“Go home.  Lock yourself in your room.  Kneel down in the middle of the floor, and with a piece of chalk draw a circle around yourself.  There, on your knees, pray fervently and brokenly that God would start a revival within that chalk circle.”  – British Evangelist Rodney “Gipsy” Smith, circa 1914

I recently came upon this remarkable quote in Mark Batterson’s book titled “Draw the Circle”.  Like most C3 Leaders, I have a pretty decent prayer life and systematically study God’s word, but I had never really considered the potential of the bigger picture of what God could do through my prayers and my life.  Was I being too humble or, more likely, too prideful?

Of course, the revival Smith spoke of required a lot of hard work.  Smith articulated the basic requirements – “pray fervently and brokenly … that God would start a revival” in his friend’s life.   I confess that “fervent” and “broken” are not terms that I feel best describe my prayer life.  So, how can such a significant change happen?  By the power of the Holy Spirit.  As always, Jesus modeled it for us:

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” – Hebrews 5:7 (NIV)

 Jesus further encourages us with this promise:

“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”  Matthew 21:22 (NIV)

God’s will is not often easy to discern and usually even more difficult to consistently apply to our hectic lives.   However, we know that prayer, submission and reverence are key parts of God’s will for us.

As Spirit-led leaders in our respective marketplace spheres of influence, I humbly ask all of you to consider joining me in drawing a metaphorical chalk circle around ourselves, asking God to help us to pray fervently and brokenly while humbly submitting ourselves to God’s will.  If we do this, I am confident that God will do even more amazing things through C3 Leaders in 2015 and beyond!

Lord, please send your Spirit to help us pray in ways that start a revival within the “chalk circle” that we call C3 Leaders!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

~Ed McCahill, Financial Advisor, Ronald Blue & Co

ed.mccahill@ronblue.com