Playing On God's TeamSample

Let's Set the Table

Team is defined as a “group of people working together on a specific task.” By definition, it is true to say that all Christians form a team. We are a group of people who are called by Jesus to work together with the common purpose of carrying out His will in the earth. With that understanding in mind, let’s continue by speaking a language all of us athletes can vibe with—let’s talk in terms of a team.

Since we as Christians are indeed a team, then we can say that God is our head coach, along with His Son Jesus (who saved us) and His Holy Spirit (who empowers us). Since teams are designed to participate in games, we can say that Christians play in the game of life. This game schedule is a tough and lengthy one, however—365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. We never stop playing because life never stops happening.

More than that, we play against the same opponent each day. Satan’s team is powerful and determined. Their coach is crafty and clever. He is committed to his game plan of killing, stealing, and destroying (John 10:10). He’s playing to win, and he already has many victories. Take a look at today’s world and all the evil in it and you can clearly see how many lives he has impacted for the worse. Confidence when facing Satan can be hard to come by, which is why it is important that we always remember that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

This is so powerful to understand! We are more than conquerors. What does that even mean? I decided to look up the word conqueror. What I found was that there were multiple definitions, but here’s the one I loved the most: “To be victorious.”

Romans 8:37 guarantees that even with all the power that Satan has in his arsenal, it is those of us on God’s team who will ultimately be victorious. God’s players will be the champions. There is nothing that can stop God’s game plan from succeeding in the lives of His players—except one thing. What can stop His plan?

His own players. How is this even possible? We can stop God’s plan in our lives by abandoning His plan and doing our own thing. Doing our own things means that we have abandoned God’s plan.