Praying Circles Around Your Children by Mark Batterson

“You’ll never be a perfect parent, but you can be a praying parent!”

From the back of the book:

Using principles from his New Yor Times bestseller The Circle Maker, Mark Batterson shares a perfect blend of biblical yet practical advice that will revolutionize your relationship with your children. As you discover an entirely new way of praying, you’ll see how prayer is your secret weapon. Batterson shares five prayer circles that will help you not only pray for your kids, but also pray through your kids. Batterson teaches 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 writes, “I realize not everyone inherited a prayer legacy like I did, but you can leave a legacy for future generations. Your prayers will shape the destiny of your family for generations to come.” It’s time to start circling.

From me:

I must first offer up a personal disclaimer. I read fiction. I’d say 90 percent of the books I read are fabricated. And of the 10 percent non-fiction books I do read, I rarely read self-help, how-to, or “Become a Better Fill-In-The-Blank in 5 Easy Steps!” books. It might be because I think I know everything already (ask my husband and kids), but more likely, it’s because I rather jadedly feel like such books often become “busy-work” for people who feel the real need to change, but don’t have the real desire or motivation to change. Books like these offer us a plethora of methods and techniques, reasons why and why not, all good things…but it all comes without accountability, especially when it comes to the actual changing part, something by nature we humans are loathe to do. I know so many “self-help addicts” who have shelves and shelves lined with these well-intentioned books, but they’re still looking for more; more reasons why, why not, another method, another application, another self-evaluation test, in order to keep them so busy LEARNING and TAKING IN that they don’t have time to actually DO. That being said, I did NOT read Batterson’s NY Times bestseller, The Circle Maker. Call me a skeptic.

Okay. If I haven’t offended you in sharing this – which was NOT my intention whatsoever! – please read on.

I have on my VERY SHORT LIST of resolutions for 2013 that I want to pray more effectively for my children. So when Zondervan offered Batterson’s Praying Circles Around Your Children as an option for us reviewers, I thought it might be the perfect book with which to kick off my 2013 Book Reviews.

And I was pleasantly surprised. One of the reasons I enjoyed this book is because it is technically a “booklet” and Batterson was able to put all the pertinent and necessary information in these few (112 half-size) pages. I did not lose interest over any “extra/redundant filler,” nor did I feel like he waxed eloquently, just filling pages, to make his points (nor did he use too much white space to make the book look longer, as I have seen done many times before). I didn’t feel like he was speaking to too broad an audience, nor did I feel like he was portraying some magic method or perfect plan.

In fact, when Batterson states that one of his favorite mantras is a deep thought from Jack Handey, I was pretty sure I’d appreciate what he had to share.

In a straight-forward, simple format, Batterson offers a prayer concept that’s easy to implement. Drawing a circle around something is a tangible (NOT magical) way of claiming something for the Lord, of bringing into focus something specific. He suggests five ways that prayer can be most effective in our children’s lives; Circling the Promises of God, Making Prayer Lists, Creating Prayer Mantras, Forming Prayer Circles, and Praying Through the Bible.

One paragraph jumped off the page at me:

“You don’t become a praying parent by default. You do it by design, by desire, by discipline. Spiritual disciplines take sheer determination, but if you determine to circle your children in prayer; you will shape their destinies…. Your prayers will live on in their lives long after you die. Your prayers for your children are the greatest legacy you can leave.” (pg 18)

I highly recommend this book for any parent who wants to pray more effectively for their children. This is a lovely and inspired book by Mark Batterson, and I was greatly blessed by reading it.

Readers, enter your name in a drawing for a copy of Mark Batterson’s book, Praying Circles Around Your Children!

Please leave a comment below with:

1. Your name
2. Your email address in non-spam format. If I draw your name and there is no email, you will not win. Example: becky (at) beckydoughty (dot) com
3. Tell us one thing that you want to do more effectively this year.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Contest ends on January 17th at midnight (PST). Winner will be notified by email (ONLY if you include your email in your comment) and announced in Friday’s post.