For most of spring 2012, I spent time in the mornings trying to wrap my brain around the fact that God Himself lives in me and what that should actually look like in my life. After all, if almighty, all-powerful God has chosen to make my life His earthly tent, I think I ought to be radically different than if He didn’t.
What an amazing time it has been in God’s word – chasing down as many references to the Holy Spirit as I could find and grouping them into categories so that I could see exactly what God promises to us in His Spirit.
One of the first things I did was to find as many names for and jobs of God’s Spirit as I could. I’m sure there are lots of wonderful books that have been written doing that very thing but the joy of discovering these for myself was worth the effort. Here are just a few:
Teacher
Comforter
Spirit of truth
Spirit of wisdom and understanding
Spirit of power
Spirit of knowledge
Spirit of adoption
I hope to come back to several of these in future posts but today I thought I’d share what I learned about the Counselor.
I started by making a list of things I need counsel in. These could be all the things you’d ask God for advice about – from major life decisions to what to say to someone with questions about life to how to spend your money to how to be a better mom. My list got longer and longer as I began to write.
Then I wrote out some of the verses I found where the Holy Spirit is described as a Counselor.
- He promises to guide us when we need to know our next steps. Daily! Psalm 73:24
- He is not just an average counselor but He’s wonderfully wise and knows the right thing for us to do. Isaiah 28:29
- This Counselor will be with us forever – always available, always eager to direct us. John 14:16
- The Counselor living in us will tell others about God through our lives. That's His job. John 15:26
- He even counsels us at night when many of us need it the most. This is a big one to me. Psalm 16:7
To know that this Wonderful Counselor has my very best interests in mind all the time and in every decision brings incredible peace. I can trust Him. He lines me up with God’s purposes and keeps from from blindly stumbling after my own - something I'm quite good at.
Maybe you’re thinking of something right now in which you desperately need God’s direction or His perspective. The situation seems impossible or completely overwhelming. If you could sit with Him for 30 minutes face-to-face to get His advice, you would do it in a heartbeat.
Could it be that He is already sitting and waiting for You? His Spirit is eager to give you the very best counseling available. He's always saying, "Come to Me."
Nothing and no one can help us like God’s Spirit.
God, open our eyes and help us understand this limitless resource of Your Spirit alive in us. Help us go to You first. Help us hear Your voice over our feelings. Give us the desire to say ‘yes’ to what You tell us to do.
I will praise the Lord who counsels me. Psalm 16:7
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