What You'll Discover in this Episode:
When we try to counsel others in our own strength, we will fail. On our own we have no power, we are mere human. We can not rely on our own intellect and our own power to instruct or help others. That is where the Holy Spirit needs to be involved. Jesus has ascended into heaven, but He did not leave us on our own. Jesus sent a helper, this helper (Holy Spirit) will give us the strength to counsel others. The Holy Spirit empowers us to help guide us and lead others. When we try to counsel in our own strength we are depending upon our human wisdom which contains no power. We cannot separate the work of the Holy Spirit from counseling.
It is necessary to prayerfully consider wisdom from above. We need to ask God to give us the words in our counsel with others. God will work through the Spirit in our lives to help lead others to God and the infinite wisdom He provides. When we pray we can ask for the Spirit to help us in leading others into a proper relationship with the Spirit.
In this episode Pastor Jeff talks about the Holy Spirit in our counseling. It is necessary to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives as we counsel others. The Holy Spirit will guide us in our counseling, but we must fully submit to the Spirit.
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Highlights from Pastor Jeff
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I love the scripture from John 17:17. “Your WORD is truth” and that is what I am suppose to be doing when I counsel someone. Using the WORD of God and being led by the Holy Spirit will help me counsel and help the person who God has put into my path to offer comfort and encouragement. Thanks Jeff.
We will fail if we try to counsel others in our own ability. Without the Holy Spirit, we have no power. We cannot rely on our own flawed, human intellect to help and instruct others. The Holy Spirit needs to be involved throughout the entire process. This is the promise we have been given through Jesus. This helper will give us the strength to counsel others correctly and accurately. The Holy Spirit will empower us and guide us to effectively lead others. We need to be asking God to give us the wisdom and the words to counsel others with. God will work through His Spirit in our lives to help disciple others with the infinite wisdom He provides. We must be praying for the Spirit to lead us in guiding others into a biblical, healthy relationship with the Lord and others.
The Holy Spirit is required in counseling as God tells us that He is the counselor. It is through the leading of the Holy Spirit that we can correctly interpret the Word, encouraging people along the path of righteousness. I love that we can know we are never alone in counseling. We have the great counselor, who comes along side us to help and to lead us in all truth. He brings glory to God, taking the things of God and reveals them to us. It is through the Spirit that we are able to walk in the way that God wants. It is hard for me to even imagine attempting to counsel someone relying on my own knowledge and understanding.
Thanks for your post Sherra and I agree with you that we require the Holy Spirit to tell us the mind of God, correctly helping us to interpreting the Word of God and encourage the people in the path of righteousness in line with the following Scriptures:
John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
John 16:13-14 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
The enemy came to steal, kill and destroy whatever God means for good. It is a awesome way to discern when Holy Spirit dwells in us our conversations, reactions, actions and demeanor becomes love (1 Cor 13:1-4) to be able to counsel in His way through and by Him we must be sanctified daily pursuing a life of scripture. The tongue speaking gift may or may not be available to us all and to me I find it odd that pastors and ministers will ask congregations to do so when we must be careful that the enemy is not in our midst (sheep in wolf’s clothing) if God gave me this gift and He is preparing me to use for others I will accept if not gift is on my future I am ok.
I just want to continue to be a body that Jesus calls son
I love that Isaiah calls Jesus the wonderful counselor. He is the ultimate counselor that we all need. We are completely dependent upon Him and by the work of the Holy Spirit as we counsel others. We are not able to change a person only the Lord is able. It is such a good reminder to realize that it is only by the work of the Spirit that we are able to give wisdom and insight to a person in need. We need to be praying for wisdom and seeking the Lord for His perfect gift for every situation.Jesus said that He would send us a helper. We are never to step into a counseling appointment thinking that we can do it on our own.We need the Spirit of God to work in us and through us. Paul says in 1 Corinthians to desire the best gift. I believe that the best gift varies in each circumstance. If I encounter a person who is sick then the best gift would be healing. If someone else is struggling with what to do next, the best gift would be the gift of wisdom. God gives gifts as He sees fit. I want to continue to seek Him for the best gift as I serve Him. I am so dependent upon the Spirit to give me wisdom as I meet with and counsel others.
