Counseling God's Way Leadership Seminar - Part 2 — Bob Hoekstra

Well, in this second session, let's pick up right where we were, looking at God's way in counseling. The Lord is our counselor. No surprise that His basic means in counsel is His Word. The Word of God is the counsel of the Lord.

The Word of God as God's Counsel

And I commend to you the study of the Scripture, not only for life and ministry, but also watching out for this grand theme of the ability of the Word of God. What God's Word is able to do, if people just receive it into their lives, or if we will just take it like living seed and scatter it on the soil of human hearts who come our way for help, the Word is so able.

It's His basic way to counsel us. But the moment we acknowledge in light of the Word that God's Word is His basic means of counseling, it brings into view issues like the Holy Spirit. John chapter 16, verses 13 and 14.

However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak and He will tell you things to come.

He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. These are the words of the Lord Jesus, teaching in the upper room to His disciples, discipling them. And much of the teaching in the upper room pertained to the Holy Spirit.

Here the Spirit is called the Spirit of truth. What a great title for the Holy Spirit. There are various titles of the Holy Spirit, Comforter being one of them, but here He's called the Spirit of truth.

The Holy Spirit inspiring the prophets and the apostles of old to write the message of God, the very words the Lord was laying on their hearts and minds. Here we're told that this Spirit-inspired message of the Bible is to be taught to us by the work of the Holy Spirit.

How great to have a Holy Spirit Bible, all Scripture is inspired of God. The Bible not being the words of man, but the words of God to and through man, inspired by the Spirit, superintended by the Spirit, so that what they wrote down was what God had on His heart to say.

And how wonderful to see that this Word of God that is inspired by the Spirit of God can be taught to us by the Holy Spirit. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, the One who inspired the truth and the Word, the One who wants to guide us into all the truth, when He has come, He will guide you into all truth, all the truth of the Word of God.

The Christian life cannot really be properly developing and lived out apart from the enabling work of the Holy Spirit, and we'll look at that later in some of our study on foundational truths. But also the Word of God cannot even really be understood.

We need a guide. These words of God, this is the kingdom of heaven, this is the mind of the living God. Who has known the mind of the Lord? We haven't. Man can't just take the Word and try to grasp it with the strength of human intellect.

Oh, God definitely wants our intellect to be exercised and shaped by His Word, but He must enlighten our intellect. We need a guide when we go into the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit is our guide. Look what He wants to do in verse 14.

He, the Holy Spirit, will glorify Me, Jesus, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. These are the things we need. The work of the Holy Spirit guiding us into the truth of the Word of God, certainly verse by verse, chapter by chapter in reading and considering, but then guiding us into correlations and connections and elaborations where one part of the Word elaborates another part of the Word, and we grow in an understanding and a perspective that is of God and is of His Word.

And, of course, the centerpiece is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, will glorify Me. One of the great quenchings of the Holy Spirit in the church world today is the glorifying of man.

When you read the seven letters to the seven churches of Asia, and you come to Laodicea and you say, what a self-absorbed, self-sufficient, self-exalting church that was. You know what that does? That pushes the Lord Jesus Christ out of the picture.

In fact, in that very passage, Jesus is outside knocking on the door. Why is He knocking on the door? He wants to be in among and in the midst of His people in that church, or at least those people who profess to be His and call it His church.

He's knocking. How sad to have the Lord displaced, and it's very clear in Laodicea what is displacing the Lord's place in His church. It's this occupation with self. Boy, we're in a self-crazed age. Self-improvement, self-help, self-assertion, self-actualization, self-love, self-esteem, self-promotion.

It is not only not the way of the Lord, it is the opposite of the way of the Lord. He will glorify me. The quenching of the Spirit, the displacing of Christ in His church, it's this passion of this age for self-ism kind of issues.

We're called to glorify Him. The Holy Spirit was sent to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the great signs of a Spirit-filled church is the Lord Jesus Christ is glorified among the people. They're boasting in Him.

They're reveling in Him. They're marveling in Him. They're talking about Him, preaching about Him, praying in His name, hungering for His work in their midst. Well, this applies to counseling God's way as well.

