Book Review: Chase the Lion

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Chase the Lion by Mark Batterson is well worth your time!  Are you a dreamer?  Do you love taking time to truly seek the Lord in the small details of your life as well as the glaring obvious areas that He reveals to us?  Mark Batterson is a passionate leader that desires to be intentional in the way that he lives his life, leads his family, and serves the church that God has called him to pastor.   I’ve enjoyed several of his books and was so excited to be selected to review a copy of his newest book, Chase the Lion.  This book was a quick read.  As soon as I finished it, I passed it along to a leader I have the privilege of investing in and he read it quickly too.  Warning: Only read this book if you are ready to set aside the distractions, get rid of the complaints and excuses, and CHASE THE LION.

I highlighted several things while reading and have posted those notes below…

 

  • Lion chasers don’t run away; lion chasers run to the roar.  They don’t see a five-hundred pound problem; they seize opportunity by the mane. They don’t take flight; they fight to the death for their dreams.
  • I have a theory: your favorite scripture will become the script of your life.
  • At the end of our lives, our greatest regrets will be the God-ordained opportunities we left on the table, the God-given passions we didn’t pursue, and the God-sized teams we didn’t go after because we let fear dictate our decisions.
  • If your dream doesn’t scare you, it’s too small.
  • Imagination is God’s gift to you.  A dream is your gift back to God.
  • I saw what God could do if you plant yourself in one place and let your roots grow deep.
  • No conflict.  No story.
  • One of the best ways to discover your destiny is to study your history.  The seeds of your dreams are often buried in your memory, three levels down.  Take inventory.
  • “I despaired at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God show himself mightily on our behalf.” Jim Cymbala, Fresh Wind Fresh Fire
  • “Life isn’t about finding the answers, it’s about asking the questions.”  Brian Grazer, A Curious Mind
  • “Obviously the time continuum has been disrupted, creating a new temporal event sequence resulting in this alternate reality.”  Doc Brown to Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part II
  • What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. Revelation 3:7
  • Contextual intelligence is the ability to spot opportunity where others don’t.  That’s what sets leaders apart; that’s what sets them up for success.  Call it a sixth sense.  Call it gut instinct.  Lion chasers see and seize the decisive moment.
  • “Sometimes the greatest opposition to what God wants to do next comes from those who were on the cutting edge of what God did last.”  RT Kendall, The Anointing
  • What do you need to stop doing today?  What do you need to start doing today?  Whether its a stop-doing list or a start-doing list, a dream without a to-do list is called a wish list.  Don’t get overwhelmed by the size of the lion.  Focus on the first step.
  • “The Christian is called upon not to be like a thermometer conforming to the temperature of his society, but he must be like a thermostat serving to transform the temperature of his society.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., November 1954 in a sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL entitled “Transformed Nonconformist
  • Don’t accumulate possessions; accumulate experiences.
  • How do you discern the voice of God/  It starts with the Word of God.  If you want to get a word from God, get into the Word of God.  That’s how you learn to discern the voice of God.  After all, it’s the Spirit of God who inspired the Word of God.  And when the Spirit of God quickens the Word of God, it’s like hearing the voice of God in Dolby surround sound.
  • We have a free-market system of small groups at National Community Church, which means we don’t tell our leaders what to do.  We let our leaders get a vision from God and go for it.  That doesn’t mean we never red-light an idea, but we’ve created a green-light culture.  Why?  Because two thousand years ago Jesus said, “Go.”
  • God wants to redeem every attack the 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!
  • Whoever watches the win will not plant; whoever looks to the clouds will not reap.  Ecclesiastes 11:4
  • “Your inability to understand stems from a failure of imagination on your part.”  Tolkien to CS Lewis when Lewis was struggling to understand Christianity
  • Our natural tendency is to surround ourselves with people like us.  But if you want to grow yourself and your organization, you can’t surround yourself with a bunch of yes men and yes women.  You need people who think differently and lead differently.  That creates a healthy and holy tension, but as with a stringed instrument, tension keeps you in tune.  Without tension there is no melody, no harmony.
  • How do we push back the kingdom of darkness?  By highlighting stories of God’s goodness, God’s grace.
  • Pride is the first chapter in the book of failure.  Humility is the first chapter in the book of success.  God won’t put you in a position of leadership until you take a posture of servanthood.
  • Humility is the prologue to every success story in Scripture.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through their book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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