“Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” [Deuteronomy 13:3]

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” [Matthew 6:13]

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: I But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” [I Peter 4:12-13]

“How God loves to test His people. Every child that comes to God must be tested, child trained; no exceptions, everyone. And maybe tonight, that you're sick, just to have a little child training, just a little testing. Don't be discouraged. God's on the throne. He knows all things. If were truly borned of the Spirit of God, everything's working together for our good. He's going to make everything right. He promised He would. He swore He would. And He's got to keep that Word. He's kept it now for oh, thousands of years to every believer. Would you be any exception? No, sir. We're no exception.” [57-0309E Jehovah-Jireh, Phoenix AZ]

“I remember in school, I learned something, and many of you learned the same lesson. When you have solved a problem, worked it out, you can take the answer and prove it by the problem. How many ever did that? All of you, of course. Then--then you don't have to worry whether your answer is right or not, the problem's answer has been proved by the problem. Therefore, you know you got the right answer. If every one of yours on your slate or sheet has been proven, the problem proved by... the answer proved by the problem, then you got it. No one can say it's wrong, you've got to get... And if you do your work neatly and correctly, and the way it should be done, and your answer has been proved, you can sit back and rest with the assurance that you're going to get an A on that, on that sheet of paper that you turn in, because it's been proven, proven by the problem.” [64-0816 Proving His Word, Jeffersonville IN]

“Now we see the attribute, sons of His Spirit, have not yet entered into the Word-form body. But, a theophany; this body is subject to the Word and earnest, waiting for the earnest, change of the body. Now, the different between Him and you, as a son. See, He was, at the beginning, the Word, an en morphe body. He came in and lived in that, in the Person of Melchisedec. Then, later, we never heard no more of Melchisedec, because He became Jesus Christ. Melchisedec was the Priest, but He became Jesus Christ. Now, you by-passed that. Because, in that form, He knowed all things, and you have never been able to know that yet. You come like Adam, like me, you became from the attribute to the flesh, to be tempted. But when this life is finished here, "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting." That's where we go; that is the Word. Then we can look back and see what we done. Now we don't understand it. We have never become the Word; we've just become the flesh-man, not the Word. But, and look, clearly makes it clear, you will never be the Word unless you was a thought at the beginning. That proves the predestination of God. See? You can't be the Word unless you're a thought. You had to be in the thinking, first. But, you see, in order to stand temptation, you had to bypass the theophany. You had to come down here in flesh, to be tempted by sin. And then, if you stand, "All the Father hath given Me will come to Me, and I'll raise him up at the last days." See, you had to be first.” [65-0221E Who Is This Melchisedec, Jeffersonville IN]

“And sometime it takes hard trials to break the bands of the world off of us. Sometimes God lets us have a little trial, you know, to see what we'll do, to take you out of the world. Or, other words, let you have a little trial and knock you out of that organization, and that idea that "the Methodist is the only one, the Baptist, or the Pentecostal, or that's--that's the only group they got. If you don't believe it like my church believe it, you don't believe at all." Sometimes He lets a little trial happen. Maybe you got a sick baby. Maybe something takes place right at the hour of death. Maybe someone taken from you, or something. What's it to do? To break you away, to show you something, open your eyes. Maybe you come to criticize, sometime. Maybe you're listening to this tape just to criticize. Maybe God's doing that to break some of the worldly bands that's got you bound down. Like a drowning man in the river, you have to take the man out of the river before you can get the river out of the man. That's right. You have to get him out of the river first, then you get the river out of him. Sometime God has to do it that way. He permits the junctions, crossroads to do that. Stand on His promises, the Word, for they never fail. The future, that's in His hand. Stand like they did, don't--don't give away.” [64-0112 Shalom, Sierra Vista AZ]

“When looks like everything has gone wrong, God is giving you a trial. He's got confidence in you. He don't have to baby you around. You're not a hotbed plant, a hybrid. You're a real Christian. God is giving you a test, see what you'll do about it. Amen. No wonder Peter said, "These fiery trials, why, count it a joy. It's--it's more precious to you than gold." And many times we hum and haw, "Oh, well, if I just..." Well, that, well, that's something God give you, to overcome. He--He--He knows you'll do it. He, He's--He's put his trust in you.” [63-0421 Victory Day, Sierra Vista AZ]

