Also, without counsel, your purposes and visions are disappointed but in the multitude of counselors, they are established (Prov 15: 33); in the multitude of the wise you become wise. The best counsel for your life is the counsel of the Lord because it is the counsel of the Lord that will stand and not that of man. God knows your beginning from your end and He knows every step of your life before your get there but the eyes of man are only fixed on the present, and the future is a mystery to him. The counsel of the Lord is made available to us through:
1.The Word of God (BIBLE):
The Bible contains the constitutions of God concerning His government of the world; it concretizes us about the dos and don’ts of this world and enhances the growth of faith, love and hope in God. 40 devout men wrote the bible from all walks of life, under the inspirations of God. It was written in Africa, Asia Minor, Classical Greece and Rome. It was first written in three different languages; the Old Testaments was written in Aramaic and Greek, and the New Testament was written in Hebrew.
Due to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, man lost his sense of direction because the glory of God upon his life that made him have intimate relationship with God was broken; man lost the privilege of being the custodian of a glory that shined his path. The sins of man gapped him from God therefore God gave man laws and commandments so that man can still dwell in His presence by obeying this laws and commandments. This laws and commandments were given to man through the mouth of the prophets, angels, dreams and experiences of men of God. All these commandments and laws and personal life experiences of some men of God were compiled into scriptures, which were and are still used as the word of God Almighty. In the canonization of the bible we realize that:
THE BIBLE IS DYNAMIC: It contains power; miracles and wonders follow it. It moves the hand of God into situations and it is a sword in the hands of the believer; it possesses life-transforming power. Heb 4:12; II Tim 3:15-17.
THE BIBLE IS AUTHENTIC: It tells the truth about God, man and life. It gives the believer the true picture of God; His likes and dislikes in terms of character, authority and principles. There is no book or source of information that describes the true nature of God than the bible does; it is His own words. It also brings out the true nature of man and the meaning of life.
THE BIBLE IS AUTHORITATIVE: It bears claim of divine authority. With it in the heart, spiritual authorities and principalities are brought to the obedience of the believer; it is a life sustainer in the spiritual realm for the believer because it is his source of ammunition and direction.
THE BIBLE IS PROPHETIC: It contains both the active and passive voice of God expressing the past, present and things to come. In it, we have the word of God direct to the believer in the first person pronoun, “I”. Example: “I the Lord your God…” signifying the presence of God Himself. It also has the word of God through the mouth the prophets with the opening address “Thou sayest the Lord…” The bible addresses every situation in life and talks about the things to come.
THE BIBLE IS ACCEPTED: It is recognized as being from God because it has passed through all the criteria that make it a viable word of God. It is has survived the span of time and has been with man throughout all of his generation and is still fresh and current, meeting every generation at the point of their need.
Blessed are you when you study the bible and do according to what is written therein for it makes your ways prosperous and you will have good success. The bible make you wise when you bind it around your heart and it guards your mind against deceit when you meditate on it day and night; it prepares you for all situations at all time.
2. Holy Spirit
Holy, the promised of God, is the active Godhead of the trinity in this dispensation of grace. In all the dispensations of man prior to the coming of Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit did come upon man, but for a season. He came when God wanted man to see His hand at work; He comes to validate God's words. However, He leaves immediately after God's purpose for His coming is achieved. This is because Holy Spirit cannot dwell in a sinful heart. By then man was still sinning but there was no avenue for the remission of sin; man was becoming stiff-necked with sacrifices of forgiveness and the blood of animals was not enough for complete deliverance from sin. This situation looked upon by the eternal consolidated love of God for man, prompted Jesus Christ to come down to pay the price for the complete remission of sin and to set man right with God.
Since in Jesus Christ, man is set right with God and is justified to be holy in the sight of God, Holy Spirit now dwells in man. Holy Spirit was a promise until Jesus resurrected from the grave, giving man the power to be called the children of God (John 1: 12). God promised man that He would save man from his uncleanness – which He did by the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ – and give him a new heart and a new spirit; He shall write His laws in the heart of man and man will be His people and He will be man’s God (Eze 36:25-29). These were promises to Israel but have been extended to us who have been adopted into God through the blood of Jesus; hence it was a promise to all mankind. After the resurrection of Christ, Holy Spirit came down into the heart of man on the day of Pentecost to fulfill the promises of God.
