Football and the Body

Some time ago, a retired pastor emailed me how he wished he could be serving the Lord like me out in the harvest field reaping all the souls. He felt useless, spent, and too sick and old to do anything anymore. The Lord gave me a rather terse answer for him, that I was nothing more than a marionette on a string that was operated by the prayer warriors who were holding me up in prayer. It was the Prayer Warriors who won the battles.  All I did was show up. 

It strikes me how much it is like the game of American Football. No matter how good the Quarterback is, he can’t win the game alone. While the Quarterback may control the play, his job is to pass that ball to others for the touchdown. It is a team effort that wins the Game.

In the middle of the front line is the Center. This is the Apostle that anchors the whole line, whose hands are first on the ball to hike it to the Quarterback. The whole team is centered around this guy who is usually the biggest and baddest player on the team. He starts the whole process going.  How he starts the play is critical.  If he does not hike the ball correctly, the whole play is over with a loss of yardage.

To the left and right of the Apostle is the front line. These guys are always huge, muscle-bound monsters who dig their spikes into the ground, and are ready to do battle. You do NOT want to meet these guys in a dark alley. They will not give in, they will not back up, but will defend that line with every ounce of massive strength they possess.  Rarely, if ever, do they get the Most Valuable Player award, and little credit is given to the battles they fight in secret, but without them, there will be no victory. These are the Prayer Warriors who stand in deep travailing prayer to hold back the enemy from charging in.  No victory is ever won which has not first been fought and won in the prayer room by valiant warriors such as these.

Emmitt Smith, one of the greatest running backs of the game, after receiving one of the highest awards one season, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to give an expensive gift to each and every member of the front line.  His statement was telling of what made him great.  Without those men on the line who blocked the way before him, he said, he would have never gained a yard, never mind win such a prestigious award.

Surrounding the Quarterback are the running backs – the Halfbacks and the Fullbacks. Their job is to do whatever needs to be done, offensively and defensively. If their job is to carry the ball, they will take it and charge straight into the line of battle.  If the enemy gets past the Prayer Warriors on the front line and they need to form a defensive ring around the Quarterback to give him time to pass the ball, then they will guard him with their lives. These are the teachers, the deacons and elders, and the workers who labor behind the line of Scrimmage to make sure everything in the Church works.

And then there are the Wide Receivers, the evangelists and missionaries, running around out in the field, trying to dodge the devils that are dogging their heels, all the while yelling, “Throw it to me! Throw it to me!”  The Quarterback has to know exactly when and where to throw that ball. If he doesn’t do it correctly, the pass will be dropped and there will be no gain.  Worse, it could be intercepted by the enemy and ran back for a touchdown.  But oh! When that ball is sent sailing over the line, watch
those Receivers dive for it like an acrobat, snatch it out of the air, and run like a race horse for the end zone.

As the game progresses and the Owner of the Team watches from His box high above the playing field, the Coach calls the plays from the sidelines, encouraging and reproving and setting up each and every play.  It is He that inserts each player into his particular role. It is the team that wins the game, not the players, just as it is the whole Body of Christ that wins the victory in this great battle of Eternity.

I may be one cog or screw in a huge machine, but I will fit perfectly in that place that God designed me for. I may want to have a more prominent place, a different job, or an easier task, but the machine will not work unless the correct parts are fitted into the correct place. Lord, I want to be all that I can be, but I don’t want to strive to be something I’m not.

In the end, it is God who gets all the glory. 

Brother Dale, revivalfire1412@gmail.com

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