Mark Batterson

Mark Batterson
Mark Batterson is an American pastor and author. Batterson serves as lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. NCC was recognized as one of the Most Innovative and Most Influential Churches in America by Outreach Magazine in 2008. Batterson is also the author of the books In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase and blogs daily at www.evotional.com. Batterson's latest book The Circle Maker: Praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams and...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionClergyman
CountryUnited States of America
Don't seek opportunity. Seek God and opportunity will seek you.
Drawing prayer circles isn’t about proving yourself to God; it’s about giving God an opportunity to prove Himself to you. Just in case you have forgotten — and to ensure that you always remember — God is for you. I can’t promise that God will always give you the answer you want. I can’t promise that He’ll answer on your timeline. But I can promise this: He answers every prayer, and He keeps every promise. That is who He is. That is what He does.
As I look back on my own life, I recognize this simple truth: The greatest opportunities were the scariest lions. Part of me has wanted to play it safe, but I’ve learned that taking no risks is the greatest risk of all.
God is in the résumé-building business. He is always using past experiences to prepare us for future opportunities.
I think faith is the small mustard seed of opportunities every day. For example, 'Am I going to love this person? Am I going to share my faith with this person? Am I going to pray that little prayer?' It really is a daily thing where you seize those little mustard seed opportunities and then see what God does.
You don’t need to seek opportunity. All you have to do is seek God. And if you seek God, opportunity will seek you.
If you wait for perfect conditions to seize an opportunity, you'll be waiting till the day you die.
Too often the word 'prayer' induces guilt because we don't do enough of it. After all, I've never met anyone who said they pray too much! All of us fall short. And we often feel like our prayers fall flat.
The greatest tragedy in life is that some prayers go unanswered as they go unasked.
Routines are normal, natural, healthy things. Most of us take a shower and brush our teeth every day. That is a good routine. Spiritual disciplines are routines. That is a good thing. But once routines become routine you need to change your routine.
Half of spiritual growth is learning what we don't know. The other half is unlearning what we do know.
It’s much easier to act like a Christian than it is to react like one!
If you want to find your voice, you need to hear the voice of God.
We pray as if God’s chief objective is our personal comfort. It’s not. God’s chief objective is His glory.