This week's devotion is entitled:
God wants us to live a life free of lies, exaggerated truths, dirty dealings, half-truths, white lies, and anything that is not honest and true. Honesty is a good character builder for anyone, and even more so for Christians.
Good people are guided by their honesty; treacherous people are destroyed by their dishonesty.
"Do not testify falsely against your neighbor."
Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don't need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you all things, and what he teaches is true--it is not a lie. So continue in what he has taught you, and continue to live in Christ.
Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness.
Dear Heavenly Father God,
Thank You for Your Word, which is filled with truth. Thank You that Jesus and the Holy Spirit live within me and with them their truth. Help me to be an honest person, giving truthful accounts always, keeping my word always, never being greedy or dirty in my dealings, never telling lies (even "little white lies"), and always working to spread Your truth. Help me to have integrity and honesty in everything I do, so that when I speak of Your truth to the people I am witnessing to, they cannot accuse me of being a hypocrite. Help me to fight the temptation to lie or keep the truth even partially hidden. Give me discernment so that I may know what is true and what is false. Help me to gain this character trait so that I may become more and more like Jesus. It is in His name I pray, Amen.
~Proverbs 11:3 (NLT)
~Exodus 20:16 (NLT)
~Ephesians 4:15 (NLT)
~1 John 2:27 (NLT)
~Ephesians 6:14 (NLT)