The Best Advice

If you ask someone, “What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?” most will share a tidbit from a friend, mentor, pastor, family member.  Or maybe a quote that resonated with them.  I’ve been on the receiving end of many wonderful words of encouragement and suggestion; and I’ve offered my fair share.  

Over the last few weeks, I’ve walked with friends and family through some challenging times.  And I’ve faced a few of my own.  I have come to realize that too often our most powerful advice and source of wisdom is overlooked.  It is relegated to second or third on the list of people to whom we reach out.  And as advice givers, we forget that the most powerful words we can share are not our own.

I’ve always been that person who people can talk to.  For whatever reason, people feel comfortable opening up to me.  I’m the person who makes friends in the checkout line!  I feel comfortable listening and sharing my experiences and vulnerabilities.  Heck, I write a blog!  But only in the last five years or so have I learned that while God has equipped me through my own experiences to help others, my words will always be inadequate to achieve the deepest healing and comfort.  My experiences are meant, simply, to be a gateway, a seed planted, a bridge to the One who has the power to truly heal.

God.

Yes, I believe God gifts individuals with compassion, wisdom, communication skills.  I believe whatever writing talent I have is wholly from Him.  The power behind every gift He gives lies in the Word of God.  The best advice lives and breathes in the Bible.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us:  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  “God Breathed” in this scripture is the Greek theopneustos, inspired by God, referring to a communication from deity.  

It doesn’t mean a list of rules.  Or a random collection of ideas.  It is communication from our God.  Advice from a Father who loves you more deeply than you can imagine.  A Father who is fiercely protective.  A Father who seeks your salvation, peace, and joy.  A Father who gave everything that He might communicate with you.  And one of the most powerful ways He does that is through His Word.

I have learned the power of praying scripture in my own life and over people and situations.  For some, praying scripture may be an unknown strategy.  There is a difference between reading scripture and making that scripture personal and declaring it over your life and the lives of those you love.  There is enormous power in turning scripture into a conversation with God.  We must always respect context when applying God’s Word.  But I have found His promises stand solidly true when captured for His purposes.

Let me give you a quick example.  My mother’s favorite verse was Isaiah 41:10. I pray it often claiming it for me and my daughter.  The personalizing of it turns it from something I’m reading to something I’m claiming and living.  “I do not fear for You are with me.  I do not fear because You are my God.  You strengthen me and You keep me.  You hold me in Your righteous right hand.” 

Proverbs 3:5-6 is another verse many of us have memorized.  Personalize it for you: “I Trust in You Lord with all my heart and I will not lean on my own understanding.  Let me, in all my ways and in every situation, submit to You.  I know that You will make my path straight.”

When scripture is spoken, owned by us, the power of the Holy Spirit can work miracles!  The Word of God is the “sword of the spirit” (Ephesians 6:17).  The weapon He gave us to slay the enemy, destroy lies, and defend against attack.  Jesus used scripture when satan tried to tempt Him (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4).  For He knew that the power of God’s Word was no match for the enemy’s tricks.  There is no sound more offensive and debilitating to satan than the Word of God.

Genesis 2:7 tells us: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”  God’s breath gave us life.  And God’s Word, breathed from His lungs and His heart, continue to give us life.  

Scripture is not a collection of words on a page.  It is the rise and fall of the chest of your Father.  The inhale and exhale of His love for you.  It is the gift of guidance, grace, and growth.  It is the promise of a worldly relationship and an eternity of love.  

It is the best advice, ever.