As college football crowns a national champion and the NFL playoffs start to heat up, I reflect on what could have been for my football career. But in my one year of playing flag football in elementary school, my sole position on offense was being in the trenches of the offensive line. My two jobs were to help protect the quarterback from getting his flag and when we ran the ball, I had to try and create a hole for the running back to get pass the defensive line for a long run. Luckily, we had a super speedy running back who made a small hole in the line look like the parting of the Red Sea.

For all of us in the upcoming year of 2020, let’s look at Mark 2: 2-5 and take up the challenge of opening holes for people to come to Jesus. In this story, there were 4 men who were with a friend that needed to get to Jesus. In football terms, they were the blockers and the runner. These friends created an opening to Jesus.

The passage reads, “So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and he was speaking the word to them. They came to him bringing a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Later on, Jesus healed this paralyzed man and gave him the ability to walk. Those 4 friends opened a way for their friend to meet Jesus and in the process, a lot more things happened that they could never have predicted.

In your life, there are people who are close to you that you want to come and know Jesus. Someone who needs what only Jesus, our Savior, can do for them. The stakes are way higher than doing good in a football game. This is the difference between eternal life and death. We believe that God is sovereign and already knows those that He will call and bring to His son, Jesus. Sometimes we forget that God may be using us, His children, to bring others into a relationship with Jesus.

Paul gives us a three-open prayer that we should be praying every day in this upcoming year so that we don’t miss out on opportunities to help people come to Jesus. In Colossians 4: 3-4, it reads, “At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains, so that I may make it known as I should.”

The first part of the three-open prayer, prayed with the name of a lost person you care about, “Lord, please open a door.” Praying for a natural opportunity to tell this person about Jesus. The second part, “Lord, open their heart.” In other words, “Lord, make them ready to hear about You.” The third part, “Lord, open my mouth when You open the door.” Remember, we don’t have to add to this prayer, “if it is Your will, Lord” because it is His will.

As you prepare for these openings that God will make as He answers your prayers, we need to be ready to share the difference that Jesus makes in real life for us. That’s what people want to know. What does Jesus change? What difference does having a Savior make for you in your lonely times, or your depressing times? How are you different as a parent, or a husband or wife? How does Jesus affect meeting the challenges of being single, in facing tragedy and pain? Are you ready to tell someone the difference that Jesus makes for you? And then to help them know how Jesus has broken the wall of sin that keeps us separated by God through what Jesus did for them on the cross.

In this upcoming year, let’s pray together the three-open prayer and see first-hand as God brings many people to a life-changing relationship with Jesus. Ten years from now, we will probably forget about the hole opening up that won the Super Bowl in 2020. But when we see God bring dead people to life, these are the types of openings that we will remember and talk about for years to come as we give all praise and glory to God.