Have you ever done a prayer walk?
Last Sunday I started a new small group study with young couples at our church using The Circle Maker curriculum by Mark Batterson. You can read more about it here.
Anyway, because this study is on prayer, and because I really do want God to transform us through this, and because I hadn’t done it in a long time, I found myself walking circles around the outside of our church, praying at 9:00 Sunday morning. Yes, I felt a little odd. I’m just sayin’.
Last fall I shared some thoughts from a new book by our friend, Mark Batterson called The Circle Maker. This weekend we had the privilege of having him speak at our church.
In the book, one story Mark uses is that of the Israelites who have been wandering in the desert for 40 years and come to Jericho at the edge of the Promised Land. Imposing. Six-foot wide lower wall. 50 foot tall upper wall. Impenetrable. Overwhelming. Like many of the problems and dreams we face today.
God tells them to march around the city once a day for 6 days and then on the 7th day, to circle the city 7 times. He promised after they circled the wall 13 times the wall would fall. On the 7th day God delivered on a 400-year-old promise. Mark writes,
“Jericho is spelled many different ways… If your child is far from God it’s spelled salvation. If your marriage is falling apart, it’s spelled reconciliation. If you have a vision beyond your resources, it’s spelled provision. But whatever it is, you have to spell it out.”
For my friend Heather, her Jericho was spelled healing. All her life she has struggled with a hereditary condition that affects her digestion. It became more and more complicated, resulting in the necessity for 8 operations and an ileostomy (not something exciting for a beautiful twenty-something woman)
The bottom line was that she landed back in the hospital for both Christmas and her birthday last year with more complications after her 7th surgery.
Confused, grieving, trying to cling to God, the 7th floor of the U of M Medical Center became the site of her Jericho. Barely able to hobble, dragging her IV pole she made it her goal to walk around the unit one time each day, and finally, 7 times.
Heather focused on Hebrews 11:1, trusting that God was doing in her body what she didn’t see or feel, and that her faith in Him would carry her if the healing wasn’t physical.
When she walked out of the hospital on March 27th 2011 it was for the last time. Physically healed.
This was not magic. This was not a formula. And I don’t know why Heather was healed and others are not. We’re in a relationship with the God of the universe and His ways are not our ways, His timing is often not our timing.
Heather would probably tell you that what she learned over the years of waiting, walking and clinging, was as important as her healing. She is a different woman. A more peace-filled, confident woman because of her walk in circles.
But I am convicted by this, “When you live by faith it often feels like you are risking your reputation. You’re not. Your risking God’s reputation . It’s not your faith that’s on the line. It’s His faithfulness…The battle doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to God and because the battle doesn’t belong to you, neither does the glory.”
We need to look to God’s promises. Ask, and then listen for Him to whisper the dreams and goals He wants us to trust Him for. We need to pray for discernment. And listen. And do our part in making wise and healthy choices.
But here’s where I also get in trouble. Often I think I (we?) ere on the side of not naming our Jericho out of fear and uncertainty. Maybe we can start circling our Jericho with an openness to God’s correction. An ear to heaven and an eye on eternity…
So today, What’s your Jericho? Maybe we can circle together.
If you want to hear Mark’s fantastic message from this weekend on Acts 10, and additional study of the topic with Message Gear go here. (Should be available by Tuesday latest)
It’s totally unfair. My husband reads fast and retains everything. AND actually applies what he learns. I, on the other hand, read at the speed of an endless Minnesota winter and struggle to retain a fraction of what I read, never mind actually applying it. I’m in the loser bluebird reading group. However, there are some books that I’ve read recently that have been impactful and so relevant that it’s been hard NOT to apply what I’m reading. Here are a few.
I highly recommend all of them, but today I want to write about another one that’s not in that pile. I received an advance copy of Mark Batterson’s new book, The Circle Maker, which will be out December 12th. I’ve found this book to be challenging, encouraging, and uncomfortable in the best way possible.
If I had to name one thing I struggle with the most in living out my faith, it would be landing on the “right” way to view prayer. I am inspired by those who dream big dreams and pray audacious prayers, but I am repulsed by those who seem to have more confidence in their specific prayer, than in the God they are praying to. I’m paranoid about my prayers being more about me than God. This book is both challenging and encouraging in that regard. Batterson, using Joshua’s march around Jericho (in addition to a legend and other biblical accounts), writes about “praying circles around your biggest dreams and greatest fears.” Mark himself prays huge petitions of faith, but is authentic in sharing the lessons he’s learned when God hasn’t responded as he might have liked.
This book is chock full of insights and examples that are catalytic. One of the images I love in Circle Maker is that of the hyperlink. “Our most powerful prayers are hyperlinked to the promises of God. When you know you are praying the promises of God, you can pray with holy confidence. It’s the difference between praying on thin ice and praying on solid ground. It’s the difference between praying tentatively and praying tenaciously.”
A few other quotes to whet your appetite:
“Prayer is the alpha and omega of planning. Don’t just brainstorm; praystorm.”
“If you seek answers you won’t find them, but if you seek God, the answers will find you. There comes a point after you have prayed through that you need to let go…by resisting the temptation to manufacture your own answer to your own prayer.”
“We allow our circumstances to get between God and us instead of putting God between us and our circumstances.”
Batterson is NOT writing about a “name it and claim it” theology, but he challenges me through these words: “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. And nothing is better for our spiritual development than a big dream because it keeps us on our knees in raw dependence on God. Drawing prayer circles around our dreams isn’t just a mechanism whereby we accomplish great things for God; it’s a mechanism whereby God accomplishes great things in us.”
In reading this book I am convicted that too often I pray safe prayers that allow me to “help” God out in case He doesn’t come through. So, I’m reflecting on the riskier prayer circles God might have me draw.
I think this book is so good that I’m going to do a drawing for a free copy of The Circle Maker. The names of everyone who posts a comment on this post before Tuesday night at midnight will be put in a hat for a random drawing.
How does this land on you? Is prayer a challenge for you? What’s one word that represents what you would like to circle in prayer?
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