365 Days of the Great Names of God, Day 12: Counselor

Counselor

"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you." (John 14:26 CSB)

I'm the mom of two daughters—one in high school and the other in college—and over the years, I've doled out more than my fair share of counseling. I've tried not to offer my advice and opinions indiscriminately, because I want to speak with "an instructed tongue" (Isaiah 50:4) and because I want my counsel to "take" when I dispense it. Every once in a while, one of my girls will tell me that, while they were working through some problem or issue, "I heard your voice in my head, Mom, telling me..." (This is what is known as a "bonus" in the mom salary program.)

I am in no way equating myself with God the Spirit in His role as Counselor, but I do think He sometimes operates in a similar way. (Of course, He does it far better.) His counsel is that little voice we hear in our heads (the Newsboys' song "Spirit Thing" calls it a "holy nudge"), that sense in our spirits, that push toward something or pull away from something. 

My challenge (and I don't think I'm alone in this) is that sometimes I'm not sure if the "counsel" I'm sensing is from the Counselor or from my own jumbled thoughts or from the enemy. This is when it's helpful to have a filter to pass whatever I think I'm hearing through:

* Does it line up with Scripture?
* Does it lean toward love?
* Does it lead to peace?

Of course, discerning the counsel of God is not always clear-cut. But like most things worth doing, we get better at it with practice. And with practice, we might at some point find ourselves telling God, "I heard Your voice in my head, telling me..." As our heavenly parent, I think He'd like that.