Seeking Counsel

Have you ever made a decision only to regret it within moments after you made it? How about a major life decision only to have things fall apart? Have you made a decision and wished you had spent more time researching and asking questions before you made the decision that you made? I think we have all been through these situations a time or two. God’s word has a built-in prevention for us in order to keep us from making decisions we will inevitably regret, it’s called seeking counsel.  

Seeking counsel

I feel like we as Americans often times do not utilize the concept of seeking counsel, and when we do, we approach it with a skewed understanding of what “seeking counsel” is in the Biblical sense. Seeking counsel is not us making our minds up about something and then convincing a whole bunch of our best friends why we should do that thing. Getting people to agree with our decision is not counsel, that is manipulation! Seeking counsel is not going to others who will only tell us the things we want to hear. You will never get sound Biblical direction from a “yes” man or woman! Doing what we want and reaping the consequences of our decision before seeking counsel is not really seeking counsel either. When we have a decision that we are facing, it is always better to seek counsel before we act. Often times, by seeking counsel we will see the situation we are facing in an entirely different light then we would have just left to our own perspective.

When we seek counsel, it should always be based on scripture. If Jesus would not tell you to do that thing, then it is not Biblical counsel! Seek out those who will “speak the truth in love,” (Ephesians 4:15) even if the truth hurts. It is always better to be cut open by the loving sword of the spirit, then by the cutting words of human flesh. And yes, there is a difference! When Godly counsel is speaking the truth in love, it will still hurt, but it will bring healing to the heart. It will bring clarity and peace. When the council is bringing you cutting words of human flesh, it will leave a wound that not only hurts, but it keeps bleeding. There will be no healing that comes, only continued bleeding. The peace of God will not accompany these words because God’s spirit of peace will not rest in something that did not originate with Him. We will often time be left with feelings of confusion and condemnation in these types of situations. The Bible clearly states that “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). If we find ourselves in a situation where counsel is condemning us, it’s not Godly counsel!  “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17). Godly counsel should approach us with meekness and humility, with love and compassion, not a pointing finger and condemnation.

Why does God’s word tell us to surround ourselves with a multitude of counselors?

“Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” Proverbs 11:14 (KJV)

First and foremost, seeking counsel is a safety net for us. Christ does not want to see us in situations where we are getting hurt. He desires to keep us from harm. “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) He longs to keep us in the protection of his wings. This is why seeking counsel is so very important. It can protect us from unforeseen harm. This is just the way we need to look at the concept of “seeking counsel,” through the lens of safety. When we view it this way we are more apt to seek counsel because we all have blind spots.

“The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice” Proverbs 12:15

As I just mentioned we all have blind spots. We all have things in our lives we just can’t see until we get someone else’s perspective on the situation and then we can see more clearly what we have been missing. We like to think we are right until we see it from a different angle and realize we were wrong the whole time.

“Arrogant know-it-alls stir up discord, but wise men and women listen to each other’s counsel.” Proverbs 13:10 (The Message)

I don’t usually refer to The Message, but for this particular scripture, I felt like it was brought out so clearly. So often the reason we don’t seek counsel is that of our pride gets in the way. We think we know better. We think we can handle it on our own without any help. We don’t want to be a bother to anyone. Whatever the excuse, our pride definitely gets in the way of us seeking counsel.

“Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end, you will be counted among the wise.” Proverbs 19:20

We are considered wise when we seek and heed the advice of counsel we are counted as wise. The Lord desires for us to learn and grow. And seeking counsel is one way to grow. Seek counsel so that you can be wise.

Lord, thank you for giving us the safety net of counsel. We know that it is for our own protection that you gave us that safety valve. Help us to lay down our pride and set aside our fears to seek out Godly counsel when difficult situations arise. Help us to be a humble compassionate servant in those moments when others come to us for counsel. We desire to do things with a right spirit. We ask this in your precious name.

Getting Dressed (Part 2)

In last week's post, I shared the importance of clothing ourselves in our spiritual clothing each and every morning. If we forget to clothe ourselves in our spiritual clothing it won't matter what physical clothing we wear for the day, satan will have a hay day with us when we walk out half dressed spiritually. If you have not read last week's post, please be sure to read Getting Dressed (Part 1) before reading today's post.

