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January 29 - February 2, 2023
The more you pray, the more you notice.
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
The Aramaic word for prayer means “to set a trap.” Prayer is the way we take thoughts and dreams and ideas captive.
Journaling is the difference between learning and remembering. It’s also the difference between forgetting and fulfilling our goals.
Drawing prayer circles is a lot like climbing a mountain. 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.
agenda. I don’t want easy answers or quick answers because I have a tendency to mishandle the blessings that come too easily or too quickly. I take the credit or take them for granted. So now I pray that it will take long enough and be hard enough for God to receive all of the glory. I’m not looking for the path of least resistance; I’m looking for the path of greatest glory. And that requires high-degree-of-difficulty prayers and lots of circling.
One of the reasons we get frustrated in prayer is our ASAP approach. When our prayers aren’t answered as quickly or easily as we would like, we get tired of circling. Maybe we need to change our prayer approach from as soon as possible to as long as it takes. Keep circling!
When you live by faith, it often feels like you are risking your reputation. You’re not. You’re risking God’s reputation. It’s not your faith that is on the line. It’s His faithfulness. Why? Because God is the one who made the promise, and He is the only one who can keep it.
Drawing prayer circles isn’t about proving yourself to God; it’s about giving God an opportunity to prove Himself to you.
“Master of the universe, do it for the sake of these little ones, who do not know the difference between the Father who can give rain and a papa who cannot.”
Despite what skeptics may say, God is not offended by your big dreams or bold prayers.
fasting. I believe that his open mind was the result of an empty stomach.
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.
Our prayers are prophecies, and God Almighty seals them until their designated time. He’s never early. He’s never late. When the time comes, kairos, not chronos, the prayer will be unsealed and the answer revealed.
Our prayers don’t dissipate over time; our prayers accumulate through eternity.
His words never return void. Neither do your prayers when you pray the word of God and the will of God.
The same God who hovered over the chaos at the beginning of time is hovering over your life, and you never know when His answer will reenter the atmosphere of your life. But you can know this: The Lord is watching over His word to perform it.
Each and every teardrop is precious to God. They are eternal keepsakes. The day will come when He wipes away every tear in heaven. Until then, God will move heaven and earth to honor every tear that has been shed. Not a single tear is lost on God. He remembers each one. He honors each one. He collects each one.
When you dream big, pray hard, and think long, there is nothing God cannot do.
Don’t let who you are not keep you from being who you are. You are a circle maker.
But it’s not just a law of physics; it’s a picture of prayer.
The ripple effect of rudeness can be far-reaching, and so can the ripple effect of kindness. One act of kindness can make someone’s day, and that person might just make someone else’s day the next day as a result. It’s difficult to measure emotional contagion or the power of prayer, but the ripple effect is just as real, just as powerful.
If you pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you, look out.
And the ripple effect is eternal because our prayers don’t die when we do. That’s the power of prayer, the power of precession.
God is great not just because nothing is too big for Him; God is great because nothing is too small. He cares about every detail of our lives. It’s not just the big answers to prayer that have inspired me; it’s the seemingly small answers!
It’s simply a recognition that the ultimate goal isn’t getting an answer to prayer; the ultimate goal is God’s will, God’s glory. It’s also a reminder that God won’t answer 100 percent of the prayers we don’t pray for!
And when you pray to God regularly, irregular things will happen on a regular basis.
Prayer is the difference between the best you can do and the best God can do. And when God does immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, we’ve got to be careful to give Him all the glory! We must also recognize that what God does for us isn’t just for us.
It is prayer that creates opportunities, and it is prayer that helps us recognize opportunities. Prayer is the way we cross-pollinate in God’s kingdom. Miracles are the side effect, the ripple effect.
pray that you will make a difference while you’re living. But I also pray that you will make a difference after you die. And the way you do that is prayer. Your greatest legacy is the prayers you leave behind. It’s also your longest legacy. There is no expiration date on prayer. God will still be answering your prayers long after you are long gone. And the ripple effect will only be revealed in eternity!
“Go home. Lock yourself in your room. Kneel down in the middle of the floor, and with a piece of chalk draw a circle around yourself. There, on your knees, pray fervently and brokenly that God would start a revival within that chalk circle.”
