One of the mistakes that Abraham made was that he lied about his wife by calling her his sister. And she was dragged off into a pagan king's harem. But, just as before, our ever-gracious God intervened.

God came to King Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him,

"Behold, thou art but a dead man. For the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife." But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, "Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, 'She is my sister?' And she, even she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands have I done this." And God said unto him in a dream, "Yea, I know that thou didst this in integrity of thy heart, for I also withheld thee from sinning against me; therefore suffered I thee to touch her."
(Gen. 20:3-6)

Think about the irony of this situation. Here is a pagan king acting with integrity, while Abraham, the man of God, is not! What would cause such a strange reversal? What would cause Abraham to so flagrantly compromise his integrity?

It was unbelief.

Don't Act On Unbelief
God had vowed to Abraham that He would bless those who blessed him and curse those who cursed him. But obviously Abraham didn't believe that. When he felt threatened by the foreign kings, he chose to rely on manipulation and deception rather than the promises of God. He compromised his integrity out of sheer unbelief.

Acting on your unbelief is one of the most dangerous things you can do. Unbelief is really a type of negative faith. It is belief in a negative outcome. James 2:17 tells us that "faith without corresponding action is dead." Corresponding action energizes your faith. The same is true of negative faith. When you act on unbelief, it is activated to bring about the very result you fear.

This is why so many people never reach the point of being fully persuaded. Even though they hear the Word, which brings faith, they continue to act on an area of unbelief. That unbelief is then spiritually energized rather than their faith. As a result, they never become fully persuaded.

There are few things more important to you than your integrity. It is vital that you be a person of your word. You're not going to receive God's promises in your life if you're compromising your integrity. When you tell someone you are going to do something, do it.

Be a person of integrity. If you don't, like Abraham, you'll find yourself inadvertently postponing the day of becoming fully persuaded.

Source: Real Faith Never Fails by Mac Hammond.
Excerpt permission granted by Mac Hammond Ministries