Conscience, Courage and Confidence - Part 1

Without exception, it takes unusual courage to give God permission to direct your life. God told Noah to build the ark, gather animals and wait for earth to be flooded. Moses left his family and safety to confront the most powerful man on earth and demand that he free the Hebrew people.

Courage connected to a healthy conscience, coupled with confidence that God directs your life, generates assurance that any task can be accomplished. A clear conscience produces courage to tackle with confidence whatever you believe to be God’s will for you.

Listen to this request to God found in an eleventh century hymnal:  

God be in my head, and my understanding;

God be in my eyes, and my looking;

God be in my mouth, and my speaking;

God be in my heart, and my thinking;

God be at my end, and my departing.

With God occupying these areas of your life, you are assured of a clear conscience and success in what you choose to do.  

Follow God's Searchlight: Your Conscience - Part 3

Personal freedom depends on having courage to follow the conscience, which isn’t easy to do. Threat of personal embarrassment, peer pressure, or the need for acceptance may result in failure to heed the voice of conscience. When the voice of conscience makes you aware of wrongdoing or sin and you obey, you feel stronger and more self-assured.

Failure to follow your conscience eventually culminates in the loss of personal freedom. A man confided that when he was an adolescent he became indebted to a store owner in his small community. Time elapsed and he failed to pay the debt. Shame stole away a chunk of his integrity. The store owner died and the debt remained unpaid.

Our conscience pushes for right to be done, for amends to be made, apologies to be spoken, and forgiveness to be sought after and given. Courage is the avenue to a clear conscience. Listen to 1 John 3:21. “If our conscience does not condemn us, we have courage before God and will receive from him whatever we ask.” What a wonderful promise!