Worldly Coaches vs. The Holy Spirit, Our Guide – Purity 1876
Purity 1876 01/31/2026 Purity 1876 Audio Podcast
Purity 1876 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of this scenic mountain view at sunset comes to us from an unknown FB friend who shared their vantage point of the Chilhowee Mountain Overlook in the Cherokee National Forest, near Benton, Tennessee, on social media back on February 14, 2023.
Well, it’s Groundhog Day, and Punxsutawney Phil will predict the arrival of spring based on his shadow at sunrise. If he sees it, six more weeks of winter are predicted; otherwise, early spring arrives. While I don’t subscribe to basing my happiness on the predictions of a rodent whose accuracy rate is said to be about 35 to 39%, I am pulling for an early spring but the weekly forecast doesn’t have us going above freezing anytime soon. I think I will trust in the Lord and get my strength and joy from Him.
Our world has a lot of prognosticators, soothsayers, prophets, and experts to choose from, and while some are quite impressive with their wealth and worldly wisdom, we have to be careful of who we are listening to and how much of their supposedly sage advice we take.
As someone who is always looking to improve as a life coach and to grow on the path of Christian discipleship, I am always listening to podcasts and going to conferences or seminars to increase my knowledge to better assist the people I coach and minister to. Recentl,y I have gleaned from some professional secular life coaches’ teachings and while I was pleasantly surprised by their emphasis on faith and identity as core concepts in the realms of having better relationships, overcoming fear, and unlocking human potential, I realized that one has to be extremely careful in how much of the teachings of these secular coaches someone takes to heart.
While all truth is God’s truth, and while the vast majority of good advice can be traced back to Biblical principles, as these secular teachers adopt and adapt concepts from psychology or alternate faith streams into their advice, there is a real and present danger of idolatry and being influenced by the doctrine of demons. False religions will lead you astray, and much of psychology is influenced by atheism, secular humanism, or eastern mysticism, and as someone who once dabbled in all of the above in my past, I can tell when someone’s advice is echoing demonic influences.
As inspired as I was by my recent research, I won’t name any names of the people I researched because as helpful as some of their advice seemed to be, some of the things they said or didn’t say caused me to understand that they were operating from a place of darkness, rather than light, and although they spoke of faith and doing good deeds for others, the “god” they were pointing to was pantheistic – that God was in everything, including themselves, and denied the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I offered prayers for coaches I have been watching because even though they talked about faith and God at different times, too much of what they said contradicted the word of God or dismissed the exclusivity of Jesus Christ to save. While it’s one thing to try to be inclusive to a wider audience, when you refer to God the Father as she, and never stress the central importance of Jesus Christ, even once, the best your advice can do is to make people more physically, mentally, and financially better before they go confidently striding into hell. While it is good to know about different techniques to help with our physical, mental, and emotional health, if we don’t have peace with God through Jesus, we are only receiving false guidance.
Speaking of faith and guidance, the In Touch with Dr. Chales Stanley devotional from January 21st, tells us about where we should receive our directions from, and I am sharing it on the blog today to encourage us to ask two questions that will keep us headed the right way. Dr. Charles Stanley writes:
“The Holy Spirit, Our Guide
The leading of the Holy Spirit always aligns with God’s Word.
John 16:12-15
All of God’s children are on a journey. And as we travel through life toward our eternal home, we will face many choices. Forks in the road will challenge and frustrate us. In such circumstances, how can we know which way to go?
Jesus promised to give us an internal and ever-present Guide (John 14:16). Starting at the moment of salvation, everyone who trusts in the Savior is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who promises to lead believers into all the truth (16:13). We’ve no reason to fear, because He will direct us. However, while Spirit’s leadership is always right, at times our reception isn’t clear. If that happens and we’re tempted to tolerate sin in one area, we shouldn’t expect to receive His guidance in another.
Sin does to our understanding of the Lord’s clear direction what a magnet does to the needle of a compass. It misleads us, pulling us away from the clear path God has planned, just as the magnetic field draws the needle away from true north.
When a decision is unclear, ask yourself questions like, Will Christ be glorified in this? Or will this draw me closer to the Lord? If the answer is no, then don’t follow that path, because the Holy Spirit is not guiding you there. His leading always aligns with Scripture and accomplishes God’s perfect plan.” – Charles Stanley
Amen. Jesus told us that He would give His disciples a helper to walk through life with, and when we put our faith in Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit to guide us.
But as Stanley indicates, if we don’t choose to follow the Lord and let sin into our lives, we will have difficulty hearing His guidance.
If we are distracted or just choose to focus on other things, we will wander through life trying to meet our needs and wants fruitlessly because we aren’t pursuing our God-given purpose. When we aren’t seeking the Lord’s will for our lives and not living according to the wisdom in His word, we will follow pathways into confusion, suffering, and sin.
But the goodness is that just like true north can always be found when we look to our compass, we can get back on track with the Holy Spirit when we turn from the things of this world and put our focus on God’s word and what He would have us do.
We are already in the second month of the year 2026, and it’s a good time to review how we did in the first month and to set our intention for February. Let’s ask those questions – will Christ be glorified in this? or Will this draw me closer to God? – every day, and allow our True Companion, The Holy Spirit, to guide us in the way we should go.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
(While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Progressive Sanctification – Growing in Faith & Godliness.
2 Peter 3:14 (ESV) Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
Today’s verse falls under the eleventh point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Progressive Sanctification – Growing in Faith & Godliness.
11. Put much effort into living a godly life.
Today’s Bible verse encourages us to remain spiritually pure and to be found without any reason to doubt our faith. The authenticity of our faith will shine through us with signs of a good and holy life. If we are living with the spots or blemishes of sin in our lives, we deny the truth in unrighteousness.
Although the Bible tells us that our battle with sin will be constant, it nonetheless encourages us to continue to turn from it and to embrace obedience as the pathway to peace. So be diligent in your pursuit of holiness and find the peace that comes from not having to cover your sins.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today, we continue sharing from “Pause for Power” By Warren Wiersbe.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Wiersbe’s books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 10 – It Just Isn’t Fair – Read Ecclesiastes 8:1–13
Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God. – Ecclesiastes 8:12
If there is no God, then we have nobody to blame but ourselves for what happens in the world. But if we believe in a good and loving God, we must face the difficult question of why there is so much suffering.
Some people ponder this question and end up becoming either agnostics or atheists, but in so doing, they create a whole new problem: Where does all the good come from in the world?
Other people solve the problem by saying that evil is only an illusion and that we shouldn’t worry about it or that God is in the process of evolving and can’t do much about the tragedies of life. They assure us that things will improve as the process of evolution goes on. Solomon didn’t deny the existence of God or the reality of evil, nor did he limit God’s power. Solomon solved the problem of evil by affirming these factors and seeing them in their proper perspective.
During the darkest days of World War II, somebody asked a friend, “Why doesn’t God stop the war?” My friend wisely replied, “Because He didn’t start it in the first place.” Solomon would have agreed with that answer.
Something to Ponder: How do you deal with the existence of suffering?[1]
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[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, Pause for Power: A 365-Day Journey through the Scriptures, 2nd Ed., Year in the Word Series (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2010).
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