Youth Devotional - Training for the Race

Youth Devotional -
Training for the Race
Keep going, even when you can't
see the goal!
www.CreativeYouthIdeas.com

The world watched with amazement as 22-year-old Michael Phelps
seized 8 Olympic Gold Medals in the Olympics in Beijing. Amazingly this
was in addition to another 6 Gold medals in the previous Olympic
games. And the 8 Gold medal victories were not in solely personal
events but also team efforts. Victory could only be achieved together. He
carried his segment of the race, and could only watch as his team
members each carried their own segments. – spurring one another on to
ultimate victory!

Most amazing was the 200-meter butterfly where,
after diving into the pool, his goggles began to fill up
with water so that by the last 50 meters he could not
even see his goal. After the race he tossed his goggles
aside in frustration and stared at the official results. He
had still won, even breaking his own world record in
the process.

“I couldn’t see the wall. I was just hoping I was winning,”
he later told reporters. He had simply relied on his
training and counted his strokes to his goal. In one of
the many news stories on this amazing swimmer, it was
mentioned that he trained EVERY day for 4 ½ hours a
day. This included his birthday and even Christmas. 4 ½
hours a day, 365 days a year, for four years since the last
Olympics.

He credited his coach with giving him benchmarks
and smaller goals along the way to his Ultimate
Goal of eight Gold Medals at the Olympics. For
many of the Gold Medals, he was not only
victorious, but broke world records by a fairly big
margin in a sport often measured by hundredths of
a second.

More than one swimmer had set Phelp’s defeat as their
goal. “Before the 200 meter Free style, South Korea’s Park
Taehwan said, “I will defeat Phelps tomorrow.” “Everyone
on the planet is trying to make him work, giving him
obstacles,” said Milorad Cavic, the Serbian Swimmer who
was closest to defeating him and lost by only one
hundredth of a second. The world deemed 8 Olympic
goals as impossible. But Phelps, through daily discipline
and training, found victory in every test!

I believe the same is often true in our spiritual lives.
How often do we set goals yet fail to measure up?
So often we are overwhelmed with the voices of
discouragement. Principalities and forces in the
heavenly realms are focused on our defeat.
(Ephesians 6:12)

We fix our eyes on the goal, on Jesus, the Author and
Perfector of our Faith. (Hebrews 12:1-3) But then
when we finally stretch out and reach for our goal,
our vision is hampered, and we can no longer see the
goal ahead. It is at these times that the daily
discipline and training carries us through. (1
Corinthians 9:25 – 27, 2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Like Phelps, if we are to achieve that ultimate goal for which
God has called every one of us, we have to have incremental
goals and daily disciplines. Luckily, God doesn’t come into our
lives and demand that everything change immediately. His
Spirit works with us in small ways, slowly transforming us to
experience personal victories as well as corporate victories in
the body of Christ.

Many of those victories are personal, but many are
also achieved only through the combined efforts of
the Body of Christ as we spur one another on and
exercise the individual gifts he has given us for the
common good. (Hebrews 10:24, 1 Corinthians 12:7,
Ephesians 4:11-12, Hebrews 3:13, Galatians 6:9)

Are there areas of your life where victory seems impossible? Are the
voices of discouragement overwhelming? Do the circumstances of
life seem set on your defeat? Does God’s purpose in your life seem
out of focus or completely obscured? Then focus daily on your
spiritual disciplines, on the Spirit’s moment-by-moment promptings
and you will one day see clearly and realize fully God’s victories
through your life! Present yourself daily as a living sacrifice. Keep
yourself on the altar! The biggest problem with Living sacrifices is
we keep crawling off the altar! (Romans 12:1-2)

Whenever you feel like giving up, read 2 Corinthians 4:7-16. As
Christians, even when we cannot see the goal, we don’t have to
simply “hope” we are winning. Victory is assured in Christ! Even
when the world seems against us, Christ is working in us and
through us! Don’t lose heart! (2 Cor. 4:16)
Don’t give up! With God, ALL things are possible. (Luke 1:37)

Need an evangelistic Youth Camp/ Bible
Study Series with an Olympic Theme?
What is salvation all about? What does it
mean to be saved? This sports themed
Bible Study / Camp Curriculum uses the
Olympic Flag to introduce the concepts of
sin (black circle), forgiveness (red circle),
purity (white background), spiritual growth
(green circle), heaven (Yellow Circle) and
(Baptism) blue circle.
Creative Youth Ideas
Go for the Gold
-> Tell me about “Go for the Gold”
www.creativeyouthideas.com/goforthegold.html

Need a Youth Camp/ Bible Study Series
on ”Running the Christian Race”?
The race as a metaphor for the Christian
life is used in several places in the Bible.
This series is a great follow up for new
Christians or to re-emphasize the basics of
our spiritual Journey in the Faith. This
Bible Study / Camp Curriculum has a
sports theme and is great for athletes as
well as a tie in to the youth Olympic
Games.
Creative Youth Ideas
Destined to Win
->Tell me about “Destined to Win”
www.creativeyouthideas.com/destinedtowin.html

Youth Devotional - Training for the Race

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Youth Devotional - Training for the Race