Start Circling!

Are our prayers like an awkward conversation? 

Like a list of wants needs and desires?

Using the Bible, and our hopes & dreams for the future should help to create great dialogue with God!

I often use creation as part of my morning dialogue with God.  When I walk my puppies in the morning it is hard not to acknowledge the majesty of his creation!  

What an amazing home God created for us!

We are so fortunate to have a personal savior that we can and should 

have personal conversations with.

He loves us and wants a personal relationship with us!

I need to spend more time in my Bible not only to circle his promises 

but to know and understand him on a more personal level.

Persistence Quotient

Persistence Quotient

Does your prayer life reflect persistence?

I know for me it does not always reflect persistence.  

My prayer life is strongly affected by my impatience.

I grow tired of waiting and I want the issue resolved. . . . NOW.

So I sometimes stop praying about the issue and go into my fix-it mode.  

This usually backfires on me.  I need to practice persistence in my prayer life.

Do you grow impatient or are you persistent in your prayer life?

Pray with persistence!  Remember it is never to late for God to answer your prayer.  Just remember the answer may not be exactly what you were hoping for or what you expect!

Pray Hard!

Pray Hard

Do we sometimes not pray for for certain things because we know that God already knows our struggles and we do not want to always be asking/pleading?

Sometimes I gloss over things in prayer because I know God knows my needs and I do not want to always be asking for the same thing. . . . over and over and over again.

If we were living in biblical times and we could literally take our problems to Jesus would we

Crash a party - like the prostitute?

Climb a tree - like Zacchaeus?

Cut an hole in someones ceiling like the men who were seeking healing for their loved one?

Why do we not view Jesus as approachable as during Biblical times?  Prayer can be the equivalent of climbing the tree, crashing a party or cutting a hole is someones ceiling.  We just need to Pray hard.  Pray with passion!  Pray like your life or the life of a loved one depends on it.

A Letter to God

A Letter to God

"Sometimes the power of prayer is the power to carry on.  

It doesn't always change your circumstances, but it gives you the strength to walk through them."

It seems like God has carried me so many times.  I definitely need his strength.

There have been times that I have been on my knees in the shower crying literally and pleading with God to help me with my burden.

He has always lifted me, maybe not always giving me the result I was hoping for but he is always there for me emotionally.  Turning my problems over to God has always brought me peace and the strength to move forward.  

The other thing I thought about while reading the section titled "A letter to God" is that sometimes when I am struggling to talk to someone about a difficult situation, I will write a letter to make my thoughts more clear, instead of talking and putting my foot in my mouth.

I loved the idea of writing a letter to God with our hopes and dreams, then praising God daily.

Sizing up God

Sizing up God

God asks "Is there a limit to my power?"

Are our problems bigger than God?  

We should be praying with the knowledge that God has no limit to his power.

He can part the sea

Feed 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish

Provided quail for 600,000 Isrealites 

Fell the walls of Jericho

Raised Lazarus

Turned water to wine

Healing of the blind

Birth of Jesus

and lets not forget the Resurrection!

His power has no limits!  

He can answer all of our prayers.  

The question is will he, and if so when will he.

I love the idea of praying with holy confidence!

Many Prayer Circles

Prayer Circles

I am going to backtrack to earlier in these chapters.

Page 59 had a paragraph that made me think about how many prayer circles that each of us may have.

What are your prayer circles?

• Children
• Parents
• Health
• Provisions
• Reconciliation
• Salvation
• Friends Needs
• Long Term Plans

Are we praying for each of the above

• Boldly?
• Specifically?
• Through?
• Consistently?
• with Praise?
• with Faith?
• with Patience?
• Regularly?
• with Praise?

My prayer life is definitely changing based on what I am learning.  I am trying more consistently to discern Gods desires for me from my own personal desires.    Our God is such an amazing God!  I am so thankful for each of you who is participating in this study and I hope that this study is helping each of you grow in your prayer life!