Our counsel is the Word of God, but it's not the Word of God just left to our best understanding or our best attempt to explain it and other people's best attempt to live up to it. It's in the Word, centered in Christ.

He's the focus, His honor and glory, and He's our hope and our help. This is the central, core ministry of the Holy Spirit. Yes, God's Word is our message in counseling God's way. But to properly understand that message and impart it and share it with clarity and conviction with others, it necessitates the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, guiding us into all the truth.

As we're listening, prayerfully listening to those who want our help in counsel, we can trust the Holy Spirit to be bringing to our remembrance the things the Lord has taught us, John 14. And by His guidance and His enabling work, ministering the Word to people, anticipating that it's going to be a Christ-centered, Christ-anchored, Christ-glorifying Word.

The centerpiece of our counseling message to people is who the Lord Jesus Christ is, what He's done, what He is fully able to yet do. That brings comfort to hope, to folks' hearts. It brings hope to their hearts.

It brings life to the dead, the dying, the discouraged, all by the power of the Holy Spirit. But when you talk about the Holy Spirit and His work, that leads logically, biblically, to the next fundamental way of the Lord in His counsel, and that is prayer.

Prayerful Hearts in Biblical Counseling

The Spirit of the Lord works in prayerful, seeking hearts. Colossians 1, verse 9. Colossians 1, 9 is a prayer. We're called in the Word to pray at all times, to pray without ceasing. A heart turned toward the Lord day by day, step by step.

It's the way of the Lord. Prayer is to the Christian life like breathing is to the physical life. It's not just something to do at an announced time and place, though that's great. It's appropriate every step of the day.

The attitude of the heart tuned toward the Lord, ready at any time to break into verbalization of prayer need or praise, or just silent arrows shot to heaven, the throne of God, for the issues we face here on earth.

A phone call comes. The boss calls us in. Someone's meeting with us for lunch with a broken heart. We're spontaneously stopped and asked for help. We don't have to tell them, you know, I need about a half-hour prayer here before I answer you.

You can just talk to the Lord right there. Approach the throne of grace boldly. Not with cockiness. Boldness means you're aware of guaranteed access. You know you're going to be heard. You can speak to the living God Himself guided by the Spirit through the name of Jesus.

That's where the Lord works, in prayerful seeking hearts. That's why in Luke 11, when it talks about God giving the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him, not only initially, but any way, any measure, fullness, guidance, in response to prayer.

Well, these two scriptures on this line, that the Spirit of God works in the Word of God in prayerful seeking hearts, these are both prayers. These are biblical prayers. You can't pray better than the Word of God.

If we're perplexed on what to pray, just get in the Word, and when your heart is stirred on a verse, a phrase, an issue, just turn it into prayer. And the easiest place to do that is where? In prayers that are already recorded in the Word.

These are recorded by the Spirit for that moment, but for all kinds of moments we find ourselves in. Look at Colossians 1, 9. For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

Oh, what a great prayer for every day of our lives. To be filled with the knowledge of His will, accompanied with in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. How about applying that to the counseling ministry?

How about when we're seeking counsel? What a great prayer for us to pray. How about when others come to us for help? Haven't you heard this from many a child of God? Oh, I'd appreciate your prayers, here's what I'm facing, and I just got to know the will of God on this.

Haven't we said that a lot in our lives? Sure we have. Have we not heard it? Yes. Many a person coming to us seeking counsel, they might not even think of it as seeking counsel. They're just hurting, needy, or hungry and they want help.

And for some reason God has them turn to us. Maybe they know us, love us, know we love them, trust us, at least know we love God and His Word. And boom, we're the counselor. That is the human instrumental counselor in the hands of the wonderful counselor.

How about praying this with that person? You know, why don't we pray together a second? We're going to be sharing here for a while. Let's pray this great prayer in Colossians 1 -9, that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

You know, 1 John 5 tells us, if we ask anything according to His will, we know we've been heard and we have that which we have requested. Well, these prayers are the will of God. Finding prayers in the Scripture that express our heart and our situation and praying them to God as though they were just uttered first of all from our heart, great way to proceed with the Lord in seeking counsel or giving counsel.

