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

by Mark Batterson

change of pace + change of place = change of perspective.

Your dream is more than a dream. It’s a calling. Sure, someone hired you and someone can fire you. But they didn’t call you. God did. And if you forget that fact, you forget why you do what you do and Who you do it for.

When the time is right, dust off the dream and rededicate it to God.

When we operate in faith, we aren’t risking our reputation. We’re risking God’s reputation! And God can handle Himself just fine, thank you.

God doesn’t call the qualified. God qualifies the called.

Don’t settle for your plan A. Go after God’s plan B.

Faith is taking the first step before God reveals the second step.

Faith is the willingness to look foolish.

Gratitude is thanking God after He does it. Faith is thanking God before He does it.

If you want to experience the supernatural, you have to attempt something that is beyond your natural ability.

The dream is from God. The dream is for God.

It’s the decisions when no one is looking that will dictate your destiny. In fact, your integrity is your destiny!

We can bear just about anything if we don’t have to bear it alone.

When you let people share in the struggle, they have skin in the game. That’s how you become a band of brothers, a band of sisters.

I’ve never met anybody who doesn’t want to be successful, but very few people have actually defined success for themselves. So by default they buy into the culture’s definition of success instead of God’s definition. In God’s book success is spelled stewardship. It’s making the most of the time, talent, and treasure God has given you. It’s doing the best you can with what you have where you are.

He knows that success is about more than winning or losing a football game. It’s how you handle adversity. It’s how you handle disappointment. It’s how you handle mistakes. It’s how you handle an offense.

Reactions are far more revealing than actions.

Until the pain of staying the same becomes more acute than the pain of change, nothing happens. We simply maintain the status quo. And we convince ourselves that playing it safe is safe. But the greatest risk is taking no risks at all.

Don’t accumulate possessions; accumulate experiences.

Are you living your life in a way that is worth telling stories about?

Don’t settle for good. Seek God. And when you do, don’t be surprised when God does immeasurably more than all you can ask or imagine!

The cure for the fear of failure isn’t success. The cure for the fear of failure is failure in small enough doses that we build up an immunity to it.

“Go. Set. Ready.” We inverted the old axiom “Ready, set, go,” because if you wait until you’re ready, you’ll be waiting until the day you die!

The issue isn’t readiness; it’s willingness.

That doesn’t mean we never red-light an idea, but we’ve created a green-light culture.

Enemy has waged against us. In fact, what the Enemy intends for evil, God will use for good. Don’t waste suffering. Don’t waste failure. Don’t waste disappointment. Don’t waste cancer. Don’t waste divorce. God wants to recycle those things for His purposes!

You have gifts and abilities that you aren’t even aware of, but they are often buried beneath perceived weaknesses. In those disadvantages, dreams are playing hide-and-seek.

What excuse do you need to confess?

What do you need to start? First, give yourself a start date. And I’d highly recommend today! Second, give God an hour a day every day. It might mean getting up an hour earlier or staying up an hour later, but that’s how dreams become reality. Third, give yourself a deadline. Deadlines are lifelines. Without them nothing gets done.

Generally speaking, you are probably never going to be more than about 80 percent certain. Waiting for greater certainty may cause you to miss an opportunity. Depending upon your personality, no amount of information may move you past a particular degree of certainty.8

Once you get a green light from God, it’s go time. Then you have to find ways to make progress on your dream every day.

Go Time A goal is a dream with a deadline. No matter what dream God has given you, you have to break it down into manageable steps. You have to turn it into a to-do list, or it will never amount to more than a wish list. Give yourself a timeline and a deadline.

It may sound as if I’m lowering my standard by settling for 80 percent, but I’m really not.

The 80 percent rule relieves the pressure I put on myself, so I actually finish my first draft much faster.

No matter what dream you have, that 80 percent approach might help you overcome procrastination and perfectionism.

Delayed obedience is disobedience. Seize the day!

In business speak, it’s called an opportunity cost.

It’s the loss of potential gain when an opportunity isn’t seen and seized. But it’s not just a forfeiture of possibilities; the collateral damage can be devastating. Counting the cost is a biblical principle, but it doesn’t mean just the actual cost. That’s the easy part. The hard part is calculating the opportunity cost.

Generally speaking, we see only what we’re looking for. If you’re looking for excuses, you will always find one. But the same is true for opportunities. If you look for them, you’ll find them all around you all the time—even on a snowy day!

Our dreams are more interconnected with one another than any of us could ever imagine, and the best way to fulfill your dream is to help others fulfill theirs.

Your dreams will inspire many people, no doubt. But your dreams will also summon opposition. Why? Because you are disrupting the status quo.

Opposition from the Enemy is often a good sign, a vital sign. You’re on the verge of a breakthrough.

And remember this: a compliment from a fool is really an insult, and an insult from a fool is really a compliment.

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

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.

Destiny predates birth. Destiny postdates death.

You need a bigger why. Our chief end is to glorify God, and if your goal is to make famous the name of Jesus, good fortune will follow you all the

days of your life and right into eternity!

In His grace God doesn’t always download the entire dream at one time. It would overwhelm us. But 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.