The Athlete's Prayer Book

THIS is a book for Christian athletes who want to be on God’s team and who want God to be on their team. When we speak of athletes praying, we don’t mean praying for victory. We mean use the limitless power of prayer every step of the way to victory. Prayer is a vital part of an athlete’s preparation. Thoughtful prayer is as important as time spent on the training ground or in the weight room. It is part of an athlete’s spiritual diet and it as essential as physical nutrition. Just as no athlete can afford to skip practice, cut short training sessions or ignore their dietary needs, no athlete can ignore the need to communicate on a personal level with their Creator. Prayers give athletes a sense of self-worth, extra confidence and increased physical and spiritual power capable of improving performance in any sport. It does not matter at what level the athlete is competing. Prayer is as central and as valuable to a high school athlete as it is to one in college or playing at a professional level. Many athletes ask, “How do I pray?” “What should I pray for?” “Aren’t the athletes on the opposing team also praying for themselves and their team?” This prayer book answers those questions and gives the prayerful athlete a guide to communicating with God in all situations – in training, before games, in victory and in defeat. Many athletes in all kinds of sports and at all levels pray. It’s common to see baseball stars pointing to the sky after a home run or a successful pitching performance, acknowledging and dedicating their success to God. Some actually cross themselves with the business end of the bat as the walk to the plate. Soccer fans around the world are used to seeing the most talented players on the planet praying as they take the field or acknowledging God’s presence in their lives after scoring a goal. Ideally, these athletes are not praying specifically for victory; they are praying for the opportunity to perform at their best, to perform in safety and for the contest to be fair. Even skeptical secular sports psychologists recognize the remarkable benefits of prayer for athletes at all levels. In a study in of Olympic track and field competitors Jeong Keun Park of Seoul University, found a direct, indisputable connection between prayer and peak performance.