The Power of Team

God typically works in plurals. He is not primarily interested in creating superstars, but in creating winning teams. Abraham had his fighting men, Jethro gave Moses his team of judges, Jesus had his disciples, Paul had his unsung heroes, and David had his mighty men. God works in teams, even when he puts a single individual as the front of that pack. But the leader would be nothing without the pack.

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Chronicles 11:10

These were the chiefs of David’s mighty warriors—they, together with all Israel, gave his kingship strong support to extend it over the whole land, as the Lord had promised.

Do you desire to do great things for God with your life? That is a good thing to want, and God may just grant it. That is why it is never a bad idea to ask God to use you for big things. And why not? God is in the prayer-answering business, and big, bold prayers don’t scare him at all. In fact, the largeness of our prayer honors our Heavenly Father in that it places great confidence in his sufficiency and generosity. One of my life verses, 2 Chronicles 16:9, tells us that God is actually looking for people with that kind of audacious faith in him:

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

But when you ask for big things, don’t forget that God typically works in plurals. He is not primarily interested in creating superstars, but in creating winning teams. Abraham had his fighting men, Jethro gave Moses his team of judges, Jesus had his disciples, Paul had his unsung heroes, and David had his mighty men. God works in teams, even when he puts a single individual as the front of that pack. But the leader would be nothing without the pack.

1 Chronicles 11 is a long list of names that have mostly been forgotten, but neither God, David, nor the author of the Chronicles—likely Ezra the priest—forgot these mighty men of valor and their super-human achievements. They were men of strength, fearlessness, skill and tremendous loyalty to David. David would not have made it to the throne without them, nor would he have maintained his rule over Israel, given the enemies who lined up to bring him down, without his mighty men.

So yes, desiring to accomplish great exploits for God with your one and only life is a noble thing. Praying for extraordinary courage, Holy Spirit infused skill, and divine favor is a good thing—and you should. But since God alone is the one who is to receive the credit for our accomplishments, and since he has a track record of doing great things through great teams, it would rather be a much better prayer to ask, “God, bring around me men and women of valor, skill and loyalty to help me accomplish something great for you.” Or perhaps the wiser prayer would be, “God, make me a person of valor, skill and loyalty, and place me on a team that you can use to do great exploits.”

God wants to use you to do great things. So start looking for the people he will place you with to do them!