Mark Batterson Quotes & Sayings

If you really believe in the message you're preaching, you want as many people as possible to listen. — Mark Batterson

Answer our prayers isn't that we aren't praying hard enough; the reason, more often than not, is that we aren't willing to work hard enough. Praying hard is synonymous with working hard. Think of praying hard and working hard as concentric circles. It's the way we double-circle our dreams and His promises. There comes a moment, after you have prayed through, when you have to start doing something about it. You have to take a step of faith, and — Mark Batterson

It's hard for me to imagine why a church that has younger members wouldn't have a blog component. — Mark Batterson

100 percent of the prayers I don't pray won't get answered. — Mark Batterson

Sure, you can choose the safety and predictability of the cage, forfeiting the adventure God has destined for you. But you won't be the only one missing out or losing out. When you lack the courage to chase the Wild Goose, the opportunity costs are staggering. Who might not hear about the love of God if you don't seize the opportunity to tell them? Who might be stuck in poverty, stuck in ignorance, stuck in pain if you're not there to help free them? Where might the advance of God's kingdom in the world stall out because you weren't there on the front lines? — Mark Batterson

If you wait for perfect conditions to seize an opportunity, you'll be waiting till the day you die. — Mark Batterson

Nolan Bushnell, the creator of the Atari video game system, once stated, 'Everyone who's ever taken a shower has had an idea, It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it who makes a difference. — Mark Batterson

...if you give all of yourself to God, you can ask and expect that God will give all of Himself to you because that's precisely what He wants to do. We have not because we ask not, and we ask not because we're not all in! — Mark Batterson

Don't seek opportunity. Seek God and opportunity will seek you. — Mark Batterson

When you see life as an adventure, your hopes and dreams are never more than a day away! — Mark Batterson

If you plant yourself in one place and let your roots grow deep, there is no limit to what God can do. — Mark Batterson

But God always has a holy surprise up His sovereign sleeve. And when we pray, God throws surprise parties! — Mark Batterson

New media is like a megaphone. It amplifies your ability to reach more people. — Mark Batterson

Well-developed faith results in well-defined prayers, and well-defined prayers result in a well-lived life. — Mark Batterson

We've lost the wow of God because we've lost the woe of God. His perfect holiness helps us truly appreciate His amazing grace. — Mark Batterson

You need to circle the goals God wants you to go after, the promises God wants you to claim, and the dreams God wants you to pursue. And once you spell Jericho, you need to circle it in prayer. Then you need to keep circling until the walls come tumbling down. — Mark Batterson

Grace is the catalyst that turns guilt into gratitude. One act of grace can turn the worst moment into the defining moment of someone's life. You can be that agent of grace. — Mark Batterson

Experiences are the currency of a life well lived. — Mark Batterson

If you've never had a God-sized dream that scared you half to death, then you haven't really come to life. If you've never been overwhelmed by the impossibility of your plans, then your God is too small. If your vision isn't perplexingly impossible, then you need to expand the radiuses of your prayer circles. — Mark Batterson

Don't give up on your dream. If you do, you aren't just giving up on its present-tense reality. You're giving up on its future-tense potential. Were — Mark Batterson

There is no situation under the sun in which your ability to respond can be taken away from you. You may not control your circumstances, but you control your reactions to them. And that is what sets the men apart from the boys! — Mark Batterson

God is infinitely bigger than your biggest problem or biggest dream. And while we're on the topic, His grace is infinitely bigger than your biggest sin. — Mark Batterson

Maximum improbability equals maximum possibility. — Mark Batterson

The healthiest and holiest people are the people who laugh at themselves the most. Failure helps us take God more seriously and ourselves less seriously. — Mark Batterson

Instead of dissecting Scripture, we need to let Scripture dissect us our thoughts and attitudes, our dreams and desires, our fears and hopes. — Mark Batterson

If we don't control our calendar, our calendar will end up controlling us. — Mark Batterson

Humility honors God, and God honors humility. — Mark Batterson

Half of learning is learning. The other half of learning is unlearning. — Mark Batterson

If you seek answers you won't find them, but if you seek God, the answers will find you. — Mark Batterson

