there's a lot of wisdom that we can pick up through listening, paying attention, and learning that way. Sometimes though, we have to learn it the hard way, through experience. The Bible tells us not to be discouraged with God's correction, because it is instruction. Prov. 3

Fasting pushes our flesh back, and it makes us more able to receive from God. It isn't badgering Him to do what we want, or to fight with other people in the body. God says that the fast He has chosen is about obeying His word, doing what's right, and denying the flesh. Is. 58

God's estimation of the sheep and the goats comes down to what we do, especially if it's something we don't want to do. He already knows what we'll do in a given situation, but it can be eye opening for us, which gives us a chance to deal with what's in our hearts. When we truly hear what God is saying to us, we can internalize it, and the change in our hearts translates into a change in our behavior. Mt. 25, Jas. 3

God tells us to prioritize Him above all else. Got narrows down His expectations, making the requirement more stringent, because He wants us to want to be there and to really value the relationship. God wants us to look to Him for the ability to follow through with what He wants out of our lives, and He'll do the rest. Lk. 14, Mt. 12

Patience is the ability to tolerate trouble, delays, or suffering without getting angry or upset. We go through places in life where things are difficult or confusing, and we wish that we can just see God face to face and have an answer, but we learn faith as He tries our patientce. Jas. 5

God wants to reign as king in our lives,but He will only do that if we let him. God is God whether we acknowledge Him as such or not, but His lordship and the obligation of obedience and surrender it puts on us is the only reasonable conclusion we can come to. Prov. 21

God knows how to work with us to get us to bear the right kind of fruit; the fruit that He's looking for. Lk. 13

The Bible teaches us that while God has an expectation for us, we mustn't focus down on our "performance" but on His merit and our faith taking hold of it for ourselves. Our righteousness comes from Him alone. When God points out something that needs changed, it's not a judgment of us as a human being, but simply a judgment of an issue that needs to be addressed. God does that because He wants to fix it. Gal . 5

God wants to do away with our flesh nature entirely, not just the stuff that we don't mind getting rid of. God places much more value on obedience than doing what we think is right. When God brings us to a point where we need to repent, we want to learn to follow David's example of of humility rather than Saul's example of half-hearted qualified repentance. 1 Sam. 15, 2 Sam 12

We must learn to avoid the equal and opposite errors of believing that God expects us to do everything or that He expects nothing from us. There are things He empowers us to do, and expects us to do them. He also brings us through places where we can't possibly change the situation in our own abilities; in those places, we should pray and bring His power to bear. Lk. 18