Praying Circles around Your Children [Kindle Edition]

Mark Batterson (Author)

Book Description

Mark Batterson shares a perfect blend of biblical yet practical advice that will revolutionize your prayer life by giving you a new vocabulary and a new methodology. You'll see how prayer is your secret weapon. Through stories of parents just like you, Batterson shares five prayer circles that will not only help you pray for your kids, but also pray through your kids.
Batterson teaches about how to create prayer lists unique to your family, claim God-inspired promises for your children, turn your family circle into a prayer circle, and discover your child's life themes. And he not only tells you how, he illustrates why.
As Batterson says, 'I realize that not everyone inherited a prayer legacy like I did, but you can leave a legacy for generations to come. Your prayers have the power to shape the destiny of your children and your children's children. It's time to start circling.'

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Batterson serves as the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D. C. Recognized as 'one of America's 25 most innovative churches,' NCC is one church with seven locations. Mark's blog and webcast also reach a virtual congregation around the world. Mark is the author of several bestselling books, including New York Times Bestseller - The Circle Maker and In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. Mark holds a doctorate degree from Regent University and lives on Capitol Hill with this wife, Lora, and their three children. SPANISH BIO: Mark Batterson, autor de El hacedor de circulos y Con un leon en medio de un foso, es pastor principal de National Community Church, en Washington, D.C., cuya labor esta enfocada en alcanzar a las nuevas generaciones. Tiene dos maestrias obtenidas en la Escuela de Divinidades Evangelica Trinity, en Chicago. Reside con su esposa Lora y sus tres hijos en Capitol Hill, Washington, D. C.

Product Details

• File Size: 1777 KB
• Print Length: 113 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0310325501
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 5 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
• Publisher: Zondervan (July 24, 2012)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishing
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007WRPS7Y
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,657 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #12 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Christian Living > Prayer

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Our Test Became Our Testimony-This Book Could Change Your Life July 28, 2012

By C Johnson

Format:Paperback

Little did my wife and I know when we connected with our friend Mark Batterson last October that years of droughts we were going through with our son would finally come to an end. When we begin to practice drawing our circle around our son with Autism and everyday speaking bold prayers, the tide begin to change. This book will teach you not to pray "Just get by prayers" but to come boldly to the throne of grace and pray BIG prayers because we serve a BIG GOD. Just like how Mark talked about Honi in his book "The Circle Maker" who became a "legend" because as his people were going through a year long drought Honi began to draw his circle and pray three bold prayers. Through those prayers the year long drought ended and Honi became a "legend" that we are talking about thousands of years later. I believe when you begin to draw your circle around your family, pray bold prayers, new legends are going to be born through your test becoming a testimony. You will come out of the drought. If God can do it for my family He can do it for yours. This book can change your life.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great book for parents! July 24, 2012

By SherrySur

Format:Paperback

Praying Circles Around Your Children is such a great book for parents! Practical yet inspirational, it gives you hope and easy to remember methods to pray over and around your children. I recommend it for anyone who has children, grandchildren or just loves kids!

46 of 64 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Mantra? July 24, 2012

By Mike Bayer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Wow...I so looked forward to this book. I ordered 10 of them to give to my family and to others. That was until I read this `quick-read' book and discovered the title for chapter 6, "The 3rd Circle: Creating Prayer Mantras."

Granted there are other definitions for this word but here's what Merriam-Webster lists as number one: A mystical formula of invocation or incantation (as in Hinduism). And that's exactly what I thought when I saw it. In the Circle Maker, Batterson talks about praying circles around our children (pp. 101-102) and uses a beautiful image of `framing' a poster or words on a wall---but fails to bring that thought over to this book.

UPDATED Oct 16, 2012! I have updated this book from a 3-star to a 4-star. I still don't like the use of the word 'mantra' but it's clear that Mark does NOT use the word in an 'eastern religious' way. Matter of fact the rest of the chapter may be the strongest in the book. And...I don't want people to NOT buy the book ONLY because of this one word. This is a book that can be very helpful to parents in praying for their kids.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite the real thing... October 21, 2012

By Kodiak

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A great book, make no mistake.

But after I read through it, I realised I wanted more and bought "The Circle Maker". Far, far better, with a lot more information, examples and thought provoking ideas. If you have the original, then understand that this variation will repeat some of the stories in that book, and will simply apply the processes in the original to your kids. If you have not yet read, "The Circle Maker", do yourself a favour and get it first, then decide if you want and need this one...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Some reservations October 17, 2012

By Vera M. Hummel

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I agree with author Mark Batterson about the power of prayer. He includes only limited stories about times when the answer God gave was not the thing for which the people prayed. His examples of God's responses are often larger than he might have expected.

There are veiled statements of theology with which I cannot agree -- times when Batterson's interpretation of God's will seems more like his will. However, his suggestion to claim and pray scripture for a particular person in order to know the prayer is in God's will was meaningful.

Many of the stories in this book are the same stories as told in his book, Circle Maker. I don't find new information, but simply a narrower focus for prayer in this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Praying Circles = Confessing Scripture October 1, 2012

By cori67

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A friend of mine, a youth pastor, recommended this book to me, so I downloaded it and read it. It is a quick read, not very long at all. Some of the doctrine, although not questionable is debatable. On the whole it was a solid book, with solid principles. Although I liked the Honi example, I would have preferred someone from the Bible to be the central theme of the book, not from the Talmud.

You can never go wrong when speaking scripture over your children, and that is the main thing I will walk away with. My kids are older, one is married, and the others are all teens. Many of the things Mark recommends parents do we had already doing.

One line in particular really stuck with me though, because it is a truth that carries through for whatever you are praying for. The line is, "God honors bold prayers because bold prayers honor God."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing! September 6, 2012

By Joy Lawson

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have read many books on prayer written mostly by women. I have also been a part of a Moms In Prayer (formally Moms In Touch ) group for almost 20 years. I was refreshing to read a book from a dad's perspective of the power of prayer for your children. I was touched by the little details of his children's lives that he lifted up in prayer.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must read" for parents & grandparents August 19, 2012

By Craig T. Owens

Format:Paperback

Launching off his excellent book on prayer--The Circle Maker--Mark Batterson shares with parents and grandparents the incredible blessing of taking the initiative to pray for our children in Praying Circle Around Your Children.

Mark opens the book with these words: "Make sure the heavenly Father hears about your kids daily! ...You'll never be a perfect parent, but you can be a praying parent. Prayer is your highest privilege as a parent."

Just as The Circle Maker opened my eyes to new insights on prayer, Praying Circles Around Your Children challenged me to step up into my privilege of being a prayerful Dad.

I loved the simple straightforward message in this book: Keep on praying for your kids.
* Do you feel like you don't know what to pray? Use the Scripture to help you find biblical promises to pray over your kids.
* Do you feel like your prayers for your kids have been unanswered? Recommit to pray for them as long as it takes.
* Do you feel like your prayers lack power? Find ways to pray with your kids where you keep them close, even laying your hands on them.
* Do you feel like it's too late to pray for your grown children or grandchildren? It's never too late to talk to God about your (grand)kids.

This is a short book that you can easily read in one sitting, but the concepts you learn can be applied for the rest of your life.

I loved this book so much that I'm going to buy a copy for every family in my church! If you are a parent or grandparent, I cannot urge you strongly enough to pick up a copy of Praying Circles Around Your Children.