The compass uses a magnetized pointer positioned in a free-floating manner with markings arranged in a circle around the pointer. Originally, the markings indicated the four main cardinal directions: north, east, west, and south. Over time, improvements made the compass more accurate.

Prior to the availability of the compass, travelers depended on landmarks and a clear sky. By traveling at night, they could utilize the stars to keep the correct heading toward their destination. This led to most travel occurring during summer months because of overcast skies in the winter months. The compass does not need to rely on clear skies to point toward cardinal north.

Travelers would record data points for various locations and mark their positions relative to true north so they could consistently make additional journeys to the same location in the future. This led to the creating of degree markings in a circular pattern around the floating needle of the compass. A traveler would use the compass to lock in where true north is. By using the degree markings on the compass, they could travel in a precise direction that would take them to their intended destination.

In modern times, the use of the compass is becoming nostalgic for many. There are children learning to navigate in a wooded area so that they can find their way back to base, and the same applies to military personnel, but most people do not know how to make use of this device. Society, it seems, has lost touch with the concept of ‘true north’. When someone loses sight of the true north, they are doomed to drift aimlessly with little hope of reaching their desired destination.

As a Christ follower, our true north is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a story in the Gospel of John where He was speaking to the disciples, explaining the way to the Father in heaven.

In John 14:5-6, it says;

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

When you are feeling disoriented, your inner man is in despair, or the way ahead seems like you are in a dense fog bank, stop. Center your focus on Jesus. Ask Him for guidance and turn to His Word. In there, you will find exactly where to point yourself so that you reach the correct destination. He will, as it says in Psalm 23, lead you in the way where you will have all that you need, and you will find quiet rest.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
² He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
³ He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Prosperity is very precise. If a person heeds the Word of God and seeks His face, God Himself will cause them to prosper. He will plant ideas and visions within your spirit that bubble up into your consciousness. He will give you laser-like focus to show you exactly what action you need to increase your wealth. Instead of destroying an entire hillside to find a few paltry specs of gold, He will show you exactly where to dig and how deep to find the largest nuggets available. He will put ideas in your head and show you exactly how to do a thing that will solve a problem that plagues humanity and cause you to prosper in the solution you create.

Greed is like carpet bombing a region, hoping to take out a small part of your enemy. Prosperity is a small laser-guided warhead aimed at a precise location that does minimal damage while achieving its goal. Heed the words of Solomon in Proverbs 4:20-23.

²⁰ My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.
²¹ Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart.
²² For they are life to those who find them And health to all their body.
²³ Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

God gives us the power and ability to gain wealth. In Deuteronomy 8:18, it says;

 “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”

His purpose for giving us this power is that we may demonstrate His covenant with us. We demonstrate that covenant by showing His love and compassion to others. Sharing His “Good News” with them so they also may come to know His covenant of goodness and be blessed.

The Lord God will guide you if you give attention to His words. His desire is that we prosper in all things, not just in wealth. 3 John 1:2 says;

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

Seek the Lord, and He will guide you.

Rejoice, for you are greatly loved!

Because Lake Erie is so shallow, it warms up much faster than the other lakes and draws people from all around to swim in the comparatively tepid waters during the summer. However, there is a danger that lurks within that shallow lake. The calm water surface can become dangerous when a storm blows in. Thunderstorms on Lake Erie have taken lives because the water becomes so violently driven by the wind. The summer storms can blow in quickly and cause waves up to 10 feet or more in a matter of minutes. The winds seem to come from every direction, and the waves crash into your boat, overwhelming your ability to navigate the waters. A person can become confused about which way to go because there is no visual shoreline to navigate to. Safety seems to elude them.

There is only one way we can prepare a person for potential danger that can arise this quickly. Locals that are familiar with the rapid changes that can occur monitor the sky while enjoying themselves on the water. They keep a weather alert radio tuned to alert them to incoming weather patterns that could threaten them. They pay attention to how far out from the shore they are and how long it may take to get back to safety. The prepared person watches for signs of the contrary winds that can blow in. When those winds blow, they react without hesitation and seek shelter.

There are also storms that blow in the spirit world around us that can cause people to lose hope, their way, and even their lives. If you watch with an informed eye, you can see the storm clouds forming on the horizon. You must act quickly and not allow yourself to become caught in the storm’s violence.

Jesus promised a helper that would dwell within us and guide us in all truth. He is the One that provides the warnings of danger. He is the One who lets you know which way to go to get to safety. We find this in John 14:15-18.

¹⁵ “If you love Me, keep My commandments. ¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

If you have studied the signs and listened to the Spirit to show the way of escape, no harm will come to you.

Look at Psalm 91:1-2;

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.”

 You can see that no harm will come to a person who dwells in the shelter of the Most High. He provides your protection. Stay close to the LORD Most High. Tune into His alert system that will let you know of incoming danger. Heed the warnings without hesitation so that when, as verses 7 and 8 state,

A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked.

Because you have made the Lord the Most High your refuge and your dwelling, no evil will come upon you. No plague will come near your home because He has assigned angels to guard you in all your ways as noted in verses 11 and 12. They won’t even allow you to stub your toe!

