The following is from Mark Batterson’s book The Circle Maker. Our men’s group is reading this today and some of this stuck out to me. That is why I am sharing it with you today. Read on…
This pattern of last-second provision is repeated throughout Scripture, and I think it reveals God’s playful personality. Sometimes we are so focus on the character of God that we forget that God has a personality too. He loves hiding around corners and surprising us. You cannot convince me that Jesus didn’t have fun sneaking up on the disciples in the middle of the night in the middle of the lake by walking on water. You can’t convince me that God didn’t enjoy the befuddled look on Moses’ face when he heard the talking bush. As I read Scripture, I can come to no other conclusion than this: God loves showing up in unexpected ways at unexpected times.
I love this part of God’s personality. While it sometimes adds stress, it also adds drama. In big and small ways, it is prayer that adds the unexpected twists and turns in our personal plotlines that make life worth living. It is prayer that precipitates and culminates in the dramatic moments when God shows us in dramatic fashion. It is prayer that can turn any story, your story, into an epic drama.
I have scribbled the initials JEJIT in the margins of my Bible at various places where God provides just enough just in time. He did it with the widow who is down to her last jar of olive oil. He did it when the Israelites are trapped between Egyptian army and the Red Sea. He did it when the boat is about to capsize on the Sea of Galilee because of hurricane-force winds. And He did it with us when we had twenty-four hours to come up with $7,500.
This book and even this small part of the book might open your mind and heart to want more. Go get you a copy of Mark Batterson’s book The Circle Maker, and infuse your prayer life with more passion. Join me and others as we seek God, pray on the 17’s (17 minutes past the hour) and we use Scripture in our prayers.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 NASB
pray without ceasing;
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