At the Last Supper Jesus called the Holy Spirit a counselor. The “Paraclete” is the one called to our side who will glorify Jesus and instruct us as we worship, leading us to deeper intercession—provided we seek His counsel.

“Hey Frank,” I asked, “wanna go to the conference with me in San Francisco? They invited us to minister there and they need it. It’s a great opportunity to serve with the whole team!”

“Yeah, I like that conference, it’s big and it sounds great. Let’s go for it!” my brother enthusiastically said, peering at me characteristically out of the corner of his eyes with his sweet smile. I felt really positive about it.

Four weeks later we traveled to the city by the Golden Gate, played and sang our hearts out—a great effort, we had thought, for the Lord’s people. But it turned out rather to be a hard lesson in spiritual presumption. As great as an idea it was in our estimation, it became apparent that it was really an un-discerned striving; for we had not consulted with God about it, and in fact, He had not given us a spiritual “assignment” to minister there. Under those conditions it is hard to truly glorify Jesus. Now we were in trouble!

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