You get excited about God's work in your life. If only your teammates could experience the same thing. You have a heart for your teammates, but you are concerned about how they will respond if you talk about Christ. You could be misunderstood or rejected. What do you do?

Do what the apostle Paul did. His focus on prayer was far from casual.

Notice the key words he uses – devote yourselves (be committed, intentional), keep alert (be aware, engaged), and thankful (be grateful for what God will do next).

In Colossians 4, Paul was speaking about initiating a conversation with others about the gospel. He said it begins with prayer. Pray, because something happens in the locker room when we pray for teammates. God opens doors into people’s lives.

Consider a little prayer strategy.

Pray for your teammate in the locker on your right throughout this week, then the teammate on your left the next week, then your position coach the next week, then the player who rubs you the wrong way the next week, then the team leaders the next week ... Just keep it rolling.

Pray that God will draw them to Himself. Pray that they would sense an emptiness in their lives. Pray that God would give you rapport with them.

Watch what happens (be alert). One of those teammates in your “prayer-sights” will sit next to you on a team trip and ask what you have been reading. A teammate will confide in you about a family death. Another will ask you what chapel was about that week.

Opportunities to talk about Christ will become more evident. You may notice a deepening concern for your teammates. The circumstances of their lives will become more obvious to you, opening the door to talk with them.

Why pray? Prayer makes us alert to what God is doing.

(The following entries this week will build on prayer – get ahead by reading Colossians 4:2-6 a few times today.)