Welcome to Speak the Truth, a podcast devoted to giving biblical truth for educating, equipping, and encouraging the individual and local church in counseling and discipleship. Hello. Hello. Hello.

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What's up, guys?

What's up, guys? We are here as we continue to go through the counseling through God's attributes miniseries, and we get to do one with Shauna Yay. And Jeremy. Yay. We're excited for this.

And so we are gonna be going through omnipresent Isaiah 41 verse 10. Shauna, why did you choose this for God's?

Let me first just point out that out of all the six books, this is probably one of the ones that I got most excited about because it's and that's not saying that I don't love the others, but this is going into theme. Right? How how are we going to all of God's incommunicable and communicable attributes and using this within the counseling session? How are we pointing them to who God is? And then how does that help them to live differently?

And I just think this is such foundational truth. I was growing as a biblical counselor, my supervisor would tell me, hey, get your five, what's your five core scripture verses that you just know so well that no matter what suffering sin or suffering that you're the person is struggling with, that you know those so well that you can apply that into their life and whether you're counseling a believer or an unbeliever. And for me, I always found myself going back to who God is. And in my own struggle, as I've had seasons of depression and things that I was struggling with, it was always what one of the things that gave me the most encouragement is just remembering who God is, and that he's present and the promises that he's given and his faithfulness and goodness in my life. And so to be able to then reach out to my brothers and sisters and say, hey, share with me, what attribute do you find yourself encouraging other people in and would you write one of these entries on it?

And so I was just as I got those in, it was just so rich. And so I ended up contributing three to the book. And one of the things I tried to do too is actually pick passages where you'll notice in my three entries that it's one scripture verse. So by sharing one verse, what's the attribute of the Lord that we can lean into from that one verse and one of the entries is Isaiah forty twenty eight and actually in that one verse, we see four attributes of the lord, right? So, that's a whole another entry and then, I've given one from Lamentations three twenty two where we look at the the steadfast love of the lord we actually had a pre conference on just that passage and going to the life of Jeremiah and seeing how god worked in that but for today, this podcast, I thought it would be helpful just to look at Isaiah forty one ten and in that one verse, what are the four promises that god offers?

How do we what is God revealing about himself here? And then how can we encourage those that we're counseling? And looking at this from a standpoint, again, not just identifying one area of sin and struggling, right? But how are we communicating to the counselee in no matter what they're going through? Right?

And so how do how are we looking at that God is present and active from this one verse? So any thoughts on that?

Yeah. The fact that it's just a it's a good verse. It's a good one to focus on. And the implication of God being active and present is really important, especially obviously in the counseling room, because oftentimes that's one of the things that we forget is people in in our day to day ground, like I've said before in another podcast where it's just we lose sight of that. And so it's just a good reminder.

So good choice.

Yeah. Yeah. And hopefully, we'll get time to be able to do maybe a couple other podcasts on the other two. But for this one specifically, Isaiah, let me just read this for us. And forty one ten says, fear not for I am with you.

Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And so right there, Michael, what are the four promises that you see?

Fear not. We don't wanna fear. Don't be dismayed. And he will help you. He will strengthen you, and he will uphold you.

Yeah. And all of this is because God is with you. So that's the promise. Lord, I am with you always. Like, we're talking about absolutes here.

This isn't just when you're doing well or not doing well. It's I am with you. And then, in being with you, I'm gonna, I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna strengthen you and I'm gonna uphold you. And so it's very important for us as biblical counselors to share with our counseling, Hey, God is omnipresent.

And what that really means is God is always with you. And I can say always an absolute. He's present. He's active. You are never alone.

He's always present everywhere and with the fullness of who he is. So God is with us always to the end of ages that we see in Matthew twenty eight twenty. So think about this though, everywhere with the fullness of who he is. So all the other attributes of God, right, his incommunicable and communicable attributes and all the ones that from the previous podcast episodes that they've listened to and even as you read in the book, all those are available as he's present. So that is such a sweet thing to be able to incur one for us to sit in as counselors.