God is going to hear and answer prayer like that. Counsel, it stands on the reality of the Lord being the wonderful counselor. It stands on the reality of His Word being His counsel and the Holy Spirit guiding us in that counsel.

Where does the prayer fit in? Really, Lord, work Your way and Your will in this situation. It's like turning all of that truth to prayer. Ephesians 1 .17, another great prayer in the Scriptures. In fact, in Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 3 are two of the greatest prayers recorded in the New Testament.

Ephesians 1 .17, verse 16, talks about making mention of You in my prayers. And here's what Paul prayed for these saints. 1 .17 Ephesians, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

May I say, in the knowing of Him. Knowing of Him, that's a good paraphrase. And it helps remind us that the knowledge of the Lord is not just an accumulation of facts about Him. That's involved, but that's in a relationship with Him.

What a prayer this is. This is one of the majestic prayers of the whole Bible. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you, and it's plural, it's a prayer for the saints at Ephesus and saints anywhere praying for other saints.

May give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowing of Him. You know what? That verse actually deals with the greatest need anyone and everyone has on the face of the earth. You might say, well, that's a pretty presumptive statement.

No, I don't think so. I think it's biblically sound. What's the ultimate issue in all of life and creation? Knowing God. People who exist on this earth and never get to know God. The whole purpose of God's creating them has been missed.

Our greatest need in life is to know the Lord. That involves, of course, initially being introduced to Him, which the Gospel does. Lets us meet, lets the sinner meet the Savior. And hear the Savior calling the sinner to salvation.

What an introduction that is. Most likely all of us here have enjoyed that introduction and hopefully have had some years along the way where we've actually been getting acquainted with the Savior that we met.

This verse is about growing in knowing the Lord. It's kind of nice to know that everyone who comes our way, we already know their greatest need. And if they're a Christian and they studied the Bible, they know our greatest need.

And we can actually both help each other with the counsel of the Lord that helps us get to know Him better and better. We'll talk about those kind of truths in a little while here and foundational truths for counseling God's way.

That's just a foundational issue. You know that's going to pertain to everyone you ever meet, any place, whoever asks for any kind of counsel. And often we might not know a specific action step which folks are often looking for.

But we can point them to the Lord who will lead them into that action step, will comfort and strengthen them when there is no step to take but only intercession to pour out and they can get to know Him a little better.

Which leaves them more prepared and equipped for the next issue of life. Yes, God's way in counseling is through His Word. Second, by the work of the Holy Spirit. Third, taking place in prayerful, God-seeking hearts.

Counseling in the Relational Life of the Church

And then this fourth arena of God's way in counseling is the relational church life of God's people. Yes, a person may have gone to an official appointment with someone carrying an official title of counselor and maybe even have done it in an office or a clinic or some such place.

And God is looking on hearts and honors His truth wherever it comes up, by whomever. But fundamentally and basically counseling God's way is to be taking place in the relational church life of the saints.

I say relational, you know, our one another fellowship and life together. As the church gathered and then as the church scattered. Where are the people of the world? Where are they supposed to go to get the help that everyone needs along the way and sometimes desperately so?

Where are they to go? How about to the living God and get help in that process by people who know the living God? The trend in this day and age is troubled souls are sent out to the world's experts and even sent there by the church.

It came to me one day that sometimes in the church we act like, well, sinner, we can help you get off the road to hell and on the road to heaven. But if you've got any circumstantial trials that are beyond an emotional hangnail, I'm sorry, you'll just have to go back out there in the world and find help.

You know, reading the word of God, it came to me one day, hey, this seems backwards. The world should be beating down the doors of the churches saying, okay, we want to know what's going on in there. We've been watching who comes in.

The broken, the busted, the emotionally lame, the mentally maimed, the condemned, the weak, the poor in spirit. But the more they seem to come in there, they come out transformed. It's like they're being made whole.

What are you doing in there? We're introducing them to the Lord of glory. Boasting in Him, crying out for His work through His word, by His spirit. And they're finding life abundant. We should hear them say, could I get an appointment?

