LTRP Note: The following is from a Lighthouse Trails reader who had written to Anne Graham Lotz regarding her recent promotion of Honi, the mystic, and prayer circles. You may wish to refer to our two previous posts on this situation: Letters to the Editor: Anne Graham Lotz Promoting Circle Making and Letters to the Editor: Anne Graham Lotz Promoting Circle Making. Also read: Please read: The Native Spirituality “Medicine Wheel” and The Circle Maker by Cree author Nanci Des Gerlaise.
To Lighthouse Trails:
This is Anne Graham Lotz’s response to my concern referring to prayer circles:
From A.G. Lotz’s ministry: Thank you for sharing your concern – and for the respect you have shown Anne by bringing the issue to her directly. The following is her response:
From Anne Graham Lotz: “I can’t answer for Mark Batterson [author of The Circle Maker]. I will answer for myself. I used the illustration of Honi because it is an excellent illustration of being focused in our prayers. It has nothing to do with heresy or witchcraft or mysticism. My book, The Daniel Prayer, is based on Daniel 9–not the story of Honi or any other fable. The Daniel Prayer teaches us to take God at His Word–claiming His promises and holding Him to them, as Daniel did.
“When I draw a circle in prayer, I am not doing so literally and demanding that God answer everything in that circle. I am focusing in on what I can wrap my mind and heart and prayers around: my nation, my state, my city, my neighborhood, my church, my family. Instead of praying generally for all of America, I concentrate on the world between my own two feet, so to speak. God gives me a promise or a Word for what/who is in my circle, and I pray His Word back to Him.
“In one sense, Abraham did this when he prayed for Sodom. He drew a circle that included 50, then 40, then 30, etc. (praying God’s Word back and forth with Him)–until his circle shrank to include 10 people. God honored his prayer by saving those within Abraham’s circle that he cared most about: his nephew Lot and his family.
“Elijah focused on Mt. Carmel when he prayed for rain. He in essence drew a circle around Israel and refused to get up from his knees until God had kept His Word and sent rain to end the 3 year drought.
“Jesus used this concept when He told His disciples that they would be witnesses, first in Jerusalem, then in Judea, then in Samaria, then in the uttermost parts of the world. In this case, the circle expanded rather contracted.
“A circle was not literally drawn in any of these Biblical examples. But the idea of concentrated focus is implied.”
I hope this helps your understanding.
God bless you.
In His Joy,
_____________
I was just wondering what you think of this response. It seems to me that she’s not willing to acknowledge that what she’s involved in is a problem. Am I seeing this incorrectly?