“For the Lord God is brighter than the brilliance of a sunrise! Wrapping Himself around me like a shield, He is so generous with His gifts of grace and glory. Those who walk along His paths with integrity will never lack one thing they need, for He provides it all!” 

(Psalm 84:11 TPT)

Part One: The Way Up from Adam

Integrity is moral soundness. And it can take some walking through life for us to reach the same conclusions that the Creator already provided in His Word about our human nature. Human beings need help in their hearts and minds. We are fallen. The sin nature came into our race through satan when he tripped up Adam, and Adam turned from His Father God. We do miss the mark in the way we behave towards God, ourselves, and the others with whom we share the abode of planet earth. 

Yahweh had His prophet Jeremiah declare, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind]? I the Lord search the mind, I try the heart, even to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10 AMPC). 

In fast forwarding to the New Testament, we receive the revelation of God’s answer to our condition. Paul, too, writes on human nature. Yet, Paul goes on to explain the way in which God is now creating a brand new human race indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God as the solution. Indeed, through the new birth, we are indwelt by the three-in-one Godhead through the Spirit put in us at the moment we repent and accept Christ’s atoning work on the cross. At that point, we are regenerated by a Sovereign work of God. We are placed into union with the Lord and all that He accomplished on the cross. His death becomes our death, and this death is the means of the power to die to the flesh nature in us. His resurrection life then begins to flow through us and out from us. Jesus invites us into this new creation life through His words in Luke 9:23, “If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].” [To further understand the way of dying to live, see Jessie Penn’ Lewis classic book, Dying to Live.]

In Romans, Paul explains the way in which we no longer have to sin because of the victory Jesus won for us on the cross i.e. we are no longer slaves to sin. And the apostle also writes in Galatians on the new life we can know in Christ.

“Let me emphasize this: As you yield to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life. When your-self life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit you hinder him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your self-life from dominating you! So then, the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life of the flesh and the new creation life of the Spirit. But when you yield to the life of the Spirit, you will no longer be living under the law, but soaring above it! The behavior of the self-life is obvious: Sexual immorality, lustful thoughts, pornography, chasing after things instead of God, manipulating others, hatred of those who get in your way, senseless arguments, resentment when others are favored, temper tantrums, angry quarrels, only thinking of yourself, being in love with your own opinions, being envious of the blessings of others, murder, uncontrolled addictions, wild parties, and other similar behavior. Haven’t I already warned you that those who use their “freedom” for these things will not inherit the kingdom realm of God!

But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless. Keep in mind that we who belong to Jesus Christ have already experienced crucifixion. For everything connected with our self-life was put to death on the cross and crucified with Messiah. If the Spirit is the source of our life, we must also allow the Spirit to direct every aspect of our lives. 

A prior passage in Galatians strengthens our understanding of the reality of God giving His very life to us to make us just like Jesus, His Son and His prototype for those who are the born again race now coming forth. “My old identity has been co-crucified with Christ and no longer lives. And now,” Paul writes, “the essence of this new life is no longer mine, for the Anointed One lives His life through me—we live in union as one! My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that He gave Himself for me, dispensing His life into mine!”

And King David, who moved in New Covenant realities as he looked ahead to the day of the cross of Christ, prayed over his sin with the cry, “Keep creating in me a clean heart. Fill me with pure thoughts and holy desires, ready to please You.”The footnote to this verse explains, “The word used for “create” takes us back to Genesis 1, and it means to create from nothing. David knew that he had no goodness without God placing it within him. David wanted a new creation heart, not just the old one changed.” (Psalm 51:10 and footnote c TPT) David admitted in this Psalm, “Lord, I have been a sinner from birth, from the moment my mother conceived me.” He also knew of the pleasure that is part of receiving the life of God as he added, “I know that You delight to set Your truth deep in my spirit. So come into the hidden places of my heart and teach me wisdom.” Verse 7 adds, “Wash me in your love until I am pure in heart.” (Psalm 51:10, 5, 7 TPT) (Note e 51:7 “Wash me with snow from above so I can be whitened.” TPT)

Ultimately, as we open our hearts to receive Christ in fullness and cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s labors to restore us to Christlikeness or Godliness, we will fulfill the prophetic words of Ephesians 5:25-27, becoming Jesus’ fully redeemed bridal companion: “But, remember, this means that the husband must give his wife the same sort of love that Christ gave to the Church, when He sacrificed Himself for her. Christ gave Himself to make her holy, having cleansed her through the baptism of His Word—to make her an altogether glorious Church in His eyes. She is to be free from spots, wrinkles, or any other disfigurement—a Church holy and perfect.” (PHILLIPS)

Part Two: The Need to Have God Thoroughly Search Us

In His Book God makes it clear that His people have to be refined as gold. In our fallen state, we don’t see ourselves rightly and have to be God-searched by His Word as it reads us and by trials, God’s diagnostic tests. Job prayed to the Creator, “O let me be weighed in a just balance and let Him weigh me, that God may know my integrity!” (Job 31:6 AMPC) And in the Psalms David cried, “Keep cleansing me, God, and keep me from my secret, selfish sins; may they never rule over me! For only then will I be free from fault and remain innocent of rebellion. So may the words of my mouth, my meditation-thoughts, and every movement of my heart be always pure and pleasing, acceptable before Your eyes, Yahweh, my only Redeemer, my Protector.” (Psalm 19:13-14 TPT) In Psalm 139, which starts out with God’s perfect and penetrating knowing of David, David beseeches Yahweh to search him thoroughly to find out hurtful, wayward, or even wicked ways.  “Any path of pain I’m walking on,” is the way the Passion Translation puts it. (Psalm 139:24 TPT)

