What is Inner Game?

The first time I read that term I immediately connected with it.

In 1974 W. Timothy Galloway wrote a book called "The Inner Game of Tennis". What he introduced was a revolutionary program for overcoming the self-doubt, nervousness, and lapses of concentration that can keep a player from winning.”

As I continued to study it out, I found a more recent version by  Aaron Lynn who defines Inner Game as:  “…how you think about the world. It is your purpose, identity, values, beliefs, skills and environment.”

Both the 1974 version and the more recent version spoke to me because it was obvious my "inner game" was extremely weak.

Flashback to 6 years ago-

I had just relocated to a new city in the wake of the death of both of my parents. I thought I was handling the grief- until it was obvious I wasn’t.

What I can recall is a foggy period of not working, my utilities being disconnected and my car getting repossessed.

How did this happen to me? To me??? I had jumped through what I thought were all of the right hoops of life: I believed in Jesus, I’d graduated from college, I went to the gym, and did my best to be kind and self-reliant...to recycle.  And yet there I was with a life that was a complete mess. 

Take Your Power Back

Can you relate? You believe in Jesus. You love God and yet life isn’t really working like you thought it would.

The Word tells us that God did not give us a spirit of fear; but power, love and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). Where were mine?

What I was experiencing at the time was an ongoing self-doubt and a general anxiety, a nervousness that was always just under the surface. And then what about lapses in concentration? I could honestly say I was easily distracted and went from idea to idea without seeing those ideas all the way through. I was flaky.

I became obsessed with this Power, Love and Self-Discipline that God had already given me. I learned that there is a Divine Inheritance that God has given each one of His children, but the training is up to me to grow that Divine Inheritance within myself. That Divine Inheritance is the attitude, the fortitude, the diligence to give birth to what God has planted in me, but it takes training. It has to be worked out.

I learned that I have a Soul, an unseen inner being. It’s not some vague, esoteric thing. I learned that my Soul was fractured and that God was the only one who could restore it (Psalm 23:3). I learned that the Soul is the inner soil of my life. It grows what I think about, talk about and believe. I’m not just a human being, but a New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), a Supernatural hybrid in Christ. 

As I’ve continued to stay connected to God and study I’ve learned the skills of Faith and how to take control of my thoughts daily. It's through the Skills of Faith that I've begun to access that Love, Power and Self-Discipline that I need to succeed, to win in life.

My mind has been renewed (Romans 12:2) and God has Restored my Soul. The lens of my life is now one of Divine optimism and peace. My finances and my emotional stability continue to stabilize and strengthen, and I can’t remember the last time I stayed depressed.

Your 2.0

So this is your 2.0. Your opportunity to build on the best of what’s gone before you.  To go from religion to relationship. From hearing to having. From Saved to Free. Jesus is a Door. (John 10:9)

Let’s walk through it.

For more foundational content check out the book: https://a.co/d/9JelM0S