An offended heart is the breeding ground of deception.

We all have life-defining moments. They are like open-book tests, but we don't know we have been examined until it is over.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

God is waiting to satisfy us, yet His goodness will not satisfy us if we are already full of other things.

We are like horses that must be broken; basically that one should submit to a pastor even if he is wrong.

The greater hardship you endure, the greater the authority God entrusts to you.

Just as Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered, we learn obedience by the difficult circumstances we face. When we obey the Word of God that is spoken by the Holy Spirit, we will grow and mature in the times of conflict and suffering. Our knowledge of Scripture is not the key. Obedience is.