¹¹ For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.
¹² In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Rejoice, for you are greatly loved!

“If you want to know where you are headed, listen to the words coming out of your mouth.”

Terri Savelle

God Himself only spoke what He wanted done when creating our world. Hebrews 11:3 says;

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

His faith was the substance behind His words. Every time He spoke, something happened.

There are examples throughout the Bible of people who had the conviction of God’s Word so strong in their hearts that the very words they spoke came to pass.

Joshua was one example. He was the servant of Moses throughout the journey through the wilderness. Joshua spent time getting to know God. He observed the actions and stored God’s truth in his heart. Joshua did not doubt God’s ability or power, and he understood by observation that actions based on God’s word and obedience to Him would bring about miracles otherwise unexplainable.

Each time Moses spoke to Pharaoh, in obedience to the LORD, and told Pharaoh to let God’s people go or a certain thing would happen, the curse occurred as Moses said it would. It was the LORD that did the work; Moses only spoke.

After the death of Moses, Joshua became the leader. God told him He would be with Joshua. He would be with him as He was with Moses (Joshua 1:5). As the LORD led Joshua over the Jordan River and into the Promised Land, Joshua’s obedience and words brought success to the people of Israel as they took possession of the land.

Chapter 10 of the book of Joshua records the most dramatic event. Joshua spoke to the LORD and commanded the sun and moon to stand still, and they did. Joshua 10:12,13;

¹² Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel:

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
¹³ So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. 

Your words can control nature, but you must be full of God’s Word first. Jesus gave us an example of this kind of authority. It is recorded in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 4. He and the disciples were in a boat, and a great windstorm arose, causing the waves to overrun the boat. Jesus spoke to the storm in verses 39 and 40.

³⁹ Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

You may think, ‘That was Jesus. How could I do that?’

John 14:10-14 states;

¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. ¹¹ Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

¹² “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. ¹³ And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

He says right here in verse 12 that if we believe in Him, we will do the same things He did and more.

Keep this in mind: Faith speaks. The Father does the work!

For example, the first time blood is mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis 4:10. God is speaking to Cain about his brother’s blood.

The verse reads;

And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.”

This verse suggests the concept that blood is alive, or has life, and it has a voice that God can hear. As one reads the Bible in Leviticus 17:11 the following is noted ;

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

All of chapter 17 speaks of the sanctity of blood.

Something similar can be derived from the first words a person speaks when an event occurs. It could be news received that evokes a verbal response, or it could be a sudden tragedy or surprise. Those words get put into the atmosphere, and the power you have placed in them goes to work accomplishing what you sent them to do.

The treasure that a person has stored up in their heart is what will come out of their mouth.

We are made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26; Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”).

He speaks, and by faith, what He says comes to pass. We have the same creative power within us, so we must be mindful of the words we utter first when our heart speaks before our mind can intervene.

Proverbs 18:21 says;

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

The fruit that our spoken words bear is what we will eat. Fill your heart with God’s words so that when you find yourself in a sudden situation, the first words out of your mouth will speak life and bless God instead of speaking death and curses over yourself.

Joshua

Joshua was the warrior that fought against Amalek in Exodus chapter 17 and was also the assistant to Moses that went up to the mountain of God in Exodus chapter 24. Joshua was a leader in war yet humbled himself to serve Moses in the wilderness.

In Joshua 1:1-9, God spoke to Joshua and gave him his commission to lead the people of Israel over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Three times God tells Joshua to be strong and of good courage.

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: ² “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. ³ Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. ⁴ From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. ⁵ No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. ⁶ Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. ⁷ Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. ⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua’s commission required him to conquer all the inhabitants of the land that God was giving to the people. He needed to have a powerful resolve and complete trust in God to complete this task. Verse 8 is the key to unlocking Joshua’s success.

⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Joshua focused on God in every moment of every day. Because he kept his focus on God, God made him prosperous and successful.

Solomon

Solomon was King David’s son by Bathsheba. David had other sons, but he chose Solomon to reign after him. David gave instructions to Solomon in 1 Kings 2:2-4 on how to conduct himself.

² “I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. ³ And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; ⁴ that the Lord may fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,’ He said, ‘you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’

Once again, a command to be strong is given to a leader. ‘Be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man.’

The Hebrew word given for strong in both instances is chazaq (H2388). It means to strengthen, prevail, harden, be courageous, and to be resolute.

And yet again, the key that unlocks Solomon’s success can be found in verses 3 and 4.

³ And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; ; ⁴ that the Lord may fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,’ He said, ‘you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’

As long as Solomon kept God’s commandments, the Lord would fulfill His word to King David.

God is looking for men who will be strong, be courageous, and show themselves to be men. If those men will keep the Word of the Lord in their hearts and resolve to obey Him, they will be successful leaders in all they do!

I challenge you this day, become men of resolve. Seek the Lord God with all your heart, endeavor to obey His every command, and you will become more than you could imagine.

If you have ever had days like this, you may have wondered the same questions. Our society has many answers to these questions, but few solutions. Too often the world presents an answer that may give temporary relief, but the problem does not go away.