“If His children will only take His Word, so He can prove It by you! That's the only way He can prove His Word. He doesn't prove It to unbelievers. They can't be proved; they are unbelievers. But, It's not to unbelievers. It's not for unbelievers. It's to him that believe. And if He can find somebody who will believe His Word, He will prove His Word by you. And sometimes sickness and things happen to us that way, that God can prove Himself. Do you remember the blind man that Jesus found? They said, "Who sinned, he or his father, his mother?" He said, "In this case, neither, but that the works of God might be made known." See, it happened to the boy so that Jesus could be glorified. Sometimes sickness is not a curse, it's a blessing, that we can stick our faith out there and call those things which are not, as though they were. God said so, and He'll prove it's so if you'll just not weaken under the test. He could prove Job, one time, that he wouldn't curse Him to His face. Look at the trial that Job went through. But down in the very jaws of death, he yet said, "The Lord gave, the Lord taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord!" He certainly believed it. God proved His Word to Job. He proved it to Abraham. He proved it so.” [65-0426 Proving His Word,  Los Angeles CA]

“It is written in one of the Scriptures in the Bible, that, "Trials are brought upon us, are more precious to us than gold itself, for it is God giving us these trials." After we become His property, our confession, and our baptism, and our promise to walk in life for Him, then every trial that comes upon us is to perfect us for His glory. It's to bring us to a place where God can make Himself more real to us than He was before the trial come. I want to join in this morning with Job to say that I've lived long enough to know that's the truth. I have seen it in my own life, that every time a great situation rises, that I can't get around it, or under it, or over it, God makes a way, and comes out glorious. I just wonder how His grace ever does it, but He does it. And remember, in all these things Satan tries to make us nervous, and upset us, to get us to think, "Oh, why did this happen? Why couldn't I have been like this?"” [60-0417S I Know, Jeffersonville IN]

“Sometimes, believers put to the test. Not sometimes; every time! "For every son that cometh to God must be chastened, tried, child-trained." Remember, the trials, the dusty roads, the hot sun of persecution, but the loyalty of your heart beats that material till she is ready to go into the mold. God's children is made up correctly on His Word, for they are living examples, and the Word of God living through them. See? The trial comes to shake you, to put you to the very bottom, to see where you'll stand. They tested, try every son that cometh to God. Job went through the trials and the tests. His children taken; everything else taken. The church members come, accused him of being a secret sinner, and tried to say everything against him, but yet he wouldn't listen to any of it. He knowed he had met God's requirements. He knowed there's no need of Satan trying to tempt him. He knowed it was the devil. And as long as Satan can make him believe that his sickness was his God doing it, he had Job whipped. But when Job once struck that revelation, that it was not God! He was only going through his trials to make him something. It wasn't God doing it. It was Satan doing it.” [63-1124E Three Kinds Of Believers, Jeffersonville IN]

“Long years ago before they had the smelters, they used to take the gold, and how they would know how it was right or not, with all the sludge was out of it, all of the iron pyrite (that's fools gold), all the fools out of it, they--beaters beat it, and beat it, and turned it, and beat it, and turned it until the beater sees his reflection in the gold. That's the way God does His church. He gives you trial after trial, test after test, trial after trial, test after test, until the life of Christ is reflected in your life, until you become peaceful, sober, meek, gentle, humble, ready, submissive, willing, turn your head from the things of the world and looking straight to Calvary to the One Who's doing the beating. Many times you think it's strange because fiery trials, and sickness, and persecutions; it's only done to test you, to get the dirt out of you, to get the sludge out of you, to get the slowness out of you, to wake you up to the place where you can look and see the reflection--or men can see the reflection of Christ in you: Christ in you, the hope of glory.” [57-0818 Time Tested Memorials Of God, Jeffersonville IN]