“I have come to expect the unexpected because God is predictably unpredictable.”- Mark Batterson
Mark Batterson concludes Chapter 6 of The Circle Maker by reflecting on a favorite saying of his grandmother: You can’t never always sometimes tell. Translation: “Anything could happen.” The same is true when you circle a promise in prayer. Prayer adds an element of surprise to your life that is more fun than any other kind of surprise. Mark explains:
“When you draw a prayer circle, even if that circle is limited by your ignorance, you never know how or when or where God will answer it. One prayer leads to another, which leads to another, and where they will take you no one knows except the One who knows all.”
Pastor Batterson notes there is one caveat: you have to give up control if you want God to surprise you. Although you’ll lose a measure of predictability, this frees God to move in uncontrollable ways. Meanwhile, you live with holy anticipation, understanding that coincidences are providences and that any moment can turn into a holy moment. Mark observes it is at this point many of us become spiritually bogged down:
“It’s at this place where God wants to do something unprecedented that many of us get stuck spiritually. Instead of operating by faith, we switch back to our default setting of logic. Instead of embracing the new move of God, we fall back into the rut of our old routines.”
Mark’s solution?: don’t simply brainstorm, praystorm
Today’s question: How difficult is it for you to give up “control” of your situation? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “The size of our God”