WALKING TALL IN THE INTEGRITY OF YOUR HEART

TUESDAY

MI DAILY DEVOTION

WALKING TALL IN THE INTEGRITY OF YOUR HEART

(Psalm 26:1- 2) 1- “A Psalm of David. Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide. 2- Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.”

The prayer of King David as mentioned in our text was not an easy one. He said; “Judge me, O LORD…” He was willing to be judged by the Lord because he continued; “I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD…” You can be confident and have a prayer like this if you know that you’re walking in the integrity of your heart. He was like Abimelech who prayed to God when God was about to placed His judgment in the head of king Abimelech. And Abimelech who was innocent to the lies of Abraham and Sarah pleaded to God and said; “In the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.” (Genesis 20:5) Let me share with you the song of David and how he reacted with what his enemy has done to him and said against him and the persecution that he went through. (Psalm 1:1- 5; 8) 1- “Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite. O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: 2- Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. 3- O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; 4- If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:) 5- Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah. 8- The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.”

“IN THE INTEGRITY OF MY HEART…”

MONDAY

MI DAILY DEVOTION

“IN THE INTEGRITY OF MY HEART…”

(Genesis 20:5- 6) 5- “Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. 6- And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.”

We all have integrity and dignity, but some because of hardship, trials, pain in life, problems and suffering dropped theirs along the way. Others lost it because they fell into Satan’s deception and temptation. Others, they jumped over into a moral issue which may have lead to their downfall. The story of Abraham and Abimelech is a good picture of what is going on right now in many parts of the world, as well as in many churches. We have good Christians and church members who love the Lord, and they are standing and kneeling before God in behalf of their falling pastors and leaders. We have dedicated and strong Christians who are willing to sacrifice like Abimelech in the Name of God and for the sake of the ministry. They’re doing it because someone’s integrity and dignity is in jeopardy. You will have the Lord’s protection and the Lord’s hand if you know that you made the wrong decisions or made a big mistake; but you did it “IN THE INTEGRITY OF YOUR HEART…” God did it to Abimelech and God forgave him for his bad decisions and his wrong reactions to what Abraham and Sarah told him; God can do the same to us. We need to humble ourselves before God, (I Kings 9:4- 5) 4- “And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:”

THE SECRETS OF PAUL IN KEEPING HIS INTEGRITY

SUNDAY

MI DAILY DEVOTION

THE SECRETS OF PAUL IN KEEPING HIS INTEGRITY

(Philippians 1: 9) “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;”

According to John Wesley commentary on Paul’s life from the Book of (Philippians 1:9- 11), he wrote; 9- “And this I pray, that your love - Which they had already shown. May abound yet more and more - The fire which burned in the apostle never says, It is enough. In knowledge and in all spiritual sense - Which is the ground of all spiritual knowledge. We must be inwardly sensible of divine peace, joy, love; otherwise, we cannot know what they are. 10- That ye may try - By that spiritual sense. The things that are excellent - Not only good, but the very best; the superior excellence of which is hardly discerned, but by the adult Christian. That ye may be inwardly sincere - Having a single eye to the very best things, and a pure heart. And outwardly without offence - Holy, unblamable in all things. 11- Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God - Here are three properties of that sincerity which is acceptable to God:  It must bear fruits, the fruits of righteousness, all inward and outward holiness, all good tempers, words, and works; and that so abundantly, that we may be filled with them. The branch and the fruits must derive both their virtue and their very being from the all - supporting, all - supplying root, Jesus Christ. As all these flow from the grace of Christ, so they must issue in the glory and praise of God.” The basic things to do to keep our integrity intact and not be distorted by the devil; it is to love the Lord, keep His commandment, do what is right and do it for His glory. (Philippians 1:11) “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.”

JOB’S “ID” WAS HIS INTEGRITY

SATURDAY

MI DAILY DEVOTION

JOB’S “ID” WAS HIS INTEGRITY

(Job 27:5) “God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.”

When I was working for a certain company where we have all the confidential things in our hands; if we are inside the facilities, we need to have our identification card (ID) visible to everyone including our bosses or you’ll get a write off. But, we’re not allowed to display our ID’s on public and in the rear view mirror of our car like what some of the RN’s, Physical Therapists, doctors and others are doing. It’s because the number on our ID which could be used for an entrance in our facilities must always be protected. Job kept his ID protected, and Job valued his integrity. He said; “till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.”

