The Circle Maker | Mark Batterson | Joni Table Talk | Joni Lamb

[Music] prayer it's been a part of the faith experience since the beginning of time but do we really understand its power and significance well after today's program you'll see prayer and a whole new light you're gonna love it join me around the table is my daughter Rebecca lamb I am not used to going first you're crazy but you are and you're all about prayer right I am all about prayer yeah so you're excited to learn right Rhonda Davis you have read the book we're talking about today credibly even expert yes you are an anointed teacher administer the gospel how is this book impacted you one of my dearest friends gave it to me and said I haven't read this I know you've studied you've taught about prayer I don't know if it'll be where you are it was totally incredible I encourage everyone to read I was raised by a praying parents praying grandparents but it just helps me to look at it in a fresh way incredible I love that Cindy Murdock how are you I'm great and I'm with Rebecca I'm getting this book I'm gonna read it all the way through because I am so energized alright and Mark Patterson is here today and we're talking about his book the circle maker for thousands of years the story of the circle maker has persisted as a powerful lesson on prayer and possibility and it was birthed out of dire conditions and desperation take a look who was Honi the circle maker according to the legend the land of Israel was withering away as the clouds in the sky would not produce any rain desperately the people called upon Honi for he was a man who believed that God still hears prayers so holy drove his staff into the ground leading a circle around him then he looked up to the heavens and declared to God I will not move from this circle until you have shown mercy on your children suddenly the heavens rumbled the small droplets began to descend upon the land but Honi prayed to God again not for such rain have I prayed but for rain that will fill cisterns pits and caverns then the rain fell like a waterfall upon the land so much so that the people began to run for higher ground unshaken Honi stay put and declared to God not for such rain have I prayed but for the rain of thy favour blessing and graciousness then a perfect peaceful rain descended from the heavens that returned again and again to rejuvenate the land because of the bold prayers and faith of Honi the circle maker the people of Israel were saved [Music] well that was the story of the circle maker an ancient account that has some really profound lessons you start out with this in the book the circle maker and I love it because you are not only a prolific writer but you also love to read books and you have an arsenal of books and there is a certain a certain shelf where you have very important books and there was one book in particular that helped inspire this tell us about yeah the book of legends and you know it's this beautiful compilation of stories that aren't in Scripture but stories that the Jewish people collected over time testimonies if you will and page 202 I remember the page and I read this story about Honi the circle maker and it just it changed my life it changed the way that I prayed and birthed this idea of writing the circle maker and you know the premise is pretty simple that someone prayer can change anything one prayer can change everything I believe in the power of prayer you know we all talk about prayer we've all grown up praying we believe in prayer what was it specifically about this book that touched a chord with so many people that set it apart cuz like we said earlier there were a lot of books about prayer yeah you know a part of me wonders if it's the simplicity yeah of just circling things in prayer now but let's make sure that folks understand it's got to be in the will of God right there's got to be for the glory of God and it's not really about the geometric shape I mean it could be a it could be a trapezoid but the Israelites did Circle Jericho yeah and there's this idea of circling and sometimes it's it's physical like I've circled Washington DC and prayed for that city where I pastored tell about what you did I'm literally on yeah this is your first circle making Experion yeah yeah first year pastoring you know Church of about 20 people and I felt like the Lord called me to pray a perimeter to kind of stake claim to the promised land that he called me to and and so prayed a 4.7 prayer walk around Capitol Hill and to come it took hours because I stopped like I stopped at the Capitol yeah and just prayed over the National Mall and and you know again a church of 20 people at that point yeah you know here we are 19 years later and and Church was seven campuses and you know with you know the opportunity to touch thousands of evil week in and week out and and the Lord doing some pretty remarkable things including a coffeehouse that we own and operate on Capitol Hill and we now own four different properties where all these in this circle that you write on it walking right on the circle in fact we one of our campuses is the oldest movie theater in DC and I walked right under that marquee 19 years ago and we now own it it's it's one of our campuses we have four gatherings there every weekend and then the latest isn't even in the book it's a city block that the Lord has given us which in Washington DC it's unbelievable in fact it's a it's a castle it's this old car barn where there would fix streetcars 1891 they built it and the Lord showed us tremendous favor and no coincidence we signed the contract 18 years to the day from when I did that prayer why it's unbelievable that is really talk a little bit about for that I know you're listening or you're like I want to know what were you praying so take us back 19 years ago you're walking past that movie theater of course having no idea yeah what all God was gonna do and wasn't an overnight process by the way yeah you know I'm saying it was year by year the faithfulness of God but tell us how you were talking to the Lord and how you were praying as you were walking once I even got you to do it in the first no thank you because I'm reading in Joshua chapter 1 and the Holy Spirit just quickens this this promise where God says to Joshua I will give you everywhere you set your foot now I want to be really careful I'm not someone that believes in in claiming a promise out of biblical content yeah but let me let me just push back - no matter how many promises God has made they are yes in Christ and so I don't think our problem is is over claiming the promises of God I think it's under claiming yeah and the Holy Spirit just quicken that and that's what then prompted that prayer walk so I think it's the promises of God like let's stand on the promises of God let's believe that he is a God who delivers on those promises but but you know like you said Jonah you can't just pray you have to pray through I mean this isn't something that God did in a day or a week I mean this is praying for 19 years to really see some of those miracles begin to have so a lot of what you were praying that day was it the promises of God was it Scripture was it worship I mean as you were walking along thanking the Lord for the vision that he had given you for that city and enabling you to fulfill that and asking for his wisdom in doing it yeah I think it was all of the above but maybe a great example just to help folks with this concept yeah is probably the prayer that I prayed more than any other is Luke 2:52 for my three children and it says it's this description of growing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with man yes well I prayed that now I circled Luke 2:52 I've circled that for for 19 years my oldest is 90 and then 17 and 13 tens of thousands of times I prayed that prayer listen let's keep circling the promises of God let's keep believing that God is gonna deliver on those promises and so I think the key is you got to pray hard and pray through what I love is that these kind of prayers are you were praying it was for something so much bigger than yourself it's helping so many people and I think when you cultivate a relationship with God your heart aligns with his yes then you ask the Lord to do big and bold things through you because that's what he wants to do but it makes a kingdom impact yes so everything you did was so much bigger than just yourself yeah and I think you know prayer is not about us outlining our agenda to God it's more about getting into God's Word and God's presence and saying well what's your agenda for me and and so when that happens there's this alignment that happens and again this isn't praying in a vacuum and and we better level the playing field - I listen I I hit and miss swing and miss all the time you know I I don't in fact I think someday we'll probably thank God as much for the PIRs II didn't answer because we asked for that for the wrong reason we're not omniscient yeah but but but Jesus did say ask and seek and knock it and this I'm pretty sure of God won't answer a hundred percent of the prayers we don't pray yeah so let's pray bold let's put those prayers out there and see what God does you know in your book you talk about different circles and you talk about the dreaming big circle how important is that to God that we dream big yeah well I I am someone that believes that bold prayers honor God and God honors bold prayers yes sometimes aren't we guilty sometimes of asking God to do something for us that we're totally capable of doing ourselves and so sometimes it God must be why are you asking me you can answer that prayer yourself I think when I try to push for the book is can we pray for things that are beyond our ability and then what happens is then God gets the glory for it just you know on a real practical level I would just also say that you know next to the Bible my prayer journal nothing is more sacred because I believe in writing down the things that we're praying for why so that we don't forget what we were asking for so that was God answers then we can go back and say look at what God did and then those answered prayers become a way of really giving glory to God which actually invigorates your prayer life yes you said something I think I've experienced everybody has you get into a disappointment over something you've paid for it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to and often I've seen people being a pastor avoid praying for other things and being bold in their prayers and you say though actually those disappointments can help to resurrect our prayer life and make us pray even bolder which i think is awesome for people listening to get back in there and pray bold prayers yes I think the only way you can fail in prayer is to not pray you know it's our job to put things out there and just to believe God and to pray and you know kind of on on that note I think it's why testimonies are so important yes because a testimony is the way that I loan my faith to others and then when you share a testimony of what God's done in your life and a prayer that he's answered then you're loaning your faith to me and I'm borrowing your faith and then I think by the way the way you pay it back is then you share your testimony with someone else and what happens with testimonies especially answers to prayer is then there's kind of this rising tide of faith like look at what God did here in here tell them there and it's why I share so many testimonies in the book because if God did it for you you can do it for me and if you did it for me he can do it for you and and then everybody kind of wins in the end yes testimonies are irresistible they're so powerful and I think about even our own story here at Daystar when Marcus and I started out building one Christian television station and we thought hooray is amazing we're gonna do this and then we started in Montgomery and then we moved here to Dallas and we thought hooray we're going to build one station for the glory of God not ever realizing that God had so much more and a network and at the end of the day as you go through those doors that God opens supernaturally you do realize that he's the one doing it and he gets the glory for it and you do feel inadequate in the process and that's okay but you still pray those prayers it's important to do that yeah yeah and and he is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine yeah and I think by the way one reason why we need to dream big is that it keeps you on your knees doesn't it I don't know of anything that keeps you in a posture of kind of humility and dependency upon God like dreaming big and and for the record I don't think it's just then about accomplishing that dream it's about who you become in the process you know God sighs dreams have a way of taking us to a place of raw dependence and then that's how the character of God is formed in us okay so people are sitting at home and they're like all right I need to pray big prayers where do they start what do they do yeah start with the Bible Bible was not meant just to be read it was meant to be prayed and what I mean by that is you know you read you're gonna eventually get to a verse right then you just can't just read right over it you need to have a little conversation about that there's either something that's gonna bring a little bit of a conviction in your life and you have to have a conversation it might be a confession or you're gonna come to a promise well don't just read right over it while we stand on this for a while while we believe God for the the promise that we're reading about and pray it and pray through it and begin to claim that promise that's in the word so really it's just I think it's using the Bible to buy God speaking to us and then he wants it to be a dialogue and so we pray it back to him and then the conversation starts and a big part of all that and this is a message I'm big on when y'all hear me say this word you'll know but surrender is that what we have to first totally surrender ourselves to the Lord and to his plan to his will for our life but when we connect with the one who created us it's like we're a computer that hasn't been hooked up and we hook in to the main system and God downloads the greatness that he has you know instilled on the inside of us that a lot of people don't even know about or they haven't even walked in but when we get into that communion with him he can do great things through us and I think that is a very important part of this but I really feel like there are some pastors watching right now and you are listening and you're thinking well you know I've been doing this for years and I've prayed prayers and I pray big prayers and but you're just in a lull right now and you really have kind of given up on ministry or doing anything big is it ever too late and how would you encourage those that are listening right now yeah you know God is the god of second chances and I think it's it's never too late to be who you might have been if you're breathing it means God's not finished with you yet and you know I've heard so many stories of folks that I mean even well let's just go right back to the Bible Abraham I mean how many years was that dream not fulfilled that prayer not answered but he hoped against hope and so I think you know to pray or not to pray those are the only options and to me not praying is not an option and so it's about continuing to pray through continue to believe God and and I'll go on record and say there are a lot of things that I've been praying for miracles that I'm believing for haven't and yet but I'm gonna keep on keepin on because I believe that who began a good work can carry it to completion and so and I think sometimes the longer you have to wait the more you appreciate the miracle that God actually does and so yeah and sometimes by the way that's also when you need to form a prayer circle which is a little bit of a double entendre you know not just circling but but get a group of people they can believe with you they can pray with you you know a prayer team if you will and then I think you begin to see God do some incredible things you know what else I like about this book I've heard of other movements not to call anyone out but they'll they'll do that we're gonna march around the city but they end up praying and addressing entities or you know talking to the enemy about what he's not gonna do and to me that is it's just so backwards when you're talking to the creator of the universe yeah and not even worrying about what he's doing yeah I mean to me that's makes so much more sense yeah it's playing offense instead of playing defense yes and you know I think even on a larger scale I think the church ought to be more known for what were for than what we're against okay and Jesus said I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it gates our defensive measures which means we're called to play offense in the way that we play offense is prayer the way the kingdom advances is on our knees and so prayer to me is that is the difference between the best we can do and the best God can do yeah I want the best God can do and so when we pray we begin to see those miracles begin to see his kingdom advanced in Supernatural ways you talk about God doesn't answer vague prayers and I love that because like you know just God saved the world but God save my son God said oh but you talk about Timothy and Jessica you have to share that story yeah a friends of ours that were praying for their son for a future spouse and and God actually gave them a a name to pray for I mean I'll keep it short and and so for many many years they interceded and prayed and then wouldn't you know that God brought that very person with that very name into the mix and then for for Tim to even hear how his parents had been praying because they hadn't told him the whole the whole story there's just something powerful when we begin to spell out those prayers it's you know specificity is an expression of faith yeah and and listen even even in the realm of confession do I believe that I can pray Lord forgive me for everything I've ever done wrong and God can do that absolutely but that's a vague confession and and it becomes more powerful when you get specific and so I think prayer is the same way let's spell those things out let's write him in a journal let's put names names that we're believing would come to Christ names of people or situations that we're believing God is gonna resolve yeah and then you have something to celebrate and thank God for even in the Old Testament the Israelites and all that God did for them along the way they would reflect back and remember what God had done so God was so huge to them and even the people that didn't believe God had heard some of the rumors of what God had done for them and it made them fear God yeah so I think about that as our testimonies of Prayer just like in the day of the Israelites yeah yeah they kept telling those stories in those testimony yeah yeah and what's so fun is that with this book so many more testimonies like I I mean hardly a day goes by that I don't hear some some testimony of what God is doing I think this would encourage folks I mean yeah we've got members of Congress that are now circling the Capitol in prayer praise God for that and just fun stories of kind of unique ways that people have begun to circle things at prayers answers to prayer you know teachers who are circling classrooms in prayer before the school day begins doctors circling in operating room before they perform surgery and and people are just bringing prayer to bear on all aspects of life and that's a game changer it really is there's a dear friend I was just listening to him share a personal story where he had bought a huge piece of land up the New Hampshire area and had moved to this property and it was beautiful but there was no life I mean there's squirrels no birds it was just seemed very dead in him his wife circled the land and prayed a blessing over the land you know and he said like within two weeks it just came to life so it's just this really is a god-given principle I know you were so impacted by the book what would specifically really touched you as you were reading the book the the boat prayers honor God spelling out your Jericho we even had people I taught it one time to write on a rock what that Jericho was to them yes and the common denominator of desperados in the Bible that just prayed these things that were impossible for them but was impossible for God and then circling those promises and I grew up knowing the word it was just a new poetic way to look at it and then pray hard no just sticks to your bones it's so great and and I do think you know the common denominator too is if you can get a group of people who begin to understand this and begin to pray and begin to circle I'm a big believer that God moves through remnants through small groups of people like he doesn't need a majority he's God but if he can find a remnant who begin to pray begin intercede begin to dream listen he can change a church he can change a city he can change a country we've got a remnant in DC we're praying for a revival in the nation's capital and the way that that's going to happen is is not through a political process not love because I'm there I love the people who work in DC I might be in the minority but I also know that it's not going to be politics that brings change we need nothing short of a Great Awakening and that's gonna be a prayer movement and I'll tell you this I think it's the the most exciting thing that's happening in Washington DC right now and not just our church it's our friends it's other churches it's not about the name of a church it's about the name that's above every name and we're seeing God move in a powerful way and we're seeing prayers that were prayed generations ago that are beginning of the answered in DC what I love about that is that this whole what you're talking about this whole concept is that it's like we're partnering with God yeah you know cuz he wants us to be specific he wants us to say it out well why because it's like we have a part in this too yeah you know he doesn't just want to move on his own he wants us to walk hand-in-hand with him yeah and that's when I place this whole kind of concept is it's about partnership with God yeah isn't that beautiful mhm you know it's the Great Commission it's a commission yeah yeah God's like let's do this thing together you know and prayer prayer is this this conversation yeah he loves talking to his kids ya know like I do yeah you know but it is this beautiful partnership in Commission take about 30 seconds and break down that verse if my people o who are called by my name yea will humble themselves and pray and seek my face turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land well that's a promise yes that's a promise and if we keep our part if we pray like it depends on God yes now you also have to work like it depends on you it's not pray and be lazy you know it's both an but if we pray a leg it depends on God yeah God will he will show up he will show off his power his grace his glory his goodness but we need to pray through yeah and if we do when we do we're gonna see God deliver on that prize man well I can't believe it we're out of time goes by so fast I want to thank Mark for joining us at the table be sure to pick up a copy of his book gotta read it the circle maker wherever books are sold and for more you can visit them online at mark Patterson com you're believing God for something if you'd like prayer today we have prayer partners that are standing by ready to pray with you don't forget to join the conversation after the program by leaving us a comment on Facebook or you can tweet me at Daystar Joni thank you so much mark you looking back I will promise I promise hey god bless you so much thank you for watching today we'll see you next time bye bye for today this has been a day star television production [Music]

Channel: The Way Of Life Church

Views: 7,680

Rating: 4.8717947 out of 5

Keywords: the way of life church, groeschel, lifechurch, life.churchtv, church, god's word, sermon, Christian, bible, God, The Circle Maker, The Circle, Mark Batterson, Joni Table Talk, Joni Lamb

Id: lFot1HmaQ40

Length: 27min 37sec (1657 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 02 2019