Holy Spirit came to engrave the laws of God in the heart of man, empower man, comfort and teach man. He is the third person of the Trinity and therefore He knows all things, even the deep things of God (I Cor 2:10). The counsel of God for your life lies in the heart of God – He thinks about you (Isa 49:15,16) – and He allows Holy Spirit to dwell in your heart to reveal these purposes and plans of God concerning your life, to you. Holy Spirit teaches you the mysteries of God; He directs your path, empowers, protects and comforts you. He does all these things to you only if you allow Him.
3. PRAYER
Prayer is the medium through which man communicates with God; it is the only highway by which man gets into the throne room of God. Prayer is not just rattling words from the lips or going to God only when in trouble but prayer but it is a spiritual visitation into the arms of God; in prayer, our spirits moves into the presence of God. Our spirit taps into the Spirit of God and every word we speak enters into the heart of God and likewise, God also speaks into our heart.
Man is one of nature’s greatest mysteries and the complexity of the nature of man lies in the intentions of God in creating him; God created man so that He can have a mutual relationship with man. In creation, all other creations of God were called into being – even His ministers (Angels) – except man. Bible has it that God took His time and out His infinite craftiness, formed man from the dust of the ground and went further to breathe His own breath into the nostrils of man and man became a Living Soul (Gen 2: 7); out of all the creations of God, man is the only creature the has the breath of God in him. This breath of God transformed the man formed from the dust into the “likeness” of God (Gen 1: 26) and therefore man was like God.
It must be understood that for a mutual relationship to reach its peak of essence, it must be between beings or organisms of the same species; they must be of the same kind. All animals relate better to each other only if they are of the same species; dogs relate to other dogs better than they would to man. Even animals of the same Genus are not completely compatible; offspring of animals of the same Genus but different species are sterile, indicating their incompatibility. The breath of God made man to be of the same species as God – the possession of a spirit that exudes consciousness – therefore we share common traits with God. These traits or characters are known as the Communicable Attributes of God; some of these are: all the emotions – compassion, love, passion, anger and so on; knowledge; wisdom; understanding; will power – ability to choose. This is just to mention but a few communicable attributes of God. The possession of all these coupled by consciousness makes man like God. Man being like God means there can be a viable mutual relationship between God and man; that is the whole duty of man – Fearing God and Keeping His commandments (Eccle 12: 13). Fearing God means reverencing Him.
Also, the basis of every relationship is communication. Communication is an act of using language – language is a term used to describe the organizational tools by which messages are transferred from one individual to the other; language is either verbal or non-verbal. Verbal language is simply the organization of the sounds produced in the larynx (voice-box) to transfer message; it is the commonest medium of communication is humans. Non- verbal language is an infinite use of signals and activities to convey messages; this is commonest in animals but quite evident in humans too. From all these, we realize that the basis of man’s relationship with God is prayer – communication. Prayer draws you close to God.
In prayer, when we call on God, He reveals His counsel for our lives and shows us things our minds cannot fathom (Jer 33: 3). Prayer is the only medium through which we exercise that unseen part of us; our spirit links up with God and our soul experiences the awesome refreshing in the presence of God – all our anxieties and needs are laid before God through prayer and we in turn, receive comfort and satisfaction in His abundant riches in glory (Philippians 4: 6, 19). In prayer we get access to God’s unlimited resources and we are empowered to stand tall over sin, the devil and his cohorts because we have received immunity against them through the blood of Jesus Christ. Prayer keeps you focused on God.
When we talk about prayer, we are talking about messages flowing from a genuine and candid heart to God irrespective of whom you are or what your offences against Him are. It is the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous that accomplishes much (James 5:16) and not a prayer plagued with doubt and unbelief. Many prayers are not answered because of sin (Isaiah 59: 1,2); either we are comfortable in our sins or we have a sinful desire for what we ask for. God knows our hearts and before we ask He has already perceived, evaluated and responded to what is on your heart according to our faith and trust in Him. Being in the likeness of God means having a relationship with Him and having a relationship with God means communicating with Him; and communication with God points at prayer. Prayer gives you access to what God has in store for you. A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian.
