Anderson’s Applications:
Mountains attract me. They are majestic, glorious, mysterious, yet beckoning; like other parts of God’s creation, they speak of His nature, majesty and power. The Psalmist said, “I lift up my eyes to the hills–where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2) But for anyone who has hiked in the mountains or climbed peaks, mountains can fool you. Zebulon Pike was fooled by the peak that bears his name. Looking from a distance he thought he could reach the base, scale the summit, and return in a few days. He not only returned many days later, but failed to reach the top of Pikes Peak, struggling for several days in waist deep snow without food.

Nearly two centuries later in the Sangre de Cristo Range in Colorado, I led some high school young people up 14,000 foot Horn Peak during a Youth Leadership Conference I was directing. One of the young male counselors of whom I thought highly was leading a group behind us. Though they started later, he thought they might be able to catch up with us and made the unfortunate decision to try a “short cut.” If you do not know where you are going in the mountains, short cuts are disastrous. Four thickly forested ridges and rugged gulches many hours later, the exhausted young people and leader were totally discouraged, and sadly no closer to the peak toward which he was convinced he was making a “beeline.” Only they weren’t bees. In the meantime we had crested the summit, returned to camp, and I was worried about our missing hikers. As I was about to send out search parties, the bedraggled crew struggled in, putting my fears for their safety to rest. I knew where I was going; having climbed this peak numerous times since I was a boy. He did not.

What are we praying when we ask God to not lead us into temptation? The Bible tells us clearly that God does not tempt us to sin: “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.”(James 1:13-14) Pretty serious words with bad implications! So what are we asking from God when we pray, “Lead us not into temptation?” Precisely, that God keep us from being led, enticed, cajoled, seduced into any situation or circumstance where we are certain to be overcome by temptation; a situation from which we cannot escape due to our weakness. Our real problem is the same as that of the two men above: we seriously overestimate our ability, in this case, to resist evil or the evil one; and, we underestimate the great difficulty of situations we assume we can overcome. So we not only are neither quick nor faithful to pray this prayer, we are not genuinely convinced of the need for it!

Maybe C.S. Lewis can help us grasp it: “Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. . . A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means–the only complete realist!” (Mere Christianity) This Realist is the One who instructs you and me to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” He knows far better than us how powerful and evil temptation and sin are. We would do well to pay heed to His words.

Encouragement:
“Today, Lord, keep me from those temptations and sins which separate me from You. Do not let me be tempted beyond what I can bear.”

The lady had briskly left her seat about midway in the center section of the church pews and had taken her nine year old son by the hand and removed him from his seat on the front row. At first I thought her action meant on the spot punishment for the boy or at best his longest reprieve would be until she got him out the front door of the church.

My assumption concerning the woman’s intentions proved to be one hundred percent wrong. Her anger was not directed toward the boy she was now leading out the door of the sanctuary: it was toward me. The unmistaken evidence of this was not only the icy stare she had given me as she had glared at me behind the pulpit but also her verbal outburst as she walked out the door. “No one is going to talk to MY child like that!”

My words had triggered this incident in the packed church where I was speaking. I had performed several feats of strength and was about eight minutes into my message when it became absolutely necessary to speak to the group of boys on the first pew concerning their conduct. They were progressively getting out of hand and beginning to disturb the entire service. The apparent leader of the misbehavior was the lady’s son who was offended by my mild scolding, which went something like this: “Fellows, settle down. Remember you are in the Lord’s house.”

I am always reluctant to correct young people in the audience, because I know there is a possibility that it will be embarrassing for their parents or the audience as a whole. Regardless of my feelings in this matter, if we were to continue the worship service, my reprimand was necessary. When the woman retrieved her son and chastened me with such a fiery tongue lashing, I realized a direct rebuttal from me was essential in order to salvage the remainder of the service. I knew there was a possibility that the other boys’ parents might follow the outraged lady’s example, which would destroy the entire evening. After a two second prayer for guidance, I said, “We can protect and even rescue our children from situations brought on by their misbehavior when they are small and the transgression is minor, but, we cannot deliver them out of a prison when they grow up.”

Now came the critical time. What would be the congregation’s reaction to my remark? Would they all walk out? Could I expect a silent and “zombie-like” audience for the remainder of the service? No! I immediately heard several loud “amens” from all over the building and the rest of the evening was “spiritually enthusiastic,” to say the least.

As parents, we need to know how other adults see our children. Other adults are not blinded by the love and protective instinct we possess. By listening to the way teachers, coaches, spiritual leaders, and other interested adults see our boys and girls, we will be better equipped to guide and direct them.

By Paul Anderson – Strength Legend

No one really knows just how powerful the mind is. I have seen people, who practice the power of positive thinking day after day, and who give me some convincing reports concerning its value. In my own life I have experienced some of these things that are amazing, and especially baffling to the person who doesn’t realize what great power he has stored in his brain.

The athlete not only must condition his body through proper exercise and diet but also the force that controls the body must be properly trained. This can be proven day after day just by observing records. When Roger Bannister finally showed the world that the four minute mile could be broken, it seemed that many others who had been tottering on the brink of such an accomplishment, were then able to duplicate the Roger’s sterling performance. To achieve this goal, what did Roger Bannister possess that others did not? It had to be more than just his stride, endurance, and finishing speed. There must have been something more. It was his mental attitude and the discipline he took in preparing to achieve his goal.

The same goes for all those who lead the way in any sporting event. There must be something extra there, to give the participant that exceptional competitive spirit, and the idea that he can be the first one to make the accomplishment.

To achieve the ultimate, from the psychological part of weightlifting or using weights to reach potentials in other sports, I will say that first and foremost, we must have a very good image of ourselves. We must feel that nothing is impossible for us to accomplish in the sporting world. We then must set our goals, and not have them as mental blocks, which can easily happen, but to feel that we are very capable of reaching them. In an immediate way, our mental attitudes can work for or against us: whether we have a positive or negative attitude. If one approaches a barbell and has a negative attitude, surely he is not going to be successful in the lift. This is the same with approaching a golf ball or cocking the arm to throw a baseball or football. We must have a positive attitude about what we are going to do and accomplish. This is both true in training, actual competition, and in life.