Prayer For Injured Athlete
Heavenly Father, you promised that you would not abandon me. I have a really tough game today, and I am nervous. Our opponents are very good, and we need to win this game. Help the team work well and communicate with each other. Help us hit our mark and not make mistakes. Calm or minds so we can think clearly and play our best. Amen.
Lord, my Savior, it is you who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. You make my feet like the feet of a deer. You enable me to stand on heights. You train my hands for battle. My arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me. You stoop down to make me great. You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn. Thank you for all you have given me. Amen.
God, let me play well but fairly.
Let competition make me strong but never hostile.
Forbid me to rejoice in the adversity of others.
See me not when I am cheered, but when I bend to help my opponent up.
If I know victory, allow me to be happy;
if I am denied, keep me from envy.
Remind me that sports are just games.
Help me to learn something that matters once the game is over.
And if through athletics I set an example, let it be a good one.
Dear God, thank you for giving me life and my athletic abilities. Help me to play well, to use my talents to the fullest. Help me to use them as gifts from you. Be with me when I need to play hurt, when I have to deal with the pain of injury, disappointment or losing. Most of all, help me never to quit in my efforts to be open to you. For I believe your full coming into my life is the way to real life, in all I do. I believe it is the way of my becoming the truly human person you destined me to be. Amen.
I thank you O God
for giving me a body
which is fit and strong,
and for making me able to use it well.
In my training,
help me never to shrink the discipline which I know that I need
and that I ought to accept.
In my leisure and in my pleasure,
help me never to allow myself any indulgence
which would make me less fit than I ought to be.
When I compete with others,
help me, win or lose, to play fair.
When I win,
keep me from boasting;
When I lose,
keep me from making excuses.
Keep me from being conceited when I succeed,
and from being sulky when I fail.
And help me always with good will
congratulate a better man who beat me.
Help me so to live
that I will always have a healthy body, and a healthy mind.
This I ask for Your love's sake.
Amen.
All-powerful Lord, help me to play the game with all my energy and strength. Help me keep my sense of humor during the stress of the game, and the grace to follow the rules. Settle my temper so that I treat everyone with courtesy. Fill me with endurance to keep going with all my energy all the way to the end of the game. Amen.
All-knowing Savior, the training and rigor is not fun. It is tough and I am not enjoying it. Help me heart to fully realize that the training will yield bountiful fruit. Strengthen my weak hands and feeble knees. Make my path straight and give me the perseverance and grace to complete my training with all my effort and with a good attitude. Amen.
Sweet and loving Lord, I am on my knees before you today, asking for your protection over everyone that comes to see my game. Please keep them all safe on their way to my game, during my game, and on their way home from the game. Keep them from injury, sickness, or harm of any kind. In your name, I pray. Amen.