Date: 28-Mar-2023
Name: Lakers Komaiya
Topic: CHARACTER CHECK
Content:
*Psalm 24:3-6*
Deeds, Desires, Deceitfulness
*Vision of MAGH Mountain Climbers*
Quality-Check for Spirituality: Christian; Believer; Speaks in tongue or prays in understanding; Committed; Devoted; Loves the Lord etc.
Let us examine the spiritual protocol of ascent underscored by an usual vetting system
*Psalm 24:3* - “Who may *ascend* into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has *clean hands and a pure heart*, who has *not lifted up his soul to an idol*, *nor sworn deceitfully*.”
*1. Deeds*
*Psalm 24:4a* - “He who has clean hands and a pure heart…”
“The true test of a man’s character is what he does when nobody is watching” - John Wooden
In your personal life, relationship, career, or ministry, are your hands soiled when no one is watching?
Is your heart contaminated from undisclosed and unhealthy sources?
*2. Desires*
*Psalm 3:4b* - “…Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol…”
1. Do you value things - honour, riches, power, wealth, anointing - more than God?
2. Do you secretly seek the praise and approval of men rather than God?
3. Do I measure myself by my possession and accomplishments? Or do I vet myself in the light of who I am becoming as I fix my gaze on Christ?
*Everything a man attempts to achieve in order to boost his ego is a counterfeit of the glory he lost in the Garden of Eden*.
You will lift your soul to the thing or the one that is most valuable to you.
*3. Deceitfulness*
*Psalm 24:4c-5* - …Nor sworn deceitfully. *He shall receive blessing from the Lord*, and *righteousness from the God* of his salvation.”
“*The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.*” - Thomas Macaulay
*Proverbs 20:10* - “Diverse weights and diverse measures, they are both alike, an abomination to the Lord.”
1. How do you treat women that are not your wife or your partner?
2. How do you treat someone who you think you cannot benefit from?
3. How do you conduct yourself with fellow believers in comparison to secular friends and colleagues?
4. Are you ethical in behaviour or bankrupt of integrity, honesty, and fairness in your dealings in the marketplace or ministry? Are you motivated by integrity or personal gain?
*The summit of our ambition should be to seek God and his righteousness.*
Prayer Points:
*Prayer Point 1* - Father, create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Purify my heart by faith, purge my conscience, and cleanse me from where I miss the mark.
*Prayer Point 2* - Father, as the deer pants for streams of water, let my soul pant for You. O Lord, help me to be a God-seeker rather than a men-pleaser.
*Prayer Point 3* - Father, as I seek you, I receive the blessing that restores my rights and privileges in Christ, and the righteousness (right standing with you) that restores the glory You bestowed on me from the foundation of the world.