Put on the new self

“and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:24

“and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Colossians 3:10

The new self-does not wallow like a pig in the mud, muck, and mire of the past. The new self-walks in the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ who so willingly laid down His life for us. We are a sanctified being! We must learn to walk away from the past and towards Jesus Christ. For some of us, this needs to be a daily laying down of the past and picking up the forgiveness of Christ because the past can have a drawing effect on us at times. When we learn to take off the old self and put on the new, then we can have freedom and liberty in Jesus Christ!

Put on love

“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Colossians 3:14

How often do we forget that God loves us so much that He gave His one and only son? (John 3:16) He loves you that much, He loves me that much, He loves each one of us that much that He was willing to go to hell and back without hesitation. Love that drastic can be a hard thing to accept and understand at times. But that is the type of love that we are called to put on in the morning when we crawl out of bed, a love that is so enamored with us that it would die for us! Yes, a love that is so enthralled that it would leave heaven and walk through hell for you, for me, and for all of us! Mind-blowing isn’t it? Now, that's the kind of love I am proud to clothe myself in each morning.  

Put on righteousness

“I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.” Job 29:14

“May your priests be clothed with your righteousness; may your faithful people sing for joy.”Psalm 132:9

“I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Isaiah 61:10

Yes, righteousness is a choice. I believe it is a heart choice we must choose each and every day. I love the way these scriptures describe righteousness as a robe and a turban, that we must clothe ourselves in. We must physically put it on. We must physically take steps toward righteousness. Clothing just doesn’t appear on our bodies without us making a conscious effort to make it happen. Righteousness does not appear in our lives without some conscious effort and works on our behalf.

Put on strength

“Awake, awake, Zion, clothe yourself with strength! Put on your garments of splendor, Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again.” Isaiah 52:1
The Lord does not desire weakness, but the strength to be our portion. He desires us to be strong. Yet again this is another garment that takes a conscious effort to put on. I don't know about you, but there are some days I wake up in the morning and simply wish I had stayed in bed because I feel too weak to face my day. God's word tells us that we don't have to face our day in weakness. It says to clothe yourself in strength. How on earth do we do this when we are facing the impossible? Paul himself said, "For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:11b. Let the Lord take the reigns of your weakness because it is through our weaknesses that His strength can be revealed.

Put on dignity

“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come” Proverbs 31:25

The word dignity means "bearing, conduct, or speech indicative of self-respect or appreciation of the formality or gravity of an occasion or situation." (dictionary.com) In other words, we are to conduct ourselves in such a way that shows respect for ourselves and the people and situations we are involved with. What would it look like if we clothed ourselves in a way that we would show respect to everyone around us in all situations? This can be a challenge at times, especially in moments of conflict. Challenge yourself to put on dignity every day.

Put on honor

“Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.”

Job 40:10

Honor is very similar to the word dignity. Honer in this passage is not talking about other people honoring us, it is talking about us putting on respect for others. When you look up the word honor on dictionary.com the very first definition that comes up is "honesty, fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions." (dictionary.com) We are to clothe ourselves with honesty, fairness, and integrity.

Lord, help us each day to clothe ourselves in our spiritual clothing. Help us to be covered from head to toe in the character traits of Christ Jesus so that we can combat the attacks of the enemy and advance your kingdom all by the manner in which we get dressed. Thank you for giving us your word as our spiritual wardrobe. Don't allow us to pick and choose like we would clothing out of our natural closets, but to put on the all of our spiritual clothing. We ask these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ. 

Getting Dressed (Part 1)

Why is it we as women have such a difficult time every morning trying to figure out what we are going to wear for the day? Our morning deliberation will start out by standing in front of a closet full of clothes telling ourselves we have nothing to wear, sorting through hangers of clothing that may have very well been in our closet for over 10 years and we are lucky if those items still fit. We try to weed through the thoughts of what mood we are in for the day and then proceed to match our clothing with our mood. If we are feeling bright and cheery, we may pick out a spring color, something vibrant and bold. If we are feeling drab and melancholy we may end up pulling something dark and heavy colored. If we are feeling self-conscious and wishing we just had our girly figure back we may pull something out of our husband's closet to hide in for the day. Whatever the situation we face each morning it seems to end up in this long debate over what to cloth our body in for the day.

