The Christian Compass...
Saturday, 18 July 2026
Welcome to This Week's Christian Compass!
Welcome back to The Christian Compass — your weekly pause to take stock, look up, and set your feet firmly on the way.
This week has carried one urgent theme from Monday right through to Friday: the old paths. We stood with the church at a crossroads, faced the cost of staying silent, asked why we're so slow to be told what to do, heard the call back from the brink, and finished with the quiet strength of the man God calls worthy. Five days, one message — stop drifting, come home to the Word, and walk it out.
To go alongside all of that, we've added two brand-new companion teachings in this issue. Start with The Road That Still Leads Home, a fresh look at Jeremiah's call to ask for the old paths and actually walk in them — you'll find it just below. And don't miss Founded on the Rock further down, on how a faith is quietly founded on the Rock long before the storm ever arrives.
So take your time through this week's Compass. Read the reviews, take the challenges, sit with the takeaways — and let the Word move from the page into your week.
With Christ's love,
Dave & Elaine
Weekly Inspirational Reflections: A weekly segment offering spiritual insights and biblical reflections to inspire and strengthen your Christian Walk…
The Road That Still Leads Home
A companion word to this week's teaching on the old paths…
We've spent the week standing at a crossroads with the church, and the question hanging over every day has been a simple one: which road? God's answer through Jeremiah has not changed in thousands of years — ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls [Jeremiah 6:16 KJV]. He does not send us looking for a new road. The world is forever selling a newer, smoother, more comfortable way — one that asks less and flatters more. But newer is not the same as better, and busier is not the same as blessed. The path that leads home is the old one: the plain Word of God, believed and obeyed.
No one wakes up and decides to leave the Lord. Drift is quiet. It happens a compromise at a time, a skipped prayer at a time, a truth softened here and a conviction shelved there. That's exactly why God tells us to stand and see before we walk. You cannot correct a drift you refuse to notice. Stop long enough this week to ask honestly: am I still on the road, or have I wandered onto an easier one?
Here is the part we love to skip. God does not say admire the old paths, or discuss them, or post about them. He says walk in them. Truth you never act on will never rest your soul. That is the whole heart of this ministry — be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only [James 1:22 KJV]. A doer is simply a believer who took one true thing and did it today.
Look at what God promises the one who walks the old way: rest for your souls. Not an easier life, not a lighter cross — rest. The deep, settled peace of a person who knows they are on the right road with the right Saviour. The world cannot sell you that at any price. It is only ever found where it has always been found: on the old path, walking with Christ.
So don't be discouraged by how far the church around you may have wandered. Reformation never begins with a crowd; it begins with one believer who turns back. Be that one. Take the Word you already have, walk it out today, and you'll find the road still leads home. Back to the Word. Back to Christ. Back to basics…
Weekly Review: exploring our daily journey of building strong spiritual foundations…
Monday 13/07/26
The Church at a Crossroads!
The church faces a genuine parting of the ways: the road of unchanging truth or the road of slow compromise into false doctrine. Error seduces rather than attacks, so the danger is real and quiet. God's remedy is to stand, look, ask for the old paths, and walk in them — choosing the truth today and living it out in daily obedience…
David Waterhouse
Tuesday 14/07/26
The Church Cannot Stay Silent Any Longer!
Many churches have blended Old Testament and New Testament teaching in a way that produces confusion, fear, and bondage. The Bible commands us to rightly divide the word of truth, and to preach Christ clearly — grace, sonship, and sound doctrine. The church must speak again with scriptural clarity, because error harms believers and obscures the gospel…
David Waterhouse
Wednesday 15/07/26
Why Won't the Church Be Told What to Do?
The modern church will sit through almost anything except a plain call to obey — and that fear of offending has turned teaching into mere talking. Yet telling us how to live is exactly what the Bible does on every page. Grace is not a licence to drift; it is a teacher that trains us to walk worthy. Truth may sting, but a wound from the Word is mercy. The way back is simple: stop being hearers only, take the plain Word, and do it…
David Waterhouse
Thursday 16/07/26
Back from the Brink: The Church Needs a New Reformation!
The modern church is in danger — not mainly from the world outside, but from wolves within who feed on the flock instead of feeding it. When a church follows them, it leaves its foundation and its path is doomed. But the Lord who warns us also calls us home. We don't need a revolution that tears everything down; we need a reformation that returns us to the old paths — back to the Word, back to Christ, back to basics. And it doesn't start with the wolves. It starts with one believer choosing to be a doer of the Word…
David Waterhouse
Friday 17/07/26
Part 2 — The Man God Calls Worthy
The world tells a man to be impressive. God tells him to walk worthy. "Worthy" doesn't mean perfect — it means fitting; a walk that matches the calling God has given in Christ. The calling comes first; the walk follows. It shows up not on the platform, but in the ordinary corners of a man's life — work, home, phone, mouth, heart. And it travels with fruitfulness. A Christian man is not measured by his worst moment, but by the direction of his life: a slow, faithful, Spirit-empowered walk that, over time, matches the One who called him…
David Waterhouse
Living Out Our Faith: Weekly Challenges! A practical guide offering weekly steps to apply your spiritual learning. These challenges turn Bible teachings into daily habits through simple, doable actions…
We've spent this week facing some hard truths about the church — the crossroads, the silence, the refusal to be told, the call back from the brink, and what it means for a man to walk worthy. But truth that stays in the head changes nothing. This is where we roll our sleeves up. Here are five simple steps — one for each day — to turn what you've read into what you live. Don't rush them. Take one a day, and do it properly. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only [James 1:22 KJV].
