.  No, it’s not a typo.  PMA is an acronym that means “Positive Mental Attitude”.  We were taught in Middle School that we could win and not lose.  Regardless of our opponent and what other people thought about us, we could win. We never lost a game, in 7^th or 8^th grade.  At Big Red on the varsity level we only lost 1 regular season game and played in the State Playoff Championship Game back to back our junior and senior year.  Pretty impressive when our leading tailback was a questionable 5 foot 6 inches.

     If this principle can apply on a football field, why couldn’t it work on the field called life?  We’ve got good news it can!  And how do we know?  I am living proof.  Below are “The Five Smooth Stones to Slay Any Giant in Your Life” These are the same principles I stood on while facing kidney failure and blindness.

1. We must …read the Word – Stop listening to what everybody else has to say about your condition or situation and find out what God has to say.  Unless your Aunt Minnie works for a cell phone provider, you would not take your cell phone to her if it stopped working.  You would take the phone back to the one who made it.  Why not do the same with God? He made you.
2. We must…renew Our Mind with the Word – We need to think about ourselves the way God thinks about us.  We need to silence the voices of our past.  We need not concentrate on those who told us we would never make it.  God so loved the world that He gave His only son.  He loves us and wants nothing more than to fix us and make us whole.
3. We must…speak the Word – We need to stop rehearsing our defeat.  Never once during our winning seasons did we walk around saying woe is us.   Look at how much bigger they are then us.  We did not ignore their strengths, but we found ways to exploit the other teams weakness.  A winner comes out confident because they have prepared.  We are reading the word and renewing our mind on the word.  Now we can start speaking what we know.  Let the weak “SAY” that they are strong.  We are more than conquerors. 
4. We must…Pray the Word - Once we study the word, it is clear that we don’t have to guess anymore, whether or not God wants to heal us.   I can’t speak for anyone else, but my sickness was not unto death.  That belief was challenged on more than one occasion, but I am here to tell you God wants to make you whole.  The fact that you are in the situation you are in is evidence that God has a plan to bless you.
5. We must…live the Word - We can’t just pick and choose the scriptures we want to live by.  We can’t walk around quoting “By His Stripes I am healed” and then turn around and knowingly curse our neighbors.  I am not the sin =police, but take the whole word and apply it to your life and you’ll be blessed.