Despite our see-saw battle each morning with clothing God has a very different approach to what we should be wearing.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” Matthew 6:26

“...People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7b

It is our spiritual clothing that God desires us to clothe ourselves in each day, but what does spiritual clothing look like? In the next few posts, I hope to share what God’s word tells us we are to clothe ourselves in each day.

Put on Jesus

“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” Romans 13:14

There is nothing better that we can walk out the door with every morning then making sure we clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.  

Put on the full armor of God

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13

“ But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” 1 Thessalonians 5:8

“The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” Romans 13:12

So what is the full armor of God look like? According to Ephesians 6:1-20 it lists out

• Belt of truth (vs. 14)
• Breastplate of righteousness (vs. 14)
• Feet fitted with readiness (vs. 15)
• Shield of faith (vs. 16)
• Helmet of salvation (vs. 17)
• Sword of the spirit (vs 17)
• Prayer (vs. 18)

This takes work each and every morning to get out of bed and remember to put on each and every one of these things. What happens when we do not put on our helmet for the day? The devil has permission to have a field day with our minds. What happens when we do not put on the breastplate? Satan takes the liberty to break our hearts. We can prevent so much from happening in our lives when we remember to put one each of these things daily.

Put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” Colossians 3:12

“In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5

What a list to start with! I love Colossians 3:12. It is such a powerhouse verse! If we want to make sure we walk out the door fully dressed and ready for our day then we really should start with this verse. When we look at the life of Christ, He was rich in compassion, full of kindness and humility and overflowing with gentleness and patience. I think about my personal walk and I feel like I would be doing well if I could just get dressed with half this list in the morning. It’s hard to make sure we walk out the door with gentleness and patience, let alone kindness and humility. I can usually get kindness on, but the other three takes some labor intensive work at times to get dressed in.

This is only part of the list of items that the word of God tells us to clothe ourselves in. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I walk out the door a bit under dressed. Whether it means I have forgotten to put one several piece of my armor, or I have failed at putting on patience and gentleness for the day, I am often a few clothing items short of being fully dressed!

Lord, your word tells us the importance of being purposeful about clothing ourselves in specific items. Help us to actively put these items on each and every day. Some of these items are for our protection, others are for your glory to be shown through us. For both reasons, it is important for us to clothe ourselves daily.  

A Painful Pruning

As I was reading in John this morning I came across a verse I had read about a thousand times before, but God always seems to have a way of making things jump right off the page in a new way no matter how many times I have read it. This is why reading the word of God never gets old! This is why his mercies are new every morning! This is why we can spend a lifetime devoted to studying God’s word and learn something new each time we open its pages! I absolutely love God’s word for this reason. As I have shared before our family has recently been through some major life changes. (A major move, a change of jobs, and now traveling around the country.) So, when I read John 15:1-2, I finally began to understand the reason behind all of the painful pruning I have been experiencing lately.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” John 15:1-2

I always looked at this section of scripture as if it was only talking about cutting out sin. Never did I look at this passage as the possibility of not having sin and still needing a pruning just so you can be more fruitful. We all have things in our lives that could use some tweaking from the Holy Spirit from time to time. It may be an attitude that needs to be adjusted, thoughts that need throwing out, or words that could have been spoken a different way. Whatever the case may be, we all have pruning that must take place in order to make us more like Christ and more fruitful.

In doing some research about the process of pruning fruit trees, I learned that pruning should take place in the late fall and winter months. This exposes the branches and the farmer can see exactly what the branches will be producing in the spring and summer. The tree’s dormant period is a map of what is to come. By strategic pruning, the farmer can actually encourage growth that otherwise would not have come by letting nature take its course. So, let’s take a look at this from the Lord’s perspective. There are going to be seasons in our lives that are winter seasons, our dormant seasons. And much like the tree loses its leaves and is exposed, the Lord wants us to “expose,” or lay open our hearts to Him. When we are willingly do this, He will be able to go in and remove anything that is not fruitful in our lives, as well as prune things back so that we can become a vigorously fruitful person when the winter/pruning season is over.

