Integrity- People of God

A good prayer to pray for our children and ourselves is Philippians 1:9-11. That God’s love may abound more and more in us with the knowledge of who He is and realizing He loves us more than we could ever know. We should pray that we may experience and understand His love for us in our everyday living, the way we understand our family, children and friends. We should pray that we may comprehend and come to know the love language of God, so that we may understand how He expresses His love towards us and have insight into the depth of His love for us.

When we understand the depth of His love we are able to make better choices for our lives. Our desire will be to please Him and not our flesh, and then we will become blameless and filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes though Jesus Christ. Righteousness means we are in right standing with God. When we accept Jesus’s payment for our sin we are then in right standing with God and not because of any work we have performed. This is for the praise of God who has saved us from destruction.

Philippians 1:9-11 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ- to the glory and praise of God. NIV

It is the Holy Spirit in us that purifies our heart and gives us the desire to do God’s will in our life. If we continue in the same vain we were in before we got saved, then we need to reconsider our conversion to ensure it was truly based on the word of God and faith in the completed work of Christ. Salvation is a life transforming process that is experienced by the believer on the inside and it is worked out in our everyday lives so it is seen on the outside.  It is a hope in the love God has for us and that we understand we are not in this situation alone.  It is faith that believes in His love and believes He would never leave or forsake us. Because of His love for us It give us a desire to be more like Christ and to come to know Him through the word of God that lives in us.

Our purpose is to praise God in every situation.  God inhabits the praises of His people and Praise stops, stills and silence the hand of the enemy.

Psalm 22:3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praise of Israel. NLT   But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. KJV

Psalm 8:2     Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

When we praise God, He is enthroned and seated as King of all kings on high. He dwells, lives and occupies that space in our praise.  It is in praise that we lift up Jesus above our situation and circumstances; it is in praise that God is exalted and then our circumstances are made small. It is in praise that we exchange our weakness for His strength.  It is when the King is on His throne that He transacts business in His kingdom. It is when we praise God that He comes to defend us and defeat our foes.

God has chosen praise as His weapon of warfare against our enemies. He has given the power and strength to little children to praise Him and silence the noises and lies of our enemy. Even young babies as they chuckle and coo they are praising God and can stop the hand of the avenger from overtaking us.  Babies only have praise because they have no worries their every need is met. We must choose to set aside our worries and doubt as an act of our will and then decide to praise God even when it may look like there is no hope. Praise empowers us with the strength of God.

Judah comes from a word that means to celebrate, the holding out of hands to revere or worship, to praise, or to give thanks.

Judges  1:1-2 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?  And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. KJV

God wants us to send out praise, celebrate Him, hold out our hands in reverence, respect and worship giving thanks to who He is and knowing He will deliver us.  God occupies our praise and in the light of God’s praise, darkness and the enemy cannot stay in the presence of God. This is why praise stills and stops the hands of the enemy against us. Light dispels darkness and darkness and light cannot occupy the same space.  This is why the enemy tries to paralyze us with fear and depression to keep our mind on what is lacking and to keep us in darkness to make us feel like we cannot praise God in our situation. Praise must become a choice of the will. We praise God because His word says we should praise Him.  It is our choice to obey God rather than wallow in our pity, shame and disappointment.

We should understand music and dance are also windows into the soul. Just as food enters the mouth and feeds the body so music and dance feeds and nourishes the soul.  Just as David sang and danced before God and he was called a man after God’s own heart. When we realize the importance of music and dance we see why the enemy attacks it so as to keep the people of God from using this mighty weapon against the darkness he has established. Satan always perverts the good things of God into something evil. Just as God has given every good thing for us to enjoy the enemy has tried to attack and destroy the blessings and goodness of God in the earth and he does the same with music and dance.

2 Samuel 6:14-15 And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.