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This I know for sure: the bigger the dream the harder you will have to pray.
The little phrase “even now” is underlined and circled in my Bible. Even when it seems like God is four days late, it’s too soon to give up. Even when it seems like your dream is dead and buried, it’s too soon to put a period there. After all, you can’t never always sometimes tell.
Second-degree faith is resurrection faith. It’s a faith that refuses to put periods at the end of disappointments. It’s a faith that believes that God can reverse the irreversible. It’s a faith that believes it’s not over until God says it’s over. And it’s epitomized by Martha’s “even now” profession of faith: “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
I need second degree faith!!!
Job 22:28: “Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.” They recognized the binding power of Honi’s prayer: “You have decreed [on earth] below and the Holy One … fulfills your word [in heaven] above.” This language is very similar to the promise Jesus made in Matthew 18:18.
No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
The longer I live the more I crave the favor of God. The greatest moments in life are the moments when God intervenes on our behalf and blesses us way beyond what we expect or deserve. It’s a humble reminder of His sovereignty.
also taught us how to pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on us.
our business!
I’ve also experienced enough miracles to know that when God gives a vision, He makes provision.
Daniel made the decision to stop, drop, and pray three times a day. Those daily decisions add up. If you make good decisions on a daily basis, it has a cumulative effect that pays dividends the rest of your life.
Never underestimate the potential of one resolution to change your life.
In case you missed the message the first time, if you keep trying, you are not failing. The only way you can fail is if you quit trying. If you’re still trying, even if you’re failing, you’re succeeding. God is honored when you don’t give up. God is honored when you keep trying. God is honored when you keep circling.
Since we’re on the subject of J.C. Penney, it’s worth sharing what he said about the importance of goals. “Give me a stock clerk with a goal, and I will give you a man who will make history,” said Penney. “Give me a man without a goal, and I will give you a stock clerk.”
We go around the table, sharing our favorite memories from the past year, and it’s amazing how many of those memories were once goals.
we need to do this!
Make sure you have a few BHAGs on the list. You need some God-sized goals that qualify as crazy. Here’s why: big goals turn us into big people.
Big hairy audacious goals!
The Hiding Place. Somehow God used the medium of a movie to save my soul. I’d like to make a movie that does the same for someone else.
I want to see this movie
The sad truth is that most people spend more time planning their summer vacation than they do planning the rest of their life. That’s poor stewardship of right-brain imagination. Goal setting is good stewardship. Instead of letting things happen, goals help us make things happen. Instead of living by default, goals help us live by design. Instead of living out of memory, goals help us live out of imagination.
This could be a starting point for a blog post.
Prayer is important for the same reason. It sanctifies your RAS so you notice what God wants you to notice. The more you pray, the more you notice.
Journaling is the difference between learning and remembering. It’s also the difference between forgetting and fulfilling our goals.
The dream or promise or miracle may seem impossible, but if you keep circling, anything is possible. With each prayer, there is a small change in elevation. With each prayer, you are one step closer to the answer.
To see Abby and Alex serving God.
The more you have to circle something in prayer, the more satisfying it is spiritually. And, often, the more glory God gets.
Most prayer requests have to be refined.
I hadn't thought about that!
Maybe we need to change our prayer approach from as soon as possible to as long as it takes.
Drawing prayer circles isn’t about proving yourself to God; it’s about giving God an opportunity to prove Himself to you.
“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” These words are attributed to architect and visionary Daniel Burnham. After serving as the principal architect of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, he set his sights on a grand vision — Washington’s Grand Terminal.
Sometimes we act as though God is surprised by the things that surprise us, but by definition, the Omniscient One cannot be surprised. God is always a step ahead, even when we feel like He’s a step behind. He’s always got a holy surprise up His sovereign sleeve.
Every prayer is a time capsule. You never know when or where or how God is going to answer it, but He will answer it. There is no expiration date, and there are no exceptions. God answers prayer. Period. We don’t always see it or understand it, but God always answers.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
And you never know when He’s going to uncork an answer.
My greatest fear is that my kids might someday walk away from the faith, but I have learned to rebuke that fear, because fear is not of God. Then I remind myself that I have circled Luke 2:52, and I have circled my children with that blessing thousands of times. Those prayers are bottled by God, and the Holy Spirit will unseal them in the lives of my children long after I’m gone. Sometimes I struggle with doubt.
“History belongs to the intercessors.”
I want to be an intercession! Lord, help me to become more of an intercessor.
When you draw a circle and drop to your knees, you can’t never always sometimes tell. It changes the forecast of your life. It’s always cloudy with a chance of quail.
Don’t let what you cannot do keep you from doing what you can.
