063 Wonderful Counselor

What many people don't know about the Bible is that it contains hundreds of ancient prophecies, written hundreds of years before they were being fulfilled. Of course, there are those who claim that the entire Bible is a fraud, just like they would have us believe that God is an invention of man, instead of the other way around, but I covered that earlier.
One of the ancient prophecies I'm referring to, is the one by the prophet Isaiah from around 700 B.C., which we also included in our Christmas card, shown in our Christmas post below:
"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).
In this, one of the most beautiful prophecies about Jesus' birth, Isaiah describes a child that would be born, although at the same time it would be "The mighty God, The everlasting Father," etc.
Most Christians refer to Jesus also as "Wonderful," and some, thankfully, still consider Him the Prince of Peace (not the champion of warmongers), but the one thing I'm particularly thankful for this morning, which unfortunately is the one attribute that is not so avidly recognized by most of His believers, is that Jesus is also the most perfect Counselor one could possibly have.
I personally love communicating. Especially about spiritual and heavenly things. And the neat thing is, so does the Lord. But it seems that in most cases, He needs to trick us into accepting, receiving, or even becoming aware of most of His attempted communications with us.
Still, the majority of believers consider prayer to be their monologue directed at God. "After all," they figure, "He said His piece, and whatever He had to say, in the Bible." And then He quit talking ever since...

A mute God, instead of a Counselor. There are even some catholics who are smarter than that. One of them is Richard Rohr, the Franciscan who puts it so wonderfully in his book "Radical Grace:" "Unless we can presume that the Lord is speaking right now, how can we believer that He ever spoke? To have an attitude of faith is to hear the Lord speaking everywhere and all the time, in the concrete and ordinary circumstances of our lives."

There are many Promises in the Bible in which God tells us that He would counsel us, if we care to listen. God's phone number, Jeremiah 33:3, for instance, says, "Call unto Me, and I will show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."
In the Psalms He promises, "I will guide the with Mine Eye," or elsewhere, "thou shalt hear a word behind thee, saying, 'This is the way...'" or "Knock and it shall be opened unto you," "Acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths."
In other words, if you have a little time on hand, but no cash to spend on therapists or counselors who will "lead thee in the paths" of Nietzsche and Freud, try the best Counselor of all times. In fact, He's so good at it, advertisement for His services was already written 700 years before He was born.
Try a little hearing from Heaven, and see what it can do for you!

Happy Christmas to Y'all!

Happy Birthday, Wonderful Counselor!