31 Days of Reinventing Our Hope in God

31 Days of Reinventing our Hope in God – in 5 minutes a day
Welcome to 31 Days of Hope in October – not the hope you have grown up with or grown accustomed to, but a hope that is transformed in the very presence of God.
Scroll down to catch a glimpse of what this hope just might look like. This page will be the directory for you to come back to for easily finding posts within this series.
Click to read the other days, I’ll be adding a link to each day once it goes live.

I pray this is a blessing to you and that it will be a refreshing to your soul, even if it is only 5 minutes. Thank you for coming and exploring hope with me!

Day 1: Salvation is Here
Day 2: Not in Kansas Anymore
Day 3: Where Was God?
Day 4: The Grief Process: Finding Our Way & Thriving in the Desert
Day 5: Vision From the Pit: Purpose in Crisis
Day 6: Revelation in the Darkness -Who Was the Thief?
Day 7: Facing Depression
Day 8: Facing Disillusionment
Day 9: Facing Fear
Day 10:Facing Judgment
Day 11: Facing the Sin Within
Day 12: Facing Memories Through a Biblical Lens
Day 13: Facing the Enemy
Day 14: Facing and Embracing Reality – The New Normal
Day 15: Facing the Future
Day 16: Understanding Sin & The Sovereignty of God
Day 17: The Christian Culture
Day 18: Telling Ourselves the Truth – exposing Our Unbelief
Day 19: Fairy Tales Remixed
Day 20: Uncovering the Goodness of God When Life Hurts
Day 21: Hope’s Debtor: Gratitude & Humility
Day 22: Hope in Sorrows & Affliction
Day 23: Exploring Hope: Making Sense in a Fallen World
Day 24: Superficial Hope
Day 25: The Promise of Hope
Day 26: The Foundation of Hope
Day 27: The Formation of Hope
Day 28: The Fruition of Hope
Day 29: Hope Discovered
Day 30: Hope Reinvented
Day 31: 31 Days…How Was It?

We were all children once, dreaming of a fairytale life and happy ending. The thing is, we fail to see that fairy tales are often fraught with suffering before the main character gets to a place of peace and blessing. So it is with life. For the Christian, there is hope in suffering, but there can also be disillusionment. This series on hope is not going to give you false hope. It is not about living the American Dream and it is not dependent upon our worldly circumstances, but this hope we have is real and it belongs to those who are in Christ Jesus.

Sometimes hope is hidden from our eyes and seems impossible to reach. I pray this series will help you to find your hope again, but this time it will look different. This month our expectations and desires will have passed through God’s sovereignty and purposes and redefined our understanding of what hope really looks like.

It might hurt. It might feel like death at times to explore our concept of hope and the loss of what we thought we wanted, but when our eyes are opened to see the fullness of this living hope, unlike any this earth offers, we are set free. Set free from the trap of a superficial hope and awakened to a new sense of purpose toward the hope God has for us – and His plans for us are not just good – they are the best!

Truthful Tuesday: The Gift of Gab – Blessing or Cursing?

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

Choose words carefully, for each one can affect the destiny of another.

Scriptures of the Day:

Exodus 20:7

“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain.”

Psalm 10:4, 7

4 “The wicked man is so arrogant he always thinks,“God won’t hold me accountable; he doesn’t care. 7 His mouth is full of curses and deceptive, harmful words; his tongue injures and destroys.”

Proverbs 15:2,4

2 “The tongue of the wise treats knowledge correctly, but the mouth of the fool spouts out folly. 4 Speech that heals is like a life-giving tree, but a perverse tongue breaks the spirit.”

Matthew 12:36-37

36 I tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Matthew 15:11

“What defiles a person is not what goes into the mouth; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.”

Ephesians 4:29

“You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Ephesians 5:4

4 “Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting–all of which are out of character–but rather thanksgiving.”

Colossians 3:8

“But now, put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth.”

James 1:26

“If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.”

James 3:10

“From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters.”

