For several weeks many of us have been encountering God in a powerful way while we do our daily readings in “Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge.” I’ve spoken with several individuals who are now going through it a second time. One woman told me yesterday, “It’s changed my life” – not the book but what God is doing in her through the book.

Many of us have identified those things God wants to do in our lives this next year and we’ve “drawn circles” around them. One of mine, as most of you know, is I feel convicted of God to lose another 20 pounds. As a church family, we believe God wants us to pay off our existing debt and so we’ve drawn a circle around it asking God to give us six million dollars in six years. How and when will God do it? We don’t know! But we are praying and asking Him to do it.

Some critics have said drawing circles around a prayer request is wrong. The problem is that those critics totally misunderstand what the author is saying. On pages 118-119 of the book he writes:

“There is nothing magical about physically circling something in prayer, but there is something Biblical about it. The Israelites circled the city of Jericho until the wall came down. That’s what a forty-day prayer challenge is all about. Too often we quit circling as soon as we start. Drawing prayer circles is a metaphor that simply means ‘praying until God answers.’ It’s a determination to pray as long as it takes, even if it takes longer than you ever imagined.”

He continues, “Drawing prayer circles isn’t some magic trick to get what you want from God. God is not a genie in a bottle, and your wish is not His command…Drawing prayer circles starts with discerning what God wants, what God wills. And until His sovereign will becomes your sanctified wish, your prayer life will be unplugged from its power supply.”

This is why we spent an entire month challenging members to seek God in prayer and Bible reading to determine what God wanted to fix, change, accomplish, do in their life this next year and beyond. We don’t want to live with regrets and we definitely don’t want to get to the end of life and have regrets.

So what did God show you He wanted to do in your life? How did He convict or inspire you through Scripture? What have you “circled”? What are you praying every day for God to do?

Keep praying! Don’t stop!

Your church also needs your prayers. Pray for God to give us the ability to pay our debt of $6 million in six years. Pray for God to show you how you can be part of that miracle. Join us next Sunday evening at 5:00 pm (Feb 22) for our prayer event and help us circle our church in prayer. You are needed and your prayers matter.

I’d love to hear what God is doing in your life – what you are praying – what God is teaching you – how God is growing and changing you. Share with me in the space below. Your story could encourage and help another believer.

In the meantime – keep circling – keep praying – never quit.

Pastor Steve Hogg