Wonderful Counselor, October 19

You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.—Psalm 73:24JNN 308.1

God calls upon human beings to oppose the powers of evil. He says: “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”JNN 308.2

The Christian life is a warfare. But “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” In this conflict of righteousness against unrighteousness, we can be successful only by divine aid. Our finite will must be brought into submission to the will of the Infinite; the human will must be blended with the divine. This will bring the Holy Spirit to our aid; and every conquest will tend to the recovery of God’s purchased possession, to the restoration of His image in the soul.JNN 308.3

The Lord Jesus acts through the Holy Spirit; for It is His representative. Through It He infuses spiritual life into the soul, quickening its energies for good, cleansing from moral defilement, and giving it a fitness for His kingdom. Jesus has large blessings to bestow, rich gifts to distribute among humanity. He is the wonderful Counselor, infinite in wisdom and strength; and if we will acknowledge the power of His Spirit, and submit to be molded by It, we shall stand complete in Him. What a thought is this! In Christ “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him.” Never will the human heart know happiness until it is submitted to be molded by the Spirit of God. The Spirit conforms the renewed soul to the model, Jesus Christ. Through Its influence, enmity against God is changed into faith and love, and pride into humility. The soul perceives the beauty of truth, and Christ is honored in excellence and perfection of character. As these changes are effected, angels break out in rapturous song, and God and Christ rejoice over souls fashioned after the divine similitude.—The Review and Herald, August 25, 1896.JNN 308.4

Further Reflection: When was the last time that angels rejoiced over a positive change in my life brought about by the Holy Spirit?JNN 308.5