I mean, if you don't mind counseling a human expert, could I get an appointment? It's clear in the scriptures, this kind of ministry one to another with the word of life is basic to the ways of the Lord.

In many, many a place, it's like it is lost. Look at Colossians 3 .16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. And again, this is the plural you written to a group of saints at Colossae, appropriate for every collection, group of saints anywhere in time and space in the history of the church.

Let the word of Christ dwell richly in you. Oh, this is good counsel individually. This is good counsel for a church. Make rich place for the word of God. Why is it when we gather together, most of us in our churches, a lot of attention is given to the word of God.

Is that just some tradition or some church growth program? Oh, no, dear saints. This is the call of God. Let the word of Christ dwell in you, among you, richly. We don't want to be misers as a church with the word of God.

We want to give it rich place to dwell. It's one of the cautions of the new trends in the American church growth movement, the seeker-sensitive trends and even the emerging church movement. It seems like less and less attention is being given to the word of God and less and less deep is the digging in the word of God.

That's not God's way. That's not wise. That's worldly wisdom. That's religious organizational development. Here's what builds the body of Christ. Here's what transforms lives. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Oh, that's the kind of church we want to go to right there. That's the kind of church we want to be. The word of Christ dwelling richly and it will include in it one another ministry. See that teaching and admonishing one another.

This word admonishing tied to the phrase one another. Is one of the New Testament. There are two terms in the New Testament that can rightly be translated and often are in different versions. Counseling one another.

This one is admonishing. So it's kind of a counseling with warning. With, you know, there's your life. Here's the word. Don't you see the discrepancy? That's part of our ministry. One to another. It's a one another ministry.

It's not that we have to go off and find a professional expert admonisher or a counselor who will warn us. We're to be doing this with one another. That's why I say God's counseling is primarily to be taking place in the relational life of those of us who are in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we gather together and do such with one another. We scatter out into the world and are available to do that toward those who are not yet in Christ Jesus. Or special times together with a little group or one on one counseling one another in discipleship.

That's fundamental to the way the kingdom of heaven is to operate. And the kingdom of heaven on earth now is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Kingdom of heaven. That domain where God rules His king in hearts.

Where is that today on this earth? It's the church. It's the church. And we are to be counseling one another with admonishment when needed. You know, warnings. Brother, sister, watch out for that. That thought, that behavior, that perspective is of the world not of God.

It's of human wisdom not the word of God. That's part of our counsel. And it's to be one to another. That's a pretty comprehensive term, one another. It involves every Christian as one to be applied to every other Christian that one Christian knows or relates to.

And then those other Christians back to them and to every Christian they know. Can you see the picture of that? It covers the whole body of Christ one way or another. And this is what we're to be doing.

Counseling one another with warning. We'll see a different term in a moment that's counseling one another with comfort. But how about competency? Romans 15. Wait a minute. I'm to be counseling people?

Every Christian is to be learning how to be a part of that? Yes. But how can we be competent for that? We don't want to be careless and foolish and irresponsible. What about this issue of competency? Are we going to be able to do that?

Well, according to the word of God we can anticipate it and even how it's going to develop. Romans 15 .14. Now, I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.

There's that phrase again. Dr. J. Adams in 1970 -71 wrote a book calling the church back to biblical counsel. And the title of it was Competent to Counsel. He got the title from this very verse in the Williams translation which translates able also to admonish one another, competent to counsel one another.

But look at that verse. How do we get a spiritual competency, capability, a biblical qualifying to actually function as effective counselors one to another? Well, it's right here in this verse. I'm confident concerning you, my brethren, this is to the whole church here in Rome and any other church or believer who would read it, that you are also full of goodness.

Now, we know from Romans itself and the rest of the scripture that in us dwells no good thing. This is not human goodness. This is not innate goodness. None is good but God alone. This is the goodness of God filling people's lives.

You're full of goodness, filled with all knowledge. What kind of knowledge? Fourteen and a half chapters kind of knowledge. That's the context when that was stated. Book of Romans type knowledge. As we get equipped in that kind of truth and the goodness of God is at work transforming our lives, brethren, we are able also to admonish one another.

