A powerful truth is that if we love the Lord, love His Word, love His people, and love one another, we won't want to gossip.

Model the qualities that you want your children to show to each other.

Perseverance is not a passive submission to circumstances-it is a strong and active response to the difficult events of life.

Lots of people want to have written; they don't want to write. In other words, they want to see their name on the front cover of a book and their grinning picture on the back. But this is what comes at the end of a job, not at the beginning.

The degree of our spiritual strength will be in direct proportion to the time we spend in God's Word.

Do you want to be safe from the influence, ways, and lusts of the world and the flesh (I John 2:16)? From the sins which so easily entangles us (Hebrews 12:1)? Then delight in yourself in the Lord, in His provision, in His Word. Faithfully feed on the things that possess true substance and real meaning. When you remember that "all Scripture is given by inspiration by God and is profitable" (2 Timothy 3:16) and partake of such divine substance, then you are fed, you are led and you are safe!

But if you don't understand that story is character and not just idea, you will not be able to breathe life into even the most intriguing flash of inspiration.