Boaz Ministries"Draw the Circle, the 40 Day Prayer Challenge"
by Mark Batterson
Day 1 - Get Ready -
"He prayed to God regularly." Acts 10:2
The author tells the story of Cornelius and Peter (Acts 10), and how God worked mightily through their powerful prayer lives, to change the course of history, ushering in the spreading of the Gospel to the gentiles - God's plan all along. The take away morsels: Once you establish a prayer routine, your life will be anything but routine; don't try to manufacture your own miracles; don't try to do God's job for Him; stay humble, patient, focused!
Day 2 - Established by God -
"In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." Proverbs 16:9
We already trust God for the big things (keeping the planets in orbit, oxygen to breathe, etc) - but we have trouble trusting Him with the little things (our financial woes, healing our diseases, finding the right mate). And while the "little" things are certainly not insignificant, prayer reduces these mountains to molehills. God gives us divine assignments, and it brings Him joy when we trust Him enough to understand He is not just great because nothing is too big for Him. He is also great because nothing is too small for Him. The take aways: God's amazing 'choreography'; "God wants us to get where God wants us to go more than we want to get where God wants us to go"; "follow the script of the Holy Scriptures and the improvisation of the Holy Spirit"; God creates the divine appointments, we must keep them; "Our job is to hear His voice, His job is to establish our steps."
Day 3 - Amazing Things -
"Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you." Joshua 3:5
While we all want to do amazing things for God, that's not our job. The doing of amazing things, that is. Our job is to consecrate ourselves by surrendering our will to His will. Batterson writes, "If we consecrate ourselves to God, amazing things will happen. It's absolutely inevitable!" Consecrate means, "set apart", "to be designated for a special purpose." Take aways: The idea is - the attitude and posture of COMPLETE divestiture of self! Nothing belongs to us, not even ourselves! This is an outrageous concept for many, I know...and difficult for even the devout among us. "But the exchange rate is unbelievable. All of our sin is transferred to Christ's account, and all of His righteousness is transferred to our account. God cancels the debt, writes us into His will, and calls it even!" AMEN!
Day 4 - Don't Pray Away -
"This happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him." John 9:3
"Praying away versus praying through" - there's a big difference between the two. When a trial comes, we want out! Immediately if not sooner. The text above is what Jesus said when He was asked if some generational curse or sin was the cause of a man's blindness. (He healed the man and caused him to have sight). The message in this chapter talks about the power we receive when we pray THROUGH our tough situations. Sometimes we do need to pray "get me out" prayers; but sometimes, we just need to ask the Lord to work whatever He wills IN our trials. Discernment is needed to know which is which. We can rest in the assurance that even God's 'no', is all right. Take aways: Prayer can absolutely change our circumstances... "but when our circumstances don't change, it's often an indication that God is trying to change us"; whether or not our circumstances change, the chief objective is constant - to glorify God is every situation!
Day 5 - Write it Down -
"Write down the revelation." Habakkuk 2:2
This message was "write" up our alley as a writing couple! Over the years I (Bridget) have had many journals, some of them given to me as gifts. But I had not been consistent with my journaling until very recently. I have an online blog, and that has served as a chronicle of my thoughts. But Mark Batterson shares in this chapter, a very key purpose for having a prayer journal: consistency and specificity in prayer. Also, this journal is a "prayer genealogy" - I can attest to that. The journal I'm using for this 40 day experience has prayer entries from seven years to almost two years ago - ALL ANSWERED! I sat down one evening and read, and saw how the Lord has moved on my behalf, and where He's closed doors I thought needed opening. The "no's" were also answered prayers. And I am now able to see clearly that HIS DECISION WAS BEST! The relationship I'm growing in with the Lord is the most important one in my life. And it is through the strength of my personal relationship with Him, that my marriage shall be fortified, sustained, blessed! Bruce and I are going in, digging deep, and it is very exciting! My take away from this chapter - is my commitment to be ready to write inspired thoughts received from the Lord during my meditations, and to connect spiritual dots from the path/experiences He's brought me thus far - which will sustain me in the future! Standing on the promises, and writing them down!
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