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I know what you are thinking – with the litany of Scriptures I have on speaking blessing instead of cursing that a mighty sermon is coming. 🙂

Well, not really. I hope today’s post will be an encouragement and a reminder of how God wants us to communicate and the sheer joy of it all. And I figured we could use some reminders from God’s word in case anyone tries to rationalize cursing, gossiping or speaking ill of another person as ever being ok.

Words are amazing. They can really encourage or discourage another person on toward greatness, apathy or destruction. It is such a gift to be able to communicate to another person, to praise our Creator or cheer someone on. Sometimes we forget that it is indeed a gift.

Sometimes my heart is so full of joy it could burst. This happens often when I am reading God’s word and culminates in tears flowing, full of gratitude as all I can mouth are the words, “thank you, God”!

With so many words in the human language, it would seem we have a lot of terms in our arsenal to be able to effectively communicate, but alas, words often cannot convey fully what our heart really intends.

Sometimes there are no words that could fully express the soul’s joy, ire or sorrow. It is in those times that my spirit cries out to the living God and I know He understands, even though I have not spoken a word.

With such a tremendous privilege of speaking and writing, it would seem we would have a God-given purpose in it. If ultimately every word is known by God before it is even spoken, wisdom encourages us to carefully consider each one.

He made us to communicate with Himself and with others for the purpose of edification, fellowship and loving one another. But sometimes communication is hard. Sometimes it seems impossible to say anything edifying when our hearts are hurt. Perhaps we shouldn’t in those moments.

One thing I know God did not intend is for us to misuse the gift of language. Like every tool or thing in creation has a God-given purpose, so does our language.

Today it seems there is a carelessness to our communication. Almost like a knee jerk response, we can spew something out of our mouths that brings no glory to God and does not benefit those who listen. Curse words are in most movies, television, music – even spoken by those who profess Christ. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

People who mistakenly profess freedom in Christ yet let vile words flow out of their mouths at whim are deceived. They claim that people are judgmental or perhaps not “enlightened” or legalistic if they would say that cursing is wrong. Hmmm. Maybe a Top 10 David Letterman style list will help here . . .

Top Ten Reasons People Curse, Gossip, Slander, or Speak unkindly:

1. The person does not fear God or believe His Word when God commands us to bless and not curse.
2. The person is not respecting their audience and wants to use words to hurt.
3. The person is not respecting themselves and is insecure.
4. The person lacks intelligence, using the same word repetitively which does not mean what they think it means. :0)
5. The person has forgotten why they are given the gift of communicating.
6. The person thinks they are cool? No, probably not.
7. The person lacks self control and is led by emotions rather than reason.
8. The person is deceived and does not think cursing is a sin.
9. The person did not receive a good education.
10. The person wants to be part of our culture – they want to conform to society and their brain rewards them for such behavior (contributed by one of my daughters).

The point is, there is no valid excuse for cursing ever. Nada. Never. We can choose not to let them fly out of the mouth. If we will remember the original purpose of words, perhaps we will consider how to spur one another on and glorify God. We don’t know how long we will be able to tell the people in our lives how much we love and cherish them. Use words to bless, heal, minister and spread God’s Word – it never returns void and reverberates throughout all eternity.

LORD, thank You for giving us the ability to share with others our innermost thoughts. Please grant us grace to speak love and grace to those around us and to overcome the temptation to “vent” when we are hurt.

Mundane Monday: Bless You!

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

God is for us more than we are.

Scripture of the Day:

Numbers 6:23-27

“Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is the way you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 The LORD bless you and protect you; 25 The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.’. 27 So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

Bless you, friend! It’s always good to start Monday off well. Go ahead – bless someone around you. It does not deplete our joy to give joy and blessing to another. In fact, it is an incubator that increases our joy all the more. Let’s start this week with a blessing, what say you?

Ever just feel like you wish someone would encourage you? Critical judgments come easily, but for someone to take the time out to encourage us goes beyond the norm. We, too, can often be so wrapped up in the busyness of life or preoccupied with self that we don’t notice the deep need around us for some en-COURAGE-ment.

A blessing might be the very thing someone needs to give them strength and courage to carry on or to undertake a challenging assignment. Why not give it?

We probably all know what it is like to be on the giving and receiving end of a blessing as well as being one who withholds it. The irony in sticking ourselves out there to try and accomplish a project or work God has placed on our hearts is that we are often misjudged as being prideful for doing so, when we are actually being vulnerable and obedient, motivated by a desire to honor God and giving ourselves over to our calling. Observers watching the progress can misjudge our hearts as promoting self and withdraw their blessing or seek to discourage us from the work we are doing.

Ever felt like that? Reminds me of Nehemiah. Many detractors sought to undo his work. But He pressed on. Not a lot of blessings flowing his direction. But he knew the One Who had called Him and His blessing was all he needed. It is all we need, too, and this same blessing He has given to us so we can freely give to those around us.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the disciples who were envious of other co-laborers who were baptizing; their methodology wasn’t the same “brand” – must be sinful. Not according to Jesus.

It is easy to encourage someone we admire, but what about someone we don’t? Maybe they just don’t stand out or maybe we envy a person and can’t bring ourselves to praise them. Yuck. Jealousy is insidious and ultimately hatred disguised in a competitive spirit. We all hate being envied, but we can be guilty of it ourselves, if we are not careful.

Ok, back on the encouragement bandwagon. God wants us to bless believers around us – He spoke it as an imperative, not a suggestion. He even spoke the kind of blessing to be given.

Maybe we don’t feel that we deserve God’s blessing or perhaps that an enemy does. Well, none of us do. But isn’t it amazing that the God Who made us, whom we sinned against and violated His Holy covenant would turn around and bless us?

God is for us more than we are.

In that moment of blessing others, Scripture says that we are putting God’s Name on that person. Wow. What a picture of Christ being an atonement cover for us. His Name being placed upon us, blessing us now and for all eternity.

Maybe the hesitation to bless others can be set aside and blessing can become a norm for the body of Christ. As we share God’s kindness and love with all of His children, amazingly we end up just as encouraged – and maybe the blessing we give might impact generations and eternity through the encouragement of one vessel.

Oh God, we are all one body and all need encouragement to run this race. Help us to be on mission to offer Your sincere blessing to those around us.

 

Scriptural Saturday: The Present of His Presence

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

The present of His presence is all we need.

Scripture of the Day:

Psalm 73:25-28

“Whom do I have in heaven but you? I desire no one but you on earth. 26 My flesh and my heart may grow weak, but God always protects my heart and gives me stability.27 Yes, look! Those far from you die; you destroy everyone who is unfaithful to you. 28 But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. I have made the sovereign LORD my shelter, as I declare all the things you have done.”

As we prepare to come together in congregational worship, my heart thrills at the thought of joining voices to praise the One Who is omnipresent but also present in such a special way when we gather together. He is indeed enthroned on our praises.

The stage of conflict is set in this Psalm, yet the Psalmist declares He stands firm in the presence of God. Once an enemy of God who could not stand in the presence of a Holy God, Asaph’s comfort was in God’s sovereignty as his shelter.

This peace the Psalmist had was formed as he declared all that God has done for him. 

As we struggle with conflicts of our own, the Psalmist has blazoned a trail we can follow. As we praise God for all He has done and recount His mercy and kindness, faithfulness and unending character, we, too, are satisfied in His presence. He truly is all we need.

Lord, You are beyond description, beyond comprehension, yet You invite us to know You. Help us to find our complete soul’s rest in You alone, no matter what surrounds us in this life.

 

Technical Issues were real this past week

Technical Issues were real this past week, y’all.
In an attempt to streamline my blog & ministry website, I made a mess of things. So, now you can type http://www.denisepass.com or http://www.seeingdeep.com & get to the same place: our ministry website, which has my music, blog, a new prayer page & information about booking/events. Only problem is, that kind of caused problems on the WordPress side of things. So…blogging kind of came to a standstill this past week. And. I. Have. Missed. It. Terribly.
The good news is that my blog address is still at the original location: http://www.seeingdeep.wordpress.com, but can now also be found at http://www.denisepassdevotions.com as well as on our ministry website.
Stop by http://www.denisepass.com & sign up for the ministry newsletter coming out next week! See you there soon! http://ow.ly/i/nlovO

Mundane Monday: Myth Busters

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

In our quest for knowledge, which began back in the Garden of Eden, we must guard our hearts to only seek after the knowledge God wants us to have.