Praystorm

Praystorm

I am sure that most of us have done a plan for the future at some point.  I know that I did one while I was in high school.  I wish that I had saved a copy of it.  I am also sure that at this point in my life I would be very amused by what my teenage self thought was a good plan!

"If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans."

As an adult I most likely would look at the plans I had as a teenager and see how small my plans were.

As an adult I have more wisdom and understanding then I did as a teenager.  

What would God think of our long term plans?

Do our plans have God at the forefront or ourselves?

  

God is so much wiser and has foresight that we do not possess.  

We can not even begin to imagine the amazing plans he has in store for us!

Keep planning, but pray like your plan depends on God, because it does!

Prayer Promise

Prayer Promise

I think this section really should have been titled "Patience".

Patience is something that most of us struggle with.

We pray for Gods provisions and when he does not answer us as quickly as we would like, 

we set out to fix the situation ourselves.  

We want what we want when we want it.

I have grown inpatient many many times waiting on Gods answer to prayer.  

It can be so difficult waiting, so we give up praying and try to do it ourselves.  

Everything is so much better in Gods time!

Sometimes what seems like a no is really a not yet. . . BE PATIENT!

This is Crazy!

Defining Decisions create Defining Moments!

"You are only one defining decision away from a totally different life."

This section really spoke to me.  So often I let how get in the way of what 

I feel God has called me to do.

How will I make it happen versus God will do it through me.  This mindset leaves me feeling inadequate.  I need to be reminded sometimes that God does not call the qualified.  He qualifies the called!

How many awesome experiences have I missed because Gods calling 

• is not in my character and it seems like people would think I was crazy?
• does not seem like something I can do?
• is not something that I have time to complete?

We all have excuses.  Just let God work through you!

Define each of your decisions for Gods calling.

Big Dreams

Big Dreams

Nothing honors God more than a big dream that is way beyond our ability to accomplish.  

Why?

Because there is no way we can take credit for it!

Would we risk looking foolish by drawing a prayer circle and committing to it?

I had never considered that it may have seemed foolish for David to take on Goliath, 

or Peter to step out of the boat. . . . I always was just impressed with their faith 

and their willingness to trust God entirely.

"In order to experience a miracle, you have to take a risk."

Praise Through

Praise Through

"true faith celebrates before the miracle happens, as if the miracle has already happened, because you know that you know that God is going to deliver on His promise."

I struggled a little with the above statement.  It does not seem like we should assume that God is going to give us what we are praying for.  Then I realized that the end of that statement was "on his promise."    

Has God put a promise on your heart?  If he has then you need to celebrate it!  

I have been praying a prayer circle and this section has made me focus more on praising God for what he has done and what he will do versus only prayer.  

God deserves our praise for so many things!  

Sometimes our personal difficulties cloud our vision and keep us from giving praise.

Praise is mentioned about 250 times in the bible.  Close to the same amount as prayer is mentioned.  That is probably a pretty good indicator of how important praise is.

"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: 

be thankful unto him, and bless his name."  Psalms 100:4

"Praise the Lord. . . For His merciful kindness is great toward us, 

and the truth of the Lord endures forever" Psalms 117:1-2

"Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness" Psalms 150:2

"I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things." Isiah 25:1

"Praise the Lord! For He has delivered the life of the poor from the hand of evildoers" Jeremiah 20:13

"And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God" Luke 18:43.

We all need to keep circling our Jericho with prayer and with praise!

Praying for versus Praying through

Praying for versus Praying Through

When was the last time each of us was on our face with God?  

Crying, Weeping, Knowing that our only hope is with Christ. 

What a total act of submission to Christ, to be prostrate before him, placing all of our hopes, dreams, desires and needs in his hands!  

So frequently when I pray I am sitting in a comfortable chair.  I need to spend more time with Christ on my knees or on my face.  

