The Integrity in Man

Job 1:8 “The Lord God said unto Satan, ’Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil?’” I believe we have all started walking in the grace of God and will never walk out of it in Jesus name. The month of June is the 6th month of the year and number 6 as Bible Scholars put it is the number of man. In Genesis 1:26, God said “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness….” And verse 31 says “…so the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” The number six is symbolic of man in many ways because man was created on the sixth day. For another thing, men are appointed to work for six days and after six days of labour, they are to rest on the seventh day; also the sixth commandment prohibits the murder of man. Just as six is an imperfect without the seventh day, mankind is incomplete or imperfect without God and without the atoning work of Christ on Calvary. This shows that man is not perfect but he can become righteous in God’s eyes because of what Jesus has done on the cross when He became sin for us. Integrity is best defined by some synonyms, such as, ”honesty,” ”faithfulness,” ”sincerity,” and ”innocence.” It means having a mind free of dishonesty and deception. But can we truly find a man as this in the society? Today, integrity is a word that’s losing a lot of its meaning. It means to be sound in moral principles, being upright, honest or sincere but you and I know that without the fear of God and Christ in man’s life it is a difficult aim to achieve. God asked Satan if he had considered the integrity of Job. But how could Satan know of Job’s integrity unless it was demonstrated in Job’s life? God could know because He was omniscient but Satan could only know because of observation so Job’s integrity was a demonstrated integrity. Do those who work with you on a daily basis see your integrity? Does your family see your integrity? Do they see the sound moral principles, the things that happen in your life that prove that you’re a person of integrity? Do people in your church see it? Job teaches us about the demonstration of integrity. He was a man who demonstrably was perfect and upright in all his ways. Integrity is largely a matter of determination. It’s largely a matter of our will. If you want to remain morally pure, if you want to have a pure conscious, if you want clean hands and a pure heart that’s largely up to you. And the best way to acquire this is to be transformed into the image of God in which you and I have been created by accepting you cannot do it all on your own except through the help of the Holy Spirit. Today, accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, believe that He has been made sin for us so we can be made perfect in Him and the Holy Spirit will be your companion leading you in the right path of integrity and righteousness.   Shalom, Yemisi Onanuga.

Month of Beautification

“God hath made everything beautiful in His time.” Eccl 3:11a We thank the LORD who has just set us on a higher Ground as a church and as individuals. (Psalm 40:2). We pray that we shall never come low in Jesus name. God has made everything; as all things in creation are made by Him, for His pleasure and glory, and all well and wisely, there is a beauty in them all. He upholds all things He has made because they are good and beautiful; He governs and orders all things according to the counsel of His will; some things are done immediately by Him, others by instruments, and some are only permitted by Him; some He does himself, some He wills to be done by others, and some He suffers to be done; but in all there is a beauty and harmony; and all are ordered, disposed, and overruled, to answer the wisest and greatest purposes; everything is done in the time in which He wills it shall be done, and done in the time most fit and suitable for it to be done. Each and every one of us are in this His beautiful plan according to Jeremiah 29:11 However, we are made to understand in the book of Deuteronomy 30:19 that we all have a role to play in the beautification of our lives. Now that we have been set on a higher ground we should not be complacent but strife to keep going higher by His grace and always choose life. After God finished His work of creation in the first six days of time, God looked at all His handiwork, and says, “It is very good!”(Gen 1:31) Everything was perfect, including the man Adam and his wife Eve. Everything was in perfect order, and there was no sin, no death, no crying, and no mourning. Man was in full communion with God, having perfect holiness and righteousness. Everything was beautifully and harmoniously created. But this beauty was marred by sin, (Romans 5:12), death, thanks be to our LORD Jesus Christ who came to restore our beauty even after it was damaged by man. Now we have joy, hope and peace. We just have to see that all of these times and seasons are appointed by God in His beautiful timing, and His church (you and I) are at the centre of this beautification and so let us embrace this beauty. Time may come when thing seems to be down, we should know that God can take every bad situation and, in the proper season, turn them around and use them for good in the way He intends. Some of us may be going through a season right now that seems not beautiful: our finances, our health, our marriage or a friendship or even the future may look ugly. There is a Word for us in Romans 8:28 (KJV) “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” The LORD will keep us in His purpose and we shall forever be beautified in the mighty name of Jesus.   Tolu Dada.

It Is A New Dawn


But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. – Proverbs 4:18
Many of us today need a new beginning, God is the God of second chances and God is the God of new beginnings. Have you ever wished you could go back and start over? Sadly, in most cases, it is impossible to go back and change what has been said or done. There is however one area of your life that you can have a new beginning; our spiritual life can have a new start.
We all mess up. We say things we later wish we could take back. We do things we wish we could undo. We miss opportunities. This happens in all spheres of our lives. Sometimes we make mistakes at work, sometimes we hurt the people we love, and sometimes we disappoint God. And because we all mess up, we like to start over, to turn our backs on the past, to look forward, to hope that this time round, things are going to be better.
God is in the transformation business. He sees in our clay the potential to be a vessel of honour. God doesn’t need gold, silver, and a superstar. He simply says give Me your clay. God says: “I’ll bring treasures out of trash, I’ll bring Jewels out of junk; I’ll bring glory out of garbage, I’ll bring riches out of rubbish; I’ll bring diamonds out of debris; I’ll bring righteousness out of rift raft; I’ll bring worship out of waste; I’ll bring majesty out of mess; I’ll bring deliverance to the drug addict; I’ll bring praise out of a prostitute; I’ll bring hallelujah out of a homosexual.”
God won’t give up on you. God won’t toss you out on the scrap heap. God won’t dismiss you as a lost cause and discard you as hopeless. God takes the clay we yield to Him and starts all over again rebuilding life after life, time after time. God is willing to start over again shaping you into another vessel as it seems best to Him. The only prerequisite is that you give Him your clay, that you give Him your life.
Friends it is a new dawn for you and I this month; God is offering us a fresh start if only we can yield to Him and let Him make us into a vessel worthy of His glory.

“Then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring forth and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 58:8)