My favorite team, the San Francisco 49ers, lost the Super Bowl today; I was disappointed, but not like I lost a big fish I was fighting or anything like that. In most competitions I am in, I have some part to play to determine the winner, but in the Super Bowl, I had zero influence on the outcome. I was simply a spectator watching the game on TV, hoping my team would win. It is over now, and I can move on to basketball, both College and NBA. I have favorites in both areas, but it doesn’t take much for me to switch loyalties, so I don’t need counseling when my favorite team loses. I used to be involved in playing basketball and softball, shooting my bow competitively, playing baseball in College, running in a lot of long-distance races, and competing in golf, though I never won. The most competitive events I am involved in now are playing poker and pinochle and catching the biggest or most fish.

The competitive nature I have had most of my life is now with myself in accomplishing my goals. I have several adversaries that I compete against; one is my flesh; it is what I live in. My flesh is lazy, hates to change, and despises doing anything hard or sacrificing. My flesh is totally against any and all of my goals, and it puts up quite a battle with my will to accomplish them.

”My second adversary is the devil who wants me to be lukewarm in my service to Christ as Lord of my life, and he wants me to sin a lot, to be selfish, prideful, angry, undisciplined, and grumpy. He has assigned demons to follow me around and tempt me 24/7.

I am determined to win the battle between me and my flesh and between me and the devil. My goals are my tools for winning; when I accomplish my goals, I win; when I don’t, I lose, and I want to win.