Ecclesiastes 4:13 Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice.

During our sojourn on this earth we give and receive advice from sources we trust. None are so trusted and well informed than the Holy Spirit.

This morning’s reading says in my heart “I want to go there.” The Spirit says “No, don’t go there.”

So I ask why. His answer is simple, “Because it will not help the people I want to reach.”

So I will yield to my God and Savior and Comforter.

I have a trusted accountability partner in the Lord that is but a few years older than me but in walking with the Lord he is decades ahead of me. I submit my wandering thoughts to him from time to time when I am not sure if my message is going to help others in need. Both of us have a heart for those who could benefit from Godly wisdom. We want to help, not control.

Advice in the Spirit can take on two forms, solicited and unsolicited. I have asked my partner for solicited advice and here today, I am giving unsolicited advice to an unknown audience in the hopes that the Spirit will direct these words to those who need it.

What is our present destination? Is it a short distance or a great one? Will you walk, drive or fly? Will weather be a factor? Is there unrest in the cities you travel through? How prepared are you for the possibilities that might spoil your plans? What is the purpose of your journey? All these questions and more might require information to come from different sources.

Now for the unsolicited advice. Did you ask advice from the Spirit of Truth before you began making plans?

We have gotten used to making so many decisions in this world that it seems so unnecessary to bother God with the minutiae.

Isaiah 29:4 And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

Are we prepared to deliver a message from our God in those little moments?

2 Corinthians 7:9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

Forgive me for using the wrong word, coma where I meant comma. Spell Check doesn’t offer up those kinds of corrections. It will allow you to make those mistakes. I just want you to know I am grieved by this mistake. Coma is a very serious subject. My apologies.

Over the past two years I have lost two older brothers and my older sister has health issues. Death has been on my mind for some time. Morbid thoughts do not flood my days but there is a desire to finish what I have begun, which is just a small part of the bigger plan.

• Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
• Mark 13:31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
• Luke 21:33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
• John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

The Synoptic Gospels repeat it  word for word and John goes one step further in making it plain to us all just how important His Word is for our lives. Words matter, even the little ones. If even one person should be offended by my use of coma rather than comma and miss a message of salvation, I am truly grieved.

I believe that God the Father will call those who will accept Christ, my experience tells me that a lifetime of pain and suffering could have been avoided if that message were to take root earlier in someone’s life. The most grievous words I have ever heard came from a young woman I knew as a teenager. “Why didn’t you tell me then?”

Opportunities come and go for us to share His Word. It will hurt no one to deliver that seed of hope early. It is not up to us to make sure the ground is ready, only to put it out there.

I am sure my friends glazed over my mistake and might even chuckle over it, but this goes out to the World Wide Web where ridicule is rampant and points are made over the slightest mistake.

This is the social media world where once a Word is released it is out of our control.

Words have impact and His have the greatest impact, so we need to get it right.