I am so glad once again for the opportunity given to me by God to bring His word to you at such a time as this. Over the last few weeks, we started looking at The Seven Dimensions of God that Make any Human fulfill Ministry. And we began looking at the book of Isaiah 11, reading about the reign of the Messiah, the Bible says from verse one that:
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
May the LORD bless the reading of His word in our heart in Jesus’ name. From the beginning of that series, we began looking at the book of Isaiah 11:1-5 and we saw the necessity that was upon Jesus, the Messiah. If He would fulfill His ministry, we realized that He needed the Spirit of the LORD to rest upon Him. And the LORD opened our eyes to understand the implication of the Spirit of the LORD resting upon Him. It was carrying the glory of the LORD in the fullness of it. And again, we saw the Spirit of wisdom. We saw that no man can know the mysteries or the will of God for his life, no man can understand the principles of God, the secrets of God without the Spirit of wisdom. By the Spirit of wisdom, we have access into the mysteries of God. We know what to do.
And last week, we looked at the Spirit of understanding as the dimension of God that makes any human fulfill ministry on the earth. The LORD showed us the story of the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip, the evangelist, how Philip was led by the Spirit and then he heard the man read the book of Isaiah, and he said to him: “do you understand what you are reading?” He replied Philip: “how can I understand except someone guides me.” So, we saw that for you to understand or for you to help others to understand, for you to know the basis of your faith and why you are in the kingdom, and for what purpose you have been born into the kingdom for, you require someone to guide you and it is the dimension of God that guides you that we call the Spirit of understanding.
So, in this message, we will be looking at the dimension of God that make any human fulfill ministry that is called The Spirit of Counsel. The Bible says in that verse two:
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
This week, our focus is on the Spirit of counsel. If Jesus required the Spirit of counsel for Him to step into the fullness of His ministry, for Him to fulfill His ministry, I believe very strongly that you and I require the Spirit of counsel. Before we go on deeply into that, I want us to quickly go into the book of Isaiah 9:6. The Bible says:
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
So, there was a time Jesus said to His disciples “my peace I give unto you, it is not like the world gives.” We know the Christ to be the Prince of peace, but beyond being the prince of peace; He is also the Mighty God. In addition to being the mighty God, He is wonderful. In addition to that, He is called the Everlasting Father, and in addition to all that, He is called the Counselor. If Christ is the Counselor, then what is the Spirit of Christ? The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of the counselor and it is the Spirit that counsels. That is very important and every time we look at the word of God and we look at our lives and we look at Christ Jesus, we must always see Him, not just as the Lord and the king, but we must see Him as the counselor, the one who is not just able to counsel, but He is willing and eager to counsel. Now there is a Scripture that gives us a picture of what counsel means. And I want us to consider that Scripture in the book of Job 32:6-22. The Bible says:
So Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said:
“I am young in years, and you are very old;
Therefore I was afraid,
And dared not declare my opinion to you.
7 I said, ‘Age should speak,
And multitude of years should teach wisdom.’
8 But there is a spirit in man,
And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.Great men are not always wise,
Nor do the aged always understand justice.10 “Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me,
I also will declare my opinion.’
11 Indeed I waited for your words,
I listened to your reasonings, while you searched out what to say.
12 I paid close attention to you;
And surely not one of you convinced Job,
Or answered his words—
13 Lest you say,
‘We have found wisdom’;
God will vanquish him, not man.
14 Now he has not directed his words against me;
So I will not answer him with your words.15 “They are dismayed and answer no more;
Words escape them.
16 And I have waited, because they did not speak,
Because they stood still and answered no more.
17 I also will answer my part,
I too will declare my opinion.
18 For I am full of words;
The spirit within me compels me.
19 Indeed my belly is like wine that has no vent;
It is ready to burst like new wineskins.
20 I will speak, that I may find relief;
I must open my lips and answer.
21 Let me not, I pray, show partiality to anyone;
Nor let me flatter any man.
22 For I do not know how to flatter,
Else my Maker would soon take me away.
I am sure we followed through those verses we read in the book of Job 32:6-22. Elihu said he has observed and watched patiently, carefully and quietly, listening to men who were also the friends of Job, who had spoken before him. But he concluded that being aged, being old was supposed to be synonymous to being wise and being full of words. But he realized that it is not always true. He said “there is a spirit in man and the breath of the Almighty God”, another word for that is the dimension of God, the spiritual dimension of God. We began looking at The Seven Dimensions of God that Make Any Human Fulfill Ministry. When we are talking about the dimension of God, knowing fully well that God is Spirit, then we are considering a spiritual dimension of God. So, every dimension of God is a spiritual dimension. He said “there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty God, the dimension of God gives him understanding.”
So, without the dimension of God, that peculiar dimension of God that gives understanding to man, a man will remain without understanding. Another version says “that makes him intelligent.” So, there are people who are not intelligent and there are those who are intelligent. But the Bible says the difference is the dimension of God upon their lives. What God is sharing with us this day is that dimension of Him that is able to give you counsel. So, I announce to you that there is a dimension of God, there is a spiritual dimension of God that is able to come upon you that gives you counsel. You know what the Bible says in that Job 32:18, it says: “for I am full of words, the spirit within me compels me.” So, without the spirit within me, I will not be full of words.
