A Compass for Life's Journey - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, January 24th. Are you unsure where to go or what to do in the months ahead? As you navigate this new year, be sure to rely on the only trustworthy compass for life's journey. I have in my hand a compass and I have had it for 25 years.

It has never failed me. It's always pointed north, always pointed to the North Pole. So I can always tell by looking at this which direction I'm headed in. Now, if I put it in my pocket and I don't look at it, it doesn't do me any good. But if I will take it out and look at it, I will always know which direction I'm headed in. And I have been in some places a few times without it.

I wish I'd had it because I needed it. And on one occasion when I was with a guide, I told him I thought we were heading in the wrong direction. He said, oh, no, I've traveled this path many times and I know it's not the wrong direction. I pull out my compass and I said, well, sir, either I have got to believe you or I've got to believe my compass. And I'm going to believe my compass because it never fails.

Well, finally, he admitted that we were right. And so we finally got where we were going. And so when I think about this, it points in eight different directions. There's north and northeast and east. Then there's southeast and south. Then there's southwest and west.

And then there's northwest. So there are eight different directions it's going to point me in. And just to know that I can trust that all the time is a great sense of security. And what I want to do in this message is this, and I want to talk about a compass for life's journey. And what I want to do is simply this, I want to take a passage of Scripture, one of the most important passages of Scripture in the Bible to me personally, because right after I was saved, somehow by the grace of God and His goodness, I came across this passage of Scripture. And there are two verses primarily that God spoke to my heart about.

And then after a few years went by, I realized that there was so much more here. And so what I want us to do is I want us to read this passage of Scripture. And then here's what we're going to do. I'm going to show you why this Bible and this passage of Scripture is an awesome guide for your life and mine. And this passage alone will always keep you headed in the right direction. And then when we talk about how it directs us, I want to talk about the value that following this, listen, this compass that never points us in the wrong direction.

But listen, I want to show you the value of simply doing and following the compass. So I want you to turn if you will to Proverbs chapter three. And I usually don't read a long passage of Scripture, but there are 12 verses in this passage. But it's a wonderful passage.

And I would just encourage you, if you're at home or wherever you may be, to get your Bible and to read these 12 verses with us. They're precious verses. They're so full. They're so awesome.

They cover so much of what every single one of us has to deal with in life. There's not a single person who will listen to this message, who will not say, I needed to hear that. That speaks to my heart. Now you say, well, I'm not even a Christian.

But deep down inside when you hear what I'm going to say, you're going to have to say, Yeah, I probably did need to hear that. So beginning in verse one, My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments. For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Do not let kindness and truth leave you. Bind them around your neck and write them on the tablet of your heart, so you'll find favor and good report or a good reputation. In the sight of God and man, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding, and all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight or direct your path. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones. Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce.

So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord or loathe His reproof. For whom the Lord loves, He reproves, even as the Father corrects the Son in whom He delights. Now I believe this number one because it is Scripture.

I believe it for the second reason because I was saved when I was twelve years of age. Right after that, these two verses, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path. Those two verses became like an anchor to my own thinking. And then as I began to read later on in life, a little later on, these other verses helped me to realize that here in one passage is a compass for living. And I can tell you, God can be trusted to be faithful.

This passage will always keep you walking in the right direction. And oftentimes we have difficulty when God requires of us something that we see as difficult for us. And we say, Well God, but how? And because we can't figure it out, we don't trust Him. And when we do not trust Him in any area of our life, we're insulting God. What we're saying and what we're implying is this, He's not trustworthy. He says, I'm calling you to do this work.

Or here's what I want you to say here. And we say, Well, I just don't think I can do it. God by His nature would never call you to do something He will not equip you to do. He will not call you to give something He'll not provide the resources for. He's not going to lead you into a lifestyle for which He has not equipped you in your gifts and talents and skills and abilities. Therefore, to deny Him His rightful place in your life of trusting Him, you are saying to Him, I can't trust You. I don't believe You. Oh, I never tell God that your actions shout it to Him.

Think about here's this righteous God who never makes a mistake, who loves you unconditionally, who will never mislead you and you're telling Him, you don't believe Him? You know what it says? You've closed the compass. You've got it laying on your table beside your bed.

