shinewriter

Not so long ago I wrote a post titled ‘How Do We Get There’. It was quite a long and in depth piece of writing. In it we found a number of ways to know the will of God. One of these was going to a counselor.

A counselor is a person, man or woman who can give advice on almost anything. Some counselors may just specialize in certain areas. That is to say they may only counsel males. They may only talk with women and their associated problems. Then there are specialized areas. Sex, peer pressure, divorce and so on.

When counseling I will always try to give at lease two or three answers. That way my client has to do some thinking. They have to sit down and think about which scenario best fits.

None of us is perfect and neither are we qualified to play God. But we are here to help and I think the majority of people understand this. So what is a counselor? They are a person who will listen and then give you advice that will do one of two things.

1. Can provoke further thought and investigation of your problem.

2. Will confirm what you already know to be true.

When there is no feeling of regret and all the hard questions have been answered. We can say there is a sense of peace about a given situation.

Just because you have a sense of peace about something this is not enough. It has been advised that there should be at least three different points. Much like a captain lining up navigation lights/aids before entering a harbor.

There could be a verse in the Bible that will add to this peace. A counselor may say something that can cause you to stop the project altogether, or go looking for a third indicator.

We now have the peace of God over this situation. A counselor has told us it is quite achievable. What would the third light be if we were indeed sailing into a harbor?

Has a prophecy been spoken about this? What about our circumstances? Do they shape up against this project? And what about God’s will in all this?

There is much to think about and seriously consider before embarking out into the unknown.

A stray cat ambled in our backyard. My sister-in-law started to feed it. I encouraged her to do so because with winter coming on the cat would keep the mice down.

She has now moved into her own place and my wife and I are now feeding the stray cat. We have been gradually moving the food bowl closer to the house.

After a few days it is now at the back door step. The other morning I got my first pat, but I paid the price of getting swiped by the cat. It has not been near people for along time.

All this reminds me of when Jesus said we would be fishers of men. Fishing takes a lot of time and patience. So does taming a stray cat and no matter how careful you will get hurt?

It is not a question of if; but rather when. The best ointment for these sores is the love of Jesus. Why not spread some today?

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. To confirm the direction you think God is leading you. Here are seven ways He can.

Any three of these are a sufficient confirmation. To follow just one of them on their own, would be foolish. As I wrote in yesterdays post. At least three of these must line up before proceeding ahead.

1. Inward Peace: Col 3:15 What is your heart telling you to do?

2. Patience: Ps 40:1 We need to wait on the Lord. Decisions made under
pressure usually turn out wrong.

3. The Word of God: Ps 119:105 God will never ask us to do something that goes against His word.

4. Counsellors: Prov 11:14 It is always good to get advice. A minister, home group leader, or the person who led you to the Lord are but a few.

5. Circumstances: Rom 8:28 God can reveal His will through these. It is us who will see the where, when and how.

6. The Will of God is for Now: Rom 12:2 God’s will is like placing a key in a lock and then turning it.

7. Spiritual Gifts: 1 Cor 14:3 & 29 Prophecy should always be the second or third witness. Never branch out because of it. Always test a prophetic word, read verse 29 carefully.

When your life is going to change direction it is helpful to have some assurance. Then the hard questions can be answered. Ones like; where am I going? Why am I going? Is this God’s will for my life?

Bob Mumford teaches an interesting aspect of guidance. He likens it to a ship coming into harbor when it’s dark. There are three lights placed around the port. The captain of the ship puts his vessel in a position where the three lights are in a straight line.

When this is so the ship can safely enter. But it must remain on that bearing otherwise the boat could go aground or worse hit the rocks and sink.

In tomorrows post I will give several lights. Any three to line up is all you need to enter God’s will.

We all go through difficult times of tribulation and downright unhappiness at some stage of our Christian experience. It can’t be helped. But we can insulate ourselves in preparation.

1. Read your Bible and pray every day. Does not need to be twenty pages. Nor is it
necessary to read twenty chapters. Some folks do and that’s fine. Now for us we read
a portion throughout the day. A psalm over lunch. I often read scripture before I
start up the PC. Last thing in the evening.

2. Get involved in the local church. Be on the door shaking hands and giving out
newsletters. Help out on the next working bee at your church.
Do you sing, play a musical instrument? What about the sound desk? It does not run
itself.

3. Go to a home group. Some places call them a house church. These places are the
backbone of the fellowship. This smaller and more intimate group taught on the
level of my limited understanding.

4. Do a regular self examination. Am I the same person I was 10 years ago? How about
5, or 2? What about 1 year, 1 month? How about last week, or yesterday? These
days I only seem to do this when someone close to me dies. When I became a
Christian 27 years ago this really helped evaluate my walk with the Lord.

A lack of discipline is often the reason that a person’s life has no purpose. Next thing you know their work is falling behind and they are feeling guilty. The next step is depression which in turn begins to open up all kinds of problems.

Disobedience is also related to a lack of discipline. An undisciplined teenager will sometimes become depressed. Then we need to ask ourselves a hard question. Is this hereditary?

So where is all the good news in this? What can we do to turn the tide?
Now is a good time to pray. I’m serious. Ask God for forgiveness and help. Start today.

See my post on depression and begin a numbered list. Set in place a regular time to rise in the morning. Have a devotion soon after. Your homework today is to read and meditate on Luke 14:25-33

Four Steps to Dealing With Anger

1. Practice controlling your speech to normal tone and volume. My wife
an I have an agreement. We will never yell at each other unless the
house is on fire.

2. Anger MUST be replaced with LOVE. John 3:16 Read this very
carefully to gain a Bible truth.

3. Pray and ask God to help you.

4. Redirect your anger to the problem not the person.

Anger is not necessarily a sin. When it begins to ventilate; that is blow up, it will lead to sin. Sins like murder and fighting are only but two. Uncontrolled anger will always be a gateway other sins as well.

The book of Proverbs has quite a bit to say on this subject. Try looking up 16:32, 25:28, 29:11, 22:24&25.

Depression is caused by guilt. Cain became downcast when God did not look on him with favor. God spoke and explained the situation. Yet Cain ignored him and murdered Abel. Gen 4v5-7

Depression can come about because of self-pity. The prophet Jonah is a good example of this. Jonah 4v1-3

Here is some practical advice. Write out a list of all the things you will do today. Now rewrite it with the most important thing being number one and so on. You will have something that looks like this.

Pay bills
Ring Mum and Dad
Send 3 emails
Etc
Etc
……..

Remember to plan for victory. Avoid all brooding and daydreaming. Begin your jobs immediately, no delays, no excuses.

Do you have a regular daily devotion. Now is a good time to start. Depression is also seen as a sin of self. Repent of it and obey God’s word immediately.

Prov 17v22 Rom 12v2 Phil 4v8 Prov 15v13

My new wife brought many gems into our home. Take for example the family Bible reading. When it was just my children and I it was a time of devotion. What can be wrong with that? Then it got the Hine treatment.

My three sons and daughter started to get on fire for God. “Can we invite some friends to our family time,” they asked us? Now that had never happened before! So they came. These friends invited their friends, who ended up inviting their friends, friends.

Before long there were 40 children in the living room. All our furniture was moved out to make room. It did not work. More children kept coming.

We went down to the local school to investigate hiring a classroom. When the school found out what we were doing they gave us one for free. Trouble is that soon overflowed. And it was only just the local children in our street.

As it so happened the school had a building program. They were fund raising to build a hall. By the time it was completed our kids group was the first tenants. At this stage there were 300 children on the books. By now they were coming from all over the place.

And to think all this started up over a simple thing like a family devotion time.