Christian Integrity; Character self-reflection #1
1. Is integrity just being honest and following the letter of the law or is a Christian’s love demonstrated by following the SPIRIT of the law? (See Matthew 5:27-28 for an example.)
How do you express integrity in your actions? (Does your attitude support your actions?)
2. Review Romans 12:9-20 below.
9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying. 13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all! 17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. 19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. 20 Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”
Does God’s unconditional love for you inspire you to give this type of love to others? What prevents you from practicing Christian character integrity; consistency between personal thought, Godly standards and your actions taken in public?
3. How do you show your faith by doing good works? How would others describe your attitude when you are working?
4. "Just do it”. This makes sense when you know God’s ways - the right, holy and the acceptable thing to do (Romans 12:2). How can a Christian discern the next right thing to do-in God’s eyes-when your vision is clouded by obstacles (James 1:5, 3:13-18)?
5. Submission is not a characteristic of an independent, competitive person. Read Romans 13:1, 13:8, 14:1, 14:13, 14:19, Ephesians 4:3, 4:31, 1 Peter 3:8. Do you agree that submission is necessary to maintain unity? What do you do to achieve unity rather than engage in a cycle of conflict?
6. Why would Abraham and King David insist on paying for the property they wanted instead of accepting it for free? (Genesis 23:1-16, 2 Samuel 24:18-25).
7. Why was Joshua instructed to destroy everything in Jericho (but Rehab and her family) and specifically told not take the spoils of war in Joshua 6:15-20? See Exodus 20:1-4, Joshua 6:18, 7:13.
8. Knowing God’s holiness standards, what biblical knowledge does a Christian need to understand to avoid perfectionism and legalism yet avoid abusing His grace (Ephesians 2:8-10)? Why is being grateful a motive for good works in children but is often lacking in adulthood?
Personalizing Faith; Character Self-reflection #2
1. What is your personal definition of faith? Do you believe that God will “make a way”? (Compare your definition
of Proverbs 3:5-6, Romans 4:20-21, 10:17, 1 Corinthians 2:5, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Ephesians 6:16, Hebrews 11:1, 11:6, 1 John 5:14-15, and see song @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGXokPHzsqY).
2. Do you agree or disagree with these statements:
a. Your anxiety as a Christian is proportionate to your confidence. Your confidence in believing that God will do what He declares in the Bible that he will do (1 Corinthians 10:13, 2 Corinthians 10:3-6)?
b. Christ in you, is the hope of glory-- for you (1 Colossians 1:27)? (Based on the truth you know, believe and apply.)
c. Being an overcomer “in Christ” is a choice to use the power of the Holy Spirit to display God’s love. (We use His power to do good, despite circumstances, Micah 6:8, Matthew 19:17, Romans 8:37-39, Hebrews 13:6, 1 John 4:4).
d. What rationale do you give yourself when God doesn’t answer your prayer the way you want him too? (See James 1:8)
e. Listen to the song “Steal My Joy” @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YBXBxCR5Io . When you are equipped with the“armor of God”, are you ready to step out and defend your faith? (Ephesians 6:10-18)
f. Nancy Harmon sings a song entitled, “I’ve come too far to look back”. Can you relate? Have you asked for forgiveness so your sins can be remembered by God, “no more” (Isaiah 43:25)? Do you show your gratitude in good and bad circumstances?
g. Listen to the song, “Didn’t I walk on Water”@ https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=odrsNmvdRtE . Has the truth about God's loving character changed your perspective, penetrated past your defense mechanisms and changed your identity? (Psalm 18:30, John 3:30, 15:5, Romans 6:1-3, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 3:14-19, 1 John 4:8)
3. Why does the Bible say Abraham was justified by faith (Genesis 15:6)?
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What does "imputed righteousness" mean (2 Corinthians 5:21, Philippians 3:9)?
4. Read Hebrews 11 and see Judges 11-13. For each name listed, evaluate their behavior to determine what it was that got them into the chapter?
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Why is Samson among the list? If Samson dedicated his whole life to holy living because of faith, do you think God would have been able to use Him in more situations than how He used his supernatural strength against the Philistines? (2 Timothy 2:20-21).
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How does personal choice play into the concepts of God's foreknowledge verses His predestination?
5. Why does the Bible say in 2 Peter 2:7 that Lot was righteous when we read about his unproductive faith in Genesis 19:1-29?
6. Using the eyes of your heart to get understanding, how does God balance His love (mercy and grace) with His justice (Leviticus 19:15, James 2:1-13)?
7. Why choose intentional behavior and face tension, rather than staying in your comfort zone and acting on impulse? (For an example see Luke 22:49-51).
8. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: God meets your expectations? Why? Why not? (John15:7, James 4:3, 1 John 5:14-15).
9. Christianity isn’t a matter of the phrase, "you should" (implies judgment), but, instead, it’s the question of will you (implies determination). What causes you to say, "yes", to God? What causes you to say, "no", to Him?
