[Excerpt] The Divine Counselor by Alex Seeley
Happy Spring, dear friends!
As we come into this Easter season, our attention turns toward the divine counselor left to us, and in us– the Holy Spirit. Alex Seeley’s new book, The Divine Counselor: Renew Your Mind, Heal Your Soul, and Discover Your Purpose Through the Guidance of the Holy Spirit (April 7) is all about the Holy Spirit.
Seeley wrote, “The infilling of the Holy Spirit is not a one-time experience. We need the awareness of His presence in our lives on a daily basis.”
“While many believers understand Jesus Christ as Savior and grasp God’s overarching purpose, they struggle to fully embrace the Holy Spirit’s role in their daily life. Drawing from both personal experience and biblical teaching, Seeley demonstrates how the Holy Spirit offers divine guidance, comfort and the power needed to experience true freedom.
‘The Holy Spirit has every solution to all our problems,’ writes Seeley. ‘We need to get to know Him, learn how to hear His voice, follow His instruction, and obey Him when He asks us to do the work required to build resilience.’
Seeley shares how developing a relationship with the Holy Spirit is key to unlocking freedom from fear and self-loathing rather than relying on one’s own strength.” (press)
Seeley’s book comes from her own experience and testimony– something we love here at Modern Witnesses. We are excited to feature an excerpt from The Divine Counselor. Remember that pre-ordering helps our author friends. A special ‘thank you’ to Booked PR for making this feature possible.
By: Alex Seeley
Have you ever imagined being alive when Jesus was on the earth? To see blind eyes open, deaf ears hear, dead bodies come back to life, and demons cower in submission to the power of Jesus Christ? To witness firsthand how He navigated persecution and betrayal? To sit at His feet and receive all of His revelation as He unpacked the Scriptures? To listen to conversations where He confounded the religious spirit? To watch Him pray and connect with the Father and learn how He overcame grief and disappointment when those He loved died and those He trusted betrayed Him? To see Him face-to-face and have access to His wisdom and instruction 24/7—the omniscient God who knows every detail of humanity and has the perfect answer for every issue we face? The disciples walked closely with Him, and yet they were scarcely aware that God Himself was in their midst—the promise of Emmanuel, “God with us,” made flesh and dwelling among them.
Jesus, fully man and fully God, lived in complete submission to both the Father and the Holy Spirit. He modeled what it means to be led by the Spirit of God. He taught us how to walk as sons and daughters within His kingdom, with renewed minds that overcome life’s challenges and live abundantly and with great purpose. I often find myself asking the question, “What would Jesus do in this situation right now?” Can you imagine having Him next to you, in the flesh, as you face life’s most difficult problems?
The Bible tells us that He was tempted in every way and yet did not sin. He overcame every trial and test with wisdom and power. He did nothing apart from the Father and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He lived a perfect life here on earth. He spent three and a half years teaching and training His disciples to live with a new kingdom mindset, all while knowing that He would leave them with the assignment to go into all the world, make disciples, and build His church.
Jesus knew His disciples could not live life in abundance and fulfill their assignment on earth without Him, and neither can we. So He promised to never leave them without His power or presence. He said it was better for Him to go so that the Counselor could come into close fellowship with them. John 14:16 says, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever” (amp).
Jesus was limited in His body to time, space, and geography while here on earth, and even though He knew He had to go back to the Father and would no longer be able to walk with the disciples in the flesh, He promised another Helper, another Counselor. He said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18). He vowed that the Holy Spirit would now be the same Counselor and Helper—just not in fleshly form.
The Greek word for Counselor is paraklétos (paraclete), which means one who is called alongside. Jesus kept His word by ensuring that we would always have a person of the triune God to guide, teach, comfort, and walk alongside us—reminding us of all Jesus spoke and helping us to correctly discern His will. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, God on earth.
After His resurrection and before His ascension to heaven, Jesus said, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
Why would He instruct His disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they had the Holy Spirit? You may have heard this called “the baptism of the Holy Spirit” or “being filled with the Spirit.” Jesus was about to baptize them in the Holy Spirit, which would give them supernatural power to live as Christians, just like when the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus at His water baptism before He began His ministry on earth. He knew they would need the same power and authority to be effective witnesses for the kingdom and to endure the trials that were certain to come. And so do we.
He anticipated the days when the disciples would ask, “What would Jesus do if He were here with us?” He refused to leave them without answers, just as He won’t leave us to stumble in the dark. He sent the Holy Spirit to be our Counselor and friend— the One who never leaves our side and is always ready to answer us when we cry out to Him.
Sadly, many Christians either do not understand what it means to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit or they underestimate the necessity of needing the Holy Spirit actively working in their lives so they can live righteously and victoriously. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is not a one-time experience. We need the awareness of His presence in our lives on a daily basis. Our world is filled with Christians who struggle through life, even in the best of times. Many are tormented with confusion, anxiety, depression, and fear, which only serve to keep them stuck in a rut of mental and emotional strongholds. These cycles keep us from the life of freedom that is available to us through the resurrection power of Jesus, which is the power of the Holy Spirit. When our lives are controlled by our emotions or the untreated effects of past trauma, we quickly forget that we have full access to God Himself and all His wisdom—just as the disciples did—with all His power and authority.
Feelings and emotions are great servants, but they are terrible masters. While they can be important tools and often alert us to something deeper, they can also be unreliable guides that lead us into dark places of despair, destruction, and depression. This is why it is crucial to become Spirit-led as Christ followers. We have a spirit man inside us who, when submitted to the lordship of Christ, will help us overcome all temptations, struggles, and controlling mindsets. We must know the truth and the truth will set us free.
You are not alone, and you were never meant to scramble through life trying to make it work on your own. Scripture says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5–6). As you surrender your whole heart and choose to lean on His wisdom and understanding instead of the world’s system, He will turn the chaos in your life into peace and give you a beautiful life.
“We must know the truth and the truth will set us free.”
[Adapted from The Divine Counselor by Alex Seeley. Copyright © 2026 by Alex Seeley. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. On Sale 4/27/26. HarperCollinsChristian.com]
Buy your copy of The Divine Counselor here.
About the Author:
Alex Seeley was born and raised in Australia and spent 17 years pastoring there. It is also where she met and married her husband, Henry. After relocating to Nashville in 2012, they founded The Belonging Co., a church where they minister together to thousands of people each week. She is a passionate teacher of the Word with the unique ability to reveal how the Word of God is applicable to our everyday lives.
For more Alex Seeley:
Gabriela Yareliz
Gabriela is a writer, editor and attorney. She loves the art of storytelling, and she is based in NYC.
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