Right? Like we're not alone in this room as I'm providing biblical counseling but also that we can share with our counselees and I put a couple of things in here just because I felt like I really grasp as a counselor the weight of what that meant that god is always with us but understanding the difference between God is transcendent and God is imminence. And so I put that in the book. And so for the listeners, God is not limited by time or space. He is before all things.

And in him, all things hold together, which is what Colossians one seventeen says. So the transcendent aspect of God is this is where God exists outside of space and time. Okay. So this means that God is present at every point of time and space with his whole being yet God acts differently in different places. Okay.

But then you have that flip side, right? That God is present in all time and space. And there isn't a place where God is not. Jeremiah twenty three, twenty three says, God at hand, a God far away. So this is where we talk about God's imminence, where he's present within time and space.

He is present in all of creation while remaining distinct from it. So who's not this, who's not always present. So when we think of the word present, it's important to know because God is not in space as you and I are. We're not trying to help the council understand that it means that, you know, it's in space, but he contains space. And even heaven can't contain him.

That's literally who we're talking about here. It's in, it's literally beyond he's incomprehensible. It's beyond what we fully can understand, which is another attribute. So we don't say that God is in one place and then part of him is in another God's present everywhere, his whole being in every part of space. So who is not like that?

The enemy. Right? So it's not comparable. So when we're saying these truths about God, these are things that are only about God, not any of his created beings. And that's so important.

And I think so encouraging for us to know that not only can you share that truth with excitement, but then I'll we'll now go on to saying, okay, now that we know this truth, how does that encourage us to be able to live differently? And so any thoughts from you guys on that before I move forward to dig into the promises?

Yeah, I think it's profound. I think it's a critical thing to continually be reminded of and to remind our counselees.

Yeah.

Yeah. It reminds me of David when he's, where can I go from your presence? I can go down to Sheol. I could go it doesn't matter where you are in creation and existence. It doesn't matter where you're where you are.

Like, God is there. We can't escape his presence.

Something that was coming to mind as you were talking about the presence of God. There are two places at least that's coming to my mind where Christ himself reminds us of his presence in the work of ministry. One of those is in Matthew 18 where he talks about confronting sin, and he says, remember where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them. And then in the great commission where he's calling us to make disciples, and he doesn't leave us alone. He says he's with us till the end of the age.

So it's beautiful to see how this Old Testament truth, Christ reminded us of that in the context of ministry.

Oh, that's so good.

Yeah. And I think that's not to get theologically dense here, but I think the reality of Jesus Christ saying that because he was in his humanity on flesh and blood, he was there with the disciples, but also pointing out to make that association is again demonstrating his divinity as well. So for him to be in the presence, it's just physically, he's at the right hand of the father. But in as a second person of the trinity, he is present with us. And that's I think that is just a very much a warm and impactful reality because to our consulee, it's difficult for them sometimes because it's we talk about Christ, like, he's in us and with us, but, like, physically, he's not with us.

So it's just a it's just a good reminder of understanding that because it is a difficult thing to process, like, even ontologically and understanding that, like, that he's it's not like this panentheistic reality where he just absorbs all of reality. It's just he's a spirit. So it just it is a hard thing to grasp, especially in counseling when, you know, you're dealing with suffering and struggle and things like that. So it's a good thing to ground our counselors in.

And making that point is then saying, hey, this reminds us with God's always present that we can't hide from him. When you mentioned to that, Jeremiah twenty three twenty four says, can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him declares the Lord. Do I not feel heaven and earth declares the Lord, declares the Lord. So we can't hide from him. So that's twofold here where we can't hide knowing that there's no escape from God's presence is a warning to the believer and unbeliever like that.

Can't hide your sinful actions. So close the door or, oh, my wife can't see or my kid, my kids can't whatever that looks like, or you feel like it's hidden, it's not hidden from the Lord. So that's one truth that's important from that statement. But also, it's the fact that you're never alone, which is a great comfort, right? For those who struggle with loneliness and depression, and just feeling I can't do this on my own.

Guess what? You're not alone. Right? So the alone aspect is technically never truth from that vertical perspective. And so I think both of those.

