God wants us to serve him with the integrity of heart.
In our homes and in our individual lives, God requires that we serve Him with an upright heart. Serve God in the faithfulness of your heart. Seeking to know God and His ways will engender walking in the integrity of your heart, where you are not deceived in your own heart.
Some people try to mock God. They serve God unfaithfully and expect the reward of being faithful.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. – Gal 6:7
What you reap is a function of what you sow; that is God’s word. You can’t serve God without integrity and expect the reward of those that serve God with integrity.
David served God with the integrity of his heart. He was sincere. He was true to himself and to God. He loved God genuinely, he served him with the whole of his heart. He had no other God. Were David’s heart to be opened, you will see him serving God with the truth. He had no skeleton in his cupboard.
So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands. – Psa 78:72
God promised that if we walk in the integrity of heart and in uprightness, keeping all His statutes, He will establish us. In the works of our hands, in our homes, and on the job, He wants to show Himself faithful.
And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. – 1Ki 9:4 – 5
Let us be true to ourselves. Let us not think we can do things on our own. Let our heartbeat be to do His will. Some of us don’t want to do things God’s way because we think His ways are too difficult.
In our hearts, let us check for any form of deception that may want to deceive our hearts. As a husband or as a wife, seek to serve God with the integrity of your heart. God is searching for those whose hearts are upright towards him.
God bless your marriage.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I have the wisdom of God to do the needful
PRAYER FOR THE DAY Pray that God will teach and instruct you in the way to go
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye (Psalms 32:8 KJV)
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Discuss the issue of integrity
One of the greatest assets you have as a child is your heart and that equals your mind. So, you must learn how to guard your heart. Your heart is where your imaginations come from, that’s where all the creative things you think about come from. That’s even where your will to do good or bad is.
As God’s child, it is important that you pay very close attention to your heart. I have taught you here that staying away from people that make you disobey the word of God and your parents is very important if you want to continue being a good girl/ boy.
Today I want to show you more of what God says about keeping your heart from the book of Proverbs.
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. Proverbs 4:23-27 (NIV)
The bible says you should guard your heart because it is the wellspring of life. Everything you do in life begins from your heart. This is why God is concerned about your heart, God wants you to be a good child, he wants your mom and dad to be proud of you, God wants your friends to be able to actually call you a good friend, God wants all these good things, and more for you.
I like this verse because it doesn’t just stop by telling us what to do, it goes further to tell us how we can actually guard our hearts.
1. It teaches us that one of the ways to guard our heart is by watching what we say, don’t tell a lie, and do not speak badly about another person, keep corrupt sayings/slang away from our mouths.
2. Also, this verse talks about our eyes, keeping our gaze on godly things, reading your bible daily, do not join your schoolmates or neighbours in watching things that are not godly.
3. The last thing mentioned here is, to watch where you go and the things you do. Be careful of the activities you get involved in, be sure to tell mom and Dad before going anywhere or trying something new.
That’s all for today!
PRAYER: Father in Jesus name, I receive the help of the Holy Spirit to guard my heart in Jesus name; Amen
ACTION POINT: Ask God for Wisdom
DECLARATION: I will not speak corrupt things, my mouth only declares good and godly things, and I walk in the right path all the time
There’s is a way to trust God. Dear child, I hope you have learned a thing or two from our lessons from King Solomon, as we continue in our study of the book of proverbs, I will be showing you more wisdom written by King Solomon, make sure you adhere to it.
By so doing, you will make your parents proud, and also make God happy.
Let’s go straight to today’s lesson!
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. – Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV)
The word Trust means to have confidence in the honesty or integrity of a person or thing. One of the common examples of trust is the belief that someone is being truthful.
Dear Child, God can be trusted! You need to know this for the rest of your life. You can count on God for everything and anything.
God is honest and true to his words, he has never said a thing that he doesn’t mean. God doesn’t lie!
Just like King Solomon says trust in the Lord, not just that but with all your heart!
How do you show that you trust God?
1. By valuing your relationship with God, you do this by letting the world know that you are God’s child and you are not ashamed to know as one.
2. By being honest with God, do not try to hide how you feel, speaking to God freely shows that you trust him.
3. By communicating with God frequently in prayers.
4. By always asking God for help.
5. By admitting to God when you do the wrong thing and ask for forgiveness.
This is how to trust God. God also wants you to trust him, if he didn’t you won’t find this verse in the bible, learn how to trust God always, and you will see him show up for you at all times.
PRAYER: Father in Jesus name, teach me how to trust you with my heart. Amen
ACTION PLAN: Practice one of the ways taught in the devotional
DECLARATION: I will trust the Lord with all my heart
Dear child, there is the key to long life and prosperity. Now one of the much-repeated words in the book of proverbs is a reminder to keep the words you have learned in a place that no one else can find except you, and that you never forget what you have learned.
This is why you have to protect your heart because that’s where King Solomon has instructed that you put the wisdom you have heard.
You have to protect your heart from bad friends and associations. It’s very important that you are mindful of what you see, what you hear, and what you think.
Remember the parable of the sower in the New Testament? After the sower had sown, some of the seeds were attacked. That’s what King Solomon is warning us about.
Let’s see our focus verse for today.
My Son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. –Proverbs 3:1-2 (NIV)
Yet again the wise king is asking us not to forget what we are learning, we will always need in our daily lives, and we will always need to apply it in every, and any decision we make. If we forget how do we then know what is right and who not to associate with?
Also, he tells us where to keep the things we are learning, he says in our hearts. Do you know why he mentions the heart?
The heart is most time where you make decisions, the instructions have to be in your heart for you to always reach out to it when you need to make a decision about something.
King Solomon says if you do thisthey will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.
Long life and good health are a result of following wise instructions, what you learn in God’s word and what your parents teach you.
It will also bring you prosperity just like the Bible says. Prosperity means to be blessed, and successful at all times.
Do you want long life? Do you want to prosper? The key to this is, don’t forget the wisdom you learn!
PRAYER: Dear Holy Spirit, please help me not to forget what I am learning. Amen
ACTION PLAN: Decide to read your bible today.
DECLARATION: I have long life, I am prosperous, and I am a good child.
I hope you have been following our series on obedience, and learning how to obey God. We have Father Abraham as our case study and I believe we have learnt one or two things in the past few days.
The truth is that obedience pays. The bible says Abraham obeyed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Wow! What a testimony.
This morning, I will be sharing with us how to obey God.
There are several ways by which you can obey God. Let us consider a few.
Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. – Genesis 12 verse 1,4 (NKJV)
One way we are to obey God is by obeying Him wholeheartedly. Obey with all your heart, not part of your heart. In God, it is either you give him all or you give him none.
See what God says about your heart
And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, – Deuteronomy 10:12 (KJV)
The same way you cannot love God halfheartedly is the same way you cannot obey God halfheartedly.
The obedience God recognizes is obedience that is devoid of grumbling or complaining.
When your parents ask you to do something for them, and you grumble, murmur, or complain, you lose the blessing therein.
Let’s learn to obey God wholeheartedly so we don’t lose our reward.
