Reading again “A FLOWER HAS TO GO THROUGH A LOT OF DIRT BEFORE IT CAN BLOOM,” on the sign which you find on Commerce Street here in Kaitaia, this morning, a verse from the Bible came to my mind, namely Acts 14:22, where it says:

“WE MUST GO THROUGH MANY HARDSHIPS TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”

Looking up the word ‘hardship’ in the Bible I learned this:

“A Flower …”

1.  We must endure hardship.
2. We must endure hardship like a good soldier of Christ.
3. We must endure hardship as discipline.
4. Paul says that as servants of God we commend ourselves in great hardships.
5. Paul says also that for Christ’s sake he delights in hardships.
6. This is said to the Church in Ephesus: You have endured hardships.

“It is ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as a royal mark whereby the King’s vessels of honor are distinguished,” says Charles Haddon Spurgeon

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Second Timothy 4:5; Second Timothy 2:3; Hebrews 12:7; Second Corinthians 6:4; Second Corinthians 12:10; Revelation 2:3; Romans 8:35