Outside The Circle – Blogging about The Circle Maker -Chapter 3

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Chapter 3 - The Jericho Miracle

• Summary:
  • Overview of the battle of Jericho
    • God told the army to circle the city
    • And he promised that if they obeyed, the wall would fall
    • “In keeping with God’s command” pg 23
    • God’s promises don’t have an expiration date
    • If you keep circling a promise, God will deliver it
  • Jesus forced the blind men to define exactly what they wanted from him
  • Write down a list of God glorifying life goals
  • Miracles won’t have happened if I hadn’t drawn a circle
  • If our prayers aren’t specific, God doesn’t get the glory like He should
  • Spell out success for yourself
  • You need to have a personal definition of success
• Problems:
  • Contradictory stories - very obvious that the Israelites were obeying God and that God was fulfilling a promise He had made to them before. Whereas none of that is shown in the story of Honi.
  • Pg 22 - “story doesn’t explicitly say” and “backdrop of this book” - again going outside what the bible says and using that as the foundation of the book
  • Miracles wouldn’t happen without us - Seems to place the power with us
  • God doesn’t answer vague prayers - I’m fine with specific prayers, but there are times when you don’t have specifics and God listens to you then as well
  • The whole success thing squicks me out, but I think that is simply because I’m not a dude? Or because I feel like there is less focus on “how do I serve God” and more focus on “how does serving God fit in with having me succeed.”
• Solutions:
  • Miracles and us - Phil 2:13 - “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” Acts 17:24-25 - “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”
  • God doesn’t answer vague prayers - Exodus 2:24 - God heard the captives groaning, Romans 8:26 - “Spirit intercedes for us through wordless groans”