A Year of Prayer: Season One Weekday DevotionalsSample

Have you heard of the term ‘trash talking’? We might use that phrase for everyday interactions where someone speaks ill of another, but the performative art form of ‘trash talking’ was arguably made famous by male boxers.

Picture this: two muscled, angry-seeming boxers stand toe-to-toe in front of the cameras and crowd, pre-fight. They know a physical altercation is coming - legally, it must be in the ring - but something is brewing as they face one another down.

If the way they act (aggressive) and speak (more aggressive) can somehow intimidate their opponent before the fight happens, they have already won part of the match. The boxer knows she has gotten into her opponent's mind.

Jonathan Katz, an American clinical sports psychologist, writes: ‘Some players feel they can intimidate other players by getting into their heads, but many athletes are putting time and energy into something that distracts them from playing their best.’

When we read this week’s scripture, something hits home about the sweaty, meaty, scary challenge of two boxers facing it out pre-match. Aggressive, superior, angry - ready to use their words to slash the enemy.

But God urges us not to be the same regarding our posture in the world, no matter how threatened we may feel. Instead of ‘embiggening’ ourselves, puffing out our chests, and using our huffy words and worldview to stare others down, we must be made anew like Christ. Matthew 10:16 says, ‘Behold, I send you out as sheep amid wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless[a] as doves.’

Prayer: When we are blind, we cannot see. Ask God to show you where you are not able to see in your own life right now.

Activity: Find a safe friendship or trusted advisor to ask their opinion of where you cannot see. Pray together over this spiritual warfare. Ask for transformative peace.