CHAPTER 8: INTEGRATION 2025
How to integrate God into everything I do? Why bother?
2 Timothy 2:5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
Psalm 119:2-3 “Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths. ”
Let’s define the word Integrate. To integrate: Combine one thing with another so that they become a whole.
There are seven chapters before this one. Original Blueprint, FreeFall, Line-up and Wait, Black Forest, God’s Word is Your Primary Weapon, Acceptance, and now Chapter 8, Integration. They fit together to tell the story of self will re-aligned, repurposed.
All of us have been busy, very busy, and it didn’t work out. Why not?
Under my own authority I got a lot done, then why didn’t it stick? I’ll give you the answer today. The question is will you believe me and for how long.
First, we all want to get out of trouble. God wants me out of trouble, too. And He is more than willing to help.
Jeremiah 33:2-3 “Thus says the Lord who made the earth,[a] the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: 3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
“Can God exist in one part of your life and not another? Is God a one way ticket to give me what I want? Is God the ticket to fixing everything back to the way I like it? Is God waiting for me to have a convenient time to talk to Him, and until then He is to watch over me? Is it up to me to pick and choose what I learn? Is remembering scripture or testimony really that important? I’m a good person. I read the Bible when time permits. Somethings in the Bible are very good, somethings are just outdated, understandably. God is a personal issue, not to be shared. God, as I understand it, shouldn’t be judgmental. My Jesus is different than your Jesus.
All these things have been said but me or you, until not one of them made sense anymore. If, any of them make sense to you now, stop and pray that Jesus open your eyes.
Luke 11:34-43 Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light. But when it is bad, your body is also full of darkness. 35 Take care then, that the light in you is not darkness. 36 If, therefore, your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be entirely illuminated, as when a lamp shines its light on you.”[b]
The problem is how much God Integration, I’m willing to do. You see as long as there’s credit left on the card, people will use the card. Same with a business. As long as there is credit left somewhere, people will take it, instead of fixing the problem. And even after repairs are done in life, easy to say, I did this, God didn’t have anything to do with it. Oh, yea, prior to God righting all that was wrong, there was no hope, not a chance, and then the miracle of God happens and after a bit, even a miracle of God is taken for granted. Human nature, it is very, very dangerous.
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
What does the Bible say about integration? God is the original teacher of integration, thus the phrase, everything is everything.
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.
Okay, so there it is, the key phrase, “have been called according to his purpose.”
How do I know if I have been called to His purpose?
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Let’s just say that isn’t clear enough. How is integration to be understood with just that scripture?
John 14:15-31 Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you.
Jesus gives me the “Spirit of Truth?” Who is Jesus? If I am to believe that I need God in everything I do, who is my teacher? Where did Jesus come from?
John 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
Okay, if still I’m skeptical. I believe that God is God, but I don’t need to go overboard. There’s got to be more to life than this. What do you mean, integration? I mean, serving the Lord, in all areas of your life, striving to know more, in the gratitude of being able to live this life in a way that makes sense. I’ve never been able to make sense of it for very long. Short periods of time, and now faced with the miracle of a second chance, I still don’t know, “who is God?”
Ephesians 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
If, at this point, there is nothing making sense, I’m simply in a temporary holding pattern, success will come and it will surely go. Peace of mind will be occasional, and my thoughts will never stay consistent. Years will go by, and nothing gathered will stay gathered.
For those of you who resonate with this lesson, we continue. For those who do not, maybe, a miracle will take place, …, in you, for you, with you. I hope so. Without integration of God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit in all matters, life is just a dream, a frustrating myriad of hopes and projects that yield a little and take so much.
America, made it pretty far with Judeo/Christian values, until it didn’t. Madalyn Murray O’Hair took on the Supreme Court to get prayer out of schools. America has not been the same, since.
Business is good in the prison systems and public schools are a wreck. Has America lost its way? Well, America starts with me, God starts with me, family starts with me, and when I do not follow the rules in all areas of my life, I lose my way. What way is that?
Deuteronomy 10:12 ….what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
How do I handle all this integration? I’m handling it right now. It ain’t easy, it ain’t pretty, but this is integration at work, right now, on this phone with you, couldn’t do it without God. Without God I am direction without direction.
Luke 16:10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.
How to keep the Lord in every aspect of life? First, it’s important to put myself in His life, His existence. Yea, I join, …Him! Not vice-versa. That came as quite an epiphany to me!
Matthew 12:30-31 ..He who is not with Me [once and for all on My side] is against Me; and he who does not [unequivocally] gather with Me scatters.
“Okay, so, integration of God in my work, in my family, in my thoughts, in my chores, in my relationships, in my day, in my, in my, in my, in my .., how much more can there be and why? My business is doing better, let’s just stick to accounting, that was my problem, not God, I’m okay with God, I don’t need this.”
I get it, but that doesn’t change anything I’m saying. Let me explain something. Companies get better, people get better, but without God, they don’t stay better. Now, if that’s not enough, here’s the brutal fact that nobody, actually believes. As a Believer in Christ, this is truth.
He is coming. All must be prepared who will be prepared. What does that mean? It means that when He comes, He’s coming to take those ready to go. It is called the Rapture. If you miss the boat, and you’re still alive, meaning it could happen tomorrow, and well, I missed this bus, I’ll catch the next. Guess what? Here’s the part where everybody checks out.
The Tribulation, end times, it is best to be gone before all that, and He is coming for those who are waiting and working and Integrating God in every single aspect of life, to struggle against self. The 7 year tribulation, basically, end times, is as it is written, Hell on Earth. Could God really be using my business to get my attention and help me see, that all the chores are important, only if I see God in all of it, and move myself into the heart of God, and God into the stubborn heart of me. So, the rapture…
1 Thessalonians 4:17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Matthew 24:40-44 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. 42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what [a]hour your Lord is coming.
Don’t Need this? Don’t get it, I know! I remember.
“Too much fire and brimstone, fear and “you better do, or else!” Don’t like it, right? I get it! Totally. But. Consider listening, anyway.
“What about my business, accounting, chores, money, bills, climbing the ladder, c’mon!!” All very important, truly. Why? To bring glory and honor to the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ, who gave me these chores to do.
Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Ephesians 5:16-17 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
“You only have a few minutes left in this life, what are you going to do with yours?” God’s Integration? Or Disintegration, or Incineration?” Your choice. A little or a lot. But there could be a problem with partial integration of God.
Revelation 3:16, reads: “So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth”.
Matthew 25:30-40 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
With Him in everything I do, still I have a rough go of it, but life makes sense. Common sense is not so common and stupid is very, very just expensive, and sometimes, deadly.
Proverbs 1:24-27 since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—
“Hey, man, that’s not my god!” I get it, but then scripture..
Revelation 3:16-18 You say, `I am rich and have many things. I need nothing.’ You do not know that you are in trouble and need help. You are poor. You are blind. And you have no clothes to wear.
How many argue that point and are self-assured that they’re doing fine. How many argue when given a second chance? How many of you will still be on this phone, one year from today, two years or more? Think about it. Those who stay the course? Those who take the miracle of God, to heart.
Deuteronomy 6:5-8 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Everybody wants to be a big shot, with little or no time to prepare. Find the time, make the time, do the work…
Romans 10:13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Let’s just say I did that. Romans 10:13. What happens? I’ll tell you what happened to me. Slowly, carefully, God reveals Himself.
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
Integration 2025, Chapter 8.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Go ahead, prove me wrong, try it, this integration of God in everything. If it doesn’t work, ok, you win, but the key phrase here is “try it,” because if it does work, you truly win.
Amen.