At the end of the Bible, Malachi gives us the reason for God’s tests of us in 3:2-3: “For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the priests, the sons of Levi, and refine them like gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord offerings in righteousness.” Psalm 66:10 speaks of the resulting integrity: “O, Lord, we have passed through Your fire; like precious metal made pure, you’ve proved us, perfected us, and made us holy.” (TPT)

In Matthew, Jesus defines the perfection God is taking us into. God is creating in us a heart that can love like He loves. 5:48 quotes our Priest-Savior as saying, “You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect.”(AMPC)

Part Three: The Promises and Pleasures of Integrity

Though we rightly ascertain through the Bible’s words that there is much to be done to bring forth integrity or moral soundness in the human heart, the good news of God is that He is intervening to rescue us from ourselves and change us to be like Himself as we become as His Son, Jesus. The Father is always working on our behalf. The Word reveals, “The Son is the dazzling radiance of God’s splendor, the exact expression of God’s true nature—His mirror image!”(Hebrews 1:3 TPT)

Jesus reveled in integrity and having the Father’s nature. The Bible speaks of the pleasures of having this type of character in Hebrews 1:9 as the Father says of the Lord, “You have loved righteousness [You have delighted in integrity, virtue, and uprightness in purpose, thought, and action] and You have hated lawlessness (injustice and iniquity). Therefore God, [even] Your God (Godhead), has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy and gladness above and beyond Your companions.” (AMPC)

We look elsewhere in the Word to what the Father says of integrity when it is present in men and women.

“I have taken you by the hand in wisdom’s ways, pointing you to the path of integrity.” (Proverbs 4:11 TPT)

“You’re only truly happy when you walk in total integrity, walking in the light of God’s Word.” (Psalm 119:1 TPT)

“Integrity will keep a good man from falling. But the unbeliever is trapped, held captive to his sinful desires.” (Proverbs 11:6 TPT)

“Integrity will lead you to success, but treachery will destroy your dreams.” (Proverbs 11:3 TPT)

“Hold onto loyal love and don’t let go. And be faithful to all that you’ve been taught. Let your life be shaped by integrity, with truth written upon your heart.” (Proverbs 3:3 TPT)

“The lovers of God will walk in integrity, and their children are fortunate to have godly parents as their examples.”(Proverbs 20:7 TPT)

“The integrity and strength of a virtuous wife transforms her husband into an honored king. But the wife who disgraces her husband weakens the strength of his identity.” (Proverbs 12:4)

“What bliss you experience when your heart is pure! For then your eyes will be open to see more and more of God.”(Matthew 5:8 TPT)

“What joy overwhelms everyone who keeps the ways of God, those who seek Him as their heart’s passion!” (Psalm 119:2 TPT)

“For you have acquired new creation life which is continually being renewed into the likeness of the One who created you; giving you the full revelation of God.” (Col. 3:10 TPT)

Not only do the above come to us by way of integrity, but also the changes in our nature produced by obeying God’s anointed promises produce faith for the transformation of others in the Body from glory to glory to glory. These changes also evidence to us that we are saved unto eternal life. Romans 5:4 declares, “And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.” (AMPC) We experience that God’s Word is true. The transformation wrought in our hearts by God is indeed real.

And integrity worked into us enables us to stand our ground against the forces of darkness. Ephesians 6:14 admonishes, “Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God…” The enemy of our soul feeds on the expression of the flesh. Satan feeds on the enthronement of self. However, the anointing in the Word slays the flesh. When we yield to the Word, we are yielding to the Christ within. He and His Word are one and very, very pure. [“The words and promises of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times over.”(Psalm 12:6 AMPC)] 1 John 1:5 tells us that, “God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all [no, not in any way].” (AMPC) And verse 1:7 of 1 John reveals that the enemy can’t break in when we are functioning in integrity. “But if we [really] are living and walking in the Light, as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another.” (AMPC)

The greatest blessing of gaining integrity is that by becoming more Christlike, we access closer places of kinship with the Lord. The friends of God in the Bible such as Paul and John yielded to Jesus Christ as their life source. They had one living with the Lord; Christ was their very life. And in our following suit in a union walk with the Lord, a like-souled Body will emerge in the earth. In John 17, Jesus already prayed forth what is coming in the end. We will be one heart and mind with the Godhead, and thus, one heart and mind with each other. (See John 17 The Message.)

It’s in intimately knowing the Lord through becoming integrous like Him that we attain glory. May we run after this glorious integrity that is our gift from God and revel in the pleasure of sharing in Christ’s holy nature.  

David, on the basis of walking in integrity before God, said to Him, “Keep me before Your face forever.” (Psalm 41:12 TPT) And Proverbs 11:20 says, “God treasures those whose ways are pure.” Paul communicated that gaining Christ is everything. His heart cry is summed up in certain verses from Philippians: “[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].”

May our hearts cry out like Paul, “That we may know or function in Him…” We pray, “Father, as You have purposed, make us over in the image of Your wondrous and awesome Son!”

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Blessings in return—