Encouragement and Prayer: Upheld By Integrity (03/10/21)

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This is the audio from the March 10, 2021 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.

You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

In prayer,
Tom

Serving God: Upheld By Integrity

Serving God: Upheld By Integrity

It is my prayer that every Christian recognizes the importance of serving God through the way we serve others.  There are few things, if any, that are as emotionally exhilarating, and draining, as the task of serving others.  Having worked in a variety of ministry settings, including various roles within Christian camp ministry, I understand the excitement that often comes with the beginning of a new ministry or ministry season.  I also understand the weariness than can develop when our focus begins to drift away from the ministry of serving and onto ourselves.

This is day four in the ninth week of devotions from the book, “Serving God: Devotions for Active Worship”.  This devotional book is laid out in thirteen weeks of daily devotions with each week wrapped around an aspect of how we can serve others.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God to see how serving others is an act of worship.

Serving God:
Upheld By Integrity

I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.  In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.
Psalm 41:11-12 (NIV)

Do you know people who say one thing and then turn around and do something else?  How consistent are you at keeping your word?  When the going gets tough, are you more likely to finish things because you said you would or make excuses for why you quit?  Where you serve now, how often have you felt like giving up?  What has kept you serving?  How does the integrity of God hold you up when you are weary?

I think that most people have many times in life when they just feel like giving up.  Often, for the person of integrity, we keep going simply because we said we would.  We persevere because of our integrity and we are upheld by the integrity of God.  As we serve, even if it is just a cup of cold water to one who is thirsty, we can be assured by the integrity of God that He notices.

As you pray, ask God to uphold you in the hard times of life.  Pray that your integrity will lead you to follow through with what you say you will do.  Pray that your commitment to integrity would be a reflection of the integrity of God.  Pray that those you serve would be upheld by you as you serve with integrity.

In prayer,

Tom

Encouragement and Prayer: Protected By Integrity (03/09/21)

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This is the audio from the March 9, 2021 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.

You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

In prayer,
Tom

Serving God: Protected By Integrity

Serving God: Protected By Integrity

It is my prayer that every Christian recognizes the importance of serving God through the way we serve others.  There are few things, if any, that are as emotionally exhilarating, and draining, as the task of serving others.  Having worked in a variety of ministry settings, including various roles within Christian camp ministry, I understand the excitement that often comes with the beginning of a new ministry or ministry season.  I also understand the weariness than can develop when our focus begins to drift away from the ministry of serving and onto ourselves.

This is day three in the ninth week of devotions from the book, “Serving God: Devotions for Active Worship”.  This devotional book is laid out in thirteen weeks of daily devotions with each week wrapped around an aspect of how we can serve others.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God to see how serving others is an act of worship.

Serving God:
Protected By Integrity

Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.  May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.
Psalm 25:20-21 (NIV)

Have you ever been falsely accused of something?  Did your reputation at the time help protect you from the accusations or make the accusations more believable?  What are some things that make some rumors more, or less, believable than others?  How important to you is your physical protection as you serve others?  Are you as concerned about the protection of your character?  How will serving with integrity protect your character, not only from false accusations but from the temptation to do wrong?

We probably all know someone who could be accused of almost anything and we wouldn’t believe it.  They have lived a life of integrity that requires a greater burden of proof in regard to wrongdoing than just someone’s word.  We live in a time where words fly so fast that accusations simply can’t be avoided as we serve people.  It is through our integrity that we are protected from accusations which have no basis.

As you pray, ask God to fill you with a desire to live a life of integrity.  Pray that your pursuit of God would lead you to a life that is lived with a consistency between what you say and what  you do.

In prayer,

Tom

Encouragement and Prayer: Judged By Integrity (03/08/21)

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This is the audio from the March 8, 2021 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.

You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

In prayer,
Tom

Serving God: Judged By Integrity

Serving God: Judged By Integrity

It is my prayer that every Christian recognizes the importance of serving God through the way we serve others.  There are few things, if any, that are as emotionally exhilarating, and draining, as the task of serving others.  Having worked in a variety of ministry settings, including various roles within Christian camp ministry, I understand the excitement that often comes with the beginning of a new ministry or ministry season.  I also understand the weariness than can develop when our focus begins to drift away from the ministry of serving and onto ourselves.

This is day two in the ninth week of devotions from the book, “Serving God: Devotions for Active Worship”.  This devotional book is laid out in thirteen weeks of daily devotions with each week wrapped around an aspect of how we can serve others.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God to see how serving others is an act of worship.

Serving God:
Judged By Integrity

Let the assembled peoples gather around you. Rule over them from on high; let the LORD judge the peoples. Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High.
Psalm 7:7-8 (NIV)

Would you want to be judged by your current level of integrity?  Why?  How does judging a person according to their integrity, rather than on hearsay, help you serve them more effectively?  How does a reputation of integrity, or lack of it, affect how those you serve judge you?  How effective is your serving likely to be if people judge you as having a lack of integrity?  How will you make your actions match your words as you serve today?

Years ago I worked on a commercial roofing crew with a group of guys that were not walking in fellowship with God, to say the least.  It’s not that they were bad guys, they were simply living to please self with no regard for God.  Eventually one of them told me that I was the first Christian who actually lived what I said.  They said that everyone else they had encountered eventually joined them in activities previously proclaimed as wrong.  Instead of judging Christians by their integrity, they had judged all Christians by the lack of integrity they had observed.

As you pray, ask God to help  you live in such a way that being judged according to your integrity would be a good thing.

In prayer,

Tom

Encouragement and Prayer: Integrity As a Lifestyle (03/07/21)

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This is the audio from the March 7, 2021 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.

You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

In prayer,
Tom

Serving God: Integrity As a Lifestyle

Serving God: Integrity As a Lifestyle

It is my prayer that every Christian recognizes the importance of serving God through the way we serve others.  There are few things, if any, that are as emotionally exhilarating, and draining, as the task of serving others.  Having worked in a variety of ministry settings, including various roles within Christian camp ministry, I understand the excitement that often comes with the beginning of a new ministry or ministry season.  I also understand the weariness than can develop when our focus begins to drift away from the ministry of serving and onto ourselves.

This is day one in the ninth week of devotions from the book, “Serving God: Devotions for Active Worship”.  This devotional book is laid out in thirteen weeks of daily devotions with each week wrapped around an aspect of how we can serve others.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God to see how serving others is an act of worship.

Serving God:
Integrity As a Lifestyle

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’  But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.  And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.  Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Matthew 5:33-37 (NIV)

How would you describe a life of integrity?  How would you live a life of integrity?  What are some things that tempt you to not keep your word?  Why?  How are integrity and justice related?  Can true justice be found without complete integrity?  How should God’s view of you doing the right thing influence the way you serve?  Do you always seek to do right?  Why or why not?  Would your serving of others change if you were to live with integrity as a lifestyle?  

It seems that the longer I live, the more the average person’s response to anything is conditional.  While it may be good that we’re more hesitant to say yes or no, we’re also less likely to stay with yes or no once we’ve said it.  God calls us to live a lifestyle of integrity so that everyone knows that our yes means yes and our no means no.  Living with such integrity as we serve not only represents a God that has complete integrity, but it helps those we serve learn to trust us. 

As you pray, ask God to help you see why you may have difficulty in keeping your word.  Pray that you would realize the importance of integrity as it relates to your witness of God.  Pray that you would be known as a person of integrity.

In prayer,

Tom