Integrity- People of God

We have heard it said the mind is the battlefield, which is true, but the battle is for the mind. The mind is where we make all our determinations in life and where we use our will. It is the mind that allows us to think things through and make decisions and choices which may impact not only our lives and those we love and our eternal destiny too. It is where we use our creativity and become innovative in our thinking and thereby enhance our lifestyle. This is why it is so important we guard what and who we allow to have access to our minds and especially the minds of our children.

We treat that which we see, hear and learn with such irreverence. We sometimes allow anyone with any message access to our mind which will ultimately determine our choice and in the end our destiny. If our minds and our children’s minds are exposed to any type of offensive thoughts or things that amuse and distract, this may cause the mind to become dull in our thinking. This will hinder the innovative and creative way of thinking God placed in us.

Any muscle, if it is not used or exercised, will deteriorate. So it is with the creative, innovative part of who we are. If our minds are constantly amused with someone else’s ideas and dreams, we will not have time to cultivate our own dreams and visions. Our created purpose, the reason God placed us on the earth, will not emerge or occur because we fail to take time to be creative, innovative to think outside the norm. Innovation is something that needs developing and cultivating; which is why there is so much pressure on our time to keep us away from the gift God has placed inside.

Any fruit will die on the vine if not used and so will our innovative unused potential die on the vine of our unfulfilled purpose. Every farmer knows in each seed there is a future harvest of that one seed and there is an ability of the seed to multiply and to bring forth much fruit. However, there is a process of sowing and reaping that must take place prior to any harvest of success. Just as God has placed His seed inside each of us, this potential must be sowed and cultivated in good soil to produce a harvest. God promised, as long as the earth remains, there will be seed time and harvest time. It is up to us to plant the seed so we may receive our harvest.

Genesis 8:22   While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease. NKJV

So, what is innovation? True innovation is looking at old ways, things or problems with a new insight, different way or perspective; to introduce new or alternate ways of approaching needs, problems, and concerns. As Solomon indicated, there is nothing new under the sun, so everything that is and everything that ever will be are things that exist now, just in raw or different forms. The only difference in the things today and a century ago is the combination in which these things were put together and the way they are viewed.

Innovators must look at old things with a different and new view. We need eyes that look for solutions and alternatives rather than focusing on the problems and the history of past failures. The key to innovation is taking time to stop all activities, to do nothing and to allow the mind to be free to create and to think “outside the box.” This sounds easy, but our minds have been trained and taught to stay within the lines, or to follow old familiar rules thus stifling our innovation.

Most of us are so tired from work, making a living, providing for family and making ends meet, that we do not have time to think about anything else, least of all, time to let our minds ponder in the presence of our Creator.

Society today tells us we need to start our children on this competitive road where they are so busy with education, music and sports, etc., so they do not have time to dream and be creative. We should have enough balance to allow our children to learn, be active and still have time to dream and listen to God. In past times people would say what they dream they would be but now children are not given the opportunity to dream and to be innovative thinkers. They are taught to get a job and make money and some are even taught to obtain it at all costs, even at the expense of character, honesty and integrity.

What a lie we have been told? What a bill of goods we have been sold? That we will never make it or that we are not smart enough to be innovative. Yet, God has created us in His image and put in us the ability to do good works. Now it comes down to whose voice will we listen to. We have the same choice Adam and Eve had, to listen and believe we are created in God’s likeness or be bamboozled and hoodwinked into seeing ourselves less than what our Creator has made us to be. To rebel against God’s word is allowing His enemy to rule over our lives, our thoughts even our potential to succeed or fail.

Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all^[b] the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Everything we need to solve the problems of today and in the future is here in the present. It takes innovative thinking to take old or raw materials to combine them in such a fashion that the results are new inventions or solutions to problems. God created man to be like Him in character, loving kindness and faithfulness. When our character has been tested and proven to be godly, He then can trust us with dominion. When we line up with our created identity in God, then we are able to multiply and be successful with the gifts He has given.

How we cultivate these gifts with innovation and creativity, will determine our success.   God said our gifts will make room for us and bring us before great men. As believers in Christ we have hope in our situations to overcome poverty or being an outcast able to come out of our pit of despair when our hearts and minds are filled with the knowledge of God and His creative purpose we are able to persevere. With God we are able to cultivate our gifts to fulfill our purpose and this will bring us before great men.

Proverbs 18:16           A man’s gift makes room for him, And brings him before great men. NKJV

Remember we should discipline our minds and teach our children how to rest, to think and to meditate so they may be innovative. This is done by setting aside time to do nothing but to think and to ponder those things that cause passion in our lives. God will use our passion, for those things that may cause us pain, outrage and even anger at the injustices for the marginal, neglected and underprivileged, to help bring kindness, change and to cultivate a compassion for people which will move us into action.

Deuteronomy 8:18   And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. NKJV