Circle Maker, The MP3 CD – Unabridged, April 8, 2014

This book has been very helpful for me to read and has helped me tremendously with my prayer where I struggle the most sometimes.

Purchased this for a group study with a group of girlfriends. What a GIFT-- we quickly made our way through it and ordered the next book from the author. Could not recommend this more and how deeply it has moved my prayer life!

I started The Circle Maker: Praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams & Greatest Fears by Mark Batterson the other night and have not been able to put it down.I told Katie this morning that she needs to stop reading whatever she's reading and read this book. It was that good and challenging. There were a few things that jumped out to me from the book.The first was the idea of drawing circles around prayer. Praying specific prayers. I've preached before on this idea and find that praying specific prayers stretches my faith and I see God move in powerful ways because of it. But I like the idea of circling something. For me, I've begun circling places I believe God wants us to plant Revolution Churches in Tucson. So this was a great reminder.Another point was having a vision beyond your resources. I've already blogged on this idea, so I won't belabor it, but suffice to say, if you can afford or pull off your prayers or dreams, they are too small. Another was the question Mark asked, "Is there a limit to God's power?" All Christians would say no, yet we pray as if there is. We pray small prayers, believe possible things. This is the foundational question of prayer. Is there a limit to what God can do.By far, the most life changing idea from this book was when he said, "Stop praying for something and start praying/praising through something." God has already given us the promise of answered prayers and power in Scripture. Start praising God for what he will do. For me, I started to think about our adoptions and that God has already chosen children for our family, so instead of asking him to complete the adoption, I've begun thanking him for these children and praising through it. I believe God has put on my heart the prayer of planting a movement of churches around Tucson so that everyone is within a 10 mile drive of a Revolution Church and that 1 million people will enter the kingdom through Revolution (in my lifetime or beyond), so I'm beginning to pray as if that promise has already happened and giving God the glory for it.While all of this is good, it is easy for this idea and the way Mark communicates it for someone to walk away and think of God as a vending machine. Pray this and you'll get more than what you prayed for. Give this and God will give you 10 times what you gave. This is a tough line to walk when it comes to faith. Mark handles it well by bringing us back to the glory of God and how that needs to be the heart of our prayers and asking. He handled this well by comparing it to John the Baptist. One of Jesus' closest friends, John is beheaded, while others are being healed, raised from the dead, walking after years of being lame and John does not get rescued. It's a tough place to be, it is a dark place to be, but it is also a place that pushes our faith and asks if we truly believe in God and his sovereignty and his plan. The other reality is that sometimes God tells us no and doesn't answer our prayers the way we want them. Sometimes he doesn't bring healing like we hoped.Here are a few other things that jumped out to me:-Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers. God isn't offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers. He is offended by anything less. If your prayers aren't impossible to you, they are insulting to God. Why? Because they don't require divine intervention.-Prayers are prophecies. They are the best predictors of your spiritual future. Who you become is determined by how you pray. Ultimately, the transcript of your prayers becomes the script of your life.-The greatest tragedy in life is the prayers that go unanswered because they go unasked.-"God does not answer vague prayers."-We usually focus on what we're doing or where we're going, but God's primary concern is who we're becoming in the process. We talk about "doing" the will of God, but the will of God has much more to do with "being" than "doing."-Faith is the willingness to look foolish.-If you aren't willing to be perplexed, you'll never be amazed.-Many of us pray as if our problems are bigger than God. Our biggest problem is our small view of God.-God is great not just because nothing is too big for Him; God is great because nothing is too small for Him.-All of us love miracles. We just don't like being in a situation that necessitates one.-Show me your vision, and I'll show you your future.-The degree of satisfaction is directly proportional to the degree of difficulty.If you are looking for a book that will stretch your faith and prayer life, this is a great book to start with.[...]

This book has changed my life. I’ve learned so much about prayer that I will never pray the same. I plan to buy this for my kids. I look forward to setting my God inspired goal list. Thank you so much for writing and sharing.

Honi the Circle Maker was a man bold enough to draw a circle in the sand and not budge from inside it until God answered his prayers for his people. What impossibly big dream is God calling you to draw a prayer circle around? I learned some great quotes about prayer.Prayer primes your heart.We live in an ellipsis when we are waiting for God to answer a prayer, but 100 percent of the prayers I don't pray won't get answered.Kneeling is the most powerful position on earth. Daniel never stopped dreaming big or praying hard because that's what prophets do. Daniel stopped, dropped and prayed three times a day.Don't always do small, timid prayers. Don't just brainstorm, praystorm.Focus on the footnotes, God will write the headline.After you pray through, praise through.A heavyweight prayer bout with God is how the greatest victories are won.Our society overvalues 15 minutes of fame and underplays eternal life.I became fascinated with his discussion on James Cash Penney who started off giving 10 percent of his income away and ended with giving away 90 percent away and living on 10 percent. Penney said, Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I will give you a man who will make history. Give me a man without a goal and I will give you a stock clerk.I didn't know a thing about Harriet Beecher Stowe. His book said one Sunday morning in 1851, during a Communion service, Harriet fell into a trance not unlike the trance that Peter had on the rooftop of Simon the tanner’s house. In her trance, Hattie saw an old slave being beaten to death. The vision left her so shaken that she could hardly keep from weeping. She walked her children home from church and skipped lunch. She immediately started writing down the vision God had given her as words poured from her pen. When she ran out of paper, she found brown grocery paper and continued to write. When she finally stopped, and read what she wrote, she could hardly believe she had written it. It was nothing short of divine inspiration. Hattie said that God wrote the book; she just put the words on paper.Kneeling is the most powerful position on earth. Daniel never stopped dreaming big or praying hard because that's what prophets do. Daniel stopped, dropped and prayed three times a day.Don't always do small, timid prayers. Don't just brainstorm, praystorm.Focus on the footnotes, God will write the headline.After you pray through, praise through.A heavyweight prayer bout with God is how the greatest victories are won.During one of the America's Cup races, the Australian team's coach made a tape beating the American team three years before the race. He narrated it. Every member of the team was required to listen twice a day. By the time they set sail, they had already beaten the American team 2,190 times in their imagination.Our society overvalues 15 minutes of fame and underplays eternal life.One God idea is worth 1,000 good ideas.

Everyone should read it

The book is astounding, I am on Day 18 on my daily reading tho on Day 15 of the daily email. I just love it, I have it on kindle, and also on my One Life app. It certainly has me thinking Mark. I do One Life app Bible Study every day and I’ve got nine books on it, it’s definitely my favourite because of his pure faith. Thank you Mark for helping my prayer life go in circles. And I definitely recommend it to everyone.Though I noticed you only have one book on One Life app, and I would’ plead that you would put more books on. I thank you again, Mark for a wonderful book, and please keep them coming. 🙏🏼🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

This book came at the right time when I was struggling with my faith. Life overwhelmed me, and I wondered where God was in all of this. Then, a preacher talked about the legend of the CircleMaker, and God brought this book to me. I am so deeply encouraged. The teachings Pastor Mark shared transformed my life in a week! God is so good! This book was an answer to prayer!! Double blessing!!

Excellent, the product in which I received was in perfect condition and great quality as well. I would buy again

This is such a powerful read. Definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to grow in their prayer life, or who wants to learn how to pray effectively and see their breakthrough come!