You must understand that if you must know what to do, if you must know how to do it and when to do it, you require the dimension of God that counsels. The Bible speaking concerning Christ, that unto us a child is born and unto us the Son is given. The Son that was given is the one that is called the counselor. The Spirit of that counselor is the Spirit of counsel. When the Spirit of counsel rests upon you, you begin to know what to do, when to do it and how to do it. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs that in the multitude of counsel, there is safety. So, when counselors abound, a man is guided, a man is safe. In fact, you require counsel according to the book of Proverbs to wage war in battle. Without counsel, you are not guided, you don’t have the right advice, the right insight on what to do and how to do it. There is always a need for counsel in every man; of course, there are counselors, there are advisers. But no one can do it more than God. No one can counsel you more than the Holy Spirit. That is why sometimes, when we see the dimension of God that counsels, we presume that God is gentle, we presume that the Holy Spirit is a gentle Spirit.
When you begin to perceive God in this dimension of counseling, you are simply perceiving the spiritual dimension of God that counsels. He does not come to shout on you, that dimension of God does not come to force anything on you. The dimension of God does not come on you very hard, but very gentle; but if you also disregard the gentleness of the counsel of God, then you are putting your life, your ministry, your marriage in danger. So, you must understand that while it is possible to shout on every body, while you could shout on your slaves, on your servants, you cannot shout on your sons anyhow, there is a way to talk to them, there is a way to help them to know your will. There is a way to help them to know what they must do, there is a way to help them know how best they can serve you, how best they can please you. There is a way to let them know how their lives can be better, how they can be fulfilled. When God operates on that dimension, when God reaches out to us from that dimension, He is reaching out to us from a spiritual dimension of Him that counsels.
When the Bible says “there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death” it is because a people are refusing the counsel of God because the counsel of God is God guiding you in your plans. When you are able to come up in your plans, how you will get a job done by God, that is the counsel of God that has come to you. Jesus couldn’t fulfill His ministry without God telling Him how He would do it. In fact, it seems some of us have not meditated enough on this. Jesus would wake up very early to pray, or He prays all night and then in the morning, He is journeying with His disciples. There was a particular time He was in the boat with His disciples and there was a very strong wind and Jesus was sleeping. Somebody could have said “oh! Why was He sleeping at that time?” He was sleeping at that time because He received the dimension of God that counseled Him to sleep.
Why stay awake and engage in gist that will not profit when you could rest? So, Jesus knew what to do per time. When He didn’t have to be awake, He slept. When He needed to be awake, He did not sleep, He knew what to do. And He was guided into it, He was advised. God gave Him a blueprint how to live His life. No wonder He said at the end: LORD, not as I will, but let your will be done, let your counsel prospers. In the bool of Isaiah 46:9-11, God said something that we need to see.
Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’
11 Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man who executes My counsel, from a far country.
Indeed I have spoken it;
I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it;
I will also do it.
I am sure we have seen it. God has great plans. God has His counsel and His intention is that His counsel should be executed. The question is: how can you a minister of God know the counsel of God if you lack the spiritual dimension of God that counsels you? So, you must understand that for you to fulfill your ministry, you must be daily conscious that God must counsel you. On every thing that you need to do, there is the counsel of God for it. You want to get married; God can counsel you. You want to stay married; God can counsel you. You are struggling relating with your wife or your husband, there are issues in your marriage that needs to be dealt with, God can counsel you. I say to you by the Holy Spirit while men can counsel you, the best counselor for your life, for your destiny is the Spirit of God.
There is nothing that you are going through or that you will ever go through that God is not aware of. God has a solution for all your problems. But He wouldn’t let you know the solutions if you wouldn’t seek Him for counsel. You must go to God and say LORD, this issue in my ministry, in my marriage, this issue concerning my business, my finances, my career, only you can help me. This issue concerning the project I want to embark on, concerning the new business I want to start and the ones that I have started, should I stay on, should I leave them, should I divest, all the things that are troubling your heart, God is able to give you advice, God is able to counsel you. But you must receive the Spirit of the counsel of the LORD.
So, at this moment, I want us to pray to the LORD and say “LORD, I receive the Spirit of counsel, in my life, in my ministry, I receive the Spirit of counsel; in my marriage I receive the Spirit of counsel, over my marriage and everything that pertains to me, I receive the Spirit of counsel, the Spirit of counsel shall rest upon me in the name of Jesus. I receive the dimension of God that counsels me, Lord I promise not to take your counsel for granted, I promise not to take the gentleness of the Spirit of counsel for granted; I shall hearken to the voice of the Spirit, I shall heed and obey the voice of the Spirit, as the Lord speaks to me I shall do, where the Lord sends me I will go, I shall conduct myself, I shall be led by the Holy Spirit, the dimension of God that is able to direct and govern my life by the gentle voice of the spirit that counsels, I receive it. I walk in divine counsel, I know what to do, I go the way that God wants me to go, I flourish in the ministry, the Lord counsels me, I do not lack counsel, I shall not be misguided, men will not confuse me, organizations will not confuse me, the word of God shall be the counsel of my life and destiny, the Spirit of counsel rests upon my home, my marriage, my husband, my wife, my children. By your counsel oh God we shall be fulfilled in life and ministry, in the name of Jesus.”
Amen!
Thank you for this opportunity to share this moment with you, I believe that God has reached out to us bringing and causing the Spirit of counsel to rest upon us. I pray that the Spirit of counsel will never leave us. We will never be a people without divine counsel in the name of Jesus. Till the next time I bring you another dimension of God that you and I require for the fulfillment of our ministry, stay under diving counsel and flourish in it.
God bless you.
