I know I promised this post last week, but life happened. I am sorry for the delay.
I watched the Christian movie Facing the Giants years ago and I remember enjoying it the same way I enjoy useless rom coms which you don’t hate while watching them but which you don’t re-watch a million times. We ended up watching it at youth a couple weeks ago though and I was really convicted and I sobbed and have thought about it ever since. If you can, I really recommend you watch it. Just look past the low budget a little bit. Here are my top lessons from Facing the Giants.
Pray without ceasing
Everything was going wrong at the beginning of the movie. They were struggling to fall pregnant, the car was breaking down, the house stank, the football team was losing. Not a single positive. Up to this point Coach Taylor was not a great example of a Christian. And then he does something I have never done.
He spent the whole night reading the Bible and praying.
He turned to God in his desperation. He changed his ways and he started looking to God. Nothing really changed at first yet everything was different. His focus, his priority changed.
Why do we love God
At the very beginning he asks his wife,
‘If God never gives us children, will you still love Him?’
I have thought of this sentence over and over and over again. Why do I love God? We say it is because of who he is and that is the correct Sunday School answer. But is it true? When we do not get our deepest desires, do we still love him? Purely for who he is.
We can go further when we don’t look where we are going
As he is changing his policies one of his most influential players, Brock is not on board with the plan. He is defeated already, he sees no point in trying. The coach makes him put another player on his back, blindfolds him and makes him start to crawl across the field on his hands and feet. Brock wants to give up but Coach Taylor keeps encouraging him and when he finally collapses he is in the end zone.
When he couldn’t see where he was going, he gave his best from within and it was more than he dreamed possible.
Praise Him in the wins and losses
During the football season the team pray and praise God every time they win. Then they lose a game. Although they are devastated, they bend the knee and praise God. They take the good with the bad, praising God for both blessings and trials.
No matter what, they gave Him the glory.
Often we praise him for the good and ask why in the bad. We do not praise him for our trials.
4 more downs
In the final game the players are exhausted. They have given their utmost best, they have played their hearts out and they are done. They feel it is too much, the opponents too strong, the burden too heavy. The coach asks for 4 more downs. And they give them. They keep going when they thought they couldn’t.
Sometimes God asks us to go on longer than we think we can. But he gives the grace and strength for those last 4 downs.
I have re examined my life in light of all these things and I am so grateful I have people who model these to me, those whose example I can follow. I pray that as we face our giants that we would remember to look to God, to dig deep and to rely on HIM.