God's Guidance System

God's Guidance System
Bayless Conley

In Matthew 6:22-24, Jesus tells us the impact when God has our whole heart,

"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! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

While it may not seem like it, Jesus is talking about the heart.

As we learned in our previous devotionals, if you give to God, and give for the right reasons, God has your heart. Your heart belongs to Him. When God has your heart, He can lead you; because that is how God leads, He leads through your heart.

That's really what this illustration is about. That is what He means by, "The lamp of the body is the eye."

Think about the difference light makes when trying to walk on a narrow, craggy path. When light comes into your eye, you can see your way. Your eyes, when the light is able to come in, are a built-in guidance system, aren't they?

Well, you know what? You have a guidance system God uses to lead you. That guidance system is called your heart. If God has your treasure, He has your heart. But God can't lead you through your heart if He doesn't have your heart.

If God has your heart, then He can begin to lead you. You can go anywhere He tells you to go. And interestingly enough, the loyalty of our heart is expressed through our giving. Giving and guidance tied together? According to Jesus... definitely!

Visit the Answers with Bayless Conley website for more ways to Connect with God











God Is Our Loving Father
Dr. Charles Stanley


Luke 15:11-24

Humanity tends to project its own faulty habits onto God. This is especially true regarding the nature of His love. We think we must barter, plead, or try hard to earn the Lord's favor. But as the prodigal son learned, the Father's love is unconditional.

The wayward son expected his father's love to be diminished. Therefore, he went home hoping for a place among the family servants. Imagine the boy's delight when Dad greeted him with a hug and a celebration. His actions certainly didn't merit an outpouring of affection, but Jesus' parable is all about a Father who doesn't give people what they deserve.

A love based on conduct would keep people guessing, Have I done enough? Instead, God cares for you simply because you're you, and He expects nothing in return. Consider the prodigal's life after his homecoming party. He didn't move into the servants' quarters and get to work. He was reinstated to his place as the second son of a wealthy man, with all of the privilege that entails. In the same way, believers are the Lord's cherished children (2 Cor. 6:18). When God looks at His loved ones, He doesn't focus upon past failures, faults, or sin. He sees the heirs to His kingdom—men and women who love Him and desire to spend eternity in His presence.

No matter how far we may wander from the Lord's perfect will for our lives, we are always welcome back. The Bible teaches that God's love cannot be lost, regardless of sin or poor decisions (though we may have to live with the consequences). Our Father's arms are always open.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.






Blessing Those Who Curse You
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1, by Os Hillman
01-08-2011

..."Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. It may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today." - 2 Samuel 16:11-12

As David's enemies were increasing and he was fleeing the city from his son Absolom who was seeking to take his throne, a man named Shimei began heaving rocks and cursing him as he passed by. Cursing the king was against the law, so David had every right to cut off the man's head -- as his generals were encouraging him to do. Here we see the difference between Saul and David in their response to those who would seek to do them harm. This is the defining difference between a leader who seeks to lead through a vertical dimension with God versus a horizontal fix-it mode. God knew David as a man after His own heart. Yet, David was a murderer, adulterer, and had failed in many areas of his life. But one thing separated this leader from all the rest: He had a heart that sought to please God and be in His will. When David blew it, he repented.

What is the purpose God desires to accomplish with the estranged relationship you may have with someone? Has He brought this affront to find out what is in your heart today? Will you seek revenge and solve the problem yourself? Or will you find the grace to allow God to carry out vengeance in His time if it is needed? When I learned this lesson to stay vertical with God and avoid the trap of fixing things in my own energies, it was a day of freedom. No longer was it my problem. We must examine our own heart in these matters. But if we are clean, then this affront is for character building. It is the only way God builds the deepest level of character in His saints.

A.W. Tozer tells us, "It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply." God actually rises up storms of conflict in relationships at times in order to accomplish that deeper work in our character. We cannot love our enemies in our own strength. This is graduate-level grace. Are you willing to enter this school? Are you willing to take the test? If you pass, you can expect to be elevated to a new level in the Kingdom. For He brings us through these tests as preparation for greater use in the Kingdom. You must pass the test first.


Today's Prayer
Lord, Please help me overcome these old habits that jump up to haunt me. I want to be clean and pure in heart and life. I want my thoughts and actions to glorify you and to be a witness to your power and love. Thank you for hearing me and touching me with your power and grace. Through Your Holy Spirit, I will overcome. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.


Today God Is First (TGIF) devotional message, Copyright by Os Hillman, Marketplace Leaders.



Beautiful - MercyMe



For all who are feeling unloved, unwanted even ugly is this song from MercyMe's "The Generous Mr. Lovewell" album. The Savior, Jesus knows this pain. Consider the description of the Suffering Servant in the first three verses of Isaiah 53:

1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

He died for me. He died for you.

The lyrics:

The days will come when you don't have the strength
When all you hear is you're not worth anything
Wondering if you ever could be loved
And if they truly saw your heart they'd see too much

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are made so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful

And praying that you have the heart to find
Cause you are more than what is hurting you tonight
For all the lies you've held inside so long
And they are nothing in the shadow of the cross

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are made so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful


Before you ever took a breath
Long before the world began
Of all the wonders He possessed
There was one more precious
Of all the earth and skys above
You're the one He madly loves
Enough to death

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
In His eyes

You're beautiful
You were meant for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You're meant for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His