Tag Archives: getting advice

February 26, 2024 · 5:33 AM

Finding Wise Advisers

In the cartoons I watched as a kid, when someone started to spiral out of control emotionally, one of the other characters would dump a bucket of water on their head. If that didn’t work, sometimes they would just slap them to get them to snap out of it. However, our human nature usually wants someone to sympathize with us in those moments. Sympathy is all right, but honestly it doesn’t move us from a place of despair or helplessness. Sympathy keeps us where we are. What we need is straight talk and honesty to help us not put down roots in a place where we’re disappointed, devastated or hopeless. We need someone to be able to hypothetically throw that bucket of water on us to snap out of it sometimes.

In 2 Samuel 18, David’s son Absalom had overthrown him as king. He had been on the run, but now he decided to muster his troops and fight to regain the kingdom. He specifically told his men to let his son live. During the battle, Absalom was fleeing but got his hair caught in a tree. One of his men then killed Absalom. When David heard the news, he was devastated and mourned. Instead of returning as heroes, they came in with their heads down because David was sad. Then in chapter 19 Joab, one of his commanders, went privately to him and rebuked him. He told him that his self pity was affecting the troops around him. If he didn’t straighten up, they would desert him by morning. It was the emotional wake up call he needed and he went down to congratulate his men. David was restored as king.

Proverbs 19:20 says, “Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life” (NLT). Do the people you go to for advice and instruction tell you what you want to hear? Or do you have someone like Joab who will tell you the truth and what you need to hear? Advice and instruction is good when you give your closest advisers the freedom to speak the truth to you in love. It’s often that bucket of water or slap that we need to be wise the rest of our lives. The people we choose to get advice from can make or break our future. They can set us on a path to fulfill our purpose and reach our potential or they can slow our progress and hold us back. Think about what the best option is for your life. Find someone who will feed your future and not your emotions or ego. Find someone who will give you godly advice and instruction. Those are the people who will make you better and improve your life.

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January 15, 2024 · 5:38 AM

Listening For Wisdom

Do you ever hear the air conditioner blowing in the middle of your workday? The sound is there but you don’t hear it because of all the other noise going on around you. Your ears hear the voices, the copy machine, the rustling of papers and people walking by. However, if you tune out all of the noise and listen for the air conditioner you can hear. That’s the difference between hearing and listening. If your ears are attuned to it you’ll hear it all the time. The problem is that our ears have become attuned to the noise around us. If you consciously listen throughout your day for the blowing of the air conditioner you can retrain your brain to pick it up over the other noise.

In 1 Kings 12 Solomon’s son Rehoboam had become king. His father had worked the people to the bone with all of his projects and they were tired. They reached out to the new king and said, ”Your father made our yoke (burden) heavy; so now lighten the hard labor and the heavy yoke your father imposed on us, and we will serve you“ (AMP). So Rehoboam called on the wisdom of his father’s elders to see what he should do. They advised him to ease up and the people would serve him forever. It then says he ignored their wise counsel and went to his young friends to see what they said. They told him to be harder than his father and to make a name for himself. He went with the noise of his friends instead of the wisdom of the elders and the people revolted which split the kingdom.

His father told Him in Proverbs 8:1, ”Does not wisdom call, and understanding lift up her voice?“ Wisdom is calling out to all of us, but there is so much noise in our life that it’s hard to hear her. We have phones, TV’s on 24/7 and people around us constantly. God is asking us to find time get away from the noise in our lives so we can hear His wisdom. He gives it liberally to all who ask (James 1:5), but how many of us listen for it after we ask? Solomon tried to teach all of us that wisdom is everywhere and it’s calling out, but like the air conditioning, we can’t hear it unless we’re listening for it. We must be careful of the websites we go to, the news people we give credence to and the people we listen to for wisdom. We need to find sources of godly wisdom so we can make the best decisions and walk in the blessings of the Lord. Godly wisdom is calling. Are you listening?

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February 24, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Seeking Counsel

When King Solomon died, huisu son Rehoboam became king. There were some older men who had advised his father and gave him counsel that offered their services to the new king. They explained that their father pushed people to their limits and needed a break. The new king had several friends who were young and also counseled him. They told him to reject the counsel of the old men and be even harder on people than his father. He took the advice of the younger men and the people revolted. The kingdom split and his territory shrink significantly because he refused wise counsel. Pride has a way of telling us that we either don’t need counseling or to reject the advice we’re given. Over and over the Bible reminds us of our need to seek and to listen to counsel. Your ability to make an impact on people is tied to your ability to receive good, godly counsel. Seek it out.

Here are some Bible verses on seeking counsel.

1. The way of the [arrogant] fool [who rejects God’s wisdom] is right in his own eyes, But a wise and prudent man is he who listens to counsel.

Proverbs 12:15 AMP

2. Wisdom opens your heart to receive wise counsel, but pride closes your ears to advice and gives birth only to quarrels and strife.

