"Dream Big"
Joshua 6:1-10
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Series: "The Circle Maker" by Mark Batterson

Introduction: I want to tell you of a story that happened in the first century, B.C. called The Legend of the Circle Maker. This story motivated minister Mark Batterson to write a book called The Circle Maker that we are going to look at over the next 4 weeks. I believe this story, and the material from this book, will challenge our prayer life, and forever change how we pray!

The story goes like this: In the first century there was this terrible drought that threatened to destroy a generation. This was the generation before Jesus. The last of the Jewish prophets had died off nearly four centuries before this. Many struggled to believe that God did miracles anymore. In the midst of the drought an eccentric sage name Honi believed that God could still hear them.

The people believed that Honi was there only hope as he was famous for his praying for rain. It was on this day, come to be known as The Day, that Honi would live up to what people believed about him.

Honi carried a six-foot staff, and as he walked within the walls of Jerusalem, to where the people were standing, he used his staff to draw a circle around him. Honi dropped to his knees and raised his hands to heaven. With the authority of the greatest of the prophets, Honi called out to God with these words:

“Lord of the universe, I swear before Your great name that I will not move from this circle until You have shown mercy upon Your children.”

The words of his prayer continued from the depth of his soul with confidence and yet humility.

Then it happened. The raindrops began to descend to the earth. An audible gasp went out from the people. The people rejoiced over each drop. But Honi wasn’t satisfied. Still kneeling within the circle, Honi lifted his voice over the sounds of the celebration, and said: “Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain that will fill cisterns, pits, and caverns.”

The sprinkle turned into a torrential downpour. And Honi continued: “Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain of Your favor, blessing, and graciousness.”

At this it began to rain calmly, peacefully. The rain was a tangible reminder of God’s grace. Because of this rain, it was impossible for people not to believe in God as a God of miracles; a God who hears the prayer of His people.

This prayer was deemed one of the most significant prayers in the history of Israel. This prayer stands as a testament to the power of a single prayer, and the ability for all to make a difference with their prayers!

I. Circle Makers-

The theme behind this book, behind this series is this: BOLD PRAYERS

HONOR GOD, AND GOD HONORS BOLD PRAYERS!

If your prayers don’t go beyond what you are capable of doing, then you are

not praying like you should! Why is this? Because anything that doesn’t require diving intervention is unnecessary to pray. If you can do it, why do you pray to God? Prayer is designed to connect us with God in a deep relationship, and then lead us to pray within God’s will. When we do this, God rejoices in our prayers, because God loves to keep His promises! God is a God who answers prayers, performs miracles, and fulfills dreams. That is who God is, and what God does.

God therefore wants us to draw circles around the impossible situations. God

is ready and waiting for us to do this. This is because God is for us, and God has created us as people who are to dream. If you don’t believe this, then your prayers will be small and timid. And this might be the way you are praying now!

Like Honi, we need to determine what God wants for us, draw a circle

around it, and then pray for this diligently, fervently, and with sincere faith. The key is that it all starts with what God wants; what God wills. Getting what you want isn’t the goal; the goal is glorifying God. That is where too many people falter in their prayers. Their prayers are not prayed with the purpose of glorifying God, but trying to get what they want.

As we are told in James, chapter 4, verses 2b-3, “You do not have because you

do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” So, one mistake we make is to not ask. The second mistake we make is to ask for our own pleasures. These both lead us to not experience answered prayer.

When we ask with the right motive, and faith, and trust in God, in the

context of wanting to see God’s will happen in our lives, and with the desire for it to glorify God, then we will see God answer our prayers. It takes faith, determination, and perseverance.

II. The Jericho Miracle- (Joshua 6:2-5)-

There is a book called The Book of Legends, that contains some teachings of

Jewish Rabbis. The story of Honi the Circle Maker is in this book. It is a reminder that people have been praying to God for centuries, and God has been answering their prayers. It is a reminder that we are a part of a great work all around us. It is a reminder that prayer is not something that we just do because we want something, or because all of a sudden we have a need.

Prayer comes out of our ongoing relationship with God. In this relationship we form a bond with God, so that we can begin to know the mind of God and the will of God. It is a connection that is made so that when we do pray something big, we not only believe God will do it, but we know why God will do it! Through this we

are inspired to pray big prayers because we know that we worship a big and powerful God who is able to answer these big prayers. We know that when we experience circumstances beyond our abilities or control, we have a God who can come alongside and take care of the need.

One great example of this is the story in the Bible of the Israelites circling Jericho for seven days. Imagine when the Israelites came upon Jericho! What they saw was a six-foot wide lower wall and a fifty-foot high upper wall that encircled the city. It appeared to be an impregnable fortress. God had promised Jericho to Israel, but God had promised the impossible, they must have thought.

Then God gave the Israelites the battle plan: “Then the LORD said to Joshua,

‘See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. ³ March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. ⁴ Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. ⁵ When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.’”

Have you ever wondered why they didn’t use a battering ram? Or cut off the water supply? The soldiers must have felt foolish doing this! By their obedience God answered a 400-year-old promise. He proved that what He promises to will true. He did it this way so that the people would know that it was God’s doing, and not theirs!

What is your Jericho? What is mine? I believe one of mine is the success of this church. We are facing a challenge with attendance, and with finances. But I believe if we pray to God, God will answer! The key will be to pray this prayer with the idea of glorifying God. We can’t pray a vague prayer, but a very concise and purposeful prayer: “Lord, help us to bring Your word of truth and life to those who are lost so that they might come to this church. Give us the finances we need to continue doing ministry for years to come, FOR YOUR GLORY!”

