It has come to my attention recently that the role and process of counseling are not fully understood by all. We need to distinguish between three distinctly different ways in which people receive counseling. The first applies to those who hide things from their leaders, thinking that they don’t know. The second applies to those who receive peer level counseling, and the third applies to those who receive counseling from their leader.
Let’s look at the first way, of hiding things. Many people hide because of shame. Most leaders already can discern that something is going on and are waiting for the person to be willing to receive help. They may not know the details, but most of the time God has already spoken to them in advance of the situation. This is true with me almost all the time. God gives the leader specific things about situations to watch for and specific things to wait on before starting the process. God is waiting on the person to decide they truly want help. Until that time comes, the leader's counsel and instruction are not received and the time is wasted because no true submission exists. Submission releases authority. Submission is a sign of showing respect to Gods appointed authorities and until the person humbles themselves they will vacillate in the mire of life. I have seen this happen to many individuals, as God has told me to do nothing until there is a true desire for change, namely repentance.
The second type of counseling that people receive is peer level. Peer level counseling is finding others who may be sympathetic towards them or their problem. Peer level only carries authority of a person who has possible conquered their own situation. This knowledge or wisdom can be passed on to the person, but sometimes the problem is more deep rooted and will take more than friendly advice to overcome. It may take someone who has had years of experience in ministry or greater depth of understanding and discernment. Many times a peer’s discernment is clouded by their own feelings towards a person. Peer level counseling only delays the answer. It may bring relieve but may never fully solves problems, as our peers are not in authority over our lives. It is only horizontal authority being exercised. Many times the relief we feel allows us to believe the problem is solved but in reality it still exist. Peers do not have authority in our lives to remove some of the things that need to be removed. Many times we will search out peers to justify our positions and situations.
The final position of counseling is to turn to godly leaders. All godly leaders have been anointed to watch over the souls of the people. Godly leaders see things in a large way and realm beyond what peers do. They see all perspectives and do not take sides, but only desire the outcome to be the will of God. God anoints leaders to handle situations in advance and puts answer within them for a future time of need. Most leaders already carry within them the answers the people under them need to succeed in life and overcome obstacle hindering them from victory. When a person submits to their God appointed leaders, they open the door for God to truly work in their lives. Most people have a hard time believing the leader God has appointed can actually help them, yet they may be submitting to their teaching, general ministry and even be supportive of it. Yet we seem to treat our employees, who only give material things, better than our Godly leaders who give us spiritual things and are in charge of our soul. Receiving counsel from Godly leaders is a sign of submitting to God, His structure of the church, His authorities that HE has set in place and shows we truly honor Him. Let us be people who will not let shame stop us from receiving and will not have our problems remain hidden. By all means, receive input, exhortation and encouragement from our peers. And for those things that we can not overcome, let us embrace Gods pattern of resolving and go to His appointed authorities so that we can be a church living in total victory.