Greater Awareness of GodSample

Being in God's Word

God honors bold prayers because bold prayers honor God. That’s the mantra that drives Mark Batterson’s life. The author and pastor has seen God do some incredible miracles in his life — all because people were willing to step out in faith and pray ridiculously audacious prayers. Seeing that has stirred up in Mark a deep commitment to prayer, so much so that he's written the bestselling books “The Circle Maker” and “Draw the Circle.” Those two books alone have touched millions of lives with timely principles about praying God’s Word over our dreams.

But today, we’re not just talking to Mark about what he’s accomplished. We’re digging deeper. We want to know the practices that ignite his faith.

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In the craziness of the last couple of years, it's a daily Bible reading plan that has kept me locked and loaded. I love the Bible, and I think it's in a category by itself. You don't just read the Bible; it reads you. The goal of that daily Bible reading plan isn't just to get through the Bible but to get the Bible through us. I think it's critical right now that we are in God's Word. Studying God's Word is, to me, right at the core of spiritual discipline. In the Talmud, the Jewish rabbis said that an hour of study is as an hour of prayer. They didn't really differentiate between studying Scripture and prayer. In fact, I would argue the Bible wasn't meant simply to be read — it was meant to be prayed. You pray through it and meditate on it.

So, that daily Bible reading plan is critical, but I would follow it up with the importance of prayer. Prayer is the difference between the best you can do and the best God can do. It’s the difference between you fighting for God and God fighting for you. It’s the difference between letting things happen and making things happen. And I think prayer is the way you write history before it happens. We have seen so many answers to prayer. Of course, this is coming from someone who's written a couple of books on prayer — “The Circle Maker” and “Draw the Circle” — but I am signed, sealed, and delivered when it comes to the power of prayer. I think God honors bold prayers because bold prayers honor God. I've experienced miracles, and so I know that with the combination of being in God's Word and praying bold prayers — and if you want to throw in prayer and fasting — it's game on.

—Mark Batterson, lead pastor of National Community Church, as told to Rapt Interviews