WHOSE COUNSEL

Some of you may be confused tonight because, just as you embarked on some terrific work for the Lord, someone came along to "help" and now everything's a disaster. If this happened to you, you might pray about the possibility of Satan having sent in a "helper" or "counselor" dressed up as an "angel of light.: One of the enemy's major tactics to throw the Lord's work off course can be sending you a "helpmate" who isn't guided by God. This strategy was dramatically illustrated in the book of Ezra. There the enemy actually had the nerve to come to the supervisors of God's temple-building project and say, "Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God..." (Ezra 4:5, NIV). When that tactic didn't work they "hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans..." (Ezra 4:5, NIV). If you think this has happened to you, ask your Father for a double anointing of His gift of discernment to flush out who was and who wasn't sent by Him! As King Solomon prayed, "Give thy servant therefore an understanding mind to govern thy people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to govern this thy great people?" (1 Kings 3:9. RSV). God wants you to be a good manager of people. But a large part of this job is learning to discern good counsel from bad...