I had to turn to the Lord to find a solution to this never-ending problem. He took me to Romans 12:1,2.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

I had to stop doing the things I had always done and present myself to Him, just as I was. Then I had to read and speak His Word over myself. As I did this, something remarkable happened: quiet peace entered my mind.

There was so much noise in my head that I would barely get 2 or 3 hours of sleep each night. But as God’s Word infiltrated my mind, He kicked out the distractions, anxieties, and quieted the noise. I did not have to do it; He did it for me!

I also read Isaiah 12:3-4 and found the solution I was lacking.

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.

My prayer is that you also will find your solution in God’s Word!

When I was young, I would hear old-timers say things that sounded odd to me. They would say, “I believe it’s going to be a harsh winter.” Or some might say, “I believe it’s going to rain today”. I would ask, “Why do you say that”? I just didn’t understand how they could make such a claim. Now, this was before there were the incredible weather computer models that we currently have, so their statements were purely from their own beliefs or observations.

How could a person get up in the morning and there not be a cloud in the sky, and yet they make a claim that it is going to rain today? The answers to my questions varied, but essentially, they had physical indications that the rain would come later that day. The air felt heavy, or their bones ached. These signs told them that rain was coming. They would look at nature and, based upon years of observation; a prediction of a harsh winter could be made.

But on my grandparents' farm, there was a difference between believing one way and knowing that way was to be. The difference was conviction. We know this will be a harsh winter. The signs are present; therefore, I must prepare. We must can up more of the harvest, stock the coal bin, do preparations to block the wintry winds and heavy snow.

When you know with certainty, you can take action with conviction. No amount of doubt, whether your own or injected by others, will sway you from what you know to be the truth. There is an example of this in the Bible. Mark chapter 9 tells of a story where the disciples of Jesus could not cast out a demon from a boy. When the boy was presented to Jesus, it immediately caused the boy to go into convulsions. Jesus asked the father how long this had been happening, and the father said, from childhood.

Mark 9:14-27 details the account.

¹⁴ And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. ¹⁵ Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. ¹⁶ And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?”

¹⁷ Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. ¹⁸ And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”

¹⁹ He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” ²⁰ Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”

And he said, “From childhood. ²² And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

²³ Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

²⁵ When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” ²⁶ Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

Notice in verse 24 the father said to Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

The father of the boy had to go from believing to knowing. He had just witnessed the disciples failing to cast the demon out, so he had doubts about the possibility of his son being delivered. He needed to transition from doubt in the disciple to faith in Jesus.

Hebrews 11:1 says;

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is the ‘knowing’ of things you hope for. It is evidence that even though you do not see it yet, it is coming. It will happen.

Faith is the conviction that despite current conditions, they will change.

You need to go from believing to knowing!

Like a child in an impoverished orphanage, they own nothing and are basically at the mercy of the caretakers. The longer the child is there, the bleaker the outlook. But then along comes someone who takes notice of that child and adopts him. Now, because the family adopted him, he is entitled to the same privileges as the natural-born children in that family. The children are no different because they all refer to the parents as mom and dad.

So, when the caretaker of that awful orphanage that God adopted you out of comes to deliver you a package of sickness or poverty, just stamp it with 'return to sender' and refuse to accept it.

Health and wealth belong to you (Psalm 103:1-5).

Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name!
² Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:
³ Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, ⁴ Who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, ⁵ Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

By the wounds Jesus suffered when He went to the cross, you are already in perfect health (1 Peter 2:24).

²⁴ who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

The Blessing of the Lord makes us wealthy and full of happiness (Proverbs 10:22).

²² The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.

Rejoice, for you are greatly loved!

This same principle works in the spiritual realm. In this realm there are only two kingdoms: the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. King Jesus reigns and rules in the kingdom of light. Satan is the ruler of the kingdom of darkness. If you are a Christ follower, you are Satan’s mortal enemy. He will use every tactic possible to prevent you from doing damage to his goals.

Have you been experiencing confrontations and setbacks and wondered why they are happening? You may think, “I read my Bible, I pray every day to God seeking His guidance. I’m following His principles that are outlined in the Bible. Why are bad things happening to me? Why does it seem like people are against me, saying things about me that are not true?”

Jesus spoke of the world’s hatred toward His followers in the Gospel of John 15:18-21;

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹ But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.”

 The truth of the matter is that people who are under the influence of the spiritual kingdom of darkness will come against you and not really understand why. The father of lies speaks into their minds, and those people project those lies onto you. Do not lose heart or think you are doing something wrong. If you are standing strong on biblical principles and are sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ., expect these things to occur.

In the book of James 1:2-4, it states;

² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

The word ‘perfect’ in the last part of this scripture refers to becoming more mature. Let patience have its perfect work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

When you use scripture, you are wielding a spiritual sword. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:17 the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. The very moment you speak God’s words; you have un-sheathed your spiritual sword and picked a fight. It becomes important to read and understand Ephesians 6:10-18. You need armor to protect yourself while you are in this fight.

Count it all Joy!!