It happened several years ago, but is still fresh in my mind.  I remember the day well that I stumbled upon the most valuable tennis lesson.  What I am about to share with you probably won't be shown on any instructional tape.  Your local tennis "pro" won't let this valuable secret slip out either.  Chances are you won't hear about it at the country club or a camp or clinic, but nonetheless it has impacted me so greatly that I feel I must share it with any who will listen.  Here's what happened...

I was cruising along in my match with a friend of my with very little trouble.  My game was on.  I was serving well, hitting solid groundstrokes and returning anything that my opponent hit my way.  It was in the bag.  I had closed out the first set and was midway through the second and final set with relative ease.  Then, within just a few short moments, things changed.  My game went flat.  I started making errors.  On top of that, my friend began to play extraordinary.  The tables were turned very quickly.  Suddenly, I found myself at the point in the match where if I lost the next point, then I would lose the match.

Quickly I sent up a prayer.  "Lord, I know it's just tennis, but please help me."  Now, if you are expecting me to say that a lightning bolt fell from the heavens and I was suddenly empowered to victory in a supernatural way...you're going to be disappointed.  I lost the next point, thus losing the match.

I lost the match, but I came away a winner, because the Lord taught me the "most valuable tennis lesson."  He taught me the lesson by asking me some very simple questions.  "Jimmy, why didn't you call upon me when you were winning?  Why did you not praise me and thank me for your success?  Why did you wait until things went bad to pray?"

Needless to say, God was right again.

What is true of my tennis game that day is often true of Christians in their relationship with the Lord.  So little time is spent with Christ went things are going well, but we don't waste any time crying out to Him when a crisis arrives.  So little time is spent praising and thanking Him for all of the many blessings He pours out upon us, but we somehow find the time to make our requests known when we have a need.

Is there anything wrong with asking God to help us when we are in trouble?  Of course not!  Is there anything wrong with turning to Him in time of need?  Of course not!  But, there also needs to be some balance in our lives, as well. 

Pause today and examine your own prayer time.  Ask yourself, "how much time do I spend asking and making requests, and how much time do I spend praising and thanking."  God loves to hear that we need Him, but He also loves to hear that we love Him, adore Him and are grateful to Him for what He does for us.

Here are a couple of suggestions for your prayer time that have really changed my prayer life.

1. Thank when you make requests.  My typical prayer included a kind of monotone spill like this, "Lord, please bring Sister Smith through her surgery.  Lord, we need you to help Bobby find a job.  Lord, please help me to grow spiritually, specifically in my prayer time."  Now, there is nothing wrong with asking for God's help, BUT it seemed like I was spending most of my prayer time making requests.  God showed me how I could make requests and thank Him at the same time.  Notice the difference in my first prayer and this one.  "Lord, please bring Sister Smith through her surgery.  I thank you that you saved her many years ago and have blessed her with a wonderful life.  God, you are so gracious in saving us, when we do not deserve it.  Lord, we need you to help Bobby find a job.  Lord, I just want to thank you for always providing for him and his family.  You are so wonderful in giving your children food, shelter and the other necessities of life.  Thank you for being so good to us!  Lord, please help me to grow spiritually, specifically in my prayer time.  I am so grateful that you have put a desire in me to want to grow.  It really thrills me to know that you are working in my heart."

Do you see the difference?  For every request that you make, there is ALWAYS something to thank God for.  Try it and see it change your prayer time into a praise time!

2. Don't just thank God, praise God.  It seemed like I was always thanking God for something that He was doing for me and my family, friends, etc., but was not really praising God for who He is.  God would still be worthy of praise, even if He didn't do all of the wonderful things that He does for us!  Again, I looked to God for answers.  What He showed me is that for every thing that I thanked Him for, there was a reason to praise Him for who He is.  For example, if I thanked Him for keeping me safe on the roads as I traveled, then I could praise Him because HE IS GRACIOUS.  If I thanked Him for a miracle in my life, then I could praise Him because HE IS ALL-POWERFUL.  If I thanked Him for helping me to make a decision, then I could praise Him because HE IS ALL-KNOWING.  Everything that we thank God for relates back to His Character and Attributes, to who He is.  Thanksgiving is about what God does, but praise is about who God is.  Think about your own requests and see what you can learn about God's character.

Sorry this devotional is so long.  Most will not be, but this one had a lot of information in it.

The most valuable tennis lesson.  It changed the way I PLAY.   Apply it to your spiritual life and it will change the way you PRAY.

We're living in this world, but are we making a difference? Are we really making a difference...the kind of difference that Jesus Christ made. You see, no one ever came into contact with Jesus without being affected. Some were healed, some were saved, some were humbled, some were enraged...but all were affected by His Holy Life. Do our lives encourage the downtrodden, give direction to the misguided, convict the ungodly? Do our words and deeds point others towards the One who makes all of the difference?

Are we impacting others like the Risen Savior?

The fields are truly white to harvest. The question is...are you a laborer?

Let's face it, some days it seems like there are so many who need reaching that it is hard to know where to begin. You see, if you look around you today, wherever you are, whether work or school or home...you'll see that the fields are ready to be picked? But where do we start? With so many who need reaching for the Lord, can we really make a difference?

I am reminded of a man who was walking along the beach when he noticed that the high tide had washed hundreds of starfish upon the shore. He realized that they would soon die being out of their natural habitat. He began to pick up one at a time and throw it back into the ocean.

Two unruly young men came up to him and began to taunt him. "Why are you doing this," they heckled, "there are hundreds, maybe thousands of them. Do you really think you can make a difference?"

The man picked up a starfish, threw it into the ocean and replied, "Made a difference to that one, didn't I?"

You, too, can make a difference today!

Have a "Wonderful DAY in Christ,"
Jimmy D. Brown
\o/ Praise Jesus!