I totally agree it is necessary to prayerfully consider wisdom from above (Ask for it? James 1:5). We need to ask God to give us the words in our counsel with others. God will work through the Spirit in our lives to help lead others to God and the infinite wisdom He provides. When we pray we can ask for the Spirit to help us in leading others into a proper relationship with the Spirit
In this episode Pastor Jeff talks about the Holy Spirit in our counseling. It is necessary to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives as we counsel others. The Holy Spirit will guide us in our counseling, unto truth
“…because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5
The gift of salvation is the greatest gift God has given us. In God’s great grace we as believers receive another precious gift, the person of the Holy Spirit living in us and empowering us. It is important to remember that in the process of counseling that it is the power of the Holy Spirit working in the life of the counselee who has believed on Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who uses the Word of God to bring about that change. I have looked back at the years when I could have truly used a Biblical counselor (but didn’t have one) in my life. I realize that because I was saved and repentant, the Lord was my Wonderful Counselor. He worked in me that changes I needed to make. He was gracious with me.
That being said, there is a great place for counselors! If I had had a counselor, I believe there are some areas that I would have confronted earlier and changes that would have been made quicker. I would have been spared some very difficult seasons.
Thankful for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in my life and the lives of those around me.
Thanks for your post Tabitha on this week’s Podcast, highlighting the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives as clearly illustrated by Pastor Jeff in his teaching. The relevance of the Holy Spirit in counseling can’t be overemphasized knowing that we are humans and we shouldn’t try to counsel/ instruct/ help others in our own strength/ power/ intellect, because we will fail being humans and need the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We must prayerfully rely on the Holy Spirit to utilize Godly wisdom in counseling biblically in God’s way. Being humans, we can’t rely on our own intellect and our own power to instruct or help others. That is where the Holy Spirit needs to be involved. I am also grateful to God for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in my life, family and ministry.
Thank you Pastor Jeff for your service! I loved this message with your personal experience. I agree that we need to rely on the Holy Spirit when ministering to others rather than referring to certain scriptures without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. His guidance can help someone going through something and we could have missed the moment to be used by Him. Your message really resonated with me and im grateful for your guidance!
This teaching is right on, I have experienced counseling by the law and man! It doesn’t work. Counseling by grace led by the Holy Spirit, as Jeff points out, is what works! The Holy Spirit is where the wisdom and power to change hearts, minds and behavior comes from, not from man’s cleverness or prideful wisdom. The Holy Spirit is always available to us and He seeks to lead us to all truth with all the riches of Christ!!!
I agree with you Bill about the difference in the counseling experience. Since you understand the importance, you’ll be able to seek His guidance and be able to minister to someone. I pray God will guide you and empower you to be used in His name!
I like what Autumn said about the Holy Spirit is our guide. In contrast when we try to counsel others in our own strength, we will fail. On our own we have no power, we are mere human. We can not rely on our own intellect and our own power to instruct or help others. That is where the Holy Spirit needs to be involved. Jesus has ascended into heaven, but He did not leave us on our own. Jesus sent a helper, this helper (Holy Spirit) will give us the strength to counsel others. The Holy Spirit empowers us to help guide us and lead others. When we try to counsel in our own strength we are depending upon our human wisdom which contains no power. We cannot separate the work of the Holy Spirit from counseling.
