Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge

by Mark Batterson

Don’t try to manufacture your own miracles. Don’t try to answer your own prayers. Don’t try to do God’s job for Him. Stay humble. Stay patient. Stay focused. Keep circling.

It may feel like you are sitting still right now, but you are not. You are on a planet that is rotating on its axis at 1,000 miles per hour. Like clockwork, it makes one full revolution every twenty-four hours. And if that isn’t amazing enough, planet Earth is moving around the sun at speeds approaching 67,000 miles per hour! So the next time you feel like you’ve had an unproductive day, remind yourself that you did travel more than 1.5 million miles through space today.

there you go

“Lord, thanks for keeping the planet rotating. I wasn’t sure if we’d make the full rotation today, but You did it again!” I’m guessing the answer to these questions is never.

Like a proud parent watching their child take their first steps, God rejoices over every baby step. And He can turn those small steps of faith into giant leaps.

If we hit our knees, the Holy Spirit will do the heavy lifting. If we hit our knees, the Holy Spirit will reveal things that can only be discovered in the presence of God. If we hit our knees, the Holy Spirit will give us God-ideas for our ministry, family, business — for our lives.

Too many people pray like they are playing the lottery. Prayer is more like an investment account. Every deposit accumulates compound interest. And one day, if we keep making deposits every day, it will pay dividends beyond our wildest

how true

We certainly practice sound financial management, count the cost of every vision, and steward every penny in a way that honors God, but we refuse to let our budget determine our vision. That would be poor stewardship because it’s based on our limited resources rather than on God’s unlimited supply. Too often we butcher our God-given dreams because we forget the simple fact that God owns the cattle21 on a thousand hills. Don’t let fear dictate your decisions. Letting your budget determine your vision is backward. Faith is letting your vision determine your budget. And if your vision is God-given, it will most definitely be beyond your ability and beyond your resources. Why? Because then God will get all of the glory! And I promise you this: the God who gives the vision is the same God who makes provision. One Better Our church is amazingly generous, but