Our Counselor

Our Counselor

God is also called “Counselor.” The world is presently spending

enormous amounts of money on counselors. People are running

to marriage, financial, and psychiatric counselors looking for

answers to their problems. As Christians, we have access to the

best counsel available.

We have access to the highest wisdom and knowledge in the

world through Jesus. As Christians, we forget this fact many times

and seek counsel from the wrong sources. There are even Christians

that are seeking knowledge through the occult when they

should be seeking Jesus. Many are going to fortune-tellers, palmists

and spiritualists for their answers. Others are consulting astrology

and horoscope charts for guidance and counsel. Most are

not aware that by doing this they are opening their spirits to witchcraft

influences (Deuteronomy 18:10-22, Isaiah 8:19-20, Acts

19:18-20). Christians are suffering from demonic harassment that

takes such forms as abnormal fears, nightmares, unusual and tormenting

sights and sounds, freak accidents, fatal illnesses and torturous

diseases. The root causes of these things can be any type

of satanic involvement. The Lord meant for us to seek His counsel,

not the devil’s nor the world’s.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are one means by which the Lord

speaks to His people. He is restoring these neglected gifts that are

so needed in the church today such as the true gift of prophecy,

the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom (1 Corinthians

12:8-10). Since the church has discarded these over the centuries,

man has sought the false prophets for their answers. God

wants to show us the direction we are to take and to reveal the

things that we need to know regarding the future.

These beautiful gifts give us guidance and hope. Hope is

almost a forgotten teaching in the church today. We hear a lot

about faith and love, but little teaching about hope. The Lord,

through true prophets and prophetesses, speaks words to encour27

age, edify and give His children hope (Ephesians 4:11-12, Luke

2:36-37, Acts 21:9). We must have hope for a better day, or the

trials and evils around us will overcome us.

The Lord would have us seek those men and women who

have godly counsel, so that we won’t be ensnared in the traps of

the enemy. If we look at our problems, we may feel as if there are

no answers to them. They are too enormous, and our lives are so

entangled that we see no way out. However, if we look to God,

there is no problem too big for Him to solve. Our main objection

to turning our problems over to God is that we don’t want to do

it His way. We either want it done instantly, or we consider His

way too hard. We live in an age of instant coffee, instant tea,

instant mashed potatoes, and we want instant answers.

God operates by the principles in His Word, so we must line

up with those principles if we expect to overcome our problems.

For example, if we have financial problems, we need to examine

God’s Word for what He has to say about financial problems, and

then line up with that Word. Are we handling our money wisely?

Are we tithing and giving to God’s work? Are we lazy or slothful

on our job? Are we in debt for our lustful wants? Do we really

need the things we buy? Are we wasteful? Are we living for God

or for self? Do our money and material possessions belong to

God? Are we willing to leave material things behind should God

call us to do so? Are we willing to sell all and give to the poor? All

of these questions posed here have their answers in God’s Word.

If we take time to study it and ask God what we need to do to

correct our situation, He will show us.

We are usually asked to take one step at a time to correct

our situation, as the Lord leads. Then after we have obeyed in

that step, He leads us to the next one. We must give the Holy

Spirit time to help us straighten up our lives. We did not get into

a mess overnight, so it may take some time to get out of it. However,

if we will continue to walk in the Lord’s counsel, he will

correct our situation.

Maybe our problem is a stormy marriage or unruly children.

The Word of God tells us how to correct these problems. Prayer

can change any unbearable situation, making all things new in

Christ. The key is to follow God’s way in solving the problem.

Perhaps the problem is a health problem. Many people are

seeking God to heal them but are refusing to change their eating

habits or emotional indulgences. Some people have even received

healings from God, but have not kept them because they continued

to violate His natural laws. If a man was healed of ulcers, yet

went back to filling his stomach with everything he wanted to eat

with no restraint and still harbored resentment in his heart against

others, he could soon have the ulcer again. The symptom may

have disappeared for a season but the root cause of the problem

remained.

We are seeing the Lord heal many people today only because

of His mercy and grace, yet many are not remaining healed.

Many then think they really did not get healed after all. This is not

true. They just did not take advantage of God’s grace by continuing

to seek and follow after Him. They never asked God to show

them the root cause of the problem. If they had done so, the symptom

would have continued to cease and the root cause might have

been exposed.

Rebuking symptoms is like pruning branches off a tree. They

keep growing back and have to be pruned again.

Some people are habitually in the prayer line. They are prayed

for over and over, with no permanent results. The reason for this

apparent failure is that they haven’t dealt with the root of the

problem. Matthew 3:10 says, And now also the axe is laid unto

the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not

forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. God’s

mercy and love have trimmed the branches many times to allow

us to get to the place where the root problem could be revealed.

We need to be grateful for this. We should also remember this

when we see others, young in the Lord, who keep coming for

prayer over the same problem. They do not need our criticism,

but our love and prayers. They may need to grow some more

before God deals with the root problem, so He just prunes the

branches for awhile.

God wants to show us the underlying cause for our problems.

If we are sick, suffering or struggling under the weight of

heavy burdens, He wants to release us. Proverbs 26:2 says, ...the

curse causeless shall not come. If we are suffering under the

curse of Satan and this world, there is an underlying cause. Our

counselor, Jesus, wants to reveal to us that cause so we can correct

it and have the victory in Him!