Read: Psalms 25:8 – 10  |

China, invented the first compass during the Han Dynasty between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. It was made of lodestone, which is a naturally magnetized ore of iron. Ancient Chinese people found that when suspending a loadstone, it would always point in the same direction.

Since then, compasses have evolved in how they are constructed and built. Nevertheless, the principle has not changed. Essentially a compass is a lightweight magnet, generally a magnetized needle, on a free rotating pivot.

A compass works by detecting the Earth’s natural magnetic fields. The Earth has an iron core that is part liquid and part solid crystal due to gravitational pressure. Scientists believe that movement in the liquid outer core is what produces the Earth’s magnetic field. Like all magnetic fields, the Earth’s magnetic field has two main poles, a north and south pole. The compass needle marked as “North” is really the South end of the magnetized needle, because with magnets the opposite ends attract each other.

For a believer, God is our compass. When we accept Christ into our lives, at our core – which is our hearts – Christ takes up residence. Satan the opposite or opposing force will encourage us to repel God. However, God provides us the Holy Spirit to keep us on the right path.

As believers, each day we experience magnetic attractions. We are attracted to listen to our friends, television, the internet and the radio. We also have political parties, cults and worldly philosophy of “Do what you want as long as you do not hurt anyone” also pulling us in different directions.

God gives us a free will to follow Him or Satan. Either one can be our compass based on the issue we face. When it comes to money versus love versus our emotions, we can choose God for one and Satan for the other. In fact, some may try to choose try a hybrid. They may choose to follow most of God’s will, but some of their own will. Alternatively, they may choose to follow most of their will and some of God’s will. Those choices will lead East or West, but not North towards God. The challenge is to make a conscious choice each day to choose God with every decision. Go north, young believer! Go north toward God’s way!

During Super Bowl XXXVII, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker, whose company plane went down, stranding him on a desert island for years.

Looking like Tom Hanks in the movie, the FedEx employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand. When the owner comes to the door, he explains that he survived 5 years on a deserted island, and during that whole time, he kept this package in order to deliver it to her.
She gives a simple, “Thank you.” However, he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, “If I may ask, what was in that package after all?”

She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, “Oh, nothing really. It is just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds.”

Like the contents in this package, as a believer we have a package as well. Our prayers are the only telephone we need to talk with God – get on the prayer line. The will of God is our global positioning device – position yourself where God directs. The Bible is our compass – read the Word of God and trust Him to make a way out of no way. The Holy Spirit is our water purifier – the Living Water He provides will purify our hearts and minds. Our Time, Talent and Treasure are the seeds we carry – plant the seed as God directs.

Our “package” provides the resources for our survival and growth. We must open our package and take advantage of all of the contents. When we need direction, we only need to turn to God in prayer, yield to His will, ask His direction, purify our hearts and he will lead and guide us on the proper path. Along the way, He will prompt us to plant our seeds.

Just like a compass works no matter where you are on the earth, God’s compass directions work anywhere in the universe. He will never point us in the wrong direction – follow Him!

Questions:

1. Discover – What areas of your life are you consciously “not” following God’s will? For example: Finances, Relationships, Anger Management, Foul Language, etc. Explore your answers with a prayer partner or spiritual mentor.

2. Develop – Is there a recent area in your life that you have submitted to God and you are trying it “His way”? For instance, Foul Language, Unhealthy Eating, Finances, Dating, …

3. Demonstrate – Are there areas of your life that automatically repel Satan and he is no longer effective? How did you arrive at the point where you could trust God to lead in that area? Review your answer to number one, can you use any of the lessons you learned in this area to help you in the above?