God gave His approval for the destruction of the Worldwide Church of God into numerous groups, allowing heresies so He could see who really loves Him.

Christ urges God's elect to endure to the end. What is that end? He desires that we persevere through our struggles in faith, building godly character.

Every previous event and decision in our lives has shaped our resultant character, including the bad decisions that led us down a wrong path.

The hard things God wants us to do are preferable to the harsh bondage to sin. The hardness makes us hardy enough to be included in the first harvest.

When you're up to your neck in trials, it's easy to forget you are in training to be a member of the God family.

Paul says 'all things work together for good.' His words indicate a situation in which matters seem dire, but things will work out for God's people in the end.

Life seems to be one trial after another. However, God has revealed an astounding facet of God's love that should give us the faith to soldier on.

Paul wrote some of his most optimistic letters from prison, under the possibility of execution, but absolutely convinced that ultimate victory was imminent.

Over the years, we have seen doors open to us and doors closed to us. Sometimes we forcefully shut the open door and other times we try to push a closed door.

Even when we exercise free moral agency, God engineers circumstances and outcomes so that we are virtually forced to make the right decision.

Calamities, trials, anxiety, evil, and calamities, as well as blessings, happen to Christians in order to become fashioned and molded into God's image.

Our experience in overcoming and developing character will be fraught with difficulties, but God will provide the power to get through all the anguish.

Paul describes physical Israel as broken branches, allowing gentile branches to be grafted in, ultimately leading to the return of Israel to God's grace.

Affliction is a necessary aspect of life, yielding strength of character, while ease and comfort weaken us. Christ was perfected as High Priest through suffering.

The discipline of waiting is on the same level as the other spiritual disciplines, requiring substantial admixtures of faith and hope, building endurance.

We must learn to seek God's will and purpose for us, avoiding the temptation of Hezekiah who feared death more than trusting God to decide his expiration date.

We have a much bigger reason for developing godly character than merely make it into the Kingdom. We are rehearsing our roles as a royal priesthood.

We have to exercise faith, realizing the timing will be right for us, enabling us to accept His provisions and decisions for us without fear or anxiety.

While waiting for Christ's return and overcoming our carnal minds, we must struggle to connect with God's will and purpose, developing passionate patience.

The Father's purpose is to make us Christ-like, abounding in godly love. God is able to turn horrendous and gruesome circumstances into ultimate blessings.

I John 4:17 reveals the depth of love God the Father has for us as unique, special components of His creation, loving each of us as much as He loved Christ.

Grace's influence extends beyond justification, into the sanctification stage where the believer yields himself to righteousness, keeping God's commandments.

As we count the 50 days toward Pentecost, we should consider the events of our lives, coming to understand that they reveal God's on-going maintenance.

The creation offers compelling testimony to the intricacies which preclude even the possibility of evolution. Evolution is a futile attempt to get rid of God.

We may be going through a period of hopelessness, but must believe that all things work together for those who believe and are called for His purpose.

God emphasizes Ecclesiastes during the Feast of Tabernacles to show the result of doing whatever our human heart leads us to do. The physical cannot satisfy.