I'm rejoicing at what happens in the church - seeking counsel

I had a couple of meetings with poeple last week that really make me rejoice. I wanted to share them as a celebration of the kind of cool things that happen in God's family, and as an encouragement to you.

In one situation, there were some hard things going on with a couple. They sought counsel from some Christian friends, which I commend them for. They didn’t like the counsel of their Christian friends at first. We really prayed what to do because we love these people. We gave them our counsel. They talked, considered it, and prayed. They felt like the Holy Spirit spoke to them and they decided to go the way of our counsel. In doing so they were putting the right things as top priorities – their marriage, their kids, and relationships within the body of Christ. I am so proud of them, and excited for what will happen because of their response. I couldn’t help but feel, (1) most people out in the world would don’t even let others in on the hard things in their life, (2) if they did seek counsel, they probably wouldn’t listen to hard but loving counsel, (3) if they did listen to the counsel, they wouldn’t have the Holy Spirit in them to help them live it out in victory. That is what I look forward to in this couples life… them living in victory because they are trusting God in what He says is right and good for them, and trusting God’s people to speak that into their lives. I am so encouraged that this kind of stuff happens in the church.

I had another situation where somebody came to me just to be honest with me about how they are feeling about fellowship in church and wanted some counsel. Again, I gave some counsel that was going to be hard for this person to do. But, they decided to take the counsel. I did what I could do on my part to help. And as soon as the next day I received a praise report from this person. This situation happened within the same timeframe as the one above, so I was just rejoicing at how cool it is that this stuff happens in God’s family.

I would encourage you, if/when you have something hard going on in your life,
1) seek counsel from godly brothers and sisters in Christ or a pastor,
2) weigh their counsel heavy, even if it is hard, and
3) trust that the Holy Spirit can do a great thing in you and through you to bring you through the tough thing.
The church (believers in Christ) is a great gift from God to us; we need to utilize it the way God intended. When somebody spurs you on toward what is good for you and others, even though it might seem hard, they are a faithful friend. God is awesomely gracious to us. The God of the UNIVERSE, the most high God, who is all powerful (omnipotent), lives inside us and works for us when we seek to honor him. That is amazing! And the very things that honor Him are good for us. That is amazing to me as well.