I really appreciated what Professor Christianson had to say about the Holy Spirit in counseling, especially what he spoke about the Holy Spirit’s role in bringing guidance to God’s people in and through the Word of God, as they rely on the Holy Spirit. In a counseling environment I think sometimes it is easy for us to give our own guidance, instead of pointing people to both the Scriptures and to the work of the Holy Spirit. This guidance of the Holy Spirit isn’t disassociated from God’s Word, but right in sync with it. It’s great to think of the Holy Spirit’s work for those in need as being both comfort and guidance,
I love how Pastor Jeff shared examples of the work of the Holy Spirit in his life personally in his different interactions with various people and seasons of ministry in counseling God’s people.
It is true that the Word of God is the primary tool for the Biblical counselor, but this is not a part from the work of the Spirit of God working through the personal relationship the counselor has with the Lord in line with the Word of God.
The story of the woman who had been in an abusive relationship, but remained open to the work of the Holy Spirit was encouraging. Pastor Jeff shared how God did more in moment in her encounter with Him than anyone could do in a lifetime of counseling. What an encouragement!
As Pastor Jeff shares, John 17.17 shows us that the Spirit must be involved in the work of God’s truth in the process of sanctification. It is not as simple as organizing a list of texts from the Bible that relate to certain counseling topics, but effective counseling happens when a person is knowledgeable of the Word and dependent upon the Spirit to illuminate truth and do the work in a person’s heart.
I completely agree with you Neil about Pastor Jeff’s example about how the Holy Spirit ministered to the women who had been abused. It was such an encouragement that the Holy Spirit could comfort her and guide the discussion. I also liked how you explained that the primary tool for Biblical counseling is God’s word but its not separate from the Holy Spirit. Its something we need to remember as we serve others gong through a difficult time!
I had a very similar testimony as Jeff who visited a church where they all spoke in tongues at the same time, abuse, confusion, and out of order. They tried to get me to speak in tongues to confirm I was saved! they gave me words to repeat in fast order, I could not to that! It was confusing to me so I did not want to get involved. But later at CCCM under a Godly teacher I and two others were instructed biblically on the gifts and we all received our private prayer language. But I still struggled because I tried to figure it out, instead of trusting the Holy Spirit to intercede for me in ways I could never do on my own. Then as I studied contrary to my pastor at the time who taught us that the sign gifts were only in operation during the apostolic era, only to give special revelation until the completion of the New Testament and nullify the work of the Holy Spirit in Cessation Gifts (prophecy, tongues, knowledge, etc). So I was confused and the confusion caused me to not walk in the gift God that He had given me for over a year. Then as i studied as Jeff shared that all the spiritual gifts, including healing’s, tongues, and miracles etc, are still in operation today, just as they were in the days of the early church. A Continuationist believes that the spiritual gifts have “continued” unabated since the Day of Pentecost and that today’s church has access to all the spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible. Praise the Lord that we can be diligent to present our self approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2Ti 2:15).
I liked how you talked about the counsel of comfort, and counsel of confrontation and how there is a difference between the two. I think sometimes it is easy to just look at people and just want to point out everything that they are doing wrong, however in that we can just bring people down more to where they no longer want your help. In the appropriate times, it is also important to counsel by comforting one another. Giving scriptures of hope to help them through a difficult situation, knowing that God will meet them and do a work inside of their heart.
Another point that was made that I thought was significant is how the Spirit will guide you in truth. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. We need to trust God to bring these truths into our lives rather than relying on our own strength and knowledge. God knows more, sees more, and understands more than we do, which is why we need Him to be guiding us as we disciple and counsel others.
Alyssa, that’s right – Professor Christianson’s point about the counsel of comfort and the counsel of confrontation was right on. As has been said, a good and godly counselor will sense the Holy Spirit’s leading and know how to comfort the afflicted and how to afflict the comfortable!
When Pastor Jeff writes, “The Holy Spirit has the power to change others, far beyond what we can do apart from the Spirit” he is teaching a fundamental truth. It is really quite humbling to realize that we can teach, explain, pray over, pray with, and converse with counselee’s and never change them. It isn’t up to us to change them. They need to be changed by the Spirit and change the disposition of their hearts before the Spirit for His work to be done.
