A few years ago when I was in one of the valleys of my ministry walk, I came across the book “The Circle Maker” by Mark Batterson. The testimonies in the book made a deep impression on me. Because of that book, I started the “prayer walk” practice since May 2014. I set aside a few days each week to circle around our children center classroom by classroom and pray for each class’ needs. I often spend quiet moments to wait upon messages from the Lord as I stand in the spot where children would worship on Sundays.
A few months ago, I felt the timing was right to expand this solo prayer walk to a collective one. So, I opened up every first Friday’s lunch time and invited all volunteers to join me. The attendance of the prayer walk has been low and no one showed up in yesterday’s. At round 12:10pm, I decided to start the prayer walk by myself. Usually, we started in the check-in room as the first stop. But this time, I felt that I need some sort of pictures or images to help me instill my commitment on prayer walk. And so, I walked to the end of the hallway, stood in front of this mural for a long while. I made a promise to the Lord in my heart, that I would keep on pursuing the prayer watcher’s call, even when it doesn’t seem to have visible results. Though the road is winding and the journey is lonesome, but that does not diminish the clarity of the vision one tiny bit.
I want to drop down this experience in writing so I won’t forget the silent promise in front of the mural yesterday. As I reviewed Mark Patterson’s testimony once again tonight, his very words still bring encouragement. If there is a divine vision that you have been pursuing for years but fail to see any visible results, may Pastor Mark’s words bring you encouragement. Sometimes, a divine promise takes decades to actualize. We can only reach across the other side of the promise land when we choose to press on and refuse to give up.
Here is the excerpt from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-batterson/a-new-way-to-pray-circle-maker_b_1349526.html
In 1996, I was the inexperienced pastor of a struggling church plant. National Community Church only had 25 members and our total monthly income as a church was $2,000. That’s when I felt the Lord prompting me to pray a perimeter around Capitol Hill. I was inspired by the promise in Joshua 1:3: “I will give you every place you set your foot, just as I promised Moses.” So I prayed my first circle around Capitol Hill.
That 4.7-mile prayer walk took three hours, but God has been answering that prayer for 15 years. NCC is now one church with seven locations. We’re influencing thousands of attendees every week. And every piece of property we own is right on that prayer circle! Coincidence? I think not. I walked by a rundown crackhouse at the corner of 2nd and F Street, NE that is now Ebenezers Coffeehouse. I walked right under the marquee of The People’s Church, which became our seventh location in 2011. And I walked right by an $8 million piece of property at 8th and Virginia Avenue, which we own debt-free and where we’ll build a future campus.
Praying circling isn’t just about physically circling pieces of properties. It’s about circling the promises of God in prayer until God delivers. It’s about circling our loved ones in prayer. Many years ago I turned Luke 2:52 into a prayer and I’ve circled my three children with this blessing thousands of times: May you grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with man.