“Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” (Prov. 11:14 ESV)

Seeking guidance

Recently I had an important business decision to make. If I moved forward, it would take a huge commitment of my time and money. The decision included an element of risk so I needed to act correctly. I first took it to God in prayer asking for His wisdom and direction. Next, I sought council from several business people I respected and they gave me important insight and helped me make the right decision. I was very grateful to have gotten their wise council!

Listen to advice and accept instruction

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” (Prov. 19:20-21 ESV)

You will succeed with many advisors

“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” (Prov. 15:22 ESV)

“For by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.” (Prov. 24:6 ESV)

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.” (Prov. 19:20 ESV)

“Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!” (Psalm 40:4 ESV)

Childlike trust

When I was a child I trusted everybody. That made me a target for pranks such as falling for a snipe hunt at 6 years-old, when I was taken by my older brother and his friends down by the river in the middle of the night to catch some “beautiful little snipe birds” I was left in the dark holding the bag, much to their delight and to my great disappointment. Many times my older brother talked me into things by explaining how much fun they were going to be and I ended up in some kind of trouble as a result. Eventually, I developed a distrust to everything he suggested and I stopped trusting others as well. This was sad, because Jesus said to come to Him like a little child with childlike faith. However, it’s hard to have that once you find out you’ve been lied to about Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny the Tooth Fairy and about snipes down by the river, just to name a few. By the way, when did we ever think it was acceptable to deceive our children? Think how this undermines their childlike trust and faith. Where did all this deception come from? Satan is “the deceiver”and the “father of lies.” The enemy does everything in his power to stop faith and trust, beginning with the hearts of children.

Those who know His Name put their trust Him

“And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10 ESV)

Therefore…

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones..” (Prov. 3:5-8 ESV)

And, you will be blessed!

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jer. 17:7-8 ESV)

“Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ ” (Joel 3:10 NKJV)

This hard for some to say

The above passage says, “Let the weak say ‘I am strong’.” This is hard for some to do because they say, “Isn’t this lying to say you are something you’re not?” The answer is, no, you are not lying whenever you get into agreement with what God’s Word says, no matter how things may look to you. You can say you are strong, even when weak, when you understand what God’s Word says about His strength being there for you, especially when you need it the most, during times of weakness. Read on.

You can say you are strong because God has become your strength through salvation

“The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.” (Exo. 15:2 ESV)

You can say you are strong because God has commanded you to be so

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Josh. 1:9 ESV)

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” (1 Cor. 16:19 ESV)

You can say you are strong because God goes with you

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Deut. 31:6 ESV)

You can say you are strong because His grace is sufficient

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:9-10 ESV)

Therefore…

“Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” (1 Chron. 16:11 ESV)

“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.” (Isa. 40:29 ESV)

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” (Eph. 6:10 ESV)

“A faithful man will abound with blessings.” (Prov. 28:20)

A lesson about faithfulness

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?” (Luke 16:10-11 ESV)

God looks all over the earth to find those who are faithful

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” (2 Chron. 16:9)

Good and faithful servants

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’” (Matt. 25.21 ESV)

Be found faithful

“Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” (1 Cor. 4:2)

“Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Rev. 2:10h

“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14)

Ask in Jesus’ Name to be saved

“For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom. 29:13 ESV)

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 ESV)

Ask in Jesus’ Name to bear fruit

“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” (John 15:16)

Ask in Jesus’ Name so that your joy will be full

“…ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.” (John 16-24)

Therefore…

“Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (Col. 3:17)

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13 ESV)

The Holy Spirit will help and teach you

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26 ESV)

God has plans for you

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer. 29:11 ESV)

Wait on the Lord

“But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isa. 40:31 ESV)

Therefore…

“Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 31:24 ESV)

“I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8 ESV)

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Heb. 4:16 NLT)

Come boldly and confidently into God’s presence

“Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.” (Eph. 3:12 NLT)

Hold firmly to confidence because Christ is faithful

“But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.” (Heb. 3:6 NIV)

Therefore…

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,

and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Heb.10:18-23 NIV)

“He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:3-4)

We have hope through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Rom. 15:4)

Jesus is our blessed hope

“Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…” (Titus 2:13)

Therefore…

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Rom. 15:13)

“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.” (Psalm 39:7)

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” (Psalm 116:15 ESV)

Most mornings, over the last couple of years, I stop by a local extended care facility to help a friend of mine get up and go to breakfast. I pour his coffee and while I’m at it, I walk around the dining room and pour coffee for others. I’ve gotten to know most of their names and have heard some of their personal stories. Like Bob Miller, for instance, who just passed away at 92-years old. I loved Bob’s radiant smile and cheerful greeting each day. Bob was quick to tell me and everyone else he met, that he loved Jesus and that he was still an active member of Gideons Bible Society. Bob attended and even led a Bible study at the facility. I always loved hearing his enthusiastically told stories, which he had lots of. Bob told me he was looking forward to “being promoted to glory”, as he happily put it. Of course, Bob is there now and I’m sure, is more alive now, than ever. The Bible points out that when we live for Christ, “to die is gain!”

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21 ESV

Therefore…

“For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.” (Rom. 14:8 ESV)

“Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:8 ESV)