Scripture of the Day:

1 Timothy 1:3-4

3 “As I urged you when I was leaving for Macedonia, stay on in Ephesus to instruct certain people not to spread false teachings, 4 nor to occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. Such things promote useless speculations rather than God’s redemptive plan that operates by faith.”

Romans 16:17 

“Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and obstacles that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Turn away from them.”

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Conspiracy theories and so-called, “secret knowledge” tantalize the souls of those not grounded in truth.

In our quest for knowledge, which began back in the Garden of Eden, we must guard our hearts to only seek after the knowledge God wants us to have.

He never wanted us to have knowledge of evil and certainly not to believe in falsehood and be deceived. But many will come and try to deceive the elect – if that were possible. I love those words. Certainty of our calling in God. We don’t have to be deceived or fall away. In fact, nothing can take the gift of salvation away from us.

We have got to be in our word diligently, though, filtering through all the knowledge we are given to see whether it is from the LORD or not. This filtering applies not just to doctrinal truths within the Christian church, but also to worldly predictions from Nostradamus, astrologists and other false religions. Even further, information we receive and believe about those around us.

We need not be a gullible people – even as it pertains to the influence of the devil trying to sway us away from truth as regards the people in our lives. Knowledge puffs up, but we can discern its fruit. Does the knowledge we receive agree with the word of God? Or in our relationships – does it tear others down?

We should not even entertain any ideology or premise about a belief without confirming it in God’s word. In addition to watching our doctrine and life closely, this same standard should be applied with the precious people we serve God with in the body of Christ. To consider wrongful character of another person based merely on fleshly suspicion, gossip or jealousy is being a tool of the devil to dismantle His bride. Such knowledge does not come from God. It couldn’t.

We who are in Christ have the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. What a gift. We don’t have to be prey to the enemy’s attacks. We don’t have to believe every myth or every vain imagination. We can be myth busters and preserve truth in our churches, homes, politics, relationships and every area of influence we have. The voice of the enemy can be persuasive and loud, but if we will but put the helmet of salvation on and His Word as our belt of truth, we will see correctly.

God is able to guide us into all truth if we ask Him, and He delights to give wisdom to ALL who come to Him.

God help us to see clearly and to defeat the myths and lies of the enemy with Your truth.

Scriptural Saturday: Inner Strength

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

Inner strength is not built ~ it comes from within.

Scripture of the Day:

1 Sam 30:5-6

5 David’s two wives had been taken captive–Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the Carmelite, Nabal’s widow. 6 David was very upset, for the men were thinking of stoning him; each man grieved bitterly over his sons and daughters. But David drew strength from the LORD his God.”

2 Timothy 1:7

“For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

Philippians 4:13

“I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me.”

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The pressures of this life can leave us flat out worn out. I can just imagine David being surrounded by a bunch of tough guys ready to stone him. Talk about stress. But He simply drew strength from God. How?

Scripture says he asked for the ephod and sought the face of God for direction and guidance. Back then, the Urim and Thummim (gemstones) were carried by the high priest of Israel on the ephod/priestly garments, which was used by the high priest to determine God’s will in some situations.

David knew his strength came only from God. Anyone who would sling a stone at a giant obviously relies on God instead of his own strength.

Many years later Paul, Timothy and the disciples followed suit. Nothing was deemed impossible if one relied on the Holy Spirit, given to us for strength and insight.

Feeling weak, discouraged, unable to do the task before you? Jesus understands and He walked the most difficult path of all with joy set before Him. Wow.

Just because a task or situation is difficult does not mean it has to steal our joy.

His strength is enough. Enough for day-to-day drama, illness, court, accidents, any trouble. We don’t use an ephod, but today we have the living Word of God we can run to for grace, wisdom and strength. Run to Him, friend. He is enough and His strength is all we will ever need.

Lord, thank You for your amazing grace and strength. Grant us a willing heart to cry out to you and to never give up.

