Chase the Lion: If Your Dream Doesn't Scare You, It's Too Small

by Mark Batterson

The Enemy wouldn’t mess with you if you weren’t messing with him. Opposition from the Enemy is often a good sign, a vital sign. You’re on the verge of a breakthrough.

Nothing sets us up for God’s provision like sacrificial giving. If you want God to bless you beyond your ability, try giving beyond your means. Now, a material reward isn’t what we’re after. That’s the least reward. We’re after an eternal reward in heaven.

The law of measures is more than a financial principle. It applies to every facet of life.

When God gives a vision, He makes provision. But in my experience, you often have to take a financial step of faith first.

God is working His good, pleasing, and perfect plan for your life in a thousand ways you aren’t even aware of. Everything in your past is preparation for something in your future.

Even when you have a setback, God has already prepared your comeback. The God who works all things together for good will leverage every experience, every skill, every mistake, and every bit of knowledge you have acquired.

Your greatest legacy might be the children or church or charitable trusts that outlive you.

I write because I want my great-great-grandchildren to know what I lived for and what I was willing to die for. And if others want to read my books while I’m living, all the better. But I write for the third and fourth generation.

You don’t need a bigger paycheck. You need a bigger why.

make no mistake: His plans and purposes are beyond what you can ask. And He wants to use you in ways you cannot imagine. Your job isn’t to accomplish the dream. Your job is to stop making excuses and start obeying.

Don’t despise the day of small beginnings!

If you do little things like they’re big things, God will do big things like they’re little things.

we tend to think of our decisions in present-tense terms. We think right here, right now. But God is the God of three generations—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

Every decision we make has a domino effect way beyond our ability to predict or control. We can’t predict when or where or how, but our seeds of faith will reap a harvest somehow, someway, someday. And it’s often when and where we least expect it.

The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off.4 What’s true of the promise in Acts 2:39 is true of every promise in Scripture. There is no statute of limitations—chronological or geographical. The promise is for you, but it’s not just for you. It’s for the second generation—“your children.” It’s for nations and generations—“all who are far off.”

there is no expiration date on God’s promises.

Even when you feel as if you aren’t making a difference, God might be using you in ways you aren’t aware of. And it’s not the immediate impact that matters most; it’s the exponential impact, to the third and fourth generations. An inheritance is what you leave for someone. A legacy is what you leave in someone.

Never underestimate the power of one well-timed, well-phrased word of encouragement. One sentence can alter someone else’s destiny!

You may not influence a million people, but who knows? You may influence one person who influences a billion people.

I need to be around people who make me feel far from God because they’re so close to Jesus.

On March 12, 1911, Booker T. Washington was in Des Moines, Iowa, delivering several sermons and speeches on the same day. He spoke to standing-room-only crowds at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Plymouth Church, Foster’s Opera House, and a gathering of four African American churches.2 Booker T. was the talk of the town. Later that day Washington was in the lobby of the hotel where he was staying when a white woman mistook him for hotel staff. She asked him for a glass of water, and instead of correcting her or identifying himself, he obliged. He got a glass of water, handed it to her, and asked, “Is there anything else I can get for you?”3 That one encounter encapsulates his character. Booker T. Washington was an advisor to presidents, but more important, he was a humble servant.

Don’t be in such a hurry to begin the next chapter of your life that you fail to ace the lessons the current chapter is trying to teach you.

Stoop, Young Man

Pride is the first chapter in the book of failure.

If you’re thinking in terms of eternity, you should have some dreams that can’t be accomplished in your lifetime.

What are you doing today that will make a difference one hundred years from now?

Remember Rahab? That one act of kindness generated a ripple effect that resulted in your salvation!

We live in a culture that prioritizes fifteen minutes of fame higher than a lifetime of faithfulness.