I am currently seeking the will of God for a major decision in my life and for this ministry. I know cannot rely upon any of the usually accepted methods (see previous post) to find God's will in making this important decision but that leaves me with the question of what can I turn to?
Can I trust the peace I feel in my heart when I think about taking that bold step of leaving my job to pursue vocational ministry? Colossians 3:15 tells me to let the peace of Christ rule in my heart. If I have that peace, does that mean that I am on the right track? A part of me badly wants to say "yes!" However, I have sat in more than one counseling session where a woman told me that God was alright with her divorcing her husband because she "had a peace about it" to know that is just silly and untrue. We like to use the idea of having peace in our hearts to justify our own desires so I cannot trust that either. My heart is so deceptive that I can make myself believe just about anything.
I am of course praying diligently and daily about such a major decision. How will I know when God is giving me an answer? Am I waiting for "that small still voice" that will tell me it is the right time? Oh how I wish God would speak to me that way! It would be so much easier to be able to just take my audible marching orders from Him but God doesn't operate that way in this day and age (no offense to my Charismatic siblings) and there is no "special revelation" available to me.
I must be able to discern or know if what I am wanting to do is in violation of Scripture. Is there some prohibition to wanting to be in biblical counseling as a vocation? Nothing that I can find in the Bible would lead me to believe I would be sinning in doing so.
What about the role of godly counsel in this decision? I know that there is wisdom in a group of godly counselors (Prov. 12:15) and I would want to receive counsel from people who live Colossians 1:9-10. People that are...
... filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; (NASB)
Of course, no human is perfect and we all still sin and are certainly fallible in our counsel but I would be careful not to select Job's counselors for insight. I would choose people who are known for their skilled handling of the Word of God, who make proper application of Scripture and use it in its proper context.
If I am going to seek the counsel of another, then I must also be willing to heed it! I must be willing to take and operate within their realm of counsel despite how I feel or if it goes against my gut feelings on the matter. This is keeping in mind that my own heart (which is deceptive Jer. 17:9) has a very real desire to have what I want. I have to believe that my counselors have my best interests in mind and that because they are emotionally divorced from the situation their insights can be trusted.
Next time: How I Will Make A Biblical Decision