Proverbs 13:10 TPT

3. The godly offer good counsel; they teach right from wrong.

Psalms 37:30 NLT

4. Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 15:22 ESV

5. Listen to counsel, receive instruction, and accept correction, That you may be wise in the time to come.

Proverbs 19:20 AMP

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November 7, 2019 · 5:30 AM

God’s Secret To Happiness

Since I was a kid, I heard people tell me, “You become like those you run with.” It was great advice then and now for choosing who you hang out with and listen to. We’ve all received bad advice from someone in our life that has put us in a situation we didn’t want to be in. Some of us have a momentary awkwardness and others have a lifetime of regret because of the consequences of that choice. Either way, we got into the mess by taking advice from someone we shouldn’t have been hanging around.

Psalm 1 is one of my life chapters. What I mean by that is that I see it as a promise from God so I’ve tried to build my life on it. The chapter starts out by telling us, “Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people, who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God” (GNT). If you want to be happy, stop taking advice from people who don’t know the principles found in God’s Word. Find better people to hang out with if you want your life to change.

If you’ve followed this site for a while, you know the struggles I went through years ago. When I hit rock bottom, I worked my way backwards to find out how I got there. It all started with choices to hang out with and associate myself with people who had no use for God and what I believed. When I looked at my life, I realized I wasn’t happy. God took me back to this chapter and called me back to being who He called me to be in verse 2. It says, “Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the Lord, and they study it day and night.”

If we will get away from the wrong crowd and start living the way God’s Word tells us to, we’ll not only find happiness, but joy. But God doesn’t stop there. He gives us another promise in verse three if we live that way. It says, “They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do.” God promises productivity, success, favor, and happiness in our life if we will just live the way He wants us to and associate ourselves with like minded people.

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Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other writing ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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April 11, 2019 · 5:30 AM

Readjusting Your Course

Every time I fly, I think about a friend of mine who is a pilot. I’ve asked him many questions about the process of flying and what it’s like to be in the cabin. I’ve even questioned him about autopilot. He told me that before a flight, he plots the course based off of information he gets from others who are flying that route. Once the plane is in the air and cruising, he turns on autopilot. I wondered if it was really that easy. He then explained that at the cruising altitude, the winds can blow us off course and he has to readjust to get the plane back on course. If he doesn’t, the plane could arrive miles from its destination.

Our walk with God is a lot like that. We love to set our lives to autopilot and think that will get us directly to Heaven, but the Christian life is more than autopilot. In order to be successful at living this life, we need to have people in our lives who are ahead of us and have walked the path we are on. We need to listen to the information they’re giving us because they’ve seen first hand where turbulence lies. It’s important to have people in our lives who can give us guidance and the information we need to make the right decisions. Proverbs 13:20 tells us that if we want to be wise, we need to be around wise people.

The next thing we have to do is be aware of how the winds of life shift us from our course. Things happen. Problems are going to arise. We need to be in a constant state of questioning if we are still on course for where God has us headed. Reevaluation is an important part of your Christian life. Asking if we are where God wants us when God wants us to be there is important. Are we still on the path that God put us on? That path is hard to see sometimes. We need to have God’s Word in our hearts. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

Applying God’s word to your life and taking advice from others will help you to live the most impactful Christian life you can. When we know what God says in His Word, we are able to defeat temptation that would take us off course. If we do get knocked off course, it’s not the end of the world. God offers forgiveness and course corrections. He makes a way to get back to where He had us heading. Don’t quit because you’ve been blown off course. Take the advice of someone who has been blown off course and been given a path back. God will not abandon you or the plans He has for you no matter how far off course you get. There’s always a way back.

Photo by Jan’s Archive on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other writing ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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July 14, 2017 · 4:41 AM

The Road To Success


I think most of us have a desire to succeed in life. We want to chase our dreams and be better off than when we started. Even though we have that desire, so many of us struggle to succeed in life, at home, at work or in our faith. I’ve learned that so many of us fall short of success because we haven’t defined it. We may have an image of it in our mind, but what does it mean to you to be a successful parent, Christian, spouse, etc.? To succeed in these areas, it takes more than desire, it takes help.

Too many of us are afraid or prideful to ask for help. I can assure you that no one who you think is successful got there on their own. They had someone who sharpened them, someone who challenged them and held them accountable. Success comes from doing things daily that get you toward that goal, from people who challenge you to keep going in the tough times and ultimately from following God’s principles. If you’re not on the road to success, what piece of the puzzle are you missing?

Here are some Bible verses on success.

1. Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NLT

2. Ask the Lord to bless your plans, and you will be successful in carrying them out.
Proverbs 16:3 GNT

3. Refuse good advice and watch your plans fail; take good counsel and watch them succeed.
Proverbs 15:22 MSG

4. Using a dull ax requires great strength, so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.
Ecclesiastes 10:10 NLT

5. Get good advice and you will succeed; don’t go charging into battle without a plan.
Proverbs 20:18 GNT

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