Discipline #6 - Maintaining the Integrity of Our Heart

ΜΑΙΝΤΑΙΝΙΝG THE INTEGRITY OF THE HEART  The Sixth Discipline  Matthew 5:8  Proverbs 4:23  Genesis 20:1-6  Pastor Al Soto 

Principle: Contrary to the ideas of western intellectualism, God is not known via the mind but via the heart. Our intelligence may deduce things about Him, and our minds may study realities revealed by Him, but God is ultimately known in Person and in intimacy by those who seek Him with all their heart. Once met and known, advancement on the path to maturity and personal effectiveness is realized in the fullest way only as a discipline of purity. It requires the totality of heart-yieldedness, and a vulnerability to the Holy Spirit maintained in humility and childlikeness.    Practice: To live out honesty before God, and before others because of our desire to not give place to things that would pollute our heart.   Integrity is best defined by how it’s fleshed out in our lives.  • It’s about keeping our word even when it hurts.  • It’s about being honest in all our dealings.  • It’s practicing morality in both our bodies and in our minds.  • It’s about admitting mistakes and doing what’s necessary to make them right.  Integrity of heart, therefore, is something that God is searching for in His people. 

  The Bible Tells us that all Issues Begin the Heart: 

“Keep your heart with all vigilance,    for from it flow the springs of life.”  Proverbs 4:23, ESV 

This truth is key to a promise of great significance and hope for every disciple. In essence it says that if I can learn to be absolutely, totally, completely, and unreservedly honest to God – up front with every dealing of the Spirit in my heart, responding to His promptings and submitting to His corrections there is immeasurable joy to be found for you and others and immeasurable sorrow that you and others will spared from.   

 A Picture of Myself as an Example. Post Gall Bladder Surgery.  

Pollution of the heart shrinks our Capacity to Love others well and to be Honest with God and Others. 

1. The First Story in the Bible that presents the Importance of the Integrity of the Heart is an incident in Abraham’s Life: 

“From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.” 4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So, he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? 5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore, I did not let you touch her.” Genesis 20:1-6, ESV 

Context of the Story: 

The text is more than a story but rather we are being introduced to the principle of integrity of the heart. 

The Law of first Mention with Progressive Revelation:  

The first time you encounter an idea or principle in the Bible, you will generally find its first usage defines the ideas usage throughout the bible. Used with the Principle of Progressive Revelation that helps to navigate complex theological issues. This passage in Genesis 20 is the first time the word “integrity” is used in the Bible. It begins with an illustration of how all of us are vulnerable to confusion and mistakes or being the victim of someone else’s manipulations. The starting point is when we choose FEAR over FAITH.  

This passage also discloses a Life principle: God is prepared to guard and deliver an honest heart … a heart of integrity … and to defend that heart against the possibility of delusion.  

A. Seasons of Growth and Expansion can leave us Vulnerable. 

“May integrity and uprightness preserve me,    for I wait for you.” Psalm 25:21, ESV 

David is Declaring: Let my integrity of heart before You become my defense. In other words, I am not going to allow my fear or pride take matters into my own hands.  

When David operated in fear and pride, he made enemies out of friends which allowed Israel to disintegrate from within which made the Kingdom vulnerable from the enemies on the outside.