Counselor

Jesus is described in Isaiah 9:6 as “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.”  God is alive and well in the Spirit of Christ among us. He is abiding with us and in us, Immanuel. “I will praise the Lord, who counsels me” (Psalm 16:7).  In Psalm 73:24 we read, “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you take me into glory.”  God is our Holy Counselor and we must listen and heed Him first and continually, with thanksgiving on our lips.

Jehoshaphat King of Judah, when speaking to the King of Israel regarding war said, “First seek the counsel of the Lord” (1 Kings 22:5). Good advice. People speak from emotions and intellect. Listen to God when Job tries to tell Him how to run the world, “who is this that darkens my counsel with words, without knowledge?” (Job 38:2). The Psalmist says, “Do not walk in the counsel of the wicked”  (Psalm 1:2).  Solomon in Proverbs teaches that, “Plans fail because of the lack of counsel” (Proverbs 15:22).  He is telling us as Isaiah the Prophet does, “All this comes from the Lord Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom” (Isaiah 28:29). In fact all of Wisdom literature in the Bible, Job, Psalms, Proverb, and Ecclesiastes, tell us “that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs (9:7).

Jesus tells His disciples before He ascends to heaven that, “He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever- the Spirit of Truth…This same Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send you will teach you all things” (John 14:16, 17,26).  He said, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about me” (John 15:26).   Jesus tells them that unless He goes that the Counselor will not come, but when He does, He “Will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment in regard to sin” (John 16:7). Aren’t you glad that God sent this Counselor, the Holy Spirit, to not only be with you, but to be in you?

We must seek counsel from the Lord and pray before doing anything. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and gives us life-sustaining counsel.  If you do anything in His name, you will be safe.