Or as Brother Williams put it, we are competent to counsel one another on the basis of that. God's word in us, God's work on us and through us. That's our hope. It's not that we become these great experts.

In the kingdom of heaven, really, there's only one expert and it's the Lord God Almighty. The rest of us are learners. All of our lives we're learners of the Lord. Yes, it is in the relational life of the body of Christ that God has ordained that His counsel is to take place.

Romans 12. Romans 12 brings to view the matter of spiritual gifts to this matter of counseling. Romans 12, verse 6. Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them.

If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Then drop down to verse 8. He who exhorts in exhortation or be engaged in exhortation with your spiritual gift. One of the spiritual gifts given here is the gift of exhortation.

It could be translated encouragement or comfort. It's related to the word, if you put it in the noun form, we made an English word out of it, paraclete. The Holy Spirit, the comforter. One of the spiritual gifts in the body of Christ is exhortation or encouragement or comforting others.

This is another one of those words that can be translated counsel or counseling. The one in Colossians 3 and Romans 15 was counsel with confrontation. Kind of like the law of God. Thou shalt not. This is right, this is wrong.

This is more counsel with comfort. This is like ministering the grace of God. And really, in those two New Testament terms, you have quite a New Testament theology of counseling. Counsel with confrontation, counsel with comfort.

Ministering the law of God, ministering the grace of God. But how do you know when to minister which? Well, in general, we need to be learning of both. So on the teaching and enlightening and edifying side, it's good to be sharing both and learning both.

But how about in timely application in the events of our lives or an issue that someone is facing? Well, 1 Timothy 1 says the law is for the rebellious. So if we're ministering to someone, be it a cantankerous billionaire or a rebellious teenager, the law is for the rebellious.

Why? Because the law confronts the hardness and the self-centeredness of mankind's natural heart. And certainly that pertains to many in the world who are not humbling themselves before God and crying out for forgiveness and help.

But it also describes Christians at times who are willful and carnal and indulgent. And they're pressing their will and way and not God's. The law is for the rebellious. The law condemns that, says that's foolish, that's wrong.

And, you know, you have the consequences of reaping and sowing. You sow to the flesh. Dear one, that's going to reap corruption. And sometimes the rebel is so rebellious you can hardly get more than that out of your mouth.

And they're either gone or shouting you down. Well, those are still truths of the living God. And you've sown them on the heart. You can water them with intercessory prayer even if they flee from your presence.

And especially if it's not a self-righteous word you've given, but a broken-hearted heart of God word you've given. Speak the truth in love. But then sometime you're with a Christian or even someone in the world who's not rebellious.

They're humble. They're compliant. A child of God wanting to please God. A child of God wanting the help of God. Even a sinner in the world coming broken saying, I've sinned, I'm wrong, can you help me?

How do you minister those situations? James 4, 6. God gives grace to the humble. He gives grace. He gives His hope, His encouragement, His comfort. We remind people the Lord is for you, not against you.

The Lord is a God of love. And some people, they have a spiritual gift for this. One day a person was talking to me at church when I was pastoring and not traveling and teaching like this. And they stopped me after service and it was a lady and she was sharing how devastated her life was.

And she said, my life is just so busted and broken. Can you refer me to some expert who can help me? And I was looking at her and over her shoulder in the back of the church auditorium, I said, oh yes, there's someone I can direct you to and she's standing right back there.

This lady almost snapped her neck off. Number one, to think that her request was being answered. Number two, when she looked and she said, she's an expert? Because she kind of knew of her. Isn't she just a gal who goes to church?

And she kind of quizzed me about that. Why is she an expert? I said, well she knows the Lord, she knows the word. I believe she has the spiritual gift of counseling, Romans 12. And she's been using it under the guidance and influence of the Holy Spirit and she's grown in wisdom and knowledge of the Lord.

I said, there's your expert. She thought I was going to direct her maybe to some professional out in the world. God has provided in His word for His body some of those, the world would call them experts, we would just say one's gifted by God.