While reading one of my textbooks, Parenting by Tripp, I am constantly reminded that I cannot make my children be godly or know God. It is only the work of a parent to counsel them towards such things. It is the same as a Pastor. I can’t make the sheep be like Jesus but only point them to Jesus every chance I get.
But, if I am going to parent or pastor in a way that is fruitful and beneficial, then I need to parent and pastor in accordance with the Spirit. We need the Spirit and that is humbling. We have the Spirit and that is encouraging.
I too have found this to be both humbling and encouraging. As a parent I have often come back to that place of confessing before God that I was attempting to do His work in my children’s lives, I also have had to confess the times that I failed to counsel them in such a way as to point them to Jesus. I have found that I point them to the change that I want to see in their lives, rather than the one who is sufficient to offer them lasting change.
This was an amazing and helpful encouragment for us as counselors; to rely on the Holy spirit. Jesus is no longer on Earth, but He has sent us the Helper who will lead us into all truth. He will show us what to say, and point to Jesus.
It was interesting to hear that even turning to a commentary or book on depression and using that, could be counseling by the law. This makes sense, and it is encouraging to realize God wants to be so personal with each counselee.
The last quote nailed it on the head for me
As Jeff said
“It’s gotta be the work of the holy spirit through the word.
Delivered and illuminated with the full work of the Holy Spirit ”
This exhorts me to rely on the holy Spirit and prepare my heart in prayer for each counselee and each session, so that the Holy spirit can speak what He in his knowledge and comfort desires. Also, so I do not rely on my own strength. Unfortunately, it is easy to do, but drastically dangerous to rely on our own understanding. “Lord help us to reply on your word and the living God’s counsel; available to us through the Holy spirit.!”
Hi Hannah! I hope you are doing well and enjoying your studies! I read this week in Jay Adams’ book “The Christian Counselor’s Manual” that we must see the counselee as a whole person. That makes it more personal, we are not just looking at the problem, but at the person that God created. May we rely on God’s Word and the power of the Holy Spirit to work in us and in the lives of counselees!
I really liked how Pastor Jeff brought up that the Holy Spirit is a comforter in counseling. All to often, just like he said, we use a checklist of if you see a certain issue in someone’s life, we use a certain method to help (or try to help). Nor are we always to admonish. One of my favorite scriptures because of the many things God has brought me thru is 1 Cor 1:3-4 because it directly talks about God being a comforter, and because He comforts us, He tells us that we should in turn be comforting people in any affliction. I love how He first comforts us, thus equipping us to, from experience and gratitude, do the same for others. This is another reason why Romans 8:28,9 is important to believers. It’s kinda setting the stage for the next step, being comforters.
Hi April! I love that you pointed out the comforting ministry of the Holy Spirit. I was thinking how He comforts us so that we can comfort others, but that does not remove His ministry of comforting them as well! Can we call that double comfort? What an amazing privilege we have been given as believers to comfort others. Blessings!
Great Podcast on ‘the Holy Spirit in counseling’ and this is key. We all require the Holy Spirit in counseling biblically and it makes sense biblically knowing that God is ultimately the counselor.
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.
John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
It became very explicit from the teachings of Pastor Jeff that the relevance/ help of the Holy Spirit in counseling can’t be overemphasized knowing that we are humans and we shouldn’t try to counsel/ instruct/ help others in our own strength/ power/ intellect, because we will fail being humans and need the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We must prayerfully rely on the Holy Spirit to utilize Godly wisdom in counseling biblically in God’s way (1 Corinthians 2:12-13 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.).
In my nation and as a counselor, I desperately need the Holy Spirit to help me because some persons come for counseling with issues that are deeply different from what they seem to be saying/ presenting and only the help of the Holy Spirit can bring out the real truth about what such persons truly need.