III. Praying through-

I’m sure you have heard the name Mother Teresa; a missionary of charity to the poorest of poor in Calcutta, India. But have you ever heard of Mother Dabney? In 1925, Elizabeth J. Dabney and her husband went to work for a mission in the City of Brotherly Love. The mission was in a literal hellhole. Her husband was called to preach. She was called to prayer. She didn’t just pray, she prayed through.

One afternoon as she was thinking about a bad situation in their North Philly neighborhood, she asked God if He would give them a spiritual victory if she covenanted with Him to pray. She felt strongly that God promised He would. She felt the Lord prompting her to meet with Him the next morning at the Schuylkill River at 7:30 a.m. sharp. The next morning she went down to the river outside the city walls, and the Lord said to her, “This is the place.” She said that the presence of God overshadowed her. She drew a circle in the sand and prayed this prayer:

“Lord, if You will bless my husband in the place You sent him to establish Your name, if You will break the bonds and destroy the middle wall of partition, if You will give him a church and congregation—a credit to Your people and all Christendom—I will walk with You for three years in prayer, both day and night. I will meet You every morning at 9:00 a.m. sharp... Furthermore, if You will listen to the voice of my supplication and break through in that wicked neighborhood and bless my husband, I will fast seventy-two hours each week for two years...

After she ended her prayer it was like a cloudburst of God’s glory that fell from heaven. And so she faithfully prayed every morning at 9:00 a.m. Soon the mission was too small to accommodate the people. The more she prayed, the more God came through! Mother Dabney’s prayer legacy was published by The Pentecostal Evangel under the title ‘What it means to pray through.’

The truth is, most of us don’t get what we pray for because we quit circling. We give up too easily. We give up too soon. We don’t commit ourselves to what God wants to do in and through us, and we don’t PRAY THROUGH!! We don’t refuse to move from the circle until God moves.

IV. The Foolishness of Prayer-

We are called to pray before anything happens. It can look foolish to others because we are praying for something beyond ourselves! Think about Honi, drawing a circle, kneeling down, lifting his hands to heaven, and praying to God for rain. Drawing prayer circles can look like an exercise of foolishness. But it’s shows faith. Think about Noah, exercising his faith by building an ark in the middle of a desert. The Israelite army looking foolish marching around Jericho and blowing trumpets. A boy named David using a slingshot and some rocks to defeat a giant.

Jesus Himself exhibited this same faith when he took 5 loaves of bread, and 2 fish, and prayed that it would feed over 5,000 people! If you add it up, 5 + 2 = 7! But if you add God to the equation, 5 + 2 equals whatever God wants to do with it. God is in the business of multiplication. This is God’s economy. In fact, for God, 5 + 2 equals 5,000 plus 12 baskets left over.

The challenge for you and for me is to pray when we don’t understand; to trust when we don’t see a way out. We have to ask ourselves if we are willing to draw a circle and pray even when things don’t add up. Are you and I going to really add God to the equation, or will we fail to pray through, because we think it might look foolish? Will we carry on with the Lord at our side, or will we quit?

God isn’t offended by big dreams. However, big dreams require the foolishness of prayer. Actually, God is offended than less than big dreams, because we are selling God and ourselves short. Without big dreams, there is no need for God in our lives. The bigger the prayer circle, the more God can multiply.

V. The Surprise of Prayer-

There is a wonderful phrase in the book, in chapter 6. The phrase is this:

“VISION BEYOND YOUR RESOURCES.” Most people do not have vision beyond their resources. They look at what they have and try to come up with a plan using the resources they now possess. But you cannot dream big by only using the resources you have now. The whole idea of a dream is achieving something that doesn’t already exist. A dream is there to take you to where God wants you to go next.

I have a minister friend who is the minister of a church that has an abundance of money and resources. I told him about how a few years ago we did something called Return to Bethlehem, which required us to make back drops, and props, and costumes, and transform our Fellowship Hall into a first century market place. It also cost $1000 and took 55 people to pull off. We gave it to God, and God accomplished it for us! I could tell you many stories where this has happened in our church.

As I told him stories like this, he was amazed, because he said that their church never decides to do anything until they have first figured out if they could afford it. They don’t step out in faith in this way!!

When you circle a promise in prayer, the truth is, anything can happen. To presuppose what the Lord will do with your prayer, or to put expectations on God in the prayer, is not what praying is about. Prayer adds an element of surprise to your life. Once you have circled the need and prayed the prayer, the rest is up to God. The surprise comes in wondering what God will do with the prayer and how God will answer it. God is predictably unpredictable.

His timing is also a surprise. I have seen God answer prayers at the last minute so many times. I have had so many people tell me God waited until the last minute to answer their prayer. I believe that this enhances our trust and faith in God. We know, when the answer comes, that it was from God.

Conclusion: Sometimes when you hear the answers to prayer that others have experienced, it can be discouraging instead of encouraging because you wonder why God has answered their prayers but not yours. Let me help you to understand that the answer to their prayer, while seemingly happening shortly after they prayed it, is something that God was working on for them over much time.

Sometimes the power of prayer is the power to carry on. It doesn’t always change your circumstances, but it gives you the strength to walk through them. When you pray through, the burden is taken off of your shoulders and put on God’s. Don’t think that your dream or your prayer is too big. If it is in accordance with the will of God, for the purpose of giving glory to God, God’s answer will come for you. Amen.