Don’t Play By Yourself

No one experiences success alone. This is true in sports and life. There are always people behind the scenes who help successful people to reach their full potential. Now, you may be thinking that this is true of unsuccessful people too, and you would be right. The difference between the two groups lies in the character of those who support them.

Character counts and the character of those who are your friends and supporters will directly impact your success in life. If you want to see what failure looks like all you have to do is view the Supermarket Tabloids or the gossip columns on the Web. If you want to see success look at who Champions thank when they are being interviewed. Most often it is a group of people that you and I have never heard of but who have supported that Champion, especially in times of adversity.

An example of a successful team that supported a “Key Man”, is seen in the Bible. There was a guy named Daniel who had three friends that always supported him. In fact while all of them were still in training the king who had kidnapped them had a dream that he could not remember but that he wanted interpreted. The king said that if his dream was not identified and interpreted that he would kill all of the “wise men,” including Daniel and his friends.

The first thing that Daniel did was go to his three friends, his support team, and tell them to pray that God would reveal the dream and its interpretation. (Daniel 2:17-19) Now the three friends, (who later would have a fiery furnace experience) encouraged Daniel and supported him during this challenging time. Their support allowed Daniel the time to seek God and receive the dream from God and its interpretation. In the end the king was amazed, the lives of the wise men were saved, his friends benefited and Daniel was placed in an important position right next to the king.

Now this king, whose name was Nebuchadnezzar, was the type of guy who liked to do things by himself. People feared him and he ruled without questions. He was like that schoolyard bully who pushed everyone around. He thought that he needed no one, not even the LORD, and that he could do everything by himself. In the end all of the king’s “friends” abandoned him and he was left alone struggling with madness. (Daniel 4:33) Because this king liked to “play by himself” he was left vulnerable and weak.  By the way, we are told that Daniel reached out to him and protected King Nebuchadnezzar from his enemies.

These examples illustrate how important it is to have good, godly people of character around us. That is, if we want to be truly successful. If you still doubt the need for a team just look at any UFC Champion. After the fight there are always a group of common looking folks who have made that guy or gal a Champion. They would never be a Champion without their team.

It is critical that we are intentional about gathering around us key people who will help us become Champions for Christ. When I understood the need to have this type of team I wrote out a list. I contacted a number of my friends who “fit” the criteria that I had for my team. Some of them gracefully declined, which was hard. But some of them agreed to be key members of my team. Those three people have be a source of great wisdom, strength, challenge and character. So who is on your team? Do they know that they are on your team? They should. We all need people of godly character who will support us so that we can rise up and become the Champions that God has intended us to be.