Called to this ministry in a very special way. There are those, some of you are probably exactly in that category and that's why you're kind of drawn to a time of study like we're in this weekend. But, every Christian is to be growing in their usability in these areas.

You know, every Christian is to exercise faith. The just shall live by faith. Without faith it's impossible to please God. But according to Romans 12, some believers, 1 Corinthians 12 I mean, some people have the gift of faith.

It's a supernatural enabling to just trust God in ways that many of us are still struggling to learn how. But all of this, see, is taking place in the relational life of the church. That's the norm. You know, you ask the world, what's the normal pattern to get counsel?

Oh, well you find some human expert on humans and you call and make an appointment with them. That's the norm for the world. That's not the norm for the church. I'm not saying that God can't use a believer who just happens to be in that field and is turned from worldly wisdom to the wisdom of God.

But the norm, the normal way for the church is in the relational life of the believers. Normal means you're measuring it by a norm. A standard that is valid. What is it that declares normal Christian behavior for us?

It's the Word of God. Don't let average behavior in the church world confuse you from normal behavior in the sight of God. Normal is that which is measuring up more and more to the norm. That's the Word of God.

Average is just what's taking place generally. God help us to be increasingly normal. The world won't think we're normal. But here's our norm. The Word of God. And just these few verses, and there are many, many, many, many more.

Just these few verses are a reminder that counseling in God's plan is to take place in and among the relational life of His people gathered together and then scattered out as salt and light into the world.

All of us are called to it. Some of us have more wisdom and experience in it. Some on top of that even have a spiritual gift which means that most of their ministry and most of their fruit is going to come right in the arena of biblical counseling with others.

That doesn't mean it will necessarily be a profession or a vocation, but it will mean it's an emphasis and it will be effective by the Spirit of God. So, Jesus is the wonderful counselor. That's what counseling is.

And He counsels unto discipleship. That's the other issue in defining counseling. And His way to counsel? In His Word, by the work of the Holy Spirit, in prayerful, God-seeking hearts, all in the context of the relational one another life of the Church, the Body of Christ.

Foundational Truths for Counseling

Now with that in mind, let's consider this matter of foundational truths for counseling. Foundational truths. Let's start off in John chapter 8. Foundational truths. Core truth in the Word of God. The Word of God has all kinds of wonderful truth and it's all edifying and helpful.

But it's not all foundational. It's come to my mind again. It's not in our outlines. It wasn't on my mind, but it's come to my mind now. An interesting and somewhat humorous verse that appears twice in Proverbs to make a point.

What are you talking about foundational truths? Well, let me share a truth with you that is not foundational. I think you'll see. If you don't sense already what I'm talking about, I think you'll get it quite quickly, in fact.

There's a verse that appears twice. And I'll give it kind of a paraphrase. It is better to dwell on the corner of a rooftop than in a house with a nagging woman. I didn't hear any amens. But we know that's the truth.

We know that's the truth. Why? It's one of the Proverbs inspired by the Holy Spirit. We know it's true. But is it foundational? Well, of course not. Of course not. Foundational truth, those are the things that someone gets saved by.

And once they come to Christ, here are a series of foundational truths. You want to ground them in. Can you imagine at a mass evangelism outreach, a Harvest Crusade or whatever, that all the counselors are trained.

Now, if anybody comes forward to the gospel tonight, we're sending them to you, counselors. And here is the one and only verse we want you to just preach to them and clarify to them. And that's this. It is better to live on the corner of a rooftop than in a house with a nagging woman.

Well, our laughter makes the point. It would be ludicrous to think that's foundational. Foundational truths. It's where you are to stand every day of your Christian life. It's the path you're to walk every step of the Christian life.

Foundational truths. The Lord laid on my heart many years ago kind of a conviction that I often spent too much time with folks in personal ministry on peripheral issues. I didn't get to the core of life in Christ quick enough and often enough.

Or to put it another way, I was talking about superstructure issues and not enough foundational issues upon which the entire life of a Christian must stand every day. And the burden the Lord gave me on that was be praying in situations with people.