God warned Israel, "And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it" (Ex. 20:25). To pollute something is to make it ordinary. God insists that any approach crafted by human ingenuity will produce a worship system just like all the pagan systems in the world. In other words, it will be common or profane - just like everyone else's paganism.

Before we can pray for God's blessing, we should ask ourselves if our disobedience could hinder his blessing.

Truth can be attested by the supernatural, but so can falsehood.

God never forgets a promise.

Chastening is a mark of affection, not a sign of rejection.

Persistence in prayer brings results that casual prayer does not.

The opposite of love is indifference to the genuine needs of others.