Sometimes we can think that we know best, that we don’t need anyone else’s advice, but that’s not the case. The Bible says that ‘the way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice’ (Proverbs 12:15 NIV) and says that we should ‘listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise’ (Proverbs 19