COACH Toby Schwarz - Daily Coaches Prayer

COACH Toby Schwarz

The Enemy Within!!!

12/11/2025

“Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.” 1 Corinthians 16:13

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" is an infamous phrase that goes back centuries and has been used in various environments from military, to criminal, to business and beyond. The enemy is typically seen as an "external threat". Unfortunately, more often, the enemy may be an internal threat, the voice inside our head telling is that we aren't good enough, we aren't capable, we are bad or evil or broken and unredeemable. In other words, the enemy is actually the lies we tell to ourselves or the input/voices that we allow to have the most influence in us. The only way to defeat the enemy is to identify the enemy and then guard against and fight when appropriate.

Lord, help me to not be my worst enemy and help me to be aware of what I am telling myself and allow me to listen more to You.

Fighting Lions!!!!

12/10/2025

“Be strong, and let your heart be courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord.” Psalm 31:24

We often think of courage as being able to fight a lion with our bare hands. Or standing up to a bully. Courage is most often exhibited by most of us when we choose the hard path, make the tough decision, avoid the easy way or simply DO WHAT IS RIGHT! Courage happens when we say NO when all others are all saying YES or it is risking to say YES when most will say NO.

Lord, give me the strength and the courage to get uncomfortable, take risks and do what You want me to do.

Fear ... Less!

12/9/2025

“Therefore, we may boldly say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?'" Hebrews 13:6

There is a lot of fear out there. You name it, people are afraid of it. I don't need to provide the list. Simply take 10 seconds and you will come up with something that you are afraid of. Fear exists because we lack trust. We fear death because we don't know what will happen when we die. We fear the dark, because we don't know what is in the dark. We fear the future because we don't what may occur. We fear because we don't know. However, when we TRUST GOD that HE KNOWS, then we don't need to fear anything because He is always taking care of us, no matter what happens.

Lord, help me to trust more and be fearless.

Never too late to Change!

12/8/2025

"I thought about my ways and turned my steps back to your decrees. I hurried, not hesitating to keep your commands.” Psalm 119:59-60

Insanity is described as "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result" (Rita Mae Brown ... Not Albert Einstein.) Our problem is often not that we are not aware of our mistakes or foibles but our problem is that we fail to take actions and stop doing those mistakes. There are often two reasons for this. The first is obvious ... to change our ways is difficult and it is easier to continue to do the same things we have done, even when they are wrong. The age old problem of "Easy is better than Right". The second is less obvious. Pride gets in the way. The fact is, to change what we do, we first must ADMIT THAT WE WERE WRONG, and THAT is hard for most of us to do, especially when we have been doing that wrong thing for a long time.

Lord, thank You for giving me the opportunity to change my mind and move forward and to not be stuck in my failing ways.

Need a Spotter!

12/4/2025

“In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings." Romans 8:26

The Holy Spirit is the younger sibling of the Trinity. God and Jesus get a lot of play, as they should. But the Holy Spirit is often forgotten. The Holy Spirit is essential. The Holy Spirit indwells in us. The Holy Spirit takes care of us when we are too busy, lazy, stubborn or dumb to take care of what we should.

Lord, thank You for providing a "spotter" for me as I try to lift the weight of the world, when I am obviously not ready too.

Leaders Lead: Part One!

12/3/2025

"Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity." I Timothy 4:12

"Leading by example" is a cop out. If your answer to the question, "what is your leadership style" and your response is "I lead by example", then you probably aren't a leader. "Leading by example" is a huge part of leadership and if you aren't leading by example then you aren't an effective leader. But if all you do is lead by example but don't lead with words and love and influence, then you are not leading well. Ask yourself these two questions, "Who is following my example" and "Where am I taking them". If you don't have a good answer to both, you aren't leading anyone by example. You are just doing stuff.

Lord, help me to be a leader and to know where I am going and help me to bring people with me.

Moving Day!

12/2/2025

“…in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them…” 2 Corinthians 5:19a

I ran into this T-shirt while traveling this summer ..."Who Cares? Do Better! Move On!" Pretty simple but very accurate. We spend too much time thinking about what others think about our mistakes, and we, ourselves, spend too much time wallowing in guilt and shame instead of realizing that everyone makes mistakes and we must learn from them and move on. Thankfully, our God is a forgiving God, and He too wants us to "Do Better" and "Move On", because if was ask for forgiveness, He no longer cares about WHAT we did, because He CARES too much about us.

Lord, thank You for caring enough to not care that I make mistakes, as long as I confess and learn and move on to be better.

Gift Exchange!

12/1/2025

“A tranquil heart is life to the body, but jealousy is rottenness to the bones.” Proverbs 14:30

Imagine being at the annual "gift exchange" CHRISTmas party and you go to the pile of presents and grab a box with the following items ... "bitterness", "jealousy", "discontentment", "dissatisfaction". After you, the next person grabs a box with ... "joy", "contentment", "gratitude", "hope", "thankfulness". Do you think that person will exchange their gift for yours? You may think the answer is obvious but stop and think about how often people make that trade every single day.

Lord, help me to choose a heart of contentment and gratitude and not a heart of want and jealousy.

Tag ... You Are ... An Idiot!!

11/25/2025

"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8a

Imagine that you have a friend and the friend likes someone and tells you how much that they like that someone and then one day, you notice that particular someone walking closer to your friend and the next thing you know, your friend runs away from that someone and that someone, for some reason, chases your friend, but your friend runs faster away from that someone. What would you think of your friend in that situation?

Lord, help me to see that You are running to me with open arms and help me to stop running away.

Want More???!!!!

11/24/2025

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33

There seems to be a lot of people feeling as if they don't have much going on and that they want MORE! After talking with them, it appears that MORE is not what they need. They need DIFFERENT. When we find ourselves unsatisfied and wanting more, we should first examine whether we are seeking the right things. And when we do seek what is right, we will find that we will be given more than we can imagine.

Lord, thank You for all that I have and help me to want more of You and more of what You want.