Tag: rewarded me

Integrity

“O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.”

“As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.”

Psalms 25:20  Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.

Psalms 121:7   The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

Psalms 71:1-2   In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame!

Joel 2:26  “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you

Proverbs 20:7     The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!

Proverbs 11:3   The integrity of the upright guides them

Acts 24:16   So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

Psalms 18:20  The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.  For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.  For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me.  I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt.  So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

Psalms 7:8   The LORD judges the peoples; judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.

Psalms 26:11  But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity; redeem me, and be gracious to me.

Having strong moral principles and being honest deserve some thought.  How do we judge our moral principles (integrity)?  By what standard do we use or should we use to know our moral compass has the right heading?  If the culture of our society says murder is ok would we have moral principles if we agreed with this?    One example; Worldwide 40-50 million living babies in the womb are killed every year.  Do our moral principles say this is wrong or right?  It is critical to understand what we base our principles on.  It can get very confusing.  Social media at our finger tips can easily play into defining our moral stance. Where do we find solid ground?  How do we stay grounded and not moved?  God’s word says that His laws have been written on every mind and heart.  For the most part we know wrong from right but for some reason we seem to want to define our own wrong and right – we justify it in our mind.  If we question our stance, as it may be contrary to what God is speaking to our heart, we search out others who think the same and then justify our stance on like minded people.  David said he the ways of the Lord, and God’s rules and statutes were never put away.  He kept them before himself.  Writing them on his heart and mind, meditating on them when the sun rose and set.  God’s word is truth – if you don’t start here you will never have a basis on which to stand that has eternal benefit.  Every person gets to decide if they will believe in God, believe He will judge every man, believe there is nothing hidden from God, believe He alone has salvation, believe God will lead and direct them, believe God will protect them, believe God will be their salvation on the day of judgement, believe there is both heaven and hell, believe God will hear their prayer, believe God is living and ever present, AND THEY ARE ABLE TO BASE THIS ON HIS WORD.

What is a Pure heart

” Who can say, I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin?”

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Psalms 24:4   He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Psalms 18:20  The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.

Job 17:9   Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.

Isaiah 1:15-16   When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.  Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,

Isaiah 33:15-16    He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.

James 4:8   Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Proverbs 20:9   Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”?

Jeremiah 4:14   O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?

Matthew 5:8   “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

2 Corinthians 7:1   Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

Revelation 21:27   But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Deuteronomy 4:19   And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

Acts 14:15   “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

1 Timothy 1:6 Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

Malachi 3:5   “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

How do we know what is “detestable and false”?  How do we know if we are “double-minded”?   What are we to consider “vain discussion”?  How do we know what causes “defilement of body and spirit”? What does it mean to have a “pure heart”?  How are we to “cleanse ourselves”? Whose names are “written in the Lambs book of life”?  What does it mean to “draw near to God”?  We can always ask these questions to others looking for answers and more than likely we will get as many different responses as the people we ask.  The key to answering these questions is found in the source you are looking.  How many times do we close our ears to what God is speaking to our heart – diluting away these convictions by listening to what our culture has deemed “OK”.  We try to find answers that allows us set aside God’s leading. Answers that are sought Apart from God’s word will lead us away not closer to God.  Many times God while reading or hear God’s word our heart will be convicted.  We then can choose to listen with our heart and mind – drawing near to God because our heart’s desire is to humble serve, honor and obey Him.  I wonder how many times rather than confess what God has been convicting us of, we choose to do something else good that will offset it.  We create this ledger book in our mind of “Good and Bad”.  This type of thinking allows us to stop thinking about it and falsely thinking our heart is pure or that we are cleansed. Is this why so many people do not continually read God’s word? How can we answer the questions above apart from His word – we can’t.

Humble Service

“They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.”

 

Psalms 18:22
For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me. I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt. So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.  With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;  with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.  For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.  For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness.

Psalms 119:13
With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.

Psalms 119:128
Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way.

John 5:14
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

Psalms 119:112
I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.

Psalms 119:117
Hold me up, that I may be safe and have regard for your statutes continually!

Psalms 11:7
For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.

Psalms 17:3
You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress

Psalms 37:27
Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever.

1 Samuel 26:23
The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness,

1 Chronicles 29:17
I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness.

God saves the humble.  When I read this I think of the time I was humbled  through His word.  I had people speaking Christ into my life and sharing His word with me for over a year.  Through these acts of discipleship God’s word became alive.  I became aware of what God required to be right with Him.  I learned that I could not be good enough to gain His forgiveness.  Then one night God opened my heart and mind to His forgiveness through believing in the redemptive work of His son.  I was humbled and knew there was nothing I could do to be right with God and had to trust His word that by believing in His son I was saved from my sin.  I was made new.  All my past sin was forgiven.  All the guilt and shame was taken away in that single moment.  I dug into His word, learning, training, wanting to know more and more of Him.  I would like to say that I grew and grew and never lost sight of honoring and glorifying Him in my daily life.  However, after some years I became  a very luke warm follower of Him.  Playing the role without much of His word being active in my life.  I was very good at pretending but the fact of the matter was I was not growing at all.  I had stopped reading His word on a regular basis.  I became complacent.  I was not listening for His voice leading me.  I was going through life with no thought of humbly honoring and glorifying God everyday.  It was more about me and what I wanted.  Things of this world seemed to have grabbed my attention and I lost sight but God did not leave me there.  Through His great plans and purpose He humbled me and then used my wife to place scripture back in front of me.  She would place His word on my computer screen.  He used her because she was listening and obeying when she could have easily followed my lead.  I tell you all of this so you know that following God is not a one day a week.  If you find yourself where God does not seem to be very near it is not because He is not there.  It is because His word is not active in your life.  Go back to that first desire.  Read His word.  Commit to being His humble servant ready to listen and obey His leading. Don’t waste a single day apart from Him.