Are you having it on a desk somewhere in your house? You have the compass, but you're not reading it. It's one thing to put it in your pocket. It's something else to read it. And here's what you're going to find every single time it's always trust, trust, trust, trust in the Lord, not necessarily trust in people trust in the Lord, who is dependable and faithful. Trust the Lord, lean not to your own understanding. Listen, there are many things in your life in my life, we can't understand many things that God would require of us in my own life, I can say that I didn't understand at the time, things He required of me that I was afraid to do. And so I had to come to the place of saying, am I going to trust you that bring me through this, though I don't see how, I don't feel adequate, I feel so absolutely inadequate to do this, am I going to trust them or am I not?

And so sometimes we waver back and forth, and we waver back and forth for different reasons. And I think about my grandchildren, some of them live in California, and I was out there two, three years ago. And so the first day I was there, they said, Gramps, as they call me Gimp's, then when they got a little old, they call me Gramps.

I don't know what they're calling me when they get 21. But they said, we want to go for a hike. Well, they took me on a real California mountain hike, which was fun. We got home that night, they said, why are we going kayaking? You want to go, are you going with us, Gramps?

Yeah, I'm going with you, it's fine. So the next day, we head down to get into kayaks. And so my grandson said, Gramps, I'm riding with you.

There's two places for two people, each one. So I'm riding with you. I said, well, fine.

So they sort of talked among themselves. And since he was the oldest, riding with Gramps. So we get there, about five minutes before we get there, he says, Gramps, have you ever ridden in a kayak before?

Listen, this is his response. I said, no, he said, Dad, I'm going with you. Now, I didn't blame him, really. I didn't blame him at all.

But he wanted to make sure, in other words, he had faith in me until he found out I had no experience. But let me tell you about my awesome granddaughter. She said, younger than he, she said, Gramps, I'll go with you. So we get in the kayaks, we're about 100 yards out in the water, and it's crystal clear.

It's just beautiful. You can see the bottom, it's very deep. So she's up in front. And I said, Well, Annie, how you doing? She said, Gramps, to be honest, I'm petrified.

But she went anyway. And you know what, I thought about the times when God's required something of me. And I've sort of felt petrified. But you know what, I did it anyway. And I can tell you, in all these years that I've tried to live by this passage of Scripture, not one time has He ever misled me. Not one time in the most difficult, frightening, trying things of my life has He ever failed me to keep me headed in the right direction, and in the process, blessing me for it.

Now think about this. I want you to see the value. And all these eight values are right here.

The value of following the compass. Here's what he says, My son, do not forget my teaching. Let your heart keep my commandments.

So here's what he says. One of the first values is length of days and years of life and peace they'll add to you. He says, Listen, you want your days to be more productive. You want your years to be more fruitful.

Listen, do you want the best of what God has to offer? You think about how many people waste so much time on a given day. And if I call somebody and they say, What you doing? Well, I'm not doing anything. My first response is, Well, then you need to get busy. Because before we get off this phone, some of your life is already gone, and you wasted it. We should listen, we should be busy about the right things in life.

Does this mean we don't ever take a break? No, I'm not talking about that. But what I want you to see is this, he says, when you follow this compass, here's what you can expect. Length of days, years of life, they will add to you. Are you saying to me that I'll live long if I obey God? I can't guarantee that. But I can tell you one thing, more than likely, more than likely you might. One thing I can say is this, life will be better if you follow the compass. So he says, first of all, your days and your years are going to be better. The second thing he says is, listen, accompanying those days and years, he says, and peace they will add to you. Listen to this, that doesn't mean that our life is just going to be full of hmm, everything is just fine and wonderful every day.

It means some days are going to be hmm, some days are going to be ugh. Here's what he says, when the days are difficult and painful, there will be this peace, this sustaining peace, this overwhelming sense of comfort and assurance, my God is walking with me through this. When you walk His path, you follow His compass, what does He say? He says, length of days and years of life and peace they're going to add to you.

Then notice what he says, not only that, every one of these makes it valuable for us. He says, so you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man. Think about this, do you want the favor of God in your life personally? Do you want the favor of God upon your family? Do you want the favor of God in the life of your children?

