Draw the Circle: The 40 Day Prayer Challenge Paperback – Dec 9 2012

The 40 Day Prayer Challenge by Mark Batterson is just what it says - A Prayer Challenge. It has stirred in me a greater desire to build a stronger prayer life. It is a faith provoking book. It gives credence to the promises of God. I would recommend this book to anyone desiring a stronger prayer life. Let's go for it folk and see what God will do!!!

I highly recommend this book ,its life changing. This Book as brought me to a better place and I'm forever grateful. Thank you so much mark for your words .

The best 40 day challenge anyone could ever experience. Mark is an aawesome author,

very encouraging straigj forward material that everyone can relate to... Love it

this is truly a tool that will enable the reader to live more fully.

excellent book marielle kistemaker

In the last month and a half I have read four books by Mark Batterson, and I have read each of the books twice. That speaks to the power of these books. But to be honest, this one might be the most powerful one yet and most likely to change your life and maybe even help to change the world. It all started when a friend recommended reading Praying Circles Around Your Children which was being offered for free in ebook format at the time. I started reading and only really stopped to pray for my kids. Then I got an advanced readers copy of The Circle Maker Student Edition: dream big, pray hard, think long and again I was blown away. Then I read this and the original The Circle Maker at the same time. I was flipping back and forth. Now I know this book is designed to be read over 40 days and used as a tool to spark praying and thinking differently, but I could not put it down. I am now half way through a second time, only reading a day at a time as it was designed.

This book is amazing; it will change your relationship with God, challenge your prayer habits and help shape new patterns for both prayer and devotional time. In the Introduction Mark states "If you want God to do something new in you, you cannot keep doing the same old thing. You have to do something different. And if you do, God will create new capacities within you. There will be new gifts and new revelations. But you've got to pray the price. You'll get out of this what you put into it." Then on day 26 he states: "If you want God to do something new in your life, you cannot keep doing the same old thing. My advice is simple: do something different. And you'll see what a difference it makes!" And again on day 28 "If you want God to do something new, you cannot keep doing the same old thing." This book will help break you from the habit of same old same old. The Psalmist in Psalm 51:12 declares: "Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." This book will rekindle your prayer life! Give it a try - you have nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain.

"In a moment of revelation, the circle maker realized that praying is planting. Each prayer is like a seed that gets planted in the ground. It disappears for a season, but it eventually bears fruit that blesses future generations. In fact, our prayers bear fruit forever."

So pick up this book and pray through the forty days. Plant new seeds and keep pray hard and thinking long!

Mark Batterson has once again delivered a challenging and practical book, this time on the topic of prayer. Draw the Circle is a series of devotionals arranged in a format for a 40-day prayer challenge, drawing on testimonials he has received since the release of The Circle Maker.

Indeed, as one goes through each day's devotional, you are challenged in regards to a biblical concept and a practical way to apply it. Batterson's honesty and gift for story-telling make each chapter a pleasurable read.

A couple chapters have a weak biblical basis (eg chapter 30 & 37) committing the exegetical fallacy (D. A. Carson) of reading any possible meaning of a word's range into one usage. A couple other chapters are pretty "soft," lacking good meat and content. However, these are the exception rather than the rule and over 90% are substantive in content and application. Throughout the book, the concepts are biblical and the author presents a theology of prayer (ie NOT God gives the Christian everything s/he wants) with both breadth and depth.

A highly recommended book, whether for the new Christian or a "mature" believer looking for a prayer challenge.

Draw the Circle was provided free to the author of this review for blog review by BookSneeze program.