Having the Holy Spirit being our guide in Biblical counseling has to be one of the most bedrock, foundational truths when it comes to counseling God’s way. I attended a church where a guest pastor came in and then proceeded to tell the congregation to all at once start speaking in tongues. I knew this was not being done in the correct order, so I looked it up, and sure enough, we find the correct order in which tongues is to be practiced in “1Corinthians 14 26-33 NKJV)” 26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” With this being said, I know that God still works in all of these ways, we just need to be careful to obey the way God has set it up. The Holy spirit is our guide to Jesus, and It is a good reminder to me, that He is also a person and not just a Spirit.
Isn’t it so interesting that the Holy spirit himself puts a check in our heart, when things are not done right or in order. Thank God he has given us his word so we can test what is being done wrong. And we can get clarity! It is not that it should not be done . It is just that there is a way that is done decently and in order and for the edification of the saints. Praise God for God’s way! Thanks for sharing this testimony Greg. Like you mentioned the verse ” God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.” Wow, so helpful!
I totally agree. The Scriptures will always shed light on whether we are doing as God desires or what we desire. Even in counseling, we ought to always be looking to the Scriptures as our first resource and first standard by which we check our conduct.
It is sad how many churches simply do what feels right or what they have seen others do. I am sure that the Lord honors the churches that honor His Word, and listen to His Spirit.
Thanks Greg for your post on this week’s Podcast on ‘the Holy Spirit in counseling’, a timely and good reminder to me too that I need the help of the Holy Spirit in all that I do, particularly, counseling God’s way.
Like Pastor Jeff explained, although there are abuses on the ‘workings of the Holy Spirit’, we must strive to genuinely manifest the gifts of the Holy Spirit, even in counseling. God uses His Word closely interwoven by the workings of the Holy Spirit as a means to bring counsel into our lives (recall that we don’t use human understanding when meditating on the Scriptures) – 1 Corinthians 2:12-13.
The Holy Spirit: He’s another Counselor like Jesus (Isaiah 9:6, 11:2) and we need Him in all that we do.
Thanks for your post, Greg! What an interesting situation to find yourself in with the guest pastor encouraging everyone to speak in tongues. It is so important for each of us to be knowledgeable of the Word of God & also sensitive to the work of the Spirit so that we can be effective in offering good, solid, biblical counsel.
I so appreciate Pastor Jeff’s words and the sharing of his personal experience on this topic of the Holy Spirit in the role of counseling. First, I will just comment briefly on the controversial issue of tongues. I am a believer in all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but currently attend and minister in a church where the official position is that those gifts have ceased. It’s refreshing to hear how Pastor Jeff uses these gifts in his personal time with the Lord, unfortunately the gifts of the Holy Spirit have been given a bad reputation because of how they are mischaracterized today.
The holy Scriptures are paramount to our own walks with the Lord and in our fellowship and instruction to and with others. But the Holy Spirit, as Jeff mentioned, is Who illuminates the Scriptures and can apply them to our lives and to the lives of others in very personal and powerful ways. He relayed the story of how forgiveness came to a woman who was filled with bitterness. That was by the Holy Spirit’s working.
God doesn’t necessarily give us a checklist to go through in order to solve our problems. He provides the counsel of His Word and the Holy Spirit as our helper and guide to lead us into all truth.
Thanks for sharing tom !
Yes I agree, the gifts are alive today! I personally cannot imagine a church body or a counseling situation operating without the gifts. Jesus is so alive and has given us the Helper and giftings and we are so dependent on Him, even in the midst of using gifts. I think of the gift of teaching. Someone can teach well, but I am sure we have all experienced a teacher relying on the strength of the Holy spirit. How much more dynamic and illuminated it is ! Glory to God.
Hey Tom, thanks for your honesty. I agree that the Scriptures are “paramount to our own walks with the Lord.” I also think as you do that God desires to “lead us into all truth” instead of simply throwing it on us. Even if He did reveal things so easily to us without having to search the Scriptures we wouldn’t be more likely to be obedient. But, when we search for the answers and are lead by the Spirit to the truth I think we are more likely to obey what we discover.