Yeah, the convicting and the comfort comforting reality of his presence. Like on the one end, the negative side, like to your point, you can't hide. And Hebrews chapter four kind of gets to that point as well from his word. But the fact that you like is it's just it's helpful because that's the the deceitfulness of sin. It try it convinces us internally that we it's hideable, that we can conceal it.

But before him, it is it's not it there's nothing hidden from him. That's helpful when we're trying to discuss and talk about hidden sin, but to the suffering, that's a great comfort.

So think about that. A key verse, one verse that we're talking about here and just the statement of for I am your God. Right? I am with you, that he is present. Both can speak to those who are feeling lonely and depressed, those who we need to make sure that we know that there's no escape in our sinful actions.

And I just put a note in this is, hey, say you're in that moment and someone is confessing that sin. We don't wanna just leave them with that warning. Right? We wanna say, hey, maybe in this moment in the counseling room, we can help our counseling confess and pray then. Not say, okay, later tonight, do that.

Maybe they do need to go before the Lord again. But hey, as a biblical counselor, we can lead them in confession right then. And so I put a suggestion of maybe reading Romans one eighteen through 25 and, and help explain the importance and knowing God. And then the commitment we make in living in light of that knowledge, we want to help them to delight in and seek what stirs our affections or stirs our attention and affections towards God, not away from him. What do we do in sin?

Right? We want to go. We want to turn away from God versus no. We want to turn to God in this wrath is God's personal anger against sin, but it is his holy and loving response against man's wickedness. So the root sin here is a failure to value God over all things.

We're to hate sin and love righteousness. And so earlier today in which you'll release later as we walk through Romans one one through 15 with you, Michael, on what you wrote for the Romans book of counseling through Romans. But Ellen Dykes actually writes on Romans one eighteen through 32 in the same book. And I don't know. Did you interview her on this one?

Or Yes. So hers hers would have been a few episodes ago.

Okay. So that's so that's one that you can go and listen to. And she talks about savoring or suppressing God's truth. And so that might be helpful in that particular area. But I just wanted to make sure that in the book, I didn't we don't leave our counsel leaves hanging, you know, of saying, Hey, you can't escape God's presence.

And then that warning, Hey, maybe we actually lead them towards confession. Okay. And then here we go into Isaiah, just one verse that 4one 10 is God's four promises. And so I just wrote a little example here of when we are fearful, dismayed, or feel alone, God says I'm with you for I am your God. When we are weak, exhausted, overwhelmed, feeling inadequate.

God says I will strengthen you. When we are in need, feeling uncertain or burdened, God says, I will help you. Or when we feel threatened, opposed, beaten, knocked down, God says, I will uphold you. And so what solid truths for you to remember in your own spiritual life as you seek to abide in Christ, which is to meditate, pray, and live on God's word. But just to also share this, that overflow with your counsel Lee on meeting them where they are, the sin and struggle that they're doing, that they're struggling with, and then pointing them to what God says that I am with you.

I will strengthen you. I will help you, and I will uphold you. Any additional thoughts there?

Again, going back to what we've already covered, it's just for him to fear not. Why? Because these truths, these realities that are following is just helpful to the consulate to to think through that because, again, they're in there for whatever reason, and losing sight of this is like arguably the first thing to go. And so to bring them back to either conviction of sin or comfort, right, the comfort of the father is the compassion of the son. And I think this verse captures that the love of the father and the son and just bringing it back to that father son relationship that we get to remind the counselors of.

Yeah.

I think, the bent of the heart can typically be, if we're not careful, to implode in upon ourselves as though we're the center of the universe or that we're isolated a godless universe Mhmm. Where we live out what Paul Tripp would call functional atheism. So sometimes just helping the people that we're ministering to recognize that the suffering and the sin is calling us towards this ever present god, And we have to resist our temptation to to cave in on ourselves and really live in a lie that we're isolated and in this alone.

Yeah. That's so good. And there's so much more that we could literally if we just continue to talk about the fact that God is always present, there's so much truth that can come from that and the impact that it allows us to live differently. And so maybe one of my encouragement to you as you're listening to this for your own life, then hopefully you'll be able to encourage your counseling and is really consider and reflect on that. Like how does knowing that God is always present right now, where you're at and what you're going through, what you're struggling with, the sin that's before you or within your family unit.

