The Heath Mullikin Project

Figuring it all out one day at a time

You are here: Home / Chase Your Lion / The Circle Maker Book Review

The Circle Maker Book Review

I’m a huge fan of Mark Batterson.  Chase Your Lion dot com came about after I read In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day.  It completely changed my life.  As a matter of fact, when my wife and I were praying and considering our current pastorate I was content to stay where we were at.  My wife asked,”So, everyone else needs to Chase Their Lion, but you get to play it safe?”  Needless to say, she was right and we haven’t regretted our decision.  The latest book from Mark Batterson,The Circle Maker: Praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears, is another winner. The Circle Maker draws from 1st century story of Honi, the Jewish Circle Maker, who prayed for and received rain from the Lord during a severe drought.  The book challenges believes to dream big, pray big, and trust big.  The point isn’t to get in your circle to change God, but to allow him to change you while you’re in the circle.

He emphasizes that God is not a genie in a bottle whose wish is our command.  As a matter of fact he writes

His command better be your wish. If it’s not, you won’t be drawing prayer circles; you’ll end up walking in circles.

We live in a society where God has become little more than a short order cook:  on call for us 24 hours a day to serve up our hearts desire. Perhaps that’s why so many people today are walking in circles(just like the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness).  We aren’t praying for God’s will as much as we’re praying to will God.

Here’s another challenging thought from the book:

The more faith you have, the more specific your prayers will be. And the more specific your prayers are, the more glory God receives.

I’m starting 2012 by praying some very specific prayers and walking in obedience to see them through.  I believe that the God who designed the human eye is uniquely qualified to hear our prayers down to the smallest detail.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012, The Techology Show will be interviewing Mark Batterson about The Circle Maker and other happenings at National Community Church.  Check out http://www.thetechologyshow.com/live Wednesday at 9 am EST to submit your questions and win a copy of The Circle Maker!

Here’s our first interview with Mark:

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Russell Purvis says

    Coming from someone who hasn’t read Batterson yet (I know I should), I do question the idea of more specific prayers bringing God more glory. I might be lacking in the context and would to see your response on it since I am more curious than challenging on this thought. I agree with your comments on God hearing our specifics.

    • Heath Mullikin says

      I believe that when God answers a very specific prayer then there can be no confusion about his hand at work. Sometimes, we can mistake answers to general prayers as coincidence. Specific prayers take more faith(IMHO), but the whole point of all prayers is not for God simply to change our circumstance, but to change us.

Trackbacks