The Circle Maker Devotion-Part 2 (5 Hours in a Line at a Winter Jam Concert)

I am exhausted! Anyone feel the same?  I took our church's youth group to Winter Jam (a huge Christian concert) where we drove 3 hours to get there, waited 5 hours in line, and rocked and worshiped for 5 hours.  We then drove back another 3 hours at which time we arrived at 2:15 this morning.  This morning, I had to get up to make it to worship practice, to teach Sunday School, and to lead worship.  What does this have to do with The Circle Maker, you may ask.  So here goes...

 This week, we covered chapter four of The Circle Maker which focuses on praying through.  The book discussed a lady named, Mother Dabney.  She wanted God to grow her husband's church, so she had a talk with God where she promised to meet God every morning at 9am, and He would never have to wait for her to arrive.  She also promised to fast and do this prayer time for 2 years!  I have a hard time with 1 week.  As she proved faithful, the church grew drastically.  Batterson mentioned that praying for something is great, but praying through takes 1) consistency.  You don't just commit, but you stay committed.  At Jericho, they didn't just march around the wall until they were tired or bored.  They did it until God said to stop!  2) It takes intensity.  It's not about the number of words you use in prayer.  It is about the quality of your time with God in prayer.  Some of the best prayer times I have had with God were when I didn't utter a single word.  It was just vulnerability, honesty, and a lot of tears.  3)When God spoke to the Joshua, He told him, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands."  This was before they had marched around the wall!  God gave Joshua the victory and answer to his prayers before he had even finished marching.  There were moments when I have prayed that I felt so much peace even though I hadn't seen the prayer answered.  That peace left me no doubt God would answer the prayer.  Some of those prayers took years to be answered, but God answered them.  It was worth the wait.  This brings me back to the concert.  We waited for 5 hours to get into the concert.  It was excruciating, but God showed!  After 3 hours of waiting, a woman walked up to us and asked how many youth were in the group.  She gave every one of our youth a free ticket.  This was amazing because in order to keep the cost down so more kids could go, we provided meals.  Sandwiches. Sandwiches for lunch and sandwiches for dinner.  They weren't excited about sandwiches again, but they didn't complain.  By getting the tickets free, they were able to use their money to buy dinner at McDonalds.  This may seem small for you, but to those kids it was God telling them He loved their passion and faithfulness and wanted to honor that!  So God asks us to pray through, not just to say a little prayer as an after-thought.  He also wants us to praise Him for what He is going to do.  Once you do this, you get to stand back and watch God be faithful!

 Have a great week high-heeled warrior!

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