Powerlessness feels awful. You want to change the outcome of a game and can't. You want to stop some bleeding, some meltdown, and there seems to be no end … you're out of timeouts. You want to help turn around a failing situation and are unable. You can't save a drowning man. You can't even save yourself.

Into seemingly helpless situations steps the spirit of Christ. That's what God loves to do. But it will never happen as long as we are full of ourselves. Brokenness and confession must come first. Humility must reign. When we confess our helplessness to God, it creates room for Him to work, to fill. It cues up the Holy Spirit. It ushers in an all-new power surge. Christ's power rests upon the man who boasts in his weakness. Weakness then becomes advantage.

Athlete, let's rejoice when God makes us weak. He does so in order that we can become strong in and through something better, His Spirit. Sometimes God puts us flat on our backs so we will simply look in the right direction.

Where do you feel weak and helpless? In what area(s) or situation(s) do you feel incapable, incapacitated, denied, lonely, shortchanged? Take a good step “forward” by confessing your weakness to God. Boast in your weakness so that Christ's power can rest on you.

Prayer to consider today: LORD, when I fall into powerless despair, help me to confess my weakness to You and await Your Spirit's filling. Help me to even boast in broken moments and lean into the power of Your Spirit. May I rejoice in my powerlessness so that Christ's power may rest on me. Keep teaching me that the way up is down. How amazingly You turn weakness into advantage!