Mark Batterson

The blessing of God is as unique as your fingerprint. Some blessings are as simple and straightforward as the sunrise. Others are more difficult to discern, like the blessing of brokenness.

The first blessing is using our God-given time and talent to make a difference in the world. For Handel, that meant making music that stirs the soul. The second blessing is using the treasure that our time and talent produces, typically in the form of a paycheck, to generously bless others.

Most people believe God is real, but few people actually live like it. The result is a widening gap between their theology and their reality.

Half of spiritual growth is learning what we don’t know. The other half is unlearning what we do know.

During the days of King David, a devastating plague is said to have claimed the lives of a hundred Israelites every single day.

By bravest prayer I mean the prayer you can barely believe God for because it seems impossible.

Contending isn’t easy, but here’s some good news: God is contending for you!

“I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all,” said Martin Luther. “But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.”

“Tell me to what you pay attention,” said the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset, “and I will tell you who are you.”

To call pain a gift seems like an oxymoron, I know. But without pain, we would repeatedly reinjure ourselves in the same ways. Without pain we would simply maintain the status quo. Without pain we would ignore problems that can kill us. In fact, pain saved my life on July 23, 2000. I woke up…