If you haven’t had the opportunity to pick up Mark Batterson’s The Circle Maker, stop reading this and get a copy. The parts I’ve read (and others I learned from Mark at a recent conference) are enough for me to recommend it to you. That is if you are at all interested in prayer, power, and perseverance.
I shared a bit of what Mark does in the book with the story of Joshua.
Now, Joshua has long been one of my favorite books in the Bible. I’ve drawn encouragement from God’s command that Joshua “be strong and courageous” on multiple occasions and return to his story often.
In The Circle Maker, Batterson draws us to the battle of Jericho. He asks us to consider what would have happened if the Joshua or the people would have stopped on the sixth day or on the sixth time around the city on the last day? In other words, if they gave up just short of what God ha led them to do.
I shared this question with some men this morning as I am convinced most of do just that. It’s hard to stick with it sometimes. When the goal isn’t clearly defined (at least Joshua had that going for him) it makes it even harder.
Am I supposed to hang in there for a year? Seven? A lifetime?
Do I work/struggle/fight/wander/etc. indefinitely?
And if I see myself as a Joshua, how do others experience my perseverance? Is perseverance key for a leader?
As part of my sharing I showed a clip from Facing the Giants. There are probably better clips, but I like the boldness of a church who decided perseverance for them included making movies. In any event, I invite you to read or reread Joshua’s encounter with Jericho, check out what Batterson says about it in The Circle Maker, and watch the movie clip.
Then ask, “God, give me the strength to hang in there, to go where you lead, to never give up.” Because friends, we are one trip around the city from realizing our potential, discovering true life, finding that which we have been made to discover.
Life is better together,
Shawn
Big Rubber Band Ball 