How I long never to diminish God by loving lesser things. Rather, I want to make much of God by diminishing lesser things. May I make less of me, less of this world, less of the temporary…so that I may be a vessel more full of God, more full of eternal perspectives, more full of His everlasting!

We must spend time with God, letting His truths become part of who we are and how we live.

We are to think about, ponder, and park our minds on constructive thoughts, not destructive thoughts.

Thoughts that breathe life into us, not suck life from us.

God, inconvenience me … so that I might constantly be reminded to draw near to You. Interrupt me, Lord. Shake things up in me, Lord. Reveal what's in me that's not of You, Lord. O Lord, more than anything, I want more of You.

Experiencing life change is not a matter of chance, it's a matter of choice, choosing God's ways instead of your own.

And what we think about can consume us if

Negative self-talk was a rejection from my past that I had allowed to settle into the core of who I am. I talked about myself in ways I would never let another person.

How dangerous it is when our souls are gasping for God but we're too distracted flirting with the world to notice. Flirting will give you brief surges of fun feelings but will never really pull you in and hold you close. Indeed, the world entices your flesh but never embraces your soul.

The disciples were surely inspired by Jesus' miracle. And they were certainly informed by His teaching. But because they had not personally applied what they learned, they weren't transformed.

The tension exists because you are doing the difficult work of no longer cooperating with dysfunction.

Each morning my mind is like a dry sponge. Whatever I soak up first is what I'll be most saturated with each day. And what I'm most saturated with each day is what I'll leak out on others when life's tough stuff squeezes me.