"Sometimes faith seems like a denial of reality, but that's because we're holding on to a reality that is more real than the reality we can perceive with our five senses"  I loved this sentence.  It reminded me that Gods plan for us is so much better than we could imagine!

The other side of praying through is know that you may not receive what you are praying for.  We also need to remember to praise God even when we do not receive exactly what we were praying for.  He has a much bigger plan for us than we can imagine   

Praying Through

Praying Through

Elizabeth J Dabney

What an amazing story about commitment and consistency to prayer!
I did some research on her and she did even more to build Gods kingdom!
More information on Elizabeth Dabney
I read the preview of her book, "What it means to Pray Through" by Elizabeth Dabney.  Who would have ever thought based on the information in "The Circle Maker" that she did not want to be a preachers wife!
I loved the explanation of praying through being about consistency and intensity.  It is more than words, it is raw emotions.
Prayers - BOLD, SPECIFIC and with INTENSITY!
You are only one prayer away from a miracle.

The Jericho Miracle part 2

Jesus at the Walls to Jericho

Jesus Heals 2 Blind Men at Jericho Wall

If you met Jesus today how would each of us reply to his question "What do you want me to do for you?"
I have thought about this question alot today.  Would the things on your list be God glorifying?
Healing?
Salvation?
Reconciliation?
Provision?
These are probably the 4 most basic things that each of us seek from Jesus.
If Jesus asked us "What do you want me to do for you?" would our answers be BOLD and SPECIFIC?

Honi was so specific in his prayer.  He prayed for rain and when he received a drizzle, he became more specific with his pray stating he wanted rain to fill the cisterns, and when he received a extremely heavy rain he became even more specific that he was seeking the rain of Gods favor, blessing and graciousness.

Heal _(name)_ who has _(name of illness)_
Salvation for my friend _ (Name)_
Reconciliation for _(name)_ and his wife _(name)_
Provision for __(name)__ missions trip to __(location)__

I think I am fairly specific when I pray, but I also say "If it is your will".  I think I say this out of concern that God may not give me the miracle I am seeking.
I know that God can perform miracles, so I should be asking boldly, specifically and with confidence.

The Jericho Miracle

The Jericho Miracle

Welcome back everyone!  I hope you all had an amazing weekend!  We will be reading Chapter 3 and 4 this week.  Please feel free to comment at the bottom of the posts!  We would love to hear from all of you that are reading this book with us, whether you are in our Sunday School Class or just happened upon this blog.

When I took the time to really absorb the story of Jericho it left me in awe!  Can you imagine walking around this 12 acre city, personally unprepared for battle, relying on Christ versus Self?   This must have seemed insurmountable to the Israelite's.  But yet they did as God had instructed.  They walked around the massive structure.  They did exactly what God instructed.  They did not decide that they wanted to walk twice daily so they would not have to walk so much on the final day.  They just followed Gods instructions.  

How often do we start to follow Gods leading but then we grow impatient waiting for the results and deviate from what we are called to do?

Can you imagine how amazing it must have been to see the walls of this city collapse?

What is your Jericho?  

What dream does God want you to pursue? 

What miracle are you seeking?

NOTHING is to big for God!

Circle Makers part 3

All Bets Are Off

I loved this quote "We pray out of our ignorance, but God answers out of His omniscience.  We pray out of our impotence, but God answers out of his Omnipotence.  God has the ability to answer the prayers we should have prayed but lacked the knowledge or ability to even ask."

This made me wonder what people say about how we should pray. . . . so being in the age of Google. . . I performed a search for  "how to pray".  Obviously there are many many many schools of thought.  Actually there were 78,900,000 results to this search.  There are many differing opinions and many different formulas.  

A few weeks ago I was discussing this with a friend and she said something that I felt would make each of us feel our prayers are more personal.  Here is what she suggested. . . 

Pretend you are in one of your favorite places.

You are looking off in the distance

You see your savior approaching

You walk toward him as he is coming toward you

When you reach him, you share you heart, your concerns, your fears.  

