"Circle Of Prayer" - The Apostolic Connection

prayer is so much more than just communication prayer involves expecting to receive an answer may maybe you're like me um you know get up in the morning and you just kind of go through your list of things God touch my family my wife wife my girls God touch our missionaries God and and I'll go through and and Lord protect the kids in the daycare protect the school students and I'll go through my list of things and then when I get done I just say in Jesus name thank you Lord and and kind of just start my day off and really never receive any type of an answer just feels sometimes like a one way and maybe maybe maybe you're Ultra spiritual and maybe you just have uh times with God where you're laid out half the day I I don't know I don't know prayer is something that we have to wait on a response we keep we keep praying until we receive a response brother uh if you will give me that staff brother Josh um in this book and if you read the marriage Retreat book you heard of The Legend of honai thank you sir matter of fact pastor pastor preached on this book earlier this year uh before marriage Retreat and he told us the legend of honi but just in case you weren't here uh honi is what many would call the rain maker um it is a story of a man in the Jewish tomad that uh tells us about the people of God who were in a famine and they knew of a man homi who was a prayer Warrior uh they would go by his Hut and they would hear him praying all hours of the day and so when it came to the famine and the drought and when people started losing their life because there was no more water the cattle started dying there was no more food they went to this man of prayer and said if you will come and pray that God would send the rain pray that God would send the rain and so uh as they LED this man homi or honi as they led honi to the center of the city they watched as honi as he took his staff and he drew a circle in the sand all the way around himself and as he drew this circle the next thing he did as the people watched is he put his staff down and he knelt down in that Circle and he prayed these words he prayed God these are your people these are your children I have made a circle in the sand and I will not leave this circle I will not eat I will not drink I will not leave this circle I will pray in this circle until you send rain for your people and as honai was there and as he was praying and as the people were watching him and wondering surely this man I know he's a man of prayer but surely he can't think that he's going to stay in this circle until God moves and sends prayer but as he began to pray and cry out to God and the people watched soon drops of rain began to fall and as drops of rain began to fall the people became so excited The Story Goes The Legend goes that they turn their faces up towards heaven and and allow drops of water to start dropping into their mouths and they start the children were scampering around and playing and and and and just have a wonderful time because they knew that it began to rain but honai said this is not the rain I asked for I want rain that's so hard and Soulful it'll fill the sisters and it'll fill up every cranny and every goalie that is in the land and and as he began to pray he said God this is not what I'm looking for the Water started coming the rain started coming down so hard that the people ran for cover because they were getting hit so hard with the rain and as the rain came down he said oh but this is not the rain I'm looking for this is not the rain that will that will hurt that will hurt the people and the rain that will cause there'll be mudslides I want a continual rain and and sure enough the rain slowed down to where it was just a beautiful shower of rain that lasted long enough to fill all the golles and fill all the river beds and and and the people of course the people in it's Legend today the people began to call him the rain maker or the circle maker and the moral of the story is when you draw a circle you're making a statement that you will not leave that prayer until it gets answered you see bold prayer honors God and God honors bold prayers bold prayers usually are prayed from Desperate people at desperate time it was Moses that said oh God the Egyptians are are coming behind us they're coming with their chariots I see Pharaoh in his chariots they're coming to take us they're coming to kill us they're upset because you've killed all their firstborn and he said God what are we going to do and God said I'll tell you what you do I want you to take your staff and I want you to hold it out over the Red Sea and I want you to see what happens and it was Moses that said I don't care what anybody thinks about me as I come to that sea and lift my staff over whatever people say about me I don't care because I'm desperate I need a prayer answered I'm willing to do anything it takes whether I have to hit a rock and water has to come out or if he has to speak to whatever you have to do I'm desperate to make it happen it was Joshua who prayed to God and said God we're in a battle and the Sun is going down you've got to do something about this we cannot win this battle if the Sun go goes down and nightfalls and he just commanded he said Son stand still it was desperate measures and don't you know people around them probably thought surely to God he doesn't think the son is going to really stand still brother white surely to God he doesn't think that that that the day is going to add hours but let me tell you something when a man is desperate enough to have a bold prayer God says I like your bold prayer and because it's something that nobody else can accomplish there's nobody else that could have made any more daylight hours only God could do that and because God got the credit God said I will hold the sun in place and let you win this battle and I believe that God withholds some of his power in order to receive the most Glory at the most desperate times but you've got to ask for that power you've got to ask for it and that's what I guess I've come to preach more than anything else because there is a spirit that can well up inside of me and that can well up inside of you that gets this mentality that says well if it be the will of God it will happen that's a cop out now I believe that statement but I don't believe that you use it in the way that we tend to use it well 10 years ago I prayed for my kids and if it's your will God they'll come back to church that's a copout that's a way that's a form of us saying you know what I'm tired of praying for it I'm tired of thinking about it so therefore I'm just going to put it in your hands God and if you want to do something about it great if you don't great but it's your decision it's kind of like blaming God and saying hey if it doesn't happen it