How is that comforting knowing that he is there and he's at work? Yes. Because we know from all the other attributes and all the other things that God has steadfast love endures forever, that God is faithful, that he is good, that he is kind, right? He is tender, that he is all knowing, like, he's unchanging. Like, all these truths that we know about God.

All that is present. The fullness of him in this moment with you and what you're going through. I hope that you got goosebumps like I do because I just think that these things and these truths about God is so overwhelming and so impactful to not only your own life with the Lord, your call as a biblical counselor and discipling in the church, but then loving well, those that are before you, that God has called you to care for. And so now after session assignment, I don't want to share this in the counseling room and then that's it. Right.

We want them to go home to reflect and to meditate. And so maybe their only growth assignment is to journal the scripture, to write on a post it card, to put it before them, write it on their phone, to send them alert, to remind them, maybe you and them commit to memorizing this one scripture verse. And then really reflecting on what, what does this mean to them? How is this impacting the way that they live? How is it meeting them where they're feeling maybe weak or discouraged?

You know, what whatever specifics that the counseling is going through, having them reflect on that. And then secondly, one of the things that I met early on in my biblical counseling journey, I missed giving this as a growth assignment, which blows my mind that I do it now. But, but before then is giving worship songs, worship songs as a growth assignment is so good because oftentimes we might just be listening it to it just regularly as we're cleaning the house or at home or listening it to it in our car. But when I'm saying worship songs is a growth assignment is I'm saying worship songs that focus specifically on that particular attribute of the Lord and sitting still, not doing in not doing housework in that moment. Like, this is a part of my quiet time.

This is a part of my time with the Lord. I'm literally gonna sit in the lyrics of a song like holy, there is none like you or great is thy faithfulness or how great thou art or be thou my vision or the great I am or the goodness of God. And just sit in those lyrics and reflect on those and let the truth of those songs and make sure it's a good solid theological songs. I've given you some suggestions in the book, and there's even some in the back of the book. But letting those truths of that lyrics wash over you in a way that God connects with you through worship, the worship of song, worship of his word, as you just cling to to who he is and how that impacts the way that you live.

So your own life first and foremost, and then obviously giving that as a growth assignment to your counseling.

Good. Yeah. Very good.

Yeah. Okay.

And love

the passion.

Other input?

I I don't know. You guys those of you who just audibly listen and and we'll have we'll have clips of this episode. Shana was preaching like you got really I'm

not preaching.

No. You gave away you got goosebumps. You said you got goosebumps. I did. But just

I honestly, I think probably my one of my favorite things to talk about is God. He's just it's just so good. Who he is just so good. Obviously, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are are just as important, but and actually, so I'll let that be the intro of our next Call to Counsel Conference for 2026. Our pre conference is going to be our identity in Christ.

So counseling through our identity in Christ. So I'm looking forward to just reading all the submissions for that book and just being encouraged of honestly, literally everything I do is grounded in the earthly ministry of Christ. How do I lead like Christ? How do I care like Christ? And so I'm constantly engrossed in his ly ministry and how am I modeling that and being an imitator of him in my life and all that I do.

And so obviously, I'm excited to have that podcast and read that book and talk about that and have that conversation too. But now we're talking about God. I love that.

Yes. Yes.

And it and really honestly just the aspect of equipping like God has called us all three of us to equip other counselors. And I just think as you're a new counselor, the Bible can be overwhelming. So if you're listening in the Bible's overwhelming, I totally get it. It still is to me. And honestly, the more you know, the more I realize I don't know.

I'm sure we all feel that way. And so to bring it in, which is the purpose of these books, certain passages to learn again so well that it applies to any session that you have, I think are those fundamental foundational core truths that if you could just get our biblical counselors to start there, it's obviously gonna be really rich. Yes. So

Good. Good. Well, Shana, thank you for that submission. It was good. It's a good reminder.

Is there anything I feel like I've missed? Any anything else about God's being all present?

No. I'll let our listeners come find you at the conference and tell you if if there's something that you forgot or Yes. Maybe maybe it'll be another contribution to the to another book. Alright. Thank you guys for listening.

We'll see you guys next time.