Feb 04-08< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>INTENTION AND INTEGRITYJob 2:1-10, Acts 19:11-20

Good intention without integrity is the same as spiritual emptiness. For every man who wants to be good without having integrity of backing up their good intention will have nothing move before God. The American Heritage College Dictionary as defined integrity: Òsteadfast adherence to a strict ethical code; the state of being unimpaired; soundness; the quality or condition of being whole or undivided; completeness. Can you imagine God declaring or testifying you as being a man of integrity? Job 2:3, ÒThen the LORD said to Satan, ÔHave you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.ÕÓ God, by Himself, qualified Job as a man of integrity. For God to have described Job as a man of integrity, Job must have walked the walk and lived the word. He earned it all before God, but yet the enemy found its way to touch him. Among all that should not have discouraged Job was his wife, but she used JobÕs strength as a slap on Job. The wife was supposed to be a helper to him, but in his situation she turned the other way of discouraging him. The wife did not spare him from rubbing it in. ÒThen his wife said to him, ÒDo you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!Ó (Job 2:9) Keep your head straight up and your eyes only unto God in your current situation. Whatever the situation is, it is not the measure of GodÕs blessing. It could be your way to be multiplied in the blessings of God. Good intention is what the itinerant Jewish exorcists had when they, ÒÉtook it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ÒWe exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.Ó (Acts 19:13) The itinerant Jewish exorcists had the intention of casting out evil spirits, but the level of integrity that would cause God to look in their direction was absent from their lives. Faulting in the line of integrity does not require a big or consistent case of lying, but even a very simple and what can be considered as a minor lie is enough to disrupt your testimony of integrity. Good intention and integrity will add up in making one a vessel of honor to the glory of God. The Lord will have mercy.