was God's will that it didn't happen I don't believe that I believe that he reserves power for those that are going to get in the prayer room and get on their knees and draw a circle around themselves and saying God I will not not stop praying for this need sister approach until I receive an answer until I receive my Miracle until I know beyond a shadow of a doubt it wasn't the doctor that fixed it it wasn't the nurses that fixed it it wasn't the surgeon that fixed it but you fixed it because I was continually in prayer for my need somebody put your hands together I feel the Holy Ghost in This Place I believe there's people in this house that have a need whether it's in your body it's in your home home and you've got to say God I'm willing to take a bold step I'm willing to draw a circle in the sand and say until it comes to pass I will not leave this prayer you may be seated this morning but you got to ask for it Joshua Joshua was a circle maker I already told you about the son but before that war there was the Battle of Jericho we know the story well we sang this song as children Joshua fit the Battle of Jericho not sure what fit means but that's what we sang but he got a word from the Lord and the Lord said I don't care who laughs at you I don't care who questions you this is what I want you to do you're going to feel vulnerable let me tell you something have you ever thought about this when you make a bold step you got people looking at you wondering tell you what do they really know what they're doing here Moses put him over us but does he really know what he's doing H here we have a City Jericho Jericho was a 12 acre City Jericho was built up on a small Plateau it was a very impregnable City because it was built up you had to climb up the side of a plateau then you came across two walls one wall was six foot wide the other wall behind it was 50 foot high so it wasn't like you could just uh uh uh build a build some kind of a bridge over it or uh you know we've we' we've seen these movies where people would would would pull a a pull a cart or something up to it and try to climb with ladders and you couldn't do that Jericho there was no way to get over Jericho's walls it was built to be impregnable it was built to where an army could not get over the wall and I got to imagine as Joshua is bringing 40,000 soldiers to the city that there's just no way you're going to get over the walls I I got to imagine when he came up with a plan and said listen this is what we're going to do this is how it's going to go for seven days I prayed to God and this is the answer I got for seven days we're going to walk around this city day one through day six we're going to walk around just one time 12 acres City just going to walk around at one time and I can imagine you know day 1 through six he probably was feeling pretty good got an answer from the Lord got 40,000 behind me got the priests got the trumpets we got the ark we're doing good but I just got to believe and I don't know if you ever thought this but I just got to believe that day seven had to been a little nerve-wracking because day seven you know he's been in the circle for quite a while now in day seven you got people now and God here God doesn't make it easy God doesn't say just go one more time around and the Wall's going to come down oh no not God you're going to go seven times around so now it's now now day 1 through six it probably wasn't a big deal you know it's kind of just this morning walk drank their coffee walked around the city went back to Camp good day day seven man I can imagine about lap number six Joshua was going oh God now listen God these people are tired behind me I can hear them panting they're out of breath bre walking for Miles God if these walls don't fall I've got a big problem and I can imagine I I got a believe that's why God told Joshua tell them they're not to talk on day seven you know what I'm saying and it's not just and I've always talking about because you know bickering and complaining I don't think it was that so much as hey Josh you sure we got about this hey joshh that got on the walls waved at me six times now sure we got this we look foolish out here Joshua Joshua said just keep on walking keep on following these priests we're going to get this done but you know bold prayers and bold answers take people who are willing to say I don't care what anybody else thinks about me I don't care what the people on the wall are saying because God made it known to them right away they were already scared they were already frightened they heard that the Jordan River parted they had heard stories they heard rumors they knew that these people were not just some ordinary people but they were extraordinary they understood that this Army out here and they were scared but the people of God and just like us we know we know who wins at the end of the book we understand that we're the winners we understand understand that the devil is going to a to a lake of fire and we get to go up on streets we understand that but isn't it just like us to sometimes think oh God are we doing this right oh God are you sure is this is this really how is this really how church is supposed to feel is this how we're really supposed to live is this there's questions because when you make bold statements and make bold prayers you're always going to come across doubt in your mind when you when you draw that Circle in the sand and you say God I'm not coming out until I get an answer there always was going to come a place where you say oh God I hope I'm doing the right thing I hope this is what you wanted I hope but listen let me tell you something the most beautiful part of this story was simply as they got around on the seventh time and as those trumpets began to blow and as the people lifted up a shout and the walls came down God said I'm not and I was reading this in history and they found they found all this the walls as the walls came down the reason they came down was because they came down the plateau and it gave them stair steps to get up to Jericho so as they're down at the bottom looking up this plateau look up this mountain side at these instr mountable walls all of a sudden God says I'll tell you what I won't even bring I won't just bring the walls down I'll make it to where you have Stepping Stones to get up in the city and conquer the city and don't you know our God is just like that for us when we think all hope is lost and we're wondering is this really your will is this really what's supposed to happen are we really supposed to be building that church down there debt-free when we get to those asking those questions God said if you'll just hold on and obey my word everything will come to pass God I don't ever want to get into the hole if it be God's will oh no you've got to draw that Circle and get in that Circle