Integrity can be sold, compromised and disabled from your heart and mind until you won’t even be bother about it. That’s one of the reasons why some of the people you know used to be great, honest, loving, faithful to their wife or husband, love ones and God, but when this tragic event in the sight of God happened; everything has changed. You have witnessed how that individual’s integrity and life style has changed. Your leader, your boss or pastor used to be so transparent and just in their dealings, until one day… Job’s wife asked him; “Dost thou still retain thine integrity?” (Job 2:9)  I believe that Job will have the same answer up to this day, notice what he said; “till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.” And Job will have the same desire; “Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.” (Job 31:6) And God will say the same thing for Job to anybody and to the devil; “…and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.”

YOU MUST KEEP AND PROTECT YOUR “ID- HIV”

FRIDAY

MI DAILY DEVOTION

YOU MUST KEEP AND PROTECT YOUR “ID- HIV”

(Job 1:1) “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.”

What is “ID- HIV” anyways? I would assume that many of you will have different questions in mind. Others may already have the idea, but I’m very much sure that it will be different from what have in mind. This will be our subject in the next few days of our devotional- “ID- HIV”, which is actually an acronym. We are going to start off with Job, the man who suffered with God’s permission. Job was a man of God with an “ID”. I will not blame you if you will think of the word “identification” (ID). Students wear “ID” at school, it identifies you in your workplace, in the military, as a guest or at home and at church. You can identify a man by the name of “Job” by what the Scriptures said about him in (Job 1:1). Indeed, Job has an “ID”. First, “HE” is a man. Secondly, he “…was perfect and upright”. Thirdly, he “…feared God, and eschewed evil.” And he was from the land of Uz. It’s very clear that Job bears with him his “ID”, his personal identification with God which would be “Integrity and Dignity”. Do you have that with you when you’re at school, in your workplace, at home or even when you’re at church?

(Job 2:3) “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.”

CHRIST MADE US SIT TOGETHER

THURSDAY

MI DAILY DEVOTION

CHRIST MADE US SIT TOGETHER

(Ephesians 2:5-6) 5- “Even when we were dead in sins, hath made us alive together with Christ (by grace ye are saved). 6 “And hath raised us up together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus;”

We claim by faith what Christ has done and what the Word of God says in the Scriptures. We are not there yet in heaven, but by faith and in our spiritual standing with God, we are already there. You have a reserved mansion in heaven. I was talking to someone and I said; “We are here but we were there, because we have a reserved seat in heaven” Have you asked Christ to make a reservation for you in heaven? What does it tells us?

1- We are strangers and in a journey in this world. We live here for a while, but we don’t belong into this world. We belong in the other world- God’s abode in heaven. (John 14:2-3) 2- “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3- And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Notice what this song says: “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through, my treasure are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue, The angels beckoned me from heavens open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”

2- Our Citizenship is in heaven. People migrate and they acquire citizenship from the country in which they called home. (Philippians 3:20-21) 20- “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21- Who shall change our lowly body, that it may be fashioned like his glorious body, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

HE CAN FEEL YOU…!

WEDNESDAY

MI DAILY DEVOTION

HE CAN FEEL YOU…!

(I John 2: 16) “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

God can feel you! He’s been there! We have temptations that had been going on for years over and over. It’s like a cycle for months or days, but one thing for sure; it would be from the same source and will serve the same purpose. But the comfort that we have is Christ who went through the same temptation. And we will have the same resolution to the problem- the power of God, His Holy Spirit and the power of the Blood of the Lamb. We are at war with the enemy- the devil. The Apostle John said: “For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh…” When Jesus came down into this world to die for our sins, Jesus was in the flesh, the same flesh that we have. Jesus did not have a different emotion when He was here. He went through the same feeling as we are. It means that Jesus knew exactly what you feel when you have problems with the flesh even as the enemy try to make you live in the flesh. It means He knows exactly how you felt and what you feel when you are under fiery trials and temptations. He knows exactly what it means when you are struggling with something. He knows that your flesh, your minds and your hearts affects your physical functions and nerves. The world, the flesh and the pride of life is of the devil. The real enemies are not the pornographic materials and garbage on your screen in front of you; they’re just the tools of the devil and his strategy to destroy you. Those are just part of his evil devices to destroy you, your home and the future of your children. (I Corinthians 10:13) “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”