Counsel in the Word

Saturday 19 August
READ: Isa. 9: 6
MORE LESSON: John 5 : 33 – 39

One of the titles of Jesus Christ in the text is Counsellor. This means that each time you need counsel, you get it from Jesus. One of the ways to get counsel from Jesus is through His Word. Jesus is the Word and the subject of the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Every time you need counsel from Him, go to His Word. As long as you have access to the Bible you have access to good counsel.
Some people travel out of base in Zaria, Nigeria, to other places and they lose the fire of God in their lives and backslide. When asked, they say the reason they backslide is because they do not have the kind of church that they were attending in Zaria. I ask them, “If you can't find the kind of church you were attending in Zaria, can't you find the kind of Bible you were reading in Zaria?” Christianity includes a vital relationship with a vibrant church but your faith has to go beyond corporate Christianity in a vibrant church. You must carry individual fire and be able to personally access counsel from the Word of God, whether your pastor is there or not. Every good church is built on the Bible, so even if you travel to a nation where there is no church at all; you still have access to the source as long as you have access to the Bible. You should be so full of the Word of God that you become a mobile church, wherever
you go. As vital as church attendance is, you should build your spiritual life on the Word of God and not merely on the church that you attend.
John 14:26 says, But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you (AMP). As you read the Word and the Holy Spirit breathes on it, you get all the counsel that you need. Jesus is our Counsellor through the Holy Spirit.
This counsel is available through the Word. From today, you will not be confused anymore, in Jesus’ name. Closeness to the Bible is closeness to Jesus because the Bible is Jesus in written form. One cannot love Jesus and dislike the Bible. People wish they can see Jesus face to face and take direct counsel from Him like when He was on the earth physically, but this is ignorance because Jesus is still here by His Word, saying the same thing He used to say when He was here physically. Jesus by His Word, the Bible, is the same Counsellor, yesterday, today and forever more. The Counsellor is alive.

Prayer/Action
* Pray that the Word of Christ will dwell in you richly, in Jesus’ name.
* Pray for fresh desire to study God’s Word daily, in Jesus’ name.
* Pray that your faith be rooted in God's Word and not in wisdom of men, in Jesus’ name.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
In Christ Jesus I have chosen the best path of life; sin, Satan and the world cannot take me out, in the name of Jesus.