Thursday, January 17, 2008
Tony Dungy and prayer...
Tony Dungy is the very successful coach of the Indianapolis Colts and a man of deep faith. He has recently made headlines in the world of sports as he decides whether to resign as coach or not. Blogs, sports talk shows and sports pages are full of rumor and speculation. Here is what struck me and has not been reported often: he is praying about his decision. He has concerns about his family and that factors into his decision. But the delay is because he is praying about this decision.
When asked recently if he had in fact already made his decision, Dungy laughed and said that no, he really meant it when he said he was praying about it.
What convicted me about this story was not that a man of faith would pray about an important decision, but that he meant it when he said he was praying about it.
Have you ever tossed out the "I'm praying about it, praying for you, etc" line and then didn't follow thru on it. Postpone a decision to pray about it, then not do it. Commit to pray for someone and then not. If we are not going to follow thru on it, then why do we say we will?
Is it to sound spiritual, is it what others expect us to say, do we really mean it and just have trouble on the follow-thru? For me, it's the last one that I wrestle with the most. So my new resolution is to not commit if I don't think I can follow thru. And when I do promise to pray for someone or about something, I try to do it immediately. Doing it right then and there ensures that it doesn't get lost in the busyness of other things.
How do you follow thru on prayer commitments?
When asked recently if he had in fact already made his decision, Dungy laughed and said that no, he really meant it when he said he was praying about it.
What convicted me about this story was not that a man of faith would pray about an important decision, but that he meant it when he said he was praying about it.
Have you ever tossed out the "I'm praying about it, praying for you, etc" line and then didn't follow thru on it. Postpone a decision to pray about it, then not do it. Commit to pray for someone and then not. If we are not going to follow thru on it, then why do we say we will?
Is it to sound spiritual, is it what others expect us to say, do we really mean it and just have trouble on the follow-thru? For me, it's the last one that I wrestle with the most. So my new resolution is to not commit if I don't think I can follow thru. And when I do promise to pray for someone or about something, I try to do it immediately. Doing it right then and there ensures that it doesn't get lost in the busyness of other things.
How do you follow thru on prayer commitments?
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For years I would say, "Yes, I'll be praying for you" because a)I knew that it was the right thing to say and b)I really WANTED to follow through, but in my head, I was laughing at myself saying, "Yeah, right -- when would that be?"
It helps to have an established prayer time and I am a faithful journal-er of prayers (SURPRISE! - or not-so-much! :-) Anyway, just in the last few months I established a page in my journal for what I call "dailies" -- prayers that I want to be faithful in praying. Generally for other people, a few of them are for me -- and my family gets the main prayers of my journal anyway. I don't always pray daily over THAT list, but at least twice a week, I read over it and pray over it. Somedays in a hurry I will just lay my hand on the list and ask God to be in all of it.
I carry my journal with me to church to take sermon notes, so I can write requests on my 'dailies' page. When I tell people they're on "My List" -- it's a good thing now! :-)
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It helps to have an established prayer time and I am a faithful journal-er of prayers (SURPRISE! - or not-so-much! :-) Anyway, just in the last few months I established a page in my journal for what I call "dailies" -- prayers that I want to be faithful in praying. Generally for other people, a few of them are for me -- and my family gets the main prayers of my journal anyway. I don't always pray daily over THAT list, but at least twice a week, I read over it and pray over it. Somedays in a hurry I will just lay my hand on the list and ask God to be in all of it.
I carry my journal with me to church to take sermon notes, so I can write requests on my 'dailies' page. When I tell people they're on "My List" -- it's a good thing now! :-)
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