READ: Zechariah 10:2-3
“For the idols have spoken vanity, and THE DIVINERS HAVE SEEN A LIE, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, THEY WERE TROUBLED, BECAUSE THERE WAS NO SHEPHERD.” – Zechariah 10:2
Many of the members of the church live in confusion and difficulty, not knowing what to do in their personal lives. They need a personal word from the pastor. They need direction. They need intimate counselling. In the absence of counselling, the sheep are troubled and subject to false prophets and deceptive counsel from other sources.
Without intimate counselling, the children are forced to counsel themselves with their own ideas and imaginations. When you counsel yourself you go backward and not forward – Jeremiah 7:24. Through intimate counselling the sheep are turned away from evil – Jeremiah 23:22.
Through intimate counselling God will be with the children. God will help the sheep in a special way through the counsel that you give to them. “Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God:” (Exodus 18:19). Through the counselling of shepherds, the members will be grounded in the Word and have a deeper understanding. When there is no counselling there is no understanding. “For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them” (Deuteronomy 32:28).
Thank God for the sermons every Sunday. But it is time to rise up and talk to the sheep on a one-on one basis. There must be marriage counselling. There must be pre-marriage counselling. There must be crisis counselling. There must be issue-based counselling. There must be personal counselling. There must be interactions with many people.