The Circle Maker-part 4 (The Power of But)

If you have been following along with the book study on, The Circle Maker, then hopefully, you have been as challenged as the ladies in my group.  This last week we covered chapter seven and eight.  It started with the question asked of Moses by God before God supplied the miracle of the quail for Israel.  God asked, "Is there a limit to My power?"  God wanted Moses to think about the size of his problems compared to the size of his God.  Remember, God had already performed the miracles of freeing Israel from pharaoh, parting the Red sea, providing a pillar of fire by night to see, and supplying manna in the desert.  That's quite a list.  If God could do that, could He not do something bigger?  As Moses began to see God come through for him, his prayers got bigger and more confident.  It is the same way with our prayers.  

Batterson quoted God from Isaiah 55:9, "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."  Batterson then mentioned that the earth is 15.5 billion light years away from the outer edge of the universe (heavens).  That means God's thoughts are 15.5 billion light years greater than what we could think or imagine.  So can God answer our prayers?  Absolutely!  Praying big requires facing fears and stepping out if God calls us.  Batterson mentioned that once you start praying for something, it doesn't mean it will happen instantly.  He mentioned, "the power of prayer is the power to carry on."  I started praying for a special need.  Once I started praying, it seemed like the circumstances got worse instead of better.  As I was riding in my car with the radio playing, I started to pray.  I asked God why He had not moved yet.  At the exact moment I was telling God I hadn't seen it, the song with the line "you just haven't seen it yet"  played as an advertisement.  The only difference between my comment to God and His comment to me was "yet."  We may not see His hand, but it doesn't mean He isn't moving.  I heard the story of a missionary who prayed that God would send a doctor to her remote town in the country she ministered.  At the moment she stopped praying, a knock sounded at her door.  She opened the door to find a doctor standing on her doorstep telling her that God had directed him to come to this town to help.  This doctor had prepared to leave and flown out long before she had prayed.  God knows your needs before you even pray them!  

Batterson mentioned we have to be persistent in our prayers.  In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus even told his disciples in a parable to be like the persistent widow who repeatedly went to the judge for justice.  Even though he was not compassionate, he granted her request because of her persistence.  Elijah was persistent when he prayed to God to end a three year drought.  (1 Kings 18:41-46) This happened centuries before Honi drew a circle and prayed for the same thing.  Honi had to have thought, "If You did this for Elijah, You can do this for me."  Elijah prayed over and over until results came.  Martha told Jesus after her brother Lazarus had died that if Jesus had arrived earlier, Lazarus would have lived.  Then she says the key thing in John 11:22.  "But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”  The "but" made all the difference.  We may not see God moving, but we know He can because He has in the past.  As we pray the Word of God, it reminds us how faithful God has been, and that those promises from the Word of God are for us today.

Have a great week high-heeled warriors!