Another interesting thing I learned was that when a farmer plants a new tree, he will prune that tree back hard for three years straight and not allow it to produce fruit. The reason for this is so that it can put all its energies into putting down a strong root system, getting established and becoming strong. Wow! Isn’t this much like what our Heavenly Father does with us? Think about the importance of our quiet time with the Lord each and every day. Think about the early days of coming to Christ. In those early days, our focus was not on helping others to grow, nor was it on producing fruit. It was on getting our spiritual legs up under us so that we could stand on our own two feet. This is one reason why Paul tells Timothy that leaders within the church “must not be a recent convert” in 1 Timothy 3:6. There is a reason for a season of growth in the kingdom before we are asked to bear much fruit.

The more vigorously a tree is pruned, the more this will encourage exponential new growth. So, when we feel like the Lord is really doing a number on our heart with the pruning shears we need to realize it is only for our betterment in the kingdom. If we want to produce much fruit a painful and heavy pruning is sometimes necessary to get those kinds of results. So, sometimes we just need to open up our hearts close our eyes and say “here I am Lord, do what you must do so that I can be exponentially fruitful.” What is hard is being able to recognize that the pruning is taking place and that it is God’s hand bringing about a pruning in our lives in those moments of pain.   

Lord, we lay our hearts open before you. Help us to remember that your pruning shears are not meant to bring us pain for pain's sake, but for your kingdom’s sake. Help us to remember that in those moments of painful pruning that you have great things in store for us when the winter season is over! Give us eyes to recognize that it’s your hand doing the pruning in our lives so that we know not to fight against it, but to embrace it. Lord, we thank you that you have such wonderful plans and purposes for our lives. Help us to focus on your face and not the pruning process. We ask all these things in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Dangers Of Judging A Book By Its Cover

Have you ever looked at someone and thought you had them completely figured out, then later find out you could not have been more wrong? I think our human nature has a tendency to do this from time to time. I wanted to share with you a story I read on Facebook a while ago that touched my heart and truly drove the point home of why we should not judge a book by its cover.

Original Post by Susan Beecher on December 25, 2015:

“A pastor transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning. He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service. Only 3 people said hello to him, most looked the other way. He asked people for change to buy food because he was hungry. Not one gave him anything.

He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was told by the ushers that he would need to get up and go sit n the back of the church. He said hello to people as they walked in but was greeted with cold stares and dirty looks from people looking down on him and judging him.

He sat in the back of the church and listened to the church announcements for the week. He listened as new visitors were welcomed into the church that morning but no one acknowledged that he was new. He watched people around him continue to look his way with stares that said you are not welcome here.

Then the elders of the church went to the podium to make the announcement. They said they were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation. "We would like to introduce you to our new Pastor." The congregation stood up and looked around clapping with joy and anticipation. The homeless man sitting in the back stood up and started walking down the aisle.

That's when all the clapping stopped and the church was silent. With all eyes on him....he walked up the altar and reached for the microphone. He stood there for a moment and then recited so elegantly, a verse from the bible.....

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did for me.’

After he recited this, he introduced himself as their new pastor and told the congregation what he had experienced that morning. Many began to cry and bow their heads in shame. "Today I see a gathering of people here but I do not see a church of Jesus. The world has enough people that look the other way. What the world needs are disciples of Jesus that can follow these teachings and live as he did. When will YOU decide to become disciples?

He then dismissed service until the following Sunday as his sermon had been given.”

Isn’t that just like our human nature, to judge by the outward appearance? I am so guilty of this at times it’s not even funny. This is why I am incredibly grateful that we serve a heavenly father who does not judge us based on our outward appearance, but upon the inner workings of our heart! (1 Samuel 16:7)

Dangers

There are some dangers involved when we continue on the path of judging a book by its cover. Much like the people in the congregation of today's story we see that they could not have been more wrong about how they judged this “homeless” man. In their humanness, they did not have the capability of judging the heart. If they had, they would have seen a heart full of love and kindness, a heart longing for them to receive the precious things of God. Besides, how often do we find ourselves in a situation when we judge a person from the outside appearance and their heart does not look at all like their outward appearance?  I believe this happens more times than we care to admit. I know it does for me. Regardless of what the outward appearance looks like, we need to learn to see people through the eyes of Christ.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this story today. It is such a beautiful reminder to us of how we should look at those around us through your eyes. You look at us with eyes of compassion and love not judgment and criticism. Give us your eyes so we can see the hearts of those around us. Lord, we ask these things in the precious name of Christ Jesus.