The word consecrate means to set yourself apart. By definition, consecration demands full devotion. It's dethroning yourself and enthroning Jesus Christ. It's the complete divestiture of all self-interest. It's giving God veto power. It's surrendering all of you to all of Him. It's a simple recognition that every second of time, every ounce of energy, and every penny of money is a gift from God and for God. Consecration is an ever-deepening love for Jesus, a childlike trust in the heavenly Father, and a blind obedience to the Holy Spirit. Consecration is all that and a thousand things more. But for the sake of simplicity, let me give you my personal definition of consecration. — Mark Batterson

The more you're willing to risk, the more God can use you. And if you're willing to risk everything, then there is nothing God can't do in you and through you. — Mark Batterson

Matthew 11:12? "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it." Are you playing offense in your marriage? Or are you playing a prevent defense that leaves romance on the sidelines? — Mark Batterson

I have an unshakable sense of destiny because I know that as long as I pursue God's calling on my life, then God is ultimately responsible for getting me where He wants me to go. — Mark Batterson

Faith is unlearning this senseless worries and misguided beliefs that keep us captive. It is far more complex than simply modifying behavior. Faith is rewiring the human brain. We are literally upgrading our minds by downloading the mind of Christ. — Mark Batterson

There are spiritual gifts like mercy, faith, or generosity that enable people to set the standard, so to speak. But just because you don't have that spiritual gift doesn't mean you aren't held to any standard at all. Even if you aren't gifted in that way, you're still called to live mercifully, faithfully, and generously. You might not set the standard, but you need to meet the standard. There is a baseline that all of us are called to. When the opportunity presents itself, we need to show mercy, exercise faith, and give generously. In the same sense, all of us are called to take risks. If it doesn't involve risk, it doesn't exercise faith. — Mark Batterson

Never underestimate the ripple effect of one act of obedience.

It will never be all for nothing. — Mark Batterson

Consecration is going all in and all out for the All in All. — Mark Batterson

The author gives an interesting naval etymology of the word "opportunity". It referred to days in which sailing ships had to wait outside a port for the appropriate tide, which then was their chance until the next tide. — Mark Batterson

Years ago my friend Alan Groff shared this definition: "love is the accurate estimate and the adequate supply of another person's need. — Mark Batterson

We fixate on sins of commission: Don't do this, don't do that - and you're OK. But that is holiness by subtraction. And it's more hypocrisy than holiness! It's the sins of omission - what you would have, could have, and should have done - that break the heart of your heavenly Father. — Mark Batterson

If you want to break the sin habit, you'd better establish a prayer habit. — Mark Batterson

The Bible is the place where God bears His soul. — Mark Batterson

I just don't think pastors should turn their pulpits into public policy platforms. It cheapens the gospel. Our congregation doesn't need another political opinion. They need spiritual revelation. They don't need to think about politics on the weekend. They need to be reminded to seek first the kingdom of God. — Mark Batterson

Today is the first day and last day of your life ... try to make every day a masterpiece. — Mark Batterson

To me, growing into spiritual maturity is becoming less self-conscious and more God-conscious. — Mark Batterson

God doesn't always call us to win. Sometimes He just calls us to try. Either way, it's obedience that glorifies God. — Mark Batterson

Prayer is asking God to do something, future tense; praise is believing that God has already done it, past tense. — Mark Batterson

When we take matters into our own hands, we take God out of the equation. — Mark Batterson

Your ability to see failure as a necessary stepping stone directly correlates with your ability to dream bigger and dream better. — Mark Batterson

Going all in is following in the footsteps of Jesus wherever they may lead us, — Mark Batterson

We should live with a holy anticipation of what's around the corner. — Mark Batterson

Sin always overpromises and underdelivers, while righteousness pays dividends for eternity...

Nothing is more illogical than sin. It's the epitome of poor judgment. It's temporary insanity with eternal consequences. And we have no alibi, save the cross of Jesus Christ. — Mark Batterson

One way to show someone you love them is to simply go out of your way for them. It's the gift of inconvenience. — Mark Batterson

Vision beyond your resources? Don't let fear dictate your decisions. If your vision is God-given, it will most definitely be beyond your ability and beyond your resources. The God who gives the vision is the same God who makes provision. — Mark Batterson

Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.4 — Mark Batterson

Email helps me keep in touch with my family. I wouldn't know what my extended family was doing every day if we weren't emailing each other. — Mark Batterson

You can be saved without suffering, but you cannot be sanctified without suffering. That doesn't mean you seek it out, but it does mean you see it for what it is. It's an opportunity to glorify God. — Mark Batterson

