COACH Toby Schwarz - Daily Coaches Prayer

COACH Toby Schwarz

NOT to Be Loved!

7/7/2025

“Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.” 1 John 3:13014

God commands us to Love Him and He also commands us to love others. There is no commandment to be loved by others. When our goal is to be loved by others, our actions are often wrong and self serving. That does not mean that our goal is to be hated by others, but when our goal is to be "liked" or we avoid conflict in order to not be disliked, then we are not loving others the way God wants us to love others.

Lord, help me to avoid loving myself as the first and only commandment.

First Things First!

7/3/2025

“…First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:24

First, go and complain to everyone you know for as long as you can trap them to listen to you, even though they don't want to and don't care about your immature drama, and do that for about 5 years and build up a ton of resentment and bitterness and anger toward that person, which probably spills over to other relationships and ends up eating at you and possibly defining you as a bitter and angry person.

Lord, help me to show love and grace and forgiveness and have the courage to face difficult relationships head on with truth to the specific person so that I don't end up like everyone else who avoids the solution for something that isn't a solution.

Why???!!

7/2/2025

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

Why is my life not going according to "my plan"? Why do I seem to be lost and not getting what I feel I deserve? Why does my life suck? Maybe because the problem is that it is "my plan" and not "His plan".

Lord, help me to realize that when I seek You, I receive more than what I deserve and when I seek me, I get exactly what I deserve and that isn't a good thing.

Toaster!

7/1/2025

“Remain in me, and I in you. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.” John 15:4-5

You would never expect to make toast in a toaster that is not plugged in to a power source. Life is much more difficult than making toast. So why do we think we can maneuver through life without being plugged in to God?

Lord, Thank You for allowing me to plug in to You and please help me to not unplug myself!

Leave It To the PRofessionals!

6/30/2025

“Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me;” Romans 12:19

I am not a great delegator. For one, I like to be in control. Secondly, I always think I can do it better myself. But third and sometimes more importantly, I never want to burden someone with either the task or even worse, the negative impact that the failure of the task may produce on someone else. I would much rather do it myself and then if it is done poorly, I am the only one who is hurt (or to blame). However, God is really good at vengeance AND He has requested to do it on my behalf, so I have chosen to "not be bitter, but to be better" and better for me is to leave vengeance to the Professional. And He is really good at it.

Lord, thank You that I don't have to worry about "paybacks" or "revenge" or "getting even", and I can move on and be productive instead.

Wait To Trust!

6/27/2025

“The person who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence indeed is the LORD, is blessed.” Jeremiah 17:7

Translations of the Bible often interchange the word "trust" with "wait". Trusting has always been difficult because it requires us to wait. Waiting is more difficult now than ever because we are not skilled at waiting. Everything in society actually works against an ability to wait. That is why trusting is even more important today than ever.

Lord, help me to trust in You as I am waiting for whatever is bothering me at the moment.

The Easy Life!

6/26/2025

“…the proven character of your faith — more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire…” 1 Peter 1:7

The biggest myth in life is that life is meant to be easy. An easy life is a boring life. An easy life is a meaningless life. An easy life is a life without challenges and trials and without opportunities to grow and improve. Gold needs fire. Diamonds need pressure. People need problems.

Lord, help me to go into my day with "discomfort" being the reality and "comfort" being an unexpected blessing.

Prayerful or Prayfail?!

6/25/2025

“Now to him who can do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us – to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

I am admittedly a bad prayer. I am somewhat notorious for responding poorly when people say things like, "Will you please pray for ..." with a honest response of "I will try". I do have a practice of praying AT THAT MOMENT when people ask for prayer but I know my faults and one is remembering to pray for people and their things at a later time. But I also fail to pray for "my things". I am pretty good at thanking God but asking God is a challenge sometimes. Thankfully, God is better than me at everything, including going beyond what I ask for and even beyond what I fail to ask for.

Lord, thank You for answering my prayers but for also taking care of me when I fail to even ask.

Lost and Found!

6/13/2025

“Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.” Ephesians 4:15-15

Lost in the woods? Either follow the water down stream and it will soon turn into a river and then a larger water mass and then you will eventually find civilization. Or carry a compass.

Lord, thank You for being my Compass in a world that is lost.

What Now?!

6/11/2025

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

We will experience loss. Our world will be turned upside down. Many of our expectations will not be met and what we often hope and dream for will not come to fruition. It is not IF but WHEN. This is not a pessimistic view of life but a realistic one. So now ... where do we find comfort?

Lord, thank You for providing the comfort WHEN life doesn't go as I had planned.