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What does Matthew 6:33 have to say about making the choice to put God first?
Character self-reflection #3
Read the following scripture for God’s perspective of sin: Romans 1:18-28 New Living Translation (NLT)
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. 21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. 28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.
1. Do you deny truth so you remain in your comfort zone (able to control what you believe) or do you remain open to truth so you can stretch or grow your comfort zone? For more read:
https://answersingenesis.org/answers/biblical-authority-devotional/what-if-people-deny-the-truth/
2. Do you make the same mistakes over again expecting a different result? Why?
3. Are you a life-long learner? What evidence is there to back up your answer?
4. Read Romans Chapter 7; do you think Paul is talking about Christians? Is Paul implying that a Christian is able to overcome temptation because the power of God is living inside each believer, but the power is not unleashed unless a choice is made by you to use that power?
5. Read 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 in light of 1 John 1:6-7 and 1 Peter 4:1-5. You have already made the choice to believe that God will give you the power (from the Holy Spirit) to free you from your addiction (the psychological component). How will you handle the social aspect of living an addiction-free lifestyle?
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How will you maintain friendly relations while separating yourself from daily fellowship with old friends with bad habits? What might cause you to not follow this command?
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How will you handle family functions that may trigger old habits?
6. Humility brought you into fellowship with the triune God, but acceptance, submission & obedience to Christ
keeps you a devoted, single-minded Christian. Being double-minded is having divided loyalty does this describe you?
7. What is it that you believe? Do you walk the talk of Christianity both publicly and privately?
Character self-reflection #4
In the absence of a Spirit of Love & trust for God, exists a spirit of jealousy & revenge in man.
A spirit of fear produces uncertainty and this feeling, if acted upon, can lead to impulsive, anxious, sinful actions. King Saul grew to depend on David to sooth his “harmful” spirit by asking David to play music on the Lyre (1 Samuel 16:23, 18:10-11). Saul was aware of his fearful spirit and aware of the soothing music David played on the Lyre to calm him down. At times, King Saul didn’t always choose to let the music sooth him, but he’d choose instead to act on His tormenting spirit by trying to kill David. Saul chose to use his imagination of the future in a negative way because of his unconstrained jealousy of David (1 Samuel 18:5-12, 18:29).
1. King Saul goes in search of David, now his enemy. Read Matthew 5:43-46 & 1 Peter 3:9 say about deciding NOT to follow through on negative thoughts and emotions?
2. When King Saul chose to act on the jealousy he felt towards David (when he heard David received aid from the people while he was hiding from Saul in 1 Samuel 20:32-33, 21:6, 22:6-19), Saul took out his anger on those that helped King David escape.
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If King Saul had changed his mindset about David and, instead of seeing him as a threat, saw him as someone who could help him, what types of new outcomes can you envision for King Saul?
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How can you change your circumstances by adjusting your attitude and changing your behavior?
3. King Saul “hurled a spear” at David. Saul was acting on impulse, motivated by anger and jealousy. If he had controlled his rage, thought about God, and remembered David’s loyalty to him, do you think King Saul would have let go of that thought?
4. In 1 Samuel 21, David runs away from King Saul after being warned that the King was going to kill him. David had proven himself to be a trusted, loyal servant, but Saul became jealous of David because of his character and popularity with the people. While David ran for his life to protect himself, he chose not to get angry and act spitefully towards the King, “the Lord’s anointed”.
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Can you see yourself practicing this level of self-restraint? What would motivate you to do it?
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Unfortunately, Saul did not stay true to his “first love” (Ephesians 4:30, Revelations 2:4). What stops you from admitting to and changing your attitude and actions to match your new revelation of the truth and integrity of God’s Word?
5. The difference between denying responsibility (exemplified by King Saul in 2 Samuel 12:1-14) and repentance that comes from the conviction of guilt (exemplified by King David in 1 Samuel 15:13-30) has to do with your perception of who you are in relation to God and what role you think you ought to occupy in His kingdom on earth (2 Peter 3:11). What personality traits do you need to temper*, knowing that you have a loving God that can lead you through an insincere world? (Temper, in this context, means to either increase or decrease the trait so that you are not extreme in the expression of human emotions.)
6. God is perfect love and He equips us with the Holy Spirit of love. What character traits make up love and why can it drive out fear? (Galatians 5:22-23, 2 Timothy 1:7, 1 John 4:18).
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What do you do when attacked by a spirit of fear? How do you practice Romans 8:15?
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What would a willingness to give up control and instead be vulnerable and humble have to do with the decision to trust God (even if you are undergoing discipline) instead of being fearful?
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For an excellent example of allowing the Spirit of God to help you show patience, self-control, and kindness to your enemy, read about Queen Esther and Hammon (another power hungry, jealous man) in Esther 3:2, 5:12-14, 7:1-10. Do you use your faith to speak the truth in love?