Thursday, February 26, 2009

Develop a Tender Conscience


"God will use your conscience to help lead you and keep you out of trouble," Joel Osteen says in BECOME A BETTER YOU. I attended an assembly today at a high school given by a former police officer who had a daughter, Kelsy Smith, abducted from the Target parking lot in Olathe and killed. He told us that 70% of personal safety depends on listening to your intuition. I am not sure how closely related conscience and intuition are, but I feel like both are the voice of God inside. I've called that a GPS (God's Powerful Spirit) before, and today I would like to make a case for using it. Joel says, "Don't override your own conscience. When you feel uncomfortable down inside, pull back and pay attention to what God is trying to say to you." He can protect you from danger. Joel goes on to say, "every time you obey, your conscience becomes more tender. When you obey, you're letting in more light. Your heart will be a little softer and you'll respond more quickly.....Live your life with a clear conscience. Get into God's best plan. The Scripture says in Matthew 6:22 that the lamp of the body is the eye." The former police officer advised us to be aware of our surroundings and make eye contact. It humanizes us and makes it harder for the offender to harm us. Also if we have our eyes open, we are aware of what is going on around us, and that adds to our safety. I am learning to accept direction from my inner, intuitive voice, which is my guide to knowing. I think of conscience as the urging to do the right thing. Both intuition and conscience are valuable tools of my GPS. As long as I listen to that still, small voice, I will be OK, and so will you. :)

3 comments:

Mutterguse said...

Patty, this is great. I really like the GPS relationship you mention in this blog.

I hope things go well for you all.

Patty said...

Thanks, Rozan. Frank and I talked last night about the differnce between conscience and intuition. He said that our conscience is our moral compass....guiding us to make right decisions, whereas our intuition is the urging or sometimes the warning we have inside that causes us to know what to do or where to go. I think both our conscience and intuition are our GPS system, which helps us navigate life's highways. These highways really are High Ways from God that help us do the right thing. We will see the spark of beauty in the real world where truth and freedom reign if we develop our tender conscience. The more we listen to God's guidance, the easier it will become. How do I know God's guidance? If it brings peace, it is from God. So all I have to do is ask, "Will this bring peace or turmoil?" Spend at least a few minutes every day in God's Presence. I like to spend the whole day talking to Him about what is going on in my life. "Pray without ceasing."

Frank said...

I also think there is a concept of time involved in this discussion. Intuition is closely related to instinct; instinctly knowing what is right and what is wrong. If you do the wrong thing then your moral compass kicks in and your conscience suffers as a person regrets not having done the right thing at the right time. Both of these important concepts help us and guide us in making the right decisions.