Do you want the favor of God bestowed upon you? When you follow the compass, what happens is he says, listen, we have the favor of God. That, listen, that means the good things of God, God's plan, His provision, His best comes our way.

And now we can handle it, why? Because we're on the right path, doing the right thing. Then if you'll notice, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean out your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge Him, He will direct your path. One of the values of following the compass is He will direct your path.

He'll make it straight. You know what, you can't choose a better path than God's path. This compass is going to lead you, listen, to do the right thing every time and what's going to happen is He's going to give you direction. Do you think God would withhold direction from you when you need direction in your life? If you stay with the compass, listen, there's not a single area of your life, and I repeat this, where as you need direction, God will give you direction from this compass if you will meditate upon it and read it, let it soak into your mind and heart. Another value is this, and that is, listen to what He says, healing of the body. Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from it.

It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones, healing to your body. Are you saying to me that I'll never get sick if I obey God? No, I wouldn't say that. Are you saying that I will be healthier if I follow this compass?

And the answer is absolutely yes. God did not make these physical bodies to live with bitterness, hostility, anger, resentment, depression, and all the rest. He says, listen, if you follow this compass, it will be healing to your body.

You can't deny this. Do not be wise in your own eyes, obey God. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil, it will heal, listen, it'll be healing to your body. And the next value, listen, in the same verse, and refreshment to your bones. What does He mean by that? It means, listen, God will, He will energize you, refresh you. And I think about how many people get up every morning, oh, oh, I gotta get up.

It says something to me about either their job, their attitude, their emotional state. Why not wake up excited about the day? You say, well, you just don't know about my day. God does. And I can tell you this, when you're walking His pathway, you're following His guide, you're gonna be healthier, you're gonna be excited, you're gonna have some goals out there in your life.

You know what's gonna happen? You're gonna have divine energy. Here's a promise from God. I know this, whatever I need to do in a given day, I'm going to have what it takes to do it to the best of my ability because He says, and refreshment to your bones. Look at this value. Father's plenty.

Look at this. Verse nine, honor the Lord from your wealth, from the first of all your produce, so your barns will be filled with plenty and your bats will overflow with new wine. Here is a promise from God. When you and I follow this compass, what this means is there will always, listen, always be enough, He says, so your barns will be filled with plenty, meet your needs. Look at this, your bats will overflow with new wine, which means I'm not only gonna have what I need, but God, because of His will and purpose for our lives, is gonna give us enough to share with somebody else. You see, if you trust Him, what you do is you set yourself on the path of blessing. And listen to this last value.

The last value is this, a Father's loving correction. You say, I don't want that in my life. And you know what? You get off the path. Every single one of us get off the path. When I had my eye surgery and I couldn't read for a solid month, one verse of Scripture can be a single verse for about three and a half weeks of prayer. I thought, God, what's my thinking? And I prayed and I prayed and I prayed and I quoted as many verses as I knew to keep God's Word in my mind and heart. I wanted to keep hearing from Him and it had to come from within me because I couldn't read it.

And then got some CDs with the Scripture on them so I could fill my mind and heart with the Word of God. We'll get off the path if we don't stay with a compass. Now look at that. An eightfold sense of direction that every single one of us need. An eightfold blessing that follows, the assurance. He shows us how valuable it is to follow His compass.

I don't know where you are in life, but this much I know. Our Heavenly Father has planned the best for you. And in one single passage of Scripture, He will guide your life in the right direction no matter what you're facing.

And the awesome value, listen, fruitful days and years and His approval and His peace, listen, and all the things that He promises you, His direction for life and healing from our body and divine energy and the Father's plenty and He'll be there to correct me when I need it to protect me from doing the wrong thing. There's no compass like this one. And if you take the compass and lay it down, what you're doing is you're positioning yourself to get off the path.

And I want to challenge you. I want to challenge you to read the Scripture over and over again. Let it be the compass of your life to keep you on the right path so that you'll have God's absolute best blessings for your life for the future.

It's a choice you make and I trust that you'll make a wise choice. Thank you for listening to part two of I Compass for Life's Journey. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.