4. THE MAN OF GOD
The man of God is the physical representation of the authority of God; he is the vessel through which God speaks to His people. The man of God is anyone in whom the Spirit of the Lord dwells and is hewed up as a cistern in which God pours out the living waters into to water the flocks. He has a divine responsibility to nurture and feed the children of God; he is a shepherd over souls.
In the Garden of Eden, prior to the fall of man, man had the privilege of talking to God directly. This was because man’s spirit was pure and the Spirit of God could dwell in there; man was sin-free and thus could get very close to God. Immediately sin entered into man, man was afraid of God – which never did happen until sin entered into man – and he run to hide himself when he heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day (Gen 3: 8). Sin brought fear and separation between man and God but God knows man cannot do without His counsel so He sent His Spirit to dwell in certain chosen men according to His standards, to convey His counsel and direction to man. These men, chosen of God, had it as a responsibility to direct and guide man in the counsel of God. These men are holy before God and therefore were highly revered by the people they were shepherding. In the migration of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land, God chose Moses to be the bearer of His intentions and counsel for Israel and when Aaron, the brother of Moses, and Miriam spoke against Moses for marrying an Ethiopian woman, God summoned the three and said unto Aaron and Miriam: “…And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”(Num 12: 6-8), God made Moses a “God” unto Israel because Moses bore His will and counsel for Israel. He was the physical representation of God to the people and deserved the reverence due him.
The man of God speaks to God “mouth to mouth”, receiving the directives of God to man; he speaks the mind of God. In this generation, as in every generation, there are men of God who bear the counsel of God for your life; these instruments of God for your spiritual needs are your Pastors, Evangelists, prophets, Apostles, Teachers, Bishops and all other ranks of Christian leaders. These are men and women chosen of the hand of God for your sake; your pastor is there because of you. He increases in wisdom, understanding, knowledge and anointing to nourish you, to guide you and to induce spiritual growth in you. He hears from God because God wants you to hear from Him (God) and he receives the power to help you stand; he goes that extra mile for your sake. It is therefore necessary for a good communication highway to exist between you and the man of God shepherding you; seek his counsel for God has spoken to him about your heart’s desires and He has made His counsel for your life known to Him.
5. THE GATHERING OF THE SAINTS
In the congregation of the wise, you become wise and in the multitude of the determined, you are determined. The characters you associate with determine your character. The human spirit is susceptible to induction from prevalent characters around him therefore characters are transferred from one person to the other anytime there is a bond or association between the two.
At the core of our existence as humans is relationship; we are naturally not solo beings and we understand the principle of synergy inherently some-way-some-how. After God creating Adam in the garden, He realized that Adam was lonely and bible puts it this way:” And the LORD God said: It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him” (Gen 2:18). It is not good for the man to be alone because he has a part of him that is alive; this part is capable of having a conscious and meaningful interaction with others of his kind and this interaction is directly proportional to his output in whatever he does. Man needed someone he could physically relate to and the combined force of this relation will enhance his relation to God.
When working together, the presence of each other generates an inner competitive mentality that fuels you to go over your normal individual limit. This phenomenon explains the principle behind synergy; synergy is the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects. Every action is maximized when it is collectively orchestrated hence the input of each individual in necessary. Thus, relationship brings the best out of us and makes us more focused and determined. The theme for all relationships is therefore exercised to its full potential when there is a viable association; when the theme is for doing evil, evil is done to the extreme and when the theme is for doing good, good is done wholly.
In every association or relation, there is a transfer of character from one to another and the desire to be the best is one of such characters. In the gathering of the saints, this desire to be the best is transferred from those who are near being the best to those who are far away from being the best. Also, the counsel of God for your life is made more visible in the gathering of the saint. This is so because there are more avenues through which God’s counsel for your life is revealed; the voice of God is more clearer in the congregation of the spiritually minded – the voice of God that bears His counsel is a spiritual thing it is only revealed to the spiritually minded (1 Cor 2:14).
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