Psalm 101:1-3 –  I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.

The following passage possesses four powerful “I WILL’S” that every believer should take note of and put into practice in their every day walk with the Lord. Let’s break these four “I WILL’S” down.

1- I WILL sing of mercy and judgment – The Bible mentions mercy in over 290 verses in the Old Testament and 70 in the New Testament. When I think of mercy I am reminded of my own faults and failures and How God is so rich in mercy towards me that he doesn’t leave me when I slip and when fall but his mercy is quick to reach down and pick me back up! I am reminded that even while I was yet blinded by the World and living in sin his mercy was chasing and pursuing me!

Ephesians 2:4-6 – But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

Think about how merciful God was to the Ninevites who repented at the preaching of Jonah, who went on to describe God as “a gracious and compassionate God, who was slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who desires to relent from sending judgment” and that men would repent and turn back to him. Did that sink in? Our heavenly father desires mercy over judgment! Contrary to what we read in social media forums by so many who present a God who is bloodthirsty, angry and bitter, who only wants to rain death and destruction upon humanity, He is quick to have mercy upon his creation and desires that he would relent from bringing judgment. This brings us to the next point and that is that there are times when Judgment is a necessity because our God is a Holy and just God!

Revelation 19: 1-2 – After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.”

In Revelation chapter 19 the Bible tells us that Heaven will rejoice because the Lord has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and has avenged the blood of His servants shed by her.”. In the book of Genesis regarding the account of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Word tells us that the report of the wickedness and abominations that were taking place in the cities of the plains was coming up before the Lord.  “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” – Genesis 18. We discover that Abraham pleaded with the Lord to have mercy upon the cities of the plains for the sake of the righteous that were in the city but there still remained a threshold that the Lord could no longer tolerate and righteous judgment was made resulting in Sodom and Gomorrah being turned to ashes! But why would David sing about the judgment of the Lord? Why would all of Heaven rejoice over the destruction of Babylon? We must remember that justice must be served! The blood of the martyrs will be avenged and humanity must reap what they have sown. Unless you have not gone through a horrific injustice or have seen the innocent wrongfully treated you would not grasp the very thought or concept of this.

2- I WILL behave myself wisely in a perfect way. – The next “I WILL” of David is his commitment to behave himself wisely in a perfect way. The Hebrew word here for ‘Perfect” means (sound, wholesome, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity).  No one is perfect by any means and there was only one individual who was perfect in this World and that was Jesus but the emphasis here is that like David we should all be striving to walk uprightly before the Lord and pursue to be more like Christ in every way. Notice that David also asked the Lord a question after he declared that he would walk in a wholesome way and walk in integrity. He asked “O when wilt thou come unto me? why would he ask this? Because David understood that walking uprightly before the Lord keeps the line of communication open with the Lord, whereas sin separates us from the presence of God. 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. He shall receive blessing from the Lord, And righteousness from the God of his salvation. – Psalm 24:3-5

3- I WILL walk within my house with a perfect heart. –  Next, David makes a commitment to the Lord that he would not just walk uprightly in the public arena but that he would remain faithful and walk in integrity in the private arena. David understood that he could put on a front before men in public but in private when no one was looking but God he would have a choice to make. He could be one man in public and another man in private. Why is this is so important? I believe what happens in private will ultimately be made known in public, therefore God deals with us in the secret place so that it never has to be known in the public place. God isn’t taking joy in going around exposing men and women of God who fall short in areas that they may struggle in, He his ever merciful and full of Grace and will empower us to get the victory over the small foxes that spoil the vine long before they grow and become snares and traps in our walk with God. If we can’t get victory over the television at home how could we ever get victory over something far more tempting outside of our home?  That leads us to the next “I WILL” ..

4– I WILL set no wicked thing before mine eyes. – The Bible tells us that  “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Every single day you and I are exposed to thousands if not millions of images that flood our hearts and spirit, From television to the internet, social media to the public square in shopping, workplace and etc. Most of these images that we are exposed to are not evil but as the World is getting darker the enemy is flooding us with images of violence and sexual immorality with the intent to desensitize and entangle us in bondage! One recent report from CBN, stated that most parents are unaware that porn is also infiltrating mainstream social media sites such as Snapchat and Instagram.” and that many boys begin watching porn at age 11 or 12. I will be the first to tell you as a man that is probably the most difficult task to bring into discipline and that is completely guarding the eyes! Even David fell into sin that began with his eyes! He remained home when he should have been at war and one day looked at his window and saw a naked woman bathing. He didn’t immediately look away but fell into lust and adultery entered his heart and then he acted upon it! Lot looked at Sodom, and then moved to Sodom, planted his roots in Sodom and eventually ended up in bondage in Sodom! I hear people say that they just fell into an affair or adultery when the truth of the matter is that they did not guard their eyes but it began with a look and progressed from there! Check out what Job said about this matter. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman? – Job 31 ..Did you catch that? Job made a willful decision to guard his eyes against lust because he understood the consequences!

Lastly, David stated that he hated the work of them that turn aside; and that it would not cleave to him!” This is where the hope and grace come in for you and I. You may be reading these four “I WILL’s” and say “How in the World can I possibly do this? How can I walk with this kind of integrity and discipline? I believe one of the keys to this is that You and I have to get in his presence until we leave detesting the very thing that our flesh loves to indulge in. Sin is fun for a season but there are consequences If it wasn’t pleasurable no one would be falling into it and this wouldn’t be a topic of discussion! I believe for many, They truly don’t despise and hate the very thing that they are tempted with. David observed others that were turning aside from the Lord and falling back into bondage and captivity and drew a line in the sand and said “Whatever it takes! I will not allow myself to fall away”, I will start right here in my own house in the private place! I will acknowledge that God is ever merciful but is a righteous judge”! I will pursue to walk uprightly before him with the help of the Holy Spirit and his grace that when I am faced with greater temptations in the public place I will stand and not fall! What about us? Are we ready to take a stand right now in own home? Or are we going to continue to play church and put on our religious masks on Sunday morning, lifting our hands in worship and shouting in praise all the while we know we are not the same person behind closed doors in our house that we are portraying in his house? Let’s rise up Church and take a stand! As for me and my house, We shall serve the Lord!