I Timothy 1:18-19 “……that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and good conscience.”     As a spiritual leader and Christian, we make hundreds of decisions every day and these decisions are impacted by our conscience and the Holy Spirit.  We cannot allow these two indwelling guidance systems to become desensitized and callous.  That is a dangerous place to be.  God has given us an inner sense of right and wrong to be used in parallel with the Holy Spirit and His Word when we make these daily choices.  Our conscience serves as the “alarm system,” when we are about to make a mistake or bad decision.  It is like the security system in our homes, computers and cars that warn us about a danger ahead and that we need to take caution and action.  What can throw off our warning system?  It is sin and disobedience.

Sin and disobedience to not do what God would have us to do results in ignoring our conscience and God’s Spirit and Word.  Our conscience warns us repeatedly but will eventually become silenced and insensitive when we ignore the distress and alarm system.  The conscience becomes seared and we make the wrong decisions.  We wage good warfare and protect our lives and those whom we lead when we obediently follow our conscience and the Holy Spirit.  If we don’t, it is like driving into a busy intersection with all the traffic signals turned off.  Disaster awaits a leader who has declined to this position.  We must keep our internal signals in excellent working order.  God provides us a clear conscience to lead, protect and maintain our decision-making process in the Christian life.  His GPS is far better than ours, but we must listen to and follow its guidance.