The integrity of the honest keeps them on track. Proverbs 11:3 TM

Joseph refused the advances of Potiphar's wife, not because he thought he could not get away with it, but because he knew he could not live with himself if he accepted them.

The world needs people who cannot be bought; whose word is their bond; who put character above wealth; who possess opinions and a will; who are larger than their vocations; who don't hesitate to take chances; who won't lose their individuality in a crowd; who will be as honest in small things as they are in great things; who will make no compromise with wrong; whose ambitions are not confined to their own selfish desires; who will not say they do it "because everybody else does it"; who are true to their friends through good report and evil report, in adversity as well as in prosperity; who do not believe that shrewdness, cunning and hard-heartedness are the best qualities for winning success; who are not afraid to stand for the truth even when it's unpopular; who say "no" with emphasis, even though the rest of the world says ''yes''.

In what he calls a compromise of integrity, psychiatrist Leo Randall analyses the relationship between former President Nixon and some of his closest confidants in the Watergate scandal. He records a conversation between Senator Howard Baker and Nixon aide Herbert Porter.  Baker: 'Did you ever have qualms about what you were doing?' Porter: 'No!' Baker: 'Why?' Porter: 'Group pressure. I was afraid of not being considered a team player.'

So strive for integrity, not popularity!

Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12 NKJV

Satan is out to tempt, trap and topple you.  One of his favorite lies is that you can't fall.  He appeals to your ego: 'You have got your spiritual act together; you are too strong to stumble.  Weaker people wouldn't be able to handle it, but you can.'  This lie is intended to make you over-confident, to lead you to 'Trust in man, depend on flesh for (your) strength' and 'turn away from the Lord' (Jeremiah 17:5 NIV).  It's designed to get you to lower your guard and make you vulnerable to his schemes.  Don't play into his hands! Be wise: 'Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall' (Proverbs 16:18 NKJV).  Live on your knees.  Fortify yourself with God's Word.

Another of satan's favorite lies is that you can't stand.  This appeals to your underlying sense of unworthiness, fear and inadequacy.  He whispers, 'Look at your track record. Compared to all those other good folks in church, you are not worthy to be called a Christian.  Just give up.'  Satan wants to divert you from 'Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy' (Jude 24 NAS).  He wants to get you focused on your negatives, your wayward friends, spiritual giants who fell, and tell you that because they couldn't make it, you have no chance.  He will replay your list of shortcomings to discourage you.  Don't go for it. 'He is a liar and the father of lies' (John 8:44 NAS).  Believing him makes you his victim.  Refuse to let either pride or inadequacy defeat you.

If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 NKJV

Some of the world's greatest people have faced the world's greatest challenges, but have overcome them.

Cripple a man, and you have Sir Walter Scott.

Lock a man in prison, and you have John Bunyan.

Raise a man in abject poverty, and you have Abraham Lincoln.

Subject a man to bitter religious prejudice, and you have Benjamin Disraeli.

Strike a man down with paralysis, and you have Franklin Roosevelt.

Have someone born black in a society filled with racial discrimination, and you have Booker T. Washington, Harriet Tubman, Marian Anderson and George Washington Carver.

Make a man the first child to survive in an impoverished Italian family of 18, and you have Enrico Caruso.

Have a man born to parents who survived a Nazi concentration camp, paralyze him from the waist down when he's four years old, and you have the incomparable violinist Itzhak Perlman.

Call a man a slow learner and mentally challenged, write him off as beyond education, and you have Albert Einstein.

Helen Keller was born blind and deaf, yet she graduated from college with highest honors and impacted the world.

Margaret Thatcher, England's first and only woman Prime Minister, lived upstairs over her father's grocery store.  For a while her childhood home had no running water and no indoor plumbing.

Golda Meir, Israel's first and only woman Prime Minister, was a divorced grandmother from Milwaukee.

What do these people teach us?  That success doesn't depend on our circumstances, but on overcoming our circumstances.  And with God on our side we can do it!  Paul, one of the world's great overcomers, wrote, 'If God be for us, who can be against us?'

He will not be anxious in the year of drought. Jeremiah 17:8 NKJV

The mother of eight children came home one afternoon and noticed it was quieter than usual.  She looked in the living room and five of her little darlings were sitting in a circle, playing with five of the cutest skunks you have ever seen.  Instantly she began to scream, 'Run, children, run!'  Each child grabbed a skunk and ran in different directions.  Instead of helping, her screams scared the children so much that they each squeezed their skunk.  That day she learned, it is always too soon to panic!

In tough economic times the difference between peace and panic depends on who you are trusting in.  When you have done all you know, give it to God and don't take it back!

We live in a fear-filled world.  If you read the headlines and not the Scriptures, or listen to the 'shock jocks' instead of those who strengthen your faith, you will experience what Jesus described as 'Men's hearts failing them for fear' (Luke 21:26 KJV).

As a redeemed child of God you live by His rules, under His protection, supplied by 'His riches' (Philippians 4:19 KJV).  Here is a promise you need to stand on: 'Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit' (Jeremiah 17:7-8 NKJV).

'In the year of drought' don't panic.  Instead, trust God to come through for you.

Do not be anxious about tomorrow. Matthew 6:34 AMP

 Most of the stuff we worry about never happens, or turns out better than we anticipate. Worry, like faith, is a spiritual force.  Like a magnet, it attracts the very things we fear, clouds our judgment and distorts our perspective.

