Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous
By A.B. Simpson

      God seems to love to work by paradoxes and contradictions. In the transformations of grace, the bitter is the base of the sweet, night is the mother of day and death is the gate of life. Many people want to have power. But, how is power produced? The other day I passed the large powerhouse where the trolley engines are supplied with electricity. I heard the hum and roar of countless wheels, and I asked my friend, "How do they make the power?" "Why," he said, "Just by the revolution of those wheels and the magnetic friction they produce. The friction creates the electric current." In this same manner, when God wants to bring more power into our lives, He brings more pressure. He is generating spiritual force by friction. Some of us do not like it. Some of us do not understand. We try to run away from the pressure instead of getting the power and using it to rise above the painful cause. O troubled soul, beneath the rod Thy Father speaks-be still, be still; Learn to be silent unto God, And let Him mold thee to His will.