Quotes from Mark Batterson

You don't become a praying parent by default. You do it by design, by desire, by discipline. Spiritual disciplines take sheer determination, but if you determine to circle your children in prayer, you will shape their destinies, just like Susanna Wesley shaped the destinies of her children. Your prayers will live on in their lives long after you die. Your prayers for your children are the greatest legacy you can leave.

It's not science fiction; it's fact. It's not a script; it's Scripture. It's not an accident; it's a divine appointment. Can I make a simple observation? Notice who's next to you! What you think is a seat assignment might be a divine assignment. The person two inches away may change your destiny, or you might change theirs!

Before going wherever God wants to take you next, is there some place you need to go back to? Sometimes the way forward is backward. "The farther backward you can look," said Winston Churchill, "the farther forward you can see."

Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers.

But when you're insecure, your greatest asset becomes your greatest threat. Comparison will sabotage your destiny by undermining your integrity.

Prayer is your highest privilege as a parent.

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.

Don't just go out and do what Dick Eastman or your spiritual hero did. That's a spiritual cop-out. Copycat spirituality is short lived.

the reason many of us get stuck in the six cages—the cage of responsibility, the cage of routine, the cage of assumptions, the cage of guilt, the cage of failure, and the cage of fear—is for one simple reason: We want God to do something new while we keep doing the same old thing.

Celebrate what you want to see more of. That's one way to fan into flame the gift of God.

To believe that God speaks only through the Bible is to handcuff the God of the Bible as the Bible has revealed Him to us. Yes, Scripture provides our checks and balances.

Life becomes an adventure when we start seeing the miraculous in the mundane. When we put feet to our passion or bear-hug a new challenge, it changes our outlook on life.