Prayer: Recalibrate My Compass, Lord
1 Timothy 1:5 (ESV)
The AIM of our charge is LOVE that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
“SIN” in Greek is “hamartano,” which is literally “to miss the mark,” like an arrow that fails to hit the bullseye.
Sin is not just doing what is evil but also neglecting to do what is right! The greatest “sin” is missing the “bullseye” of the greatest commandment. The two greatest commandments are:
- Love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Deut 6:5)
- Love one another as Christ loved us (John 13:34).
[See also: Mark 12:28-33.]
Paul told Timothy: “The AIM…is LOVE.” But mankind has lost its aim:
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned (“missed the bullseye”) and fall short of the glory of God.
We Need a Compass!
A ship traveling the great ocean needs an accurate COMPASS to reach its destination successfully. A compass needle should always point north, but it can gradually drift off course. Therefore, the captain must periodically recalibrate his compass to point north again accurately.
Just consider that if a compass is only in error by one or two degrees, the error would be insignificant for very short trips. However, the longer the distance, the further off-course the ship would become. Our Christian life is a long voyage from here to glory, and for that reason, it is even more crucial that our compass must be recalibrated often to a trusted source to ensure it is always directing us correctly towards the Eternal Purpose of God.
God created man with a body, soul, and spirit (1 Thess 5:23):
- BODY = world-conscious through the five senses.
- SOUL = self-conscious, the seat of man’s free will, thoughts, conscience, and emotions.
- SPIRIT = the “Breath of Life” God breathed into man (Gen 2:7). Man’s spirit is God-conscious, directed toward God with two key faculties:
- FELLOWSHIP with God (worship);
- REVELATION of God (knowing Him) by the Word.
God meant for man’s spirit to serve as a compass, always pointing to God, even through the worst storms life may bring. But when Adam disobeyed, his spirit died, and that compass ceased functioning correctly. Mankind is adrift and lost in the vast ocean of this life.
What is the solution for man’s broken navigational system?
The GOSPEL – the Good News!
Jesus paid our sin debt on the Cross and He gives us New Life by His resurrection. When we receive Christ, we are BORN AGAIN, and God puts within us a “new spirit” – the breath of Eternal Life (Eze 36:26). It is a brand new navigational system!
At WATER BAPTISM, by faith in the “working of God” (Col 2:12) our old nature, the “heart of stone” (Eze 36:26) is dealt with, we offer an “appeal to God for a good conscience” (1 Pet 3:21), and we are raised from that “burial” to “walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3-4).
At the BAPTISM in the SPIRIT (also referred to as “the Promise of the Father” → Luke 11:13; 24:49; Acts 1:4-5,8; 2:1-4,33,38-39), God puts His Spirit within us (Eze 36:27) to empower our new navigational system and to help us maintain its calibration.
This is my prayer for DAILY RECALIBRATION:
Thank You, Father, for Jesus and the Good News of the Gospel. You have caused me to be born again into Your Family, and You placed within me a new spirit. I feel Your tug upon my spirit, drawing me ever closer to You. That’s the new “compass” at work!
Yet, my ship’s compass needs daily recalibration on this vast ocean. This world and this earthly life are filled with so many distractions fighting viciously to cause me to “miss the bullseye” – the destination of Your Eternal Purpose (Rom 8:28-29; Eph 1:3-9; 2 Cor 3:18).
So, as Jesus taught us, I pray today:
Your Kingdom come. Your will – Your direction and destiny – be done in my life here on earth as it is in Heaven. Not my will, Father, but Yours be done! (Mat 6:10; Luke 22:41-44)
Lord God, recalibrate my compass, my spirit! I ask You to remagnetize the needle of my compass by Your Spirit and Your Word so nothing else can attract that needle but You!
Holy Spirit, “Spirit of wisdom and revelation,” open the eyes of my spirit to know Jesus. Grant me fresh assurance of the hope of Your calling, the glory of Your inheritance in the saints, and the exceeding greatness of Your power at work within me (Eph 1:16-19).
Father God, I believe and confess with my mouth these precious promises:
Deuteronomy 30:6
The Lord your God will circumcise your heart [cut away all other distractions!] and the heart of your descendants, to LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul…
2 Thessalonians 3:5
The Lord DIRECT your hearts into the LOVE of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
I add my voice of faith to these promises by saying, “YES and AMEN” (2 Cor 1:20; 4:13)!
Thank You, Holy Spirit, for recharging me by pouring God’s love within me (Rom 5:5).
I will “pray with the spirit” (1 Cor 14:2,14-18) to recharge my faith and to “keep myself in the love of God”:
Jude 1:20-21
But you, beloved, building [recharging] yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
DIRECT MY HEART, O God, and keep my compass passionately magnetized and ever pointing toward this “bullseye”:
To love You with a love that overflows toward others, and to lovingly long for Jesus’ soon return in glory!
In Jesus’ Precious Name, Amen.
