Quotes from Mark Batterson

Prayer is the way we write the future.

Prayer must be in alignment with the will of God or it's null and void... It it's not God's will, you're not going to get whatever you ask for. God loves you far too much to spoil you in that way. But if it is God's will, God will make a way.

God often speaks loudest when we're quietest.

When you pray regularly, you never know when God will show up or speak up. Today could be the day. When you live in prayer mode, you live with holy anticipation. You know that coincidences are providences. Any moment can turn into a holy moment. God can invade the reality of your life at three o'clock one afternoon and change everything.

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

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

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?

Consecration is death to self. I know there is a fear that if we give more of ourselves to God, there will be less of us left, but it's the exact opposite. It's not until we die to self that we truly come alive. The more we give to God, the more we have and the more we become. It's only in losing our lives that we will really find them.

The brain is a goal-seeking organism. Setting a goal creates structural tension in your brain, which will seek to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be, who you are and who you want to become. If you don't set goals, your mind will become stagnant. Goal setting is good stewardship of your right-brain imagination. It's also great for your prayer life.

All of us need Aarons and Hurs in our lives. We need people who are strong when we're weak. We need people who are full of faith when we're running on empty. We need people who will fight for us on their knees. We all need a prayer circle!

Throwing down your staff is letting go and letting God. And that's counterintuitive for those of us who are control freaks. As our executive pastor Joel Schmidgall likes to say, "You can have faith or you can have control, but you cannot have both." If you want God to do something off the chart, you have to take your hands off the controls.

When you are tempted to compromise your integrity, remember than an opportunity isn't an opportunity if you have to compromise your integrity.

When we violate our conscience by compromising our integrity, we put our reputation at risk. We also become our own advocate because we step outside the boundaries of God's good, pleasing, and perfect will. But when we obey God, we come under the umbrella of His protective authority. He is our Advocate. And it's His reputation that is at stake. If we don't give the Enemy a foothold, God won't let him touch a hair on our head.

The Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard believed that boredom was the root of all evil. In other words, boredom isn't just boring. It's wrong. You cannot be in the presence of God and be bored at the same time. For that matter, you cannot be in the will of God and be bored at the same time. If you follow in the footsteps of Jesus, it will be anything but boring.

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.

Long before God laid the foundation of the earth, He anticipated and provided for everything we'd ever need. You just need to give Him an opportunity to prove Himself faithful.

Don't accumulate possessions; accumulate experiences!

if you're walking with Jesus and you invite someone to walk with you, there is a good chance they'll get to know Jesus somewhere along the way.

But remember this: without a crucifixion there can be no resurrection!

The true purpose of prayer is to get into God's presence so He can outline His agenda for us. Here's my advice: pray about what to pray about. God will reveal a promise, a problem, or a person. Then circle whatever God has prompted you to pray for with the same kind of consistency with which the earth circles the sun.

if you can truly surrender to Him, you will do more, be more, experience more. Life will just be more.

As Edison is credited with saying, "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." We all want to be successful, but most of us aren't willing to do what those who are successful did to attain it. We want success without sacrifice, but you can't have one without the other!

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

The betrayal of Jesus by Judas wasn't a spur-of-the-moment mistake. He betrayed Jesus each and every time he pilfered the money pot. And while most of us can't imagine pickpocketing Jesus, we shortchange Him in a thousand different ways. We rob God of the glory He demands and deserves by not living up to our full, God-given potential.