The apostle Paul wrote about our consciences frequently. He said that he kept a clear conscience before God (Acts 23:1, 24:16, 1 Corinthians 4:4, 2 Timothy 1:3,) and he said that we should do same (Romans 13:5, 1 Timothy 1:5, 19, 3:9) so that we don't shipwreck our faith. We can know that we are hearing from God by listening to our conscience.

~ "I speak truth in Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in Holy Spirit" (Romans 9:1).

~ "Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in world, and especially in our relations with you, in holiness and sincerity that are from God" (2 Corinthians 1:12).

~ Our consciences "bear witness" to truth (Romans 2:15), because truth is "plain to our conscience" (2 Corinthians 5:11), and "the Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit" (Romans 8:16) to confirm truth.

If we learn to obey our conscience and let peace be our umpire, we will be able to let God lead our daily lives and assure ourselves of success and prosperity.

I suggest that you set aside at least one half hour of study per day. One hour is better but you might just want to begin with a half an hour until habit is formed. Make it something sacred and don't neglect it for anything but most serious of reasons. You will soon reach a point where you know a great deal more than you need to know when giving a speech. This increases your self confidence and really helps you when someone from audience asks you a question that you have to answer extemporaneously. Your comfort with answering questions will impress and leave people believing that presumption they had about you being an expert was correct. Your reputation as an knowledgeable speaker begins to grow and so does your career.

You are invited to take a look at my speaking schedule at http://motivationalplus.com/cgi/a/t.cgi?schedule

Mike Moore is an international speaker/humorist whose articles and cartoons have appeared in publications throughout Canada and the United States