Tag Archives: Eric Liddell

Presidential Prayer Team

Presidential Prayer Team; A.W. – Staying Focused

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The movie Chariots of Fire is the story of Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, two British runners who compete in the 1924 Summer Olympics. Early in the film, Abrahams loses a race to Liddell. His coach tells him he lost the race because he lost focus. He turned to look at the competition and it distracted him from his purpose.

This persuasion is not from Him who calls you.

Galatians 5:8

In the verses leading up to today’s scripture, Paul tells the Galatians the same thing. “You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7) False teachers were distracting the Galatians. They were placing emphasis on the law instead of grace. Paul reminded them this tangent was not from God, who called them to His purposes, but from the enemy.

God has a plan for you as well, but Satan will use distractions to keep you from His calling. Pray today for the Holy Spirit to help you remain focused on His truth and on your purposes in Him. Pray also for the nation’s leaders to seek God’s will for the country, and to desire to please Him rather than man.

Recommended Reading: Galatians 1:6-10

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – All for His Glory      

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Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. —1 Corinthians 10:31

One of my all-time favorite movies is Chariots of Fire, the story of Eric Liddell, a heroic, committed Christian from Scotland who competed in the 1924 Paris Olympiad, winning a gold and bronze medal in the 400-meter and 200-meter races, respectively.

During one scene in the movie, Eric’s sister Jenny, also a committed Christian, was upset that her brother was competing. She thought he was wasting his time and reminded Eric that God made him for Himself.

Eric told her, “Jenny, you’ve got to understand. I believe that God made me for a purpose — for China. But He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” As the story unfolds, he glorifies God because of the stand that he makes at the Olympics.

Whatever we do, we should seek to glorify God, whether it is academics, sports, business, or something else. We should do it in such a way as to bring glory to the God who made us. As 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 reminds us, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

You can serve God and glorify Him in whatever He has called you to do. Everyone has abilities that have been given to him or her by God. So you can glorify Him as a construction worker. You can glorify Him in the medical field. You can glorify Him in professional sports. You can glorify Him in graphic design. Whatever it is that you do, you can bring glory to Him.

Today’s devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Be Still

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Our Daily Bread

Psalm 46

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! —Psalm 46:10

Eric Liddell, memorialized in the film Chariots of Fire, won a gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics before going to China as a missionary. Some years later, with the outbreak of World War II, Liddell sent his family to safety in Canada, but he remained in China. Soon Liddell and other foreign missionaries were interned in a Japanese detainment camp. After months of captivity, he developed what doctors feared was a brain tumor.

Every Sunday afternoon a band would play near the hospital, so one day Liddell requested they play the hymn “Be Still, My Soul.” As he listened, I wonder if Eric pondered these words from the song: Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on / When we shall be forever with the Lord. / When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, / Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. / Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past / All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

That beautiful hymn, so comforting to Eric as he faced an illness that led to his death 3 days later, expresses a great reality of Scripture. In Psalm 46:10, David wrote, “Be still, and know that I am God.” In our darkest moments, we can rest, for our Lord conquered death on our behalf. Be still, and allow Him to calm your greatest fears. —Bill Crowder

Teach me, Lord, to still my soul before You. Help

me to bear patiently the trials I face, and to

leave everything to You to direct and provide.

I know that You will always remain faithful.

God’s whisper of comfort quiets the noise of our trials.

Bible in a year: Jeremiah 30-31; Philemon