God never intended us to carry tomorrow's burdens along with today's.  So, here are three steps to help you conquer worry:

(1) Replace it.  Telling somebody not to worry doesn't work.  Worry is like an emotional spasm; the only way to break it is to replace it.  'Whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things' (Philippians 4:8 NIV).  In other words, switch the channel!

(2) Dissect it.  'Fear involves torment' (1 John 4:18 NKJV).  Worry torments you; your imagination runs amok, conjuring up all kinds of scary scenarios.  But it is also illogical; when you take it apart rationally and systemically, it loses its power to control you.

(3) Rise above it.  A well-known pastor was flying over the Mississippi River one day when the sky grew dark.  'We can't see where we're going!' he exclaimed.  Calmly the pilot replied, 'We just need to rise above the ground heat, dust and smoke.'  After climbing another 1,000 feet they emerged into a clear, beautiful world.  Faith can be the radar that pierces through the fog.

When worry tries to fog you in, you can rise above it by placing your trust in the Lord.  'Those who trust in the Lord will soar like eagles' (Isaiah 40:31 NLT).

Because you say so, I will. Luke 5:5 NIV

Until we accept and cooperate with the law of gravity, we can't fly.  Until we accept and cooperate with the law of economics, we can't succeed in business.  Getting the idea? Surrendering to God is not weakness, it's wisdom.  Only a fool resists God, because it's a fight we can't win.  It is in surrendering to Him that we are empowered to succeed in what He has called us to do.  Surrender is demonstrated by obedience.  It's saying, 'Yes, Lord' to whatever He asks.  To say, 'No, Lord' is a contradiction.  How can we call Jesus 'Lord', and refuse to obey Him? (Luke 6:46 NKJV).

Peter demonstrated true surrender when Jesus told him to try again.  'Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.  And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish' (Luke 5:5-6 NKJV).

Surrendered people obey God even when it doesn't seem to make sense.  Abraham followed God without knowing where it would take him.  Hannah waited on God's timing without knowing when.  Mary expected a miracle without knowing how.  Joseph trusted God's plan without knowing why circumstances happened as they did.  Each was fully surrendered to God, and they came out on top.  'How will I know I'm fully surrendered?' we ask.  When we rely on God to work things out instead of trying to manipulate others, force our own agenda or control the situation.

We don't have to be in charge, we simply let go and let God have His way.

The Lord has pleasure in [our] prosperity. Psalm 35:27 NKJV

God delights in seeing His children succeed; what good parent wouldn't?  Jesus said, 'If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!' (Matthew 7:11 NKJV).

David wanted to build the temple, but God chose his son Solomon instead.  Sometimes our desires differ from God's, so we need to consult Him before we make a move.  Usually God reveals His plan one step at a time.  If your desire for something persists, it's an indication that God is leading you.  So look for the signs, listen to the Holy Spirit, prayerfully evaluate everything, cultivate an instant response to God, reject all feedback that breeds doubt, ask God for wisdom and expect it.  And don't be selective about who you are willing to receive wisdom from.  After all, God once spoke through a donkey and changed history.  The Bible says, 'Ask God, and he will give it to you' (James 1:5 NLT).

Wisdom is the ability to see and interpret things through God's eyes.  What an advantage! The Psalmist says, 'The entrance of thy words giveth understanding' (Psalm 119:130 KJV).

When God saves you, He renews your mind because that's the drawing-board for your future.  Mind management should be one of your top priorities: 'Whatsoever things are good  think on these things' (Philippians 4:8 KJV).

Don't justify failure another day; refuse to stay bogged down; stop placing blame on others.  Instead circle today's date on your calendar and declare that the best days of your life are beginning right now!

You who judge others do these very same things. Romans 2:1 NLT

A woman looked out of her window every morning and commented on the dirty laundry on her neighbor's line.  One day she noticed it was sparkling clean: 'Maybe she's using a new detergent,' she remarked.  'No,' said her husband. 'I got up early and cleaned our windows.'

Hello!  When Paul talks about 'greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, gossip' (Romans 1:29 NLT), it's tempting to think it doesn't apply to you.  Then he says, 'You are just as bad, you do these very same things.'

Maybe you have never embezzled money, but have you ever short-changed somebody?  Or taken an 'iffy' tax deduction?  How about when you are stuck in traffic, or you overhear some juicy gossip?  Murder and adultery differ from hatred and lust only by degree.  Paul reserves his most scathing comments for self-righteous people.  A Pharisee of Pharisees, he knew the pattern, the danger that accompanies a feeling of moral superiority.  Just as denial keeps you from seeing a doctor about a lump or lesion, denial of sin leads to worse consequences.

A man accepted a speaking engagement from some people (Christians) involved in Twelve-Step Programs.  As he pondered what to say, it occurred to him that what recovering alcoholics confess daily, personal failure and the need for grace, represent high hurdles for those of us who take pride in independence and self-sufficiency.

Romans 3:10 NKJV says, 'There is none righteous' and God's grace is the only solution.  It comes free of charge, apart from the law and human efforts towards self-improvement, we need only hold out open, needy hands-the most difficult gesture for a self-righteous person.'