Monday — Choose the Old Path
The church stands at a parting of the ways, and so do you — in a hundred small choices every day. Find one place where you've been quietly drifting with the crowd, and deliberately choose the Bible's way instead. Ask for the old path, then actually walk in it. [Jeremiah 6:16 KJV]
Tuesday — Break Your Silence
Say one true thing you've been keeping quiet. Share a clear word of Scripture — grace, sonship, the finished work of Christ — with one person who needs it. Not an argument; a plain, kind, scriptural word. [2 Timothy 2:15 KJV]
Wednesday — Take the Correction
Let the Word tell you what to do. Pick the one instruction from this week that stung the most — the one you'd rather skip — and obey it before the day is out. A wound from the Word is mercy, so don't dodge it. [Hebrews 12:11 KJV]
Thursday — Start the Reformation With You
Reformation doesn't begin with the wolves; it begins with one believer coming home. Name one habit that's pulled you off the foundation, repent of it honestly, and take a single step back to Christ today. Back to the Word. Back to basics. [Revelation 2:5 KJV]
Friday — Walk Worthy in the Ordinary
Worthy isn't proven on a platform; it shows up in the ordinary corners. Choose one of them today — your work, your home, your phone, your mouth, your heart — and let your walk there match your calling. Small, faithful, Spirit-empowered. [Colossians 1:10 KJV]
That's the week. Nothing complicated, and that's the whole point. You don't need a revolution to get back on track — you need small, faithful obedience, done today and done again tomorrow. Take these one at a time, do them honestly before the Lord, and by Sunday you won't just have read about the old paths — you'll be walking them. Keep building on the Rock. Back to Basics…
This Week's Key Takeaways:
The Old Paths — five truths to carry into the week:
• The church stands at a crossroads; choose the old paths and walk in them today — [Jeremiah 6:16 KJV]
• Don't stay silent — rightly divide the Word and preach Christ plainly — [2 Timothy 2:15 KJV]
• Grace trains us to obey, not to drift; be a doer, not a hearer only — [James 1:22 KJV]
• Reformation starts with one believer coming home to the Word and to Christ — [Revelation 2:5 KJV]
• Walk worthy in the ordinary corners, matching the calling you've received — [Colossians 1:10 KJV]
Standing Strong in Faith! You are equipped with God's strength to build an unshakeable faith—one that will inspire generations to come!
Founded on the Rock
A companion word for the believer who wants to hold firm…
"Standing strong in faith" sounds wonderful until the day the wind actually blows. Then we discover whether we were built to stand, or only built to look strong. This week we've heard about churches leaving their foundation and a man learning to walk worthy — and both come down to the same question Jesus asked at the close of His most famous sermon: what did you build on?
He told of two builders. Same storm, same rain, same flood beating on both houses. The difference was never the weather; it was the foundation. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock [Matthew 7:24 KJV]. Notice again — the wise man is not the one who heard, but the one who did. Faith that stands is faith that was built, brick by obedient brick, long before the storm arrived.
Standing strong was never a call to grit your teeth and try harder. Paul's charge was be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might [Ephesians 6:10 KJV] — strong in the Lord, not in yourself. The armour we are told to put on is God's, not ours. That takes the pressure off. You are not asked to manufacture strength you don't have; you are asked to stand in strength He has already provided. Your part is to keep showing up — in the Word, in prayer, in obedience — and let His might hold you.
Here's the honest bit. No one stands strong in a single dramatic moment. We stand the way a tree does — roots going down quietly, day after day, long before anyone sees the storm it will one day survive. The prayer you pray this morning, the temptation you turn from this afternoon, the kind and truthful word you speak tonight — that is you putting roots down. Small, unseen, faithful. And having done all, to stand [Ephesians 6:13 KJV].
So take heart. You are equipped with God's strength to build a faith that outlasts you — one that will steady your own soul and inspire the generation coming behind you. You don't need to be impressive. You need to be founded. Build on the Rock. Keep doing the Word. And when the storms come, and they will, you'll still be standing — not because you were strong, but because your house was built on the One who is. That's back to basics. That's a faith built to stand…
Before You Go…
If you read nothing else this week, read the two companion teachings we've tucked into this issue: The Road That Still Leads Home near the top, and Founded on the Rock just above. One points you back to the old path; the other shows you how to stand firm on it when the wind begins to blow. Together they say the same simple thing this ministry always comes back to — hear the Word, then do it. Take one step of obedience before Sunday, and you'll have turned a good read into a changed week. See you for the Round-up…
