Hosanna Restoration Church

The bible makes many mentions of circles and wheels. The circle is used in so many things in our lives. Thank God He gave us the circle. More importantly, thank Him that He taught us how to form a circle in prayer.

As I read this account of Paul being stoned and left for dead, the circle hit me like never before. The disciples did not scatter. They did not desert Paul to protect themselves. Instead they boldly went and formed a circle around him.

Perhaps their first thought was to pray together and weep over the loss of yet another great brother in the Lord. Perhaps they circled to protect what was left of him from more rocks. We really do not know for sure exactly what they were thinking at that point, but we do know the results of the gathering. Paul got up and went back into town.

Even though they did not know for sure what they were going to say, they knew by the Spirit to form a circle around him. They loved him and wanted to protect him. They wanted to do something.

Can you imagine how they felt? Can’t you just sense the confusion as they waited for someone to say something? It may be that the Holy Spirit came upon one of them and suddenly he was saying, “In the name of Jesus, Paul, get up!” Perhaps they all did!

We can only imagine what was actually prayed, but there is no doubt about the results. In the midst of my thinking on this, I received greater confidence and assurance of results when we pray. At Hosanna, we have what we call a hot seat. When people want prayer, we sit them in a chair and then gather around them. Previous to this I had never really considered the correlation to this circle in Acts 14. I am confident of even greater results from now on.

The disciples could have just dispersed; no one would have blamed them. But they did not. No matter how hopeless it looked they were determined to do something. We need to learn from this. We must challenge ourselves to circle the lost. We must circle those who stray. We must circle those who are hurting, in pain, and dying.

We can form a circle of agreement with another believer, or if there is no other believer near, we have a circle with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Powerful things happen inside that circle if we will only believe. We really need to stir ourselves up as we study the miracles of the Bible and remember that Jesus said we would do even greater things. Never give up. Always pray. Form a circle around what ever need you see and expect great results. After all, God cannot fail!