Navigating Life - 3 things to help us navigate life - J. dave adams

Hi I'm Dave Adams. I serve as the pastor of the Anaheim Baptist Fellowship in Anaheim, California. Have you ever find yourself lost or turned around? My family and I are still pretty new here to our new home in Southern California and honestly we found ourselves turned around, as we navigate from one place to another. That's why we've really grown to depend on our GPS system, and we've got one in each of our vehicles, because it's a big place, and sometimes can be a little bit confusing as to how to get from here to there. And you know sometimes we wonder... Wouldn't it be nice to have a GPS for life to to help us navigate all the twists and turns in and ups and downs of our lives and and our relationships and in our issues at work, and in the family. Something that could just kinda set it out for us. As to what's the right thing to do. We are really, we do have help in navigating life. There's a wonderful verse in Proverbs chapter 3 that's become one of my life versus. Verse 5, it says trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. You see God is very much interested and willing to help you navigate your life today. The things that your facing that leave you feeling disoriented or maybe even a bit lost, are things that God can help see you through. He can help you know what's the right call, which way to turn, to go forward or to to hold. You know there's a few basic principles I think that we can pull out of these verses in Proverbs chapter 3 that can help us navigate life better. And one of those things is to orient ourselves to Jesus each day. You know we all need a fixed-point reference otherwise we will find ourselves lost. If we don't know where True North is, then everything can't just get kind of cloudy and confused but up for the follower of Jesus, Jesus himself is our true north. He's the fixed reference point for your life. He's the one that will be there the same always and and unchanging. In Colossians 3 verse 1, Paul said: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above not on things on the earth. So if you found yourself in a place where you seem to have lost your bearing and you're not sure which way is up for down, or which way to go, reorient yourself. There's nothing like a good long conversation with the Lord to help you get your bearings again. So number one: Orient yourself to Jesus each day, and then number two: we can get reliable directions from the Bible. You know there's a lot of voices out there, a lot of people that would be glad to tell us where to go... and how to get there, but for the Christian the ultimate direction can be found in the pages of scripture. So each day we have that privilege is looking into God's Word and finding solid dependable directions, as we're leading our lives, as we're navigating through this world. The final thing we can pull out of Proverbs three, is the important to being sensitive to the guidance the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit indwells every Christian, and one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to lead us, and to guide us in Gods truth. And so the Holy Spirit is a person who's is within us and I believe the spirit prompts us and guides us. And so it's important for us to be sensitive an appreciative of his presence and it be sensitive is leading and moving, as He's guiding us in a particular way, away from certain things, toward other things, and through that we find ourselves navigating through what can sometimes be a very disorienting world. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. God bless you.