The Circle Maker

In The Circle Maker, Mark Batterson takes an in-depth look into prayer. He emphasizes the importance and power of prayer. More than that, he describes in detail how to pray, and why that is important. At the beginning of the story, Mark Batterson retells the story of the original Circle Maker.

Ask and Pray

The Circle Maker is an inspiring book. It is a wake-up call for those who pray. In the book, Mark Batterson gives a very powerful look into how to pray. He explains how, “bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers. If your prayers aren’t impossible to you, they are insulting to God.” It is important to ask God, to pray and not to hold back on the magnitude of prayer. “God won’t do it unless you pray for it. We have not because we ask not…we have not because we circle not. The greatest tragedy in life is the prayers that go unanswered because they go unasked,” Batterson writes.  

Personally, this book has changed the way I pray and given me a fresh perspective. “Imagination is the road less taken, but it is the pathway of prayer. Prayer and imagination are directly proportional: the more you pray the bigger your imagination becomes because the Holy Spirit supersizes it with God-sized dreams,” Batterson explains, “God does not answer vague prayers.” I highlighted, starred or underlined Mark Batterson’s words on over 50 pages of this book. As a believer in the power of prayer to God, the author’s experiences, thoughts and ideas encouraged a new way to pray. Specific prayers, in which what we pray for is larger than what we are able to do, are what God wants from us.

“The size of our prayers depends on the size of our God,” Mark Batterson explains, “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. There is a ripple effect to the third and fourth generations! Just as the blessings, breakthroughs, and miracles in your life are an answer to someone else’s prayer, your prayers will impact nations and generations.” That puts a whole lot of weight on what and how we speak to God.

40 Day Prayer Challenge

After reading, “The Circle Maker,” I read and used the accompanying journal, also by the same author. The title is “Draw the Circle Prayer Journal – The 40 Day Prayer Challenge.” This challenged me to pray very specific prayers. Not only to pray them, but to intensely lift up my heart’s desires to God. In my prayer journal I call them my ‘circle prayers.’ Also, I say that I ‘circle pray’ for [the specific request]. Mark Batterson writes, “Each prayer is like a seed that gets planted in the ground. It disappears for a season, but it eventually bears fruit that blesses future generations. In fact, our prayers bear fruit forever.”

My own “The Circle Maker” Prayer

An example of one of my ‘circle prayers’ was when we were looking for a new home. At the time we were outgrowing our current home. I did not pray that we find a bigger house. Nor did I pray for the schools that my children would one day go to. Instead, I prayed specifically for all of it. I asked God for a home that was a good size for our family to live in. Also, I prayed for my kids’ schools- that they would be the best match for our family. Additionally, I prayed for our future neighbors. I did not ask God for good neighbors. I asked for neighbors that would be a blessing to our family and our family would be a blessing to them. This was my ‘circle prayer’ for months.

We put our ‘then house’ on the market in October. With several offers to choose from, we were excited to put our house under contract. The buyer agreed to wait until the end of the year to officially purchase the home. In doing that, we were able to continue looking for another house. By Christmas we had not found another house, despite putting offers on 7 houses. We gave the highest offer for all but 1 of the houses. However, many other people waived inspections. We were not comfortable in doing that.

The day after Christmas we moved into a 2-bedroom apartment. We were grateful for the people that came to help us move right after Christmas day. The apartment was tight with two adults, two kids, a baby and a large dog. However, we managed and enjoyed the walking trails, dog parks, playgrounds, neighbors, pond and more.

I continued to ‘circle pray’ for our home, neighbors, school and neighborhood. Meanwhile, we still went to see some houses. Eventually, in February, we went to a house and felt right at home. I prayed for the neighborhood, neighbors, the house itself to be the best for us and more. We got a phone call from our realtor not long after that. The sellers wanted to know if we would consider waiving inspections.

Even though we were excited about this house, we were not going to waive inspections. Much of the house had recently been updated, so we did not think there was an issue. After that phone call we honestly thought we had lost the house. However, a couple of days later we received another phone call from our realtor. She was calling to tell us that we got the house. It has been everything I had prayed for and more.