in Laodicea to do, we can call these three things the bedrock of spiritual counsel. Let us first establish the fact that one of the names of Jesus in the Old Testament identified Him with this very important ministry: Counselor!

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Isaiah 9:6 “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.”

 

As we can see God places a very high value on spiritual counsel, that is because the right counsel can deliver a person out of destruction.

 

Counsel: Advice given as a result of consultation. Lawyer.

 

From Webster’s definition of the word counsel, we see the idea behind it; counsel is advice given to those who seek it, and counselor is used as a title for those who render legal advice, like a lawyer.

 

Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

 

Here we see a connection between the threefold counsel that Jesus gave to the Laodicea church, and the threefold aspect of seeking spiritual advice. The Laodiceans were not seeking spiritual counsel for they were saying: we have need of nothing, so that Jesus was rebuking them for their lack of understanding the true nature of their spiritual condition.

 

Revelation 3:17 “Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”

 

They had gold, but they were lacking refined gold; they had garments, but they were lacking white garments; but worst of all, they had eyes, yet they lacked spiritual vision and could not see their true condition.

 

What is spiritual counsel? The unchangeableness of His purpose.

 

Hebrews 6:17 “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel (unchangeableness of His purpose), confirmed it by an oath.”

 

Here we get to the meat of the counsel of God; God has a purpose for your life and for mine, and God has a purpose for the entire creation—that purpose is not going to change no matter what anybody does. Satan cannot stop it, man cannot stop it, circumstances can never stop God’s purpose. We are either going to be part of God’s purpose for our lives or choose not to be part of God’s purpose for our lives. If we are walking outside of the purpose that God has for our lives He gives us free advice, He counsels us to reason out with Him what the consequences are for those who choose their own will for their lives, especially if we are His.

 

Gold is representative of God’s salvation. The Laodicea church told the Lord, we already have salvation, after all we are one of Your churches; the Lord’s reply to them was simply this: you may have My salvation but it has not been tried in the furnace of affliction, seeing that you refuse My counsel of what is best for you, here are the consequences.

 

The consequences for refusing God’s counsel was that they would have to endure the day of His wrath here on the earth, they will have to go through the refining fire of tribulation and miss the rapture, what a loss!

 

Garments represent our spiritual covering. White garments implies clean garments that have been washed in the refining fire of the testing of our faith. The reason why God allows His children to go through trials and tribulations is for the purpose of refining our way of thinking, that we might receive the mind of Christ and seek His purpose for our lives.

 

Romans 13:12, 14 “...Therefore let us cast off the works (dirty garments) of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light (white garments)...But put on the Lord Jesus Christ (make His purpose for your life your covering), and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

 

Eye salve represents spiritual vision. Once we submit our lives to the tutelage of God’s spiritual counsel, eye salve is applied to our spiritual eyes, and immediately we begin to see the Wonder of His Mighty Counsel that emanates from our Everlasting Father, our Prince of Peace.

 

Ask, seek, and knock.

 

Once the counsel of God is administered into the heart of the believer, it is up to that believer to become a wise counselor, both in word and deed, ministering to others the counsel that has been administered to them.

 

Exodus 18:19-20 “Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God. And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.”

 

God leads us by the example Jesus set for us, so those who follow God’s counsel become examples to others as to how they can bring their difficulties to God. For God gives counsel to those who teach others to follow God’s counsel. God also allows those who follow and teach His counsel to become intercessors, to stand before God for the people.

 

All of these blessings of God’s counsel bestowed upon Moses, were in response to the people inquiring (asking) of the Lord through Moses. So that we see the connection between people asking about difficulties and God’s counsel being revealed through the man of God. But Jethro, Moses father in law counsel Moses to appoint men of truth, who fear God and hated covetousness, to help him in this ministry so that he would not burn himself out by being the only one that was able to operate in that gift.

 

They asked and it was given to them. God’s counsel.

 

Isaiah 16:5 “In mercy the throne will be established; and One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.”

 

The second of the threefold foundation of the counsel of God is to seek justice. The majority of those who waited all day long in line to ask for God’s counsel through Moses were seeking justice, somewhere, somehow, somebody had wronged them and they were seeking deliverance from the wrong that was inflicted upon them.

 

So that those who are in right standing with God receive His counsel when they ask, not just for themselves, but also, when they ask on behalf of those who are seeking justice.

 

They that seek justice, find it: In God’s counsel.

 

Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.”

 

Deliverance from bondage is the third of the threefold foundation of the counsel of God, and it is related to that which is deep within the human heart. To the Laodicea church Jesus said these damning words:

 

Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door (of your heart) and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

 

Most Christians relate this verse of Scripture as applicable for an unbeliever that they are witnessing to, that is why it is such a damning statement, because Jesus was speaking it to one of His beloved churches.

 

The counsel of God cannot enter into a heart that has shut the door closed to God’s prompting. The Holy Spirit is grieved every time a believer hangs the do not disturb sign on the door of their hearts. You see it is out of the heart that the issues that make a person unclean flow. Deliverance cannot take place in a person that has closed their heart to the Spirit of God. This is just the thing that brings the refining fire of God upon those who make salvation nothing more than an insurance policy, just in case eternity is real, they just do not want to end up in the wrong place.

 

Matthew 15:18-19 “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”

 

The goal of the counsel of God is to deliver the heart of the man out of its vileness. A person that is fully aware of the wickedness within his/her heart, should not be afraid of opening the door of their heart to the counsel of God. You ask God for salvation, He gives it to you; you seek for God’s justice from those who wrong you, He renders it to you. Why would you fear the unlocking of your heart’s door when He comes knocking? Why is deliverance such a dreaded thing?

 

Acts 28:27 “ For the hearts of this people have grown dull (closed). Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.”

 

Let us go all the way with the counsel of God right now, let us not just see with our eyes and hear with our ears, but let us open wide the door of our hearts and understand the fullness of the spiritual counsel of God.

 

I hear Him knocking: Do you?