The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht   

“Homily Grits Devotional”   http://www.homilygrits.com/

Psalm 7:8… The Lord shall judge the peoples; Judgeme, O Lord, according to myrighteousness, And according to myintegritywithin me.  (NKJV)

The opening scripture was penned by David (the shepherd boy who killed Goliath…1 Samuel 17), who went on to become king of Israel…  We see God calling David a man after His own heart, in… Acts 13:22… And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have foundDavid the son of Jesse, a man afterMy own heart, whowill do allMywill.’ (NKJV)

David was far from perfect…even though God tells us that David did “all” of God’s will…  David had an adulterous affair with Bathsheba, leading to her pregnancy…and then king David had her husband Uriah killed, to try and hide his grievous sin…2 Samuel 11…  The key to David keeping his integrity before the Lord was the fact that he humbly came before God and confessed, repented of, and turned from his sins…

1 John 1:9… If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from allunrighteousness.  (NKJV)   …This should be every Christian’s desire, to remain righteous in God’s eyes…as they walk with integrity before the Lord…

The human heart can harbor sins that even Christians are not aware of…  Here is a link showing 100 Bible verses about the wicked heart…  http://www.openbible.info/topics/wicked_heart

Jeremiah 17:9…  The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperatelywicked; Who can know it?  (NKJV) 

Christians can easily deceive themselves into believing they are living a life that the Lord would be pleased with…when in fact they are living with unconfessed sins…  God promises that all wayward Christians will have to pay up sooner or later for a lifestyle that goes against God’s will for their lives…Hebrews12:5-11…  Here is the link to read about God’s promise to chastise the ones He loves… http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=heb12%3A5-11&version=NKJV;KJV

I spent the last 3 of 4 days writing about how the wayward Christian could change their life around from living for themselves, to becoming a follower of Jesus Christ…  I first wrote about the need expressed by Jesus Himself, for Christians to feed on God’s Word (hopefully every day…Matthew 4:4), with the right motivation (11/25/2013)…

I shared what God reveals in the Bible about how the Christian can overcome any of life’s seemingly impossible struggles, if they…“puton the LordJesusChrist” each day before leaving home (11/29/2013)…  And then, how important it was in God’s eyes, for all Christians to stop any illicit sex outside of marriage, to…“make noprovision for the flesh, to fulfill itslusts”… in Monday’s writing, (12/02/2013) titled… “What !!  No Sex ??”…  All 3 of these can be found @ www.Godsmanforever.com  by typing the date as shown into the search window…

The most important point to sum up all 3 days of writing…is worth repeating…  I am here to tell young Christians…that any short-term satisfaction gained by living in sin today…will mean nothing, compared with God’s promises that will be missed…and the doors that will quite possibly be left unopened, because Christians are not living for the Lord…   By choosing sin over obedience, the wayward, backsliding Christian will miss the blessings and the awesome power that the Holy Spirit can and will provide the Christian who is living in God’s will and God’s ways…

My suggestion to uncover any hidden sins, in order to confess, repent, and then turn from these and all known sins, to again become righteous in God’s eyes (1 John 1:9)…would be to do just as David did in the opening scripture…  Only God knows what is in the heart of an individual…1 Samuel 16:7…  If we dare to have our hidden sins revealed to us…we as Christians should ask the Lord to search our heart, as David did, in…Psalm 139:23-24… Searchme, O God, and know my heart; Tryme, and know my thoughts; ²⁴ And see if there be anywickedway in me, and leadme in the wayeverlasting.  (KJV)

Once the Christian is again walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16)…to use the Apostle Paul’s terminology, they would “be filled with all the fullness of God” (from Ephesians 3:19)…  It is the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, at work in the Spirit filled Christian, who is able to do “exceedinglyabundantly above all that we ask or think”…(taken from… Ephesians 3:20)

Why should Christians short-change themselves by falsely believing they are capable of doing their best, without the helping hand of the Holy Spirit that God has given to all of His redeemed children…  But by living with unconfessed sins, this is exactly what the Christian will be doing…as they cut off the rewards God promises for those obedient children who diligently seek Him…Hebrews 11:6…

Heavenly Father, I pray that all of Your children would see the benefits and the blessings You want to provide to Your obedient children, who are living righteously in Your sight…  I pray Lord that Your Spirit will become the motivating force to guide and direct the lives of all of Your children…in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

Blessings in Christ,  bruce r mills