American UnderdogSample

Have you ever experienced the wilderness? Almost everyone has had, is in, or will go through a transformational season of change. If you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then there is no choice but to experience a change. But a change in life doesn’t just happen. Some people are unaware of what’s happening as they find themselves in a season of obscurity and are left feeling like God has abandoned them.

Kurt Warner had been in a period of wilderness where God was doing work IN him, so He could work THROUGH him. It wasn’t about throwing touchdown passes; it was about remaking the man on the inside to handle God’s assignment on the outside. The scene where Kurt and Head Coach Dick Vermeil talked on the night Warner learned he’d made the team was a powerful illustration of how both men had gone through their respective wilderness seasons.

If you find yourself answering God’s calling but then experiencing a season when you no longer hear His voice, don’t panic. The valley you are moving through is simply filled with shadow. Rest assured that like so many people from the Bible’s history who also went through transformational changes, God has never been closer to you than in this time.

CALL TO ACTION:

Meditate on where you are in life at this moment. Almost everyone called by God will experience a season of change. Are you following a direct Word from God right now, or has the assignment given to you grown dim over time? The wilderness can feel like a punishment, but the reality is God can’t promote you until He prepares you.

Are you moving into a new or deeper relationship with God? Now is a great time to reassess your understanding of how God tucks us away while He prepares to launch us into a new anointing. God moves us from glory to glory, and the wilderness seasons help us prepare for the move.

TALK IT OVER:

1. The scene where Dick Vermeil was encouraging Kurt Warner and affirming his faith in Kurt’s ability to lead the St. Louis Rams was an important example of how we all need to see the real-life love of a father. God created the relationship between father and child to resemble the way He loves us. Even if that relationship is broken or absent, other Godly men can fill that role.

Review the interaction between Moses and his father-in-law Jethro in Exodus 4:18. How could that have affected Moses as he’d grown up without his biological father? How would it affect you to have fatherly affirmation before heading out to do a big task?

2. Are you ready for a change in your life? Kurt Warner’s story is a unique tale that ends with incredible success as an athlete. Still, it’s also an example of how trying to live life without God can complicate, delay, or even erase your potential for living a blessed life. Pray about situations where you’ve become impatient with waiting on God, or because you might be unsure of His will for your life, you decide to activate your desires. How has going alone worked out? How would life circumstances have resulted differently had God been the focus of your attention?