WEEK 21 | Ask and Keep on Asking, Knock and Keep on Knocking

I am big on teaching my athletes how to advocate for themselves. At every parent meeting, I tell our families that it is important for athletes to learn how to use their voice and ask questions like, "How can I earn more playing time?" and, "What do I need to do to get better?"

Asking questions is good for you and good for your career.

The research shows that asking more questions builds emotional intelligence, leading to better soft skills - key in leadership at work and interpersonal relationship building (Forbes).

And asking questions is also Biblical.

In Matthew chapter 7, while giving his famous Sermon on the Mount speech to his disciples, Jesus said:

7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

It is important that we ask for the things that we want. I once heard a rich and famous television host say, “Ask for everything. Start asking God for big stuff and stop wasting God’s time with little stuff. Don’t block your own blessings by not asking and getting in the way of the answers. This is the same God that made heaven and earth in 6 days. God does big stuff. Ask God for something big.”

Asking the right questions start a unique mental and emotional process. Define what you want and describe what you want. Goals become like a magnet – they pull you in certain directions, and the better you describe them, the more they pull.

Learn how to start asking the right questions. Learn how to ask your coach what you can do better and how you can earn more playing time.

Figure out what you really want in sports and in life. Define it. Write it down. Describe it. Then pray about it. Pray every day. Then work for it. Nothing great comes without work. Work hard for what you want, every day. Work hard knowing that God is working with you too.

THIS WEEK

1 – Write down 1 goal that you have for yourself. The more detail that you add to it, the better. Then pray about it.

2 – Write down 3 things or habits that you need to have to work towards that goal. Then pray about it.

3 – Think about or write down something that will keep you from reaching that goal. Then pray about it. 

4 – Think about or write down what you will do to overcome that barrier and not let it keep you from reaching that goal. Then pray about it.

Our Father. Thank you for all of the blessings that you have given me. I have big goals, big hopes, and big dreams, but I know that you will help me reach them all if I have faith in you, if I work hard, and if I pray about them. I pray that you help me reach all of my goals. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Amen.

 For a Google doc version, click here: Ask and Keep on Asking.