Character and Integrity are Key

 

By Andrea Merrell

The righteous man walks in his integrity.

Proverbs 20:7 NKJV

 

“You are a character, but you don’t have character,” I said to a former boss after I had turned in my resignation and he demanded that I tell him what went wrong. "And you're sorely lacking in integrity," I added.

Sounds a bit snarky, I know. Normally, I would never speak that way to someone in authority(especially a boss), but in the position he held, character and integrity were crucial. We both knew I was speaking the truth. Things had gotten out of hand, and I could no longer work under the constant deceit and manipulation. He had fooled a lot of people but as someone once said, “Wherever you go and whatever you do, the real you will eventually show up.”

According to The Word for You Today:

Character doesn’t have to be in the spotlight, excessively running the show. And it doesn’t resort to intimidation or shaming to get its own way.

Character (moral excellence; ethical quality) and integrity (honesty; doing what’s right even when no one is looking) go hand in hand. They are synonymous. You can find these traits in someone who:

• Shows consistent and decent behavior in all circumstances.
• Plays by the rules and can be relied upon.
• Offers credit where credit is due.
• Lives by faith.
• Trusts God to enable them to accomplish all that he or she was created and called to do.

Gifts, talents, and personality play a vital role in who we are but when it gets down to basics, character and integrity are always key ingredients to an abundant, blessed life.

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Stuart Miles.

The Power of Praise

 

By Andrea Merrell

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Psalm 100:4 NKJV

 

“I don’t feel like praising God,” the woman said. “Look what’s going on in my life. What do I have to be thankful for?”

The truth is that’s when we need to praise Him the most. The Bible says, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name” (Hebrews 13:15 NKJV).

What is sacrificial praise? According to The Word for You Today, it is “praise when you don’t feel like it. When you’re going through seasons of hardship. When humanly speaking, you can’t think of a single thing to praise God for. With God, the praise that costs is the praise that counts.”

David is our best example. Even when running and hiding from his enemies, he never lost his faith in God. And he never hesitated to pray and sing songs of praise to the One who could deliver him—no matter how bad the situation.

Praise is powerful. It touches the heart of God and opens doors that no man can open. It brings deliverance. It heals. It crushes fear. It drives away the darkness and the forces of evil. It lifts us out of the pit of despair and into the heavenly realm.

Let praise become as natural as breathing. Let it become your weapon of choice. Read through the Psalms often and let those words soak deep within. Then you can say along with David, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1 KJV).

Now that’s power!

Photo courtesy of priscilla-du-preez-zeqWKOn5PNM on Unsplash.

Don’t Limit Yourself

 

By Andrea Merrell

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13 NKJV

 

“I can’t do it. It’s impossible!”

I can’t count the number of times I’ve said those words—or at least thought them. Watching others do things I wished I could do while convincing myself I couldn’t.

Remember the story of The Little Engine That Could. What if his mindset and confession had been, “I don’t think I can … I don’t think I can …”

He would still be sitting at the bottom of the hill.

We spend so much thinking we can’t that when God asks us to do something, we procrastinate or panic. We focus on our weaknesses and limitations rather than believing we can do all things through Christ who strengthens and empowers us to do what He calls us to do.

The Word for You Today (TWFYT) says, “Believing you can doesn’t guarantee you will, but believing you can’t guarantees you won’t.”

I think about all the times in my life when my response was an immediate, “I can’t.” All the times I’ve limited myself because I was depending on myself instead of Him.

TWFYT goes on to say, “If you want to achieve something, give yourself permission to believe it is possible, then trust God for success."

God has much for you to do, so don’t limit yourself. Be like that little engine and say, “I think I can … I believe I can … I know I can—because through Christ I can do all things.

Photo by Chang Ye on Unsplash

Overcoming Setbacks

 

By Andrea Merrell

I press on to reach the end of the race and receive

the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Philippians 3:14 NLT

 

“We’ve had another setback,” the man said to his faithful team. “We’ve had so many that I’m abandoning this project. I’m throwing in the towel. I’m done.”

This man walked away from his God-given calling. Sorrowful. Defeated. Feeling like a complete failure. A nobody. Questioning his very existence.

The story made me wonder how many times I’ve done that in my own life. How many times have I allowed a little problem to throw me off course and cause me to give up on what I felt called to do?

This road of life is paved with setbacks. Bumps in the road. Look at the life of Paul. He was beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked. He faced trouble continually, but he never gave up, never backed down. He knew God’s plan for his life and refused to let anyone or anything keep him from fulfilling it.

I’ve heard people say things like, “I don’t even know why I’m here. Why was I born?”

The fact is none of us are here by accident or just to take up space. God created us as unique individuals with a specific assignment that no one else can fulfill.

As children of the Most High God, the Bible calls us overcomers (1 John 5:4). Why? Because we keep moving forward with our eyes on the Lord, overcoming every setback, every obstacle the world throws in our way.

Let’s press on as Paul did—no matter what—toward the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

 

 Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

 

 

 

The Wrong Mirror

 

By Andrea Merrell

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT

“Mirror, mirror on the wall … please be kind to me today. Let me have a perfect hair day, put on just the right amount of make-up, be free of zits, and walk away from you feeling good about myself.”

Come on, ladies, we think it even if we don’t say it. We start the day judging ourselves by what we see in the mirror, and it sets the tone for how we feel, think, and behave. When we do that, we’re trying to live from the outside/in.

But what if we’re looking into the wrong mirror? They say what you see is what you get, but that’s not always true. What we see with our natural eye can give us a distorted view of who we really are. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror.

The mirror of God’s Word is where we’ll find our true, authentic self—our spirit. Born again. Redeemed. Loved. Made whole, complete, perfect in His eyes.

God does not judge us—as we judge ourselves—by how we look or even behave. We don’t have to be perfect on the outside to be worthy of His love. As His child, He sees us clothed in His own robe of righteousness.

We are spirit beings, created in the image of God. We have a soul, and we live in a body (our temporary earth suit). We should never be overly concerned about what we see in a natural mirror. It’s what’s on the inside that counts—peace, joy, wisdom, strength, kindness, compassion, the mind of Christ, the love of God that’s been poured out in our heart, and rivers of living water.

Let’s change our focus (our mirror) and live from the inside/out (from our spirit) just as God intends.

 

Photo by Taylor Smith on Unsplash

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Pazham.