Today's devotion is from Proverbs 19:20-21
Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days. There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel — that will stand.
We need to be open to men’s ideas, but the Holy Spirit should be our primary influence and counselor.
It says in Proverbs 19:21 that people have many plans and ideas, but that the LORD’S counsel is the BEST counsel and HIS counsel will stand the test of time!
John 14:26 says, ‘The Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor — Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you. John 14:26 (AMP)
The Holy Spirit speaks directly to our spirit.
1 Corinthians 2:9-12 says that even though your natural eyes and ears cannot see and hear what God has for you in the realm of the spirit, God does reveal them to you through His Spirit to your spirit. Verse 12 says that “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.”
1 John 2:27 (NLT) says, “You have received the Holy Spirit, and He lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what He teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as He has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.”
Men’s advice and ideas should only be followed if the advice, counsel or idea is confirmation of something that the Holy Spirit has already told you.
Prophecy, words of advice or counsel should be confirmation, not information.
In the Old Covenant believers did not have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of them and so God’s Word was given to them by Prophets. If the Prophet spoke one word that was not truly from God or gave even one wrong prediction, that Prophet would be stoned to death. This does not happen to modern day Prophets under the New Covenant because they are not the primary source of God’s Word and what they speak is not on the same level as the New Covenant scriptures.
Under the New Covenant, the Bible and His Word to us through the Holy Spirit is His primary way of speaking.
New Covenant Prophets CONFIRM what God has already said directly to you; either by His Word, or from His Spirit to your spirit. Always check to make sure that all ‘advice,’ counsel and that every ‘prophesy and ‘word’ is in line with the New Covenant according to the Bible... that it is confirmation of something that God has already told you and that it is confirmed by the Holy Spirit to your spirit.