INTEGRITY This is a summary of what i have learnt for 15 years in the lord and the sermons by my spiritual Mentor Rev Mike Bitock God wants to develop His character in us so we can persevere for the long haul. Yet how he does it is often anything but easy. We are not born with integrity. Integrity is something that is developed in our lives through the choices we make every day. Integrity is an internal standard and conviction. It is having a sensitive conscience before God. The more sensitive your conscience is, the more in tune with the Holy Spirit you will be. As you follow your conscience, you will develop integrity in your life. True character and integrity are revealed in the choices you make when no one else is around. Integrity is very similar to the process a horse goes through to harness its tremendous strength and power. Integrity involves a process of brokenness. But when we yield to this process, God’s power within us is able to reach its fullest and highest potential. The key is having a heart that can endure the test of extreme pressure and time. Many people are born with God-given strengths and abilities. They are graced and gifted by God with certain capabilities. They start out strong; they are sprinters who appear to be the ones who will finish first. But when the test of time sets in and the pressure builds up from a long-distance race, their hearts burst. Their triumph ends in tragedy, taking many other people out in the process. The well-known healing evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman observed this and noted, “Whether life grinds a man down or polishes him depends on what he’s made of.” God doesn’t want us just to start strong. He doesn’t just want us to be champions at short races. He wants to create in us the ability to run fast and hard for the long haul. He wants to undergird His power in our lives so that it will carry us all the way through to the end. Integrity is what will keep your heart strong and enduring. Integrity is what will ultimately qualify you to be a thoroughbred champion. It’s what will empower you to run your race and win. We have been created to be vessels of God’s power. Developing a life of integrity is crucial to harnessing, maintaining and increasing God’s power in our lives. When we only focus on the gifts God gives us and neglect the process of cultivating a life of integrity, we can become disqualified in the process. Integrity will be our keeping grace! Integrity will enable us to carry God’s power for the long haul in our lives. Integrity is produced through brokenness. Smith Wigglesworth, a man powerfully used by God in the healing ministry, testified, “Before God could bring me to this place, He has broken me a thousand times.” True brokenness releases the power of God in our lives. It enables God to fight our battles for us, so the enemy is completely defeated. True heart integrity comes as a result of godly brokenness. David sinned, but he received forgiveness through godly repentance. Even though he still faced consequences for his bad choices and actions, he didn’t lose his relationship with God or his authority and power. Godly brokenness brought restoration in his life. The integrity produced in David’s heart through his testings—including both the ones he passed and failed—caused God’s power to be harnessed, maintained and sustained in his life, maintaining his kingship. David’s response meant everything to God. Even though he failed at times, he won in the end because he really had a heart after God. He allowed God to work integrity into his life. Cultivating a repentant heart is the essential key to living a life of integrity. A broken and contrite heart will fully turn to God in weakness and receive God’s strength to change. Integrity is an internal conviction that no one else can give you. It has to come from within your own heart. My own personal goal in life is to be as transparent as possible so that the person I am in front of people is the same person I am in private. I can keep no secrets. My life is an open book. If I ever feel I have grieved God’s heart in some way, I have to get before God and pray until I feel my heart is clean. This constant sense of repentance and brokenness before God keeps me in His presence. It’s how I cultivate His presence and power in my life. As we cultivate a life of integrity through godly repentance and brokenness, we will harness God’s power in our lives for the long haul, enabling us to finish our race strong all the way to the finish line
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 07:31:54 +0000
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