What is a Fantasy Football Devotional? A few years ago, the pastors and some of the members of our Fantasy Football league started by writing one Fantasy Football devotional a week. The goal was to use sports, scriptures, and this crazy fantasy league to help draw people closer to God and each other. Thanks to Steve Urbina, Kim Curry, and Joe Aguilar, there are a few devotionals that are so good we try to share them each year. But what is a devotional? For our purposes, a devotional is a spiritual reflection rooted in God’s word.

With that simple definition in mind, we are going to ask our Fantasy Managers - and maybe even you sometime, to share a devotional that reflects on a favorite passage, a brief story of how you became a believer, or an observation about how God is working in our world. If you happen to be fantasy manager then “voila!”, you have written a Fantasy Football Devotional.

I’ll start:

A favorite passage of mine is Psalm 33:3:

Sing to him a new song;

play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Obviously I love singing new songs and playing skillfully, but I’ve recently felt led to shout more in public worship - especially when the music says, “I feel like shouting.” There are many reasons not to shout: it takes energy, it’s embarrassing, people might question your sanity, and you may not be comfortable doing it. But the Psalmist doesn’t say “shout for joy if you are comfortable. Shout for joy if you feel like it. Shout for joy only when no one is around.” It doesn’t even say, “shout with joy.” The command is simply, “Shout for Joy.” To shout for joy, you only need an understanding of the joy found in Christ.

I have attended many football games in my life. People there have no problem shouting for their team when they win and when they lose. They shout because they are in favor of their team. Shouldn’t we, God’s people who have the ultimate victory in Jesus, be eager to shout for joy? We should shout because we are in favor of the joy we have in Jesus.

Nehemiah reminds God’s people that “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). In light of this joy-driven strength, I challenge you each day to remember all that God has done for you and then shout for joy…maybe you can even try Shouting Like No One is Watching some Sunday when we sing, “Glory Glory God is Able”!

Pastor Ray is the Manager of Elisha’s Bears and spends most Sundays doing his best to sing new songs and play skillfully. For his Fantasy Football Team name, he is also considering Breece’s Reeses, Elijah’s Dry-Bones, and Najee by Nature. All suggestions will be considered in the comments below…