Confidence - the key to competing

The 2012 Olympics just completed. Numerous men and women from around the world competed against each other to win the gold medal, each having spent years training themselves for these events. In each event, only one person wins. To have a chance to win you must enter the arena, the competition. The competition is intense and powerful for unless you choose to compete against the powers of this world, you have not really yet entered the arena because the prize is awarded only to those who defeat the powers of this world. To win the gold we need, as did Jesus Christ, to keep our focus on the heart of God, to discipline and master the thoughts of our mind and the actions of our heart so not as to allow the powers of this world to distract and defeat us. You can tell others about the prize and you can help them train, but ultimately you have control only over yourself. Make every effort to prepare  yourself to compete and to keep yourself on the right course to finish the race. The winner is not the one who does it out of shear discipline and personal strength. The winner is the one whose confidence in God is so strong that he/she is able to release themselves fully into the hands of God, to trust Him, with absolute confidence to lead you across the finish line. 1 Corinthians 9