You turn them over to him. 

Make your prayer life a personal relationship. . . .not a formula.

I loved the imagery and I have used this technique and think it is helping to make my relationship with God more personal.  

Circle Makers part 2

The First Circle

Have you ever considered a prayer circle prior to reading this book?  I definitely have felt the need to walk and pray, and I guess that is somewhat like a prayer circle.  Not like Honi's circle, but a circle of sorts.

On page 16 Mark Batterson wrote "I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to do a prayer walk."  God provided far beyond Marks expectations over the years! This made me stop and wonder how often we have felt led/prompted to do something and we ignore it because the time is not convenient or it may be awkward.  I know I personally have done this.  Looking back, I wonder what wonderful things I have missed by not being obedient.  I pray that I will become more responsive when I feel led to pray, share Gods word, or serve God.  

Circle Makers part 1

"Bold prayers honor God and God honors bold prayers"

I will be doing post for a few days on Chapter 2  "Circle Makers"  There is so much in this chapter that I want to talk more about!

The chapter starts with talking about bold prayer.  "Bold prayers honor God and God honors bold prayers". I went to the Bible searching for information on bold prayers.  I was surprised at how many time it shows people praying boldly and scripture advising us to pray/approach God boldly.  

"Let us then with boldness draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" Hebrews 4:16 

"And this is the boldness that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us." 1 John 5:14

When we approach our Savior are we approaching begging, pleading and persuading 

or are we approaching boldly?  

Mark Batterson states "God loves nothing more than keeping promises, answering prayer, performing miracles and fulfilling dreams."  That is the same way we are as parent, we all want to give the best to our children.  It is sometimes easy to forget to look at God as our parent.  God loves us and wants nothing but the best for us.    

   

The Legend of the Circle Maker

 "The day thunderclaps applauded the Almighty."  

What an amazing way to look at a thunderstorm!

This chapter really made me question how I pray.

Am I bold?
Is it disrespectful to God if I am bold almost to the point that it seems like I am demanding?
Am I willing to commit to staying in a circle and waiting on God?

It did not seem to me that Honi questioned that God was going to provide the rain.  He was willing to commit that he would not leave the circle until his prayer had been answered.  He was committed and believed that God would provide the rain.

In our prayer lives are we bold and committed?

In the Beginning . . .

Welcome to theour study of the books "The Circle Maker" by Mark Batterson and "Draw the Circle" also by Mark Batterson.  This study was started as part of our Sunday School Class.  Please feel free to comment even if you are not in our Sunday School Class!  We would love to hear from everyone!
If you have any suggestions about how to improve the method of this study, please feel free to comment in the field at the bottom!  We have never done this before and will appreciate any input.
We will be reading chapters 1 and 2 of "The Circle Maker" this week 6/2-6/8.  I will be trying to post daily.  As you read your chapters please comment if you have a question, thought or if something touched you!  The purpose of this study is for us to grow in our faith and our relationships with one another, and also for help with accountability (which is what I personally need)!

6/2-6/8 Chapter 1 and 2 of "The Circle Maker"
6/9-6/15 Chapter 3 and 4 of "The Circle Maker"
6/16-6/22 Chapter 5 and 6 of "The Circle Maker"
6/23-6/29 Chapter 7 and 8 of "The Circle Maker"
6/30-7/6 Chapter 9 and 10 of "The Circle Maker"
7/7-7/13 Chapter 11 and 12 of "The Circle Maker"
7/14-7/20 Chapter 13 and 14 of "The Circle Maker"
7/21-7/27 Chapter 15 and 16 of "The Circle Maker"
7/28-8/3 Chapter 17 and 18 of "The Circle Maker"
Beginning on 8/4 we will begin reading "Draw the Circle".  This is a daily devotional so each day we will be reading 1 devotional (8/4 will be day 1)

I appreciate each of you and look forward to doing this study with you!
Brenda