Napoleon Bonaparte made a distinction between two kinds of courage - regular courage and two-o'clock-in-the-morning courage. "The rarest attribute among Generals," said the Little Corporal, "is two o'clock-in-the-morning courage."2 Chasing a lion into a pit on a snowy day takes two-o'clock-in-the-morning courage. But that one act of courage completely changed the trajectory of Benaiah's life. The same is true of you. You are one idea, one risk, one decision away from a totally different life. Of course, it'll probably be the toughest decision you ever make, the scariest risk you ever take. But if your dream doesn't scare you, it's too small. — Mark Batterson

The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory — Mark Batterson

We think so much about the present and so little about eternity that we turn eternity into nothing and nothing into eternity. — Mark Batterson

...when you seek God, success will follow. — Mark Batterson

When we try to make things go faster, we usually slow things down. When we try to make things easier, we usually make them harder. Don't try to manufacture your own miracles. Don't try to answer your own prayers. Don't try to do God's job for Him. Stay humble. Stay patient. Stay focused. — Mark Batterson

SUCCESS is not about HERE and NOW. you must pass the TEST OF TIME. the litmus test is FIFTY YEARS from now. SUCCESS is SUCCESSION. — Mark Batterson

Few promises are more circled in my Bible than Proverbs 16:9: In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. — Mark Batterson

At some point, most of us stop living out of imagination and start living out of memory. Instead of creating the future, we start repeating the past. Instead of living by faith, we live by logic. Instead of going after our dreams, we stop circling Jericho. But it doesn't have to be that way. — Mark Batterson

If you follow Jesus, you'll do what He did. You'll seek to please the heavenly Father first and foremost. You'll care for the poor, you'll wash feet, and you'll offend some Pharisees along the way. You'll also traffic in the miraculous. And it won't just be as an eyewitness. It'll be as a catalyst. Please believe me when I say, you are someone else's miracle! Make no mistake about it: only God can perform miracles. So God gets all of the glory. — Mark Batterson

The spiritual tipping point is when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change. Sadly, too many of us get comfortable with comfort. We follow Christ to the point of inconvenience, but no further. That's when we need a prophet to walk into our lives, throw a mantle around our shoulders, and wake us up to a new possibility, a new reality. We need a prophet to boldly confront Plan B and call us back to Plan A. — Mark Batterson

Jesus proclaimed the favor of God in His very first sermon. Then He sealed the deal with His death and resurrection. Favor is a function of surrender. If we don't hold out on God, God will not hold out on us. — Mark Batterson

You don't need to seek opportunity. All you have to do is seek God. And if you seek God, opportunity will seek you. — Mark Batterson

Because you know He can, you can pray with holy confidence. — Mark Batterson

If you are not open to the unprecedented, you will repeat history. If you are open to the unprecedented, you will change history. The difference is prayer. — Mark Batterson

Learning is the heart of discipleship. You can't just take up your cross daily. You need to take up the Bible every day. — Mark Batterson

Sometimes God shows up. Sometimes God shows off. — Mark Batterson

Until His sovereign will becomes your sanctified wish, your prayer life will be unplugged from its power supply. — Mark Batterson

Confession breaks the power of canceled sin. It also heals the broken heart. — Mark Batterson

The path of least resistance never gets us where we want to go. Shortcuts always end up being cul-de-sacs. The key to spiritual growth is the willingness to go out of your way for God. You will find God in uncomfortable places at inconvenient times. But if you go out of your way for God, God will go out of His way for you. Crash the party! — Mark Batterson

In working through nonreligious language to explain that journey, the idea of place became very important. Jesus says, "Here's the deal! I'll leave My place. I'll come to your place. I'll take your place. And then we'll go to My place." This simplicity captured me. Everyone understands places. We all have them. It's where we live our lives day to day. Then Jesus walks into our place and redirects us. — Mark Batterson

If you're bored, one thing is for sure: You're not following in the footsteps of Christ. — Mark Batterson

There is no regret God cannot redeem. — Mark Batterson

Lion chasers are humble enough to let God call the shots and brave enough to follow where He leads. — Mark Batterson

Put your Isaac on the altar! Then, and only then, will you see what God can do. He cannot give back what you do not give up. But if you surrender yourself to Him, He will provide the ram in the thicket. — Mark Batterson

Your prayers are prophecies. You can write the future of your family with your prayers — Mark Batterson

If you are BIG ENOUGH for your dream, your dream isn't BIG ENOUGH for God. — Mark Batterson

