Too Busy Not to Pray

Coaches live by plans. Practice plans, game plans, travel plans. Your calendar is full, your phone rings nonstop, and someone always needs something from you. The reality is that prayer can start to feel like one more thing added to your plate.

Here’s the good news: prayer isn’t a performance, and it isn’t a formula. It’s a conversation with God. Here are three basics for building a lifestyle of prayer.

1. Get gut-level honest.

Jesus warned against praying to be seen or stacking up impressive words (Matthew 6:5–7). Intimacy with God begins where pretending ends. You spend your days projecting confidence to players, parents, administration, and staff. With God, you can drop it. Tell Him about the fear of losing, the frustration with a player, the weight of carrying a team. Hebrews 4:16 says, “We can come boldly to His throne, and we’ll find mercy and grace to help when we need it most.” God meets our honesty with mercy and help.

2. Get a plan and get started.

Luke 5:16 says, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Crowds were pressing in, yet He still made time to pray. He was too busy not to pray.

Try this 15-minute plan:

• Pick a time and a place.

• Set a timer for 15 minutes.

• Spend 10 minutes reading the Bible slowly.

• Start with Proverbs or Mark.

• Spend 5 minutes talking to God.

• Be honest, and use a prayer list.

You wouldn’t show up to a game without preparation. Don’t show up to your day without it either.

3. Get ready for His answer.

Jesus promised, “Keep on asking, and you will receive… Keep on seeking, and you will find… Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7). If an earthly father knows how to give good gifts, how much more will your heavenly Father? But His answers don’t always look like we expect.

Remember: Y-B-N-G-S.

• Yes: He gives what you asked.

• Better: He gives something better than what you asked.

• No: He protects you from what you couldn’t see.

• Grow: He’s building something in you first.

• Slow: The timing isn’t right [yet].

Every coach knows that a “no” or a “not yet” from the right voice can be a gift. Trust that your Heavenly Father is coaching you, too.

Listen Closely —

Where are you pretending with God right now?

What 15 minutes can you protect this week?

Which answer—Yes, Better, No, Grow, or Slow—are you waiting on today?

Whatever it is, trust God to handle it.