Also, I might quickly say that I hope your ministry is fruitful. I pray that your church involvement isn’t impeded by your belief in the gifts. It can many times become very exhausting to a believer to fellowship in a place that has a differing view than you. I hope you are blessed there either way. I am reminded of a few weeks ago the Podcast with Pastor Joel Dover. He was in a ministry that he didn’t quite fit in and the Lord eventually called him out. Now, I have no real knowledge of where you are Tom and what the Lord is leading you in. I simply pray that for every season and for how ever long those seasons are you are fruitful, blessed and able to serve the Lord to your greatest potential. God Bless.
Alejandro –
Thank you brother for your words! What an encouragement. Thankfully, I overall feel blessed in the ministry I find myself serving (Men’s ministry) and our study of Scripture. I have decided to speak freely where God leads me, but not to focus on points of division. The Lord is working in the lives of many men and for that I’m grateful as I continue to seek His will and direction in this process.
Bless you and thank you for your prayers.
Tom
Your attitude is refreshing. So often people focus on the issues of division instead of allowing God to do the work of conviction and change as He desires. Almost always when in ministry I have found that my timeline and list of priorities is not the same as Gods and I must focus and speak only where He leads
Thanks for your post Tom and I agree with you that the Holy Spirit illuminates the Scriptures just as Pastor Jeff explained in the Podcast.
Also, when Jesus has ascended into heaven, He didn’t leave us on our own but sent us a helper, (Holy Spirit) that will give us illumination, wisdom & strength to counsel others. The Holy Spirit empowers us to help guide us and lead others. When we try to counsel in our own strength, we are depending upon our human wisdom which contains no power. We cannot separate the work of the Holy Spirit from counseling.
1 Corinthians 2:12-13 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Thank you Esther! I was very encouraged by your response and am grateful that the Lord has given to us the Holy Spirit – our Helper. As you quoted, “…that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
Blessings,
Tom
Hi Tom, thank you for your post. I really appreciated your points and insights. You said two things that really spoke to me: “The holy Scriptures are paramount to our own walks with the Lord and in our fellowship and instruction to and with others. But the Holy Spirit, as Jeff mentioned, is Who illuminates the Scriptures and can apply them to our lives and to the lives of others in very personal and powerful ways.” And… “ God doesn’t necessarily give us a checklist to go through in order to solve our problems. He provides the counsel of His Word and the Holy Spirit as our helper and guide to lead us into all truth.” Sooooo good! Thanks, again!
God is so good, Neil. He uses His Spirit and His Word to speak directly to us. Thank you for your comments, brother!
Tom
Right on Tom, the Power comes from the invoking and seeking the leading of the Holy Spirit in everything and anything we do including counseling. He will lead us in all truth and wisdom through His illumination of grace and love.
Bill-
So true – the Power from the Holy Spirit is vital for EVERYTHING we do. We depend on Him.
Blessings,
Tom
Tom, I appreciated your thought: “God doesn’t necessarily give us a checklist to go through in order to solve our problems. He provides the counsel of His Word and the Holy Spirit as our helper and guide to lead us into all truth.” We always seem to want a checklist, and while we are so grateful for the guidance that the Scriptures give us, we also need to constantly rely on the power and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Great reminder!
Thank you, David, for your comments! I find it’s easy to fall back on the rules only, which can lead to a stale existence. The Holy Spirit brings the Word to life in our hearts – He brings real change. So thankful!
I agree with you Tom that the Holy Scriptures are paramount to our walk with the Lord and in our fellowship/ instructions to/ with others; particularly in the truth that the Holy Spirit illuminates the Scriptures, applying the Scriptures to our lives and in the lives of others (Ephesians 1:17-18 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.).