Why do we act as though our sin disqualifies us from the grace of God? That is the only thing that qualifies us! Anything else is a self-righteous attempt to earn God's grace. You cannot trust God's grace 99 percent. It's all or nothing. The problem, as I pointed out earlier, is that we want partial credit for our salvation. We want to be 1 percent of the equation. But if we try to save ourselves, we forfeit the salvation that comes from Jesus Christ alone, by grace through faith. — Mark Batterson

Goals have a way of refocusing your life. They give you purpose and a target to shoot for. They are the compass of our dreams, helping us set a steady course. Goals comprise direction and progress. When we lose sight of our goals, we tend to lose sight of ourselves and who we are trying to become, who God has made us to be. — Mark Batterson

You can delegate a lot of things, but you can't delegate PRAYER. I'd rather have one GOD idea than a thousand GOOD ideas. — Mark Batterson

You can take Psalm 84:11 to the bank: No good thing does God withhold from those who walk uprightly. — Mark Batterson

Our potential is directly proportional to our prayer life. It is the single greatest indicator of our success in any endeavor. — Mark Batterson

Our normal is so subnormal that normal seems radical. To the first-century disciples, normal and radical were synonyms. We've turned them into antonyms. — Mark Batterson

Preaching may move the hearts of men, but praying moves the heart of God. And that's where revival comes from. — Mark Batterson

New Testament scholar Dr. Gordon Fee said that life is a wilderness, and a compass doesn't help very much. A map certainly doesn't help because you have to know where you are for starters. What you need in a place you've never been before is a guide. Jesus becomes the Guide to the Father's house. — Mark Batterson

If you can truly surrender to Him, you will do more, be more, experience more. Life will just be more. — Mark Batterson

Going all in and all out for the All in All is both a death sentence and a life sentence. Your sinful nature, along with its selfish desires, is nailed to the cross. Then, and only then, does your true personality, your true potential, and your true purpose come alive. After all, God cannot resurrect what has not died. And that's why so many people are half alive. They haven't died to self yet. — Mark Batterson

...one good decision can totally change the trajectory of our lives. And that one good decision will lead to better decisions. But it starts by making the right decision when no one is looking.

There is a past cause and future effect to every decision that goes way beyond what is discernible in the here and now. Decisions have long and often complex genealogies. And every decision is a genesis moment that has the potential to radically alter not just our destiny but the course of human history as well. — Mark Batterson

I think a pastor used to be viewed as the one-stop ministry shop. The pastor served on every committee, volunteered at every event, and made all the hospital visits. I think that is changing and I think that is healthy. Both for the pastor and the congregation. — Mark Batterson

There comes a moment when you must quit talking to God about the mountain in your life and start talking to the mountain about your God. You proclaim His power. You declare His sovereignty. You affirm His faithfulness. You stand on His Word. You cling to His promises. — Mark Batterson

We take some big miracles for granted. We're on a planet that's spinning at a thousand miles per hour, traveling through space and we don't worry about God keeping our planet in orbit. We already trust God for the big miracles like our heart beating and today alone, we'll take a thousand breaths, but can we trust Him in the smaller things? — Mark Batterson

In the words of Harriet Doerr, "One of the best things about aging is being able to watch imagination overtake memory." So who's right? The neurologists? Or Harriet? The answer is both. As we age, either imagination overtakes memory or memory overtakes imagination. Imagination is the road less taken, but it is the pathway of prayer. Prayer and imagination are directly proportional: the more you pray the bigger your imagination becomes because the Holy Spirit supersizes it with God-sized dreams. One litmus test of spiritual maturity is whether your dreams are getting bigger or smaller. The older you get, the more faith you should have because you've experienced more of God's faithfulness. And it is God's faithfulness that increases our faith and enlarges our dreams. There is certainly nothing wrong with an occasional stroll down memory lane, but God wants you to keep dreaming until the day you die. — Mark Batterson

God will never tempt you. It's not in His nature. In fact, He promises to provide an escape route for every tempting situation. But I can promise you this: God will test your faith. And those tests won't get easier. They will get progressively harder as the stakes get higher. And those tests will undoubtedly revolve around what is most important to you...

God will test you to make sure your identity and your security are found in the cross of Jesus Christ. And God will go after anything you trust in more than Him until you put it on the altar. — Mark Batterson

Faith is not logical. But it isn't illogical either. Faith is theological. It does not ignore reality; it just adds God into the equation. — Mark Batterson