Sometimes, God turns up the heat in our lives for the purpose of making us more like Himself. When we're living in obedience to the Lord and affliction comes our way, we can be certain that He's using those circumstances to refine us and purify our hearts. No matter the struggles we face, our hope and our purpose are found in Him alone.

Sometimes the trials we face are ordained by God for the purpose of building perseverance in us. And sometimes, the longer we fight adversity, the longer we remain caught in the middle of it! Our suffering often leads to outcomes even better than what we experienced before the hard times began -- so let's remember that God can use any struggle for His greater purpose of molding and shaping us into who He's designed us to be.

This life is full of suffering. There's no way around it. We all carry hurts and burdens that we think nobody else knows about. But Jesus knows our pain, and He invites us to bring it to Him. When we cast our cares on God, we're not relieved of the trials we face, but we can walk in peace knowing we don't have to shoulder the load alone.

Before God even created the world, He already had a perfect plan: He would send His only Son to die for us because He loves us more than we could ever imagine. When we choose to accept His gift of salvation, He writes each of our names in the Book of Life. He's calling us to Himself so that we can be saved from the destruction of this world's end, and spend eternity with Him.

The term "coup de grace" in French means to deal a deathly blow for the purpose of ending suffering. The ultimate coup de grace took place when God chose to wipe out all of our sin in a single blow -- and in doing so, bridged the gap for us to have a new life in Him. When Jesus died on the cross, He offered a death blow to our sinful nature forever. All we have to do is accept His gift.

Scripture is filled with examples of God keeping His promises, time after time. Yet we so often doubt that He'll keep His promises to us. When God makes a promise, it's up to us to walk in faith and expectation that He'll fulfill it -- not live in disobedience and doubt.

Scripture teaches us that the only way to Heaven is through Jesus Christ; He's gone before us to prepare our forever home, and the way we live here is revealed there. If we spend our time on earth focused on the treasures of this world, then our treasure dies with us. But if we live focused on eternity, worldly riches cease to matter in light of living surrendered fully to Him.

Old Testament law declares that when you harvest a field, anything left over once the harvesting process is finished should be left in the field for the orphans, the widows, and the poor. So why do we tend to hoard what God has given to us? We've been blessed with so much, but with that comes a responsibility and an opportunity for us to turn around and bless others who are in need.

Have you ever heard the saying, "When one sin is defended, it becomes two sins"? Just because our culture deems sinful behavior to be acceptable, doesn't change the fact that it's still sin. The Bible is clear about what it defines as sin, and as followers of Christ, it's up to us to take a stand and speak biblical truth in love -- no matter how hard it might be.

We live in a culture that's not only made sex outside marriage acceptable -- it's made sex outside marriage the norm. The world tells us that the purpose of sex is for mere enjoyment without boundaries, but God tells us He created it for a special purpose, to be experienced within the covenant of marriage. Scripture's always been clear and consistent about God's design, and our response to His Word should be the same -- unwavering and unchanging, no matter what other people say or think.