God did not assign any counselor or adviser for Christians for several reasons: First: We have the Holy Spirit as our Teacher and Counselor. God in the eternity past designed a perfect Plan and Protocol for the believers. His perfect will for all believers of the Church Age are revealed in the Scriptures. It is our duty to know God’s will, purpose and plan for our lives and apply them.

God did not bestow the gift of counseling to anyone since it is not included in the gifts of the Spirit. We are endowed in the world with tremendous resources and with the unlimited power from the omniscience of God. The Lord Jesus Christ also designed a perfect place for us while in the world called divine dynapshere, where the power and resources are available. Outside this divine sphere, there is no perception, reception and there are no blessings.

Second: We have the complete Canon of the Bible which is the mind of Christ. Every human problem has its counterpart divine solution. When the Lord Jesus Christ was in the world, He depended on God and divine resources. He used the Bible doctrine to solve His problems. If Christ relied on God*s Word and God*s resources, we can do otherwise. The problem-solving devices that God has prepared for us are sufficiently capable to handle everything pertaining to life and godliness.

Third: Humans are imperfect and their advice and opinions are imperfect. In our lives, there are four sources of fatal advice in this world:

• From our conscience
• From other people
• From tradition
• From human reason

We can receive erroneous advice from our conscience because we are infected by the old sin nature and have been widely influenced by the cosmic system. The human conscience is always not trustworthy and dependable without Bible doctrine,. When the conscience is in conflict with God*s will and purpose, it is at the state of rebellion controlled by sentimentality, guilt and emotion, which will cripple the Christian confidence toward God making him a coward before men and circumstances.

People can be deceived thereby making their wisdom defective and corrupted. In some cases, counsel may sound very convincing, but without Bible doctrine as his basis, he cannot  be right. The advice of the counselors will lead to victory of the one being advised only if it is based on God's Word (Proverbs 11:14). Listening to the advice of other people can lead to more trouble than making the decision yourself.. The most difficult thing is how to know when to follow these sources of advice and when not to. Here are three simple criteria:

• Is the adviser spiritually advancing believer?
• Is the adviser victorious in such area of your needs?
• Is the adviser faithful to the truth of the Scriptures?

It is always dangerous to take the path of tradition which always leads to spiritual rebellion or disobedience.  Jonah sided with tradition and disobeyed God*s command to go to Nineveh (Jonah 1:2), because the Jewish tradition told him not to associate with the Gentiles, which resulted to a whale of problem. Tradition is the carrier of superstition, myths, and mystical beliefs that bring miseries. Tradition is always without respect to God, to Bible doctrine. God is in the business of breaking the walls of traditions, myths, and superstitious belief through the changes brought about by the Word of God in the souls.

Superior human IQ is never a guarantee for making good decisions. In fact, the most intelligent people are miserable because they have depended on their human logic. The advices of the wise of this world are fatal and sure to bring calamity. Logic is based on what they know and what they can see, not on truth and reality. There are many things visible to the human eyes but they are not reality, and there is no truth in them.

Four: Under the volitional accountability every person is responsible for his own decision. Our miseries are the product of our previous decisions and indecisions. It is ridiculous to give other people a share in our making of decisions for which we alone are responsible and accountable.

Sometimes people think they know the will of God for your life and they will tell you in definite terms why you are going in the wrong direction. Some will use their prayers to express their opinion. These are motivated by their ego and desire to become advisers. They are readily available to give their unsolicited advice and counsel, their analysis of your situation is often biased and prejudiced without due consideration of the person concerned abusing and manipulating them.

They are willing to give free advice in order to create a false image of superiority and morality. Their inflated ego tells them that their knowledge and expertise is better than the rest of mankind and that their advices are worth telling others. In most cases, these "Christian counselors" are in terrible needs of biblical advice themselves. Counselors, advice yourself!

Five: God designed Christians to become independent from others and totally dependent on God alone. Trust directed on humans or things is idolatry and dishonorable to God. Christians must learn to totally depend on God for everything and withdraw their hope from humans and things. Never trust anybody, especially yourself.

Confidence toward God is possible only when the believer is nurtured and nourished in the Word of God. Without Bible doctrine in the souls, the believers will remain weak and coward toward circumstances and men. There is no reality in their faith and confidence toward God. The objective of the Christian life is spiritual maturity, which includes the capacity to stand alone against the world with courage toward men and circumstances.

There are four truths related to giving and receiving counsel: If you ever seek advice, be discerning. Sometimes, counselors are important in the lives of growing believers, but he cannot remain seeking advice the rest of his Christian life. Some people are not concerned about the will of God for your life. These counselors will drive their own opinions into your throat. What has been good for them is not necessarily good for you. What has been helpful for them will not work for you because you are different but these counselors will always force their opinions on you.

If you give advice, be wise. Wise counseling begins with attentive and sincere listening. Try to fit yourself into the other person's shoes and understands his perspective. Then step away, and take a look at him at God*s viewpoint.

To know God's viewpoint you must know His Word. Bible doctrine is your source of wisdom and advice, not your experiences and not the experience of others.

If you decide against the advice, be careful. Sometimes, the devil will send an honorable adviser who will divert or distract you from the will of God. Such adviser is a snare to destroy you. Other times, God uses such adviser to test your conviction. If you follow human advice you are on your way to miseries, if you take the opposite direction, you have obeyed God. Never mind if your immediate action is confusing to the undiscerning as long as you have follow God.

If you accept the advice, accept also the consequences. Never make a decision without careful consideration for its consequences. As you receive advice, you must carefully evaluate the future consequences of your own decision, not that of your adviser.  The adviser cannot guarantee anything except that he feels good for giving you the advice. The advice is not important as much as what the Holy Spirit is prompting you to do.

It is always complicated to determine God's will especially for a believer who has no Bible doctrine in his soul. To know the will of God, you must know the Word of God, and there is no short cut for this. Knowing the will God will is a step by step process. We study the Word of God line by line, precepts by precepts until our frame of reference can provide us the big picture of God's will and purpose for our lives. It is normal for a growing Christians to make bad decisions, from which he will learn to make better decisions. As we mature spiritually, we learn total dependency on God, minimize our wrong decisions, and avoid unnecessary divine discipline.

Copyright ©2003-2007   J. R. Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries