We humans tend to think of heaven as a vastly improved earth with all of the fun and none of the problems. We seldom mention God in our descriptions, but He is the focal point of heaven. It is God' perfect holy place, designed for His global family reunion. We will meet brothers and sisters from "every tribe and language and people and nation" (Revelation 5:9 NIV).

We tend to think heaven is a place to go when we die - that it's all "by and by in the sky". However, we can begin to experience heaven here and now because it is wherever God is; and Jesus said, "All those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and live with them." We can also share a little bit of heaven with others.

God wants us to look inside ourselves because there's something going on beneath the surface. If we're going to find the joy of the Lord, we're going to have to look inside. We often try to avoid the pain, shame and/or guilt we might uncover but if we want to experience joy, we must take a hard look at our hearts. It may be painful to look at the parts of our past we want to ignore and avoid, but honesty is the gate to the joy of the Lord.

God urges His family first of all to pray. But He doesn't make prayer easy. His instructions specify that as Christians we are to pray for everyone.

You can learn to let go by giving God your desire for comfort, security and control. Let Him replace it with the reality of His presence.

No matter how strong our faith may appear and no matter how firm our commitment feels, our faith can be shipwrecked. That is Satan's goal for us. He wants to destroy us. But God has exposed our enemy's plans and purposes.

We are powerless to achieve the “extreme make over” of our characters that is necessary. We cannot change ourselves and win the spiritual battles we face. We need to surrender our self-sufficiency and declare our God-dependence. However, we can be “strong in the Lord��"s mighty power.” We can take our stand in these battles and we will stand in all the blessings Jesus provides.

We can enjoy a victorious life with Jesus. We can choose to live out the Lifestyles of Victory. These are relentless daily decisions. They are habits we develop and deepen over time.

Trusting God gives us the strength to overcome our fear of commitment.

The rest of your life can be the best of your life because of God's wisdom, power and love.