The question isn't, "What do I want to get done in the next thirty days?" but, "Who do I want to become in this next season of my life?

Christians who live out of who they really are cannot be crippled by the opinions of others.

Each of us was meant to be an original, but most of us die merely a copy. Anyone who discovers who God made him or her to be would never want to be anyone else.

Listen to His voice, not to your worries. Trust in Him, not in your fears. Allow the continual influence of His transforming Kingdom to flow through your spirit.

Faith does not come from our understanding. It comes from the heart. We do not believe because we understand; we understand because we believe (see Heb. 11:6). We'll know when our mind is truly renewed, because the impossible will look logical.

The reason for problems in our churches is not that we are all evil people. It is simply that we have not learned the ways of the King and His Kingdom enough for Him to influence how we think and live in every part of our lives.

It is quite another to endure and respect those whose passion is to pursue living an authentic Gospel in ways that challenge our comfort zones. Such is the nature of real faith. It offends the stationary.

Make no mistake, character is a supreme issue with God. But His approach is much different than ours. His righteousness/character is not built into us by our own efforts. It is developed when we quit striving and learn to abandon ourselves completely to His will.

The notion that "our thoughts are not His thoughts" is an Old Testament statement about a rebellious Israel whom the prophet was beseeching to repent (see Isa. 55:8). To the obedient Christian, that statement should be changed to "Our thoughts are His thoughts.

When we reduce our influence to elections and popular vote, we disgrace the One who covenanted with us never to leave us or forsake us. That political spirit is the leaven Jesus warned us of in Mark 8 when He said to be careful of the leaven of Herod. The political system is real, but it is seriously inferior to the Kingdom of God.

Heaven is filled with absolute, perfect, confidence in God. This world is filled with absolute mistrust. And you and I will always reflect the nature of the world we are most aware of.

Having a renewed mind is often not an issue of whether or not someone is going to heaven, but of how much of heaven he or she wants in his or her life right now. Jesus urged us to do an about-face in our