 

Feedback Friday: To Bake or not to Bake

Christian Bakers Fined $135K

for Not Working Gay Wedding Continue Fighting for Their Freedoms

 

In the news today – it is hard to fathom being fined $135K because you turn down providing a service to a client. It is pretty customary that a provider of a service can turn down a paying client for a variety of reasons.

But the prevailing philosophy that has blinded the eyes of many calls out for”tolerance” while simultaneously urging intolerance to another person’s conviction.

The people who espouse this philosophy of tolerance often proudly display the common bumper sticker proclaiming that we all “Co-Exist”. The message of this bumper sticker seems to be accepting – but it is not so appealing when we really examine the statement. To exist alongside another person is not fellowship or agreement, nor tolerance, after all. It is merely breathing the same air.

To demand a service be provided is not respecting or tolerating the other person’s freedom to choose. It is using political dogma to try and force another person to go against the very core of what they believe in. Does not sound like coexisting to me. Sounds kind of bossy and judgmental – the very thing they accuse other people of because they have a conviction. Not just any conviction – but a freedom to believe and to act on that belief that was paid for with the blood of those who fought for our religious freedom in the first place in this country.

The mindset that says everyone has to do what we want does not fly so well if it went the other direction.

The people who want to force their “freedoms” only want freedom for themselves while denying the freedom of those with different beliefs at the same time.

When the law tries to mandate to whom service must be provided it overrides our basic freedom of choice. So many applications for this reality. Should a musician be forced to play for a wedding if they are unable to make the date? Should a Catholic Hospital permit abortions? Equally as egregious as the religious freedom breech that the Kleins who own “Sweet Cakes” endured, “In 2014, a New York Christian couple were fined $13,000 for refusing to allow a same-sex couple to have their wedding ceremony on their family farm, which they live on and also rent out for event”(Smith, Samuel. Christian Post).

What do you think? Does someone have the right to demand that their wedding be hosted on your property? Common sense should prevail on this one.

Does personal preference mean we hate others or are discriminatory? No. It means we all have a choice of what convictions we choose to live by and those personal beliefs should not be questioned and certainly not devalued or judged. If we do not live by what we believe in, we don’t truly believe in them at all.

Let me know what you think. I know we might not agree on this, and that’s ok. We have the freedom to think for ourselves. Hopefully in a respectful manner. 🙂

Philippians 4:5

Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do.

Remember, the Lord is coming soon.

Thoughtful Thursday: Attention!

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

It is in the space of rest that all the commotion around us is put into perspective.

Scriptures of the Day:

Psalms 78:1-2

1 “A well-written song by Asaph. Pay attention, my people, to my instruction! Listen to the words I speak! 2 I will sing a song that imparts wisdom; I will make insightful observations about the past.”

Proverbs 5:1-2

1 “My child, be attentive to my wisdom, pay close attention to my understanding, 2 in order to safeguard discretion, and that your lips may guard knowledge.”

Proverbs 4:20

“My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.”

“Someone get the phone”. “We have to leave now”. “Did You forget to feed the animals?” “Did you turn in the permission slip?” “Where are the medical immunization records?” “Did you pay the bills?” On and on this list of daily reminders could go. Meetings are added to planners and the email inbox just keeps filling up. Relationships require maintenance and sometimes intervention… or ATTENTION. With so many things vying for our time, we need to come up for air.

Our attention spans are a bit short with this world spinning at its current rapid pace. Add an over consumption of electronics to the ever growing responsibilities everyone juggles and we just might have a crisis on our hands.

But a clarion voice beckons us to draw near. That’s right. Drop our phones. Our planners. Maybe even our cleaning chores and rest. The God who created us with the intention to work also knew we would need rest.

His Spirit cries out to us through His word, trying to get us to pay attention to the desperate need of our inner soul – the very core of our being. To pay attention to the fact that we are being distracted from true devotion. To be aware of our need for His wisdom in every area of life.

When things are going well and we are on our typical cycle of constant action, He whispers to us to come and be still. When life comes crashing down, He draws us near to rest in Him. It seems counter-productive with our mindset of always being on the move, but at all times, our very life functions on the foundation of time spent with God.

It is in the space of rest that all the commotion around us is put into perspective. 

Pausing to seek God with no agenda other than reading His Word is where we can prioritize and reflect on the purpose of it all and ask our God what His mission is for us in this blip of time.

Sometimes we get so busy that we cram this precious time with God into just a few minutes a day. Maybe our busyness is ministry or a kind deed. Even then we need to be refueled with time spent with our God to be able to keep all our balls up in the air.

The tensions of life grab our attention and brings us to the simple need we all have – God. 

When we don’t take this time sometimes God has to get our attention through means that cause our crazy, chaotic world to stop.

Creating space in each day to focus and stop and consider His truth is what gives meaning and purpose in every moment we are given.

If a day is like our finances, we would tithe to God a tenth of our day – not as a legalistic measure, but as a dire need of our soul.

God, help us to pay attention and see what really matters in our daily tasks. May You be glorified in it all.

 

Worshipful Wednesday: Integrity is all in the Mind

Inspirational Thought of the Day:

Jesus is our integrity.

Scripture of the Day:

Psalm 101:1-3

1 “Of David. A psalm. I will sing of your love and justice; to you, LORD, I will sing praise. 2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life– when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart. 3 I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do; I will have no part in it. 4 The perverse of heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with what is evil. 5 Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not tolerate.”

Sometimes we can look over the landscape of life and wonder why so much evil is happening. When it happens in the church, we are often surprised. How do godly people acquiesce to wickedness? Very easily. Demonic influence and our flesh point us that direction naturally. But there is hope.

When we truly recognize the spiritual battle all around us, we see that the biggest battle will be that of truly living an authentic life of integrity. But integrity is not just our outward behavior.

Thoughts. The gate of our minds is the first place where we have decision after decision of what we will set our mind upon. Our thoughts matter – for they become our actions or, equally as pervasive – torment and distract us from a godly life – if they are not kept in line. But if our thoughts are brought under the authority of the Jesus filter, we can think clearly and recognize thought patterns that do not glorify Him.

Vain imaginations, prideful thoughts, thinking ill of others, dwelling on unrighteous deeds – all have to be brought underneath the LORDship of Jesus Christ. We are deceived if we believe that we can think a hateful thought about another person and be right in the eyes of God.

Action. But it is not enough just to refrain from evil. We are to be proactive and “Fix our thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8).

Content. What we feast our minds on is the largest impetus or detraction from integrity. God’s Word is living and active. Consistently meditating on His Word and applying it to our lives provides strength, conviction and enablement to walk in integrity.

Maintenance. Our thought life takes constant maintenance, we can never rest. But the beauty in feasting on God’s Word makes the maintenance of our minds a treasure trove and a delight. It does not have to become a daunting task of to dos where we think we could attain righteousness on our own. We just need to position ourselves to be soaking in God’s truth and ask Him to help us apply it to our lives.

Prayer. When we ask the God of this universe to help us live in accordance with His word, He honors a prayer like that. Even better – we can pray for those who appear to be against us. This is spiritual warfare that makes the enemy flee!

Humility. When we see the fruit of integrity in our lives, we cannot think it is us doing it. That sounds strange, huh? After all, we are seeking to do our part. But apart from God, there is nothing good in us. We are just yielding and letting Him live through us. Jesus is our integrity.

Fellowship. We truly were not created to be islands, isolated from others while we struggle and battle against resident and outward evil. We need to point one another to truth every single day, for the days are evil. This accountability is not to be judgmental, but caring enough to get up close and personal win sin is waging war and seeking to destroy people’s lives.

The life of integrity is a pleasant one, despite all the battles to get there. No need to hide anything, no fear in discovery, for all is exposed. Thank God that as we seek to walk uprightly with Him and make our mistakes along the way, that His forgiveness is eternal and His grace overwhelming. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Even now we can choose to be people of integrity for God’s glory.

Lord, thank You for your mercy – new every single morning. Thank You that You walked a life of perfect integrity. Give us the mind of Christ and may the people of God be Kingdom-minded. Help us to not get involved in civilian affairs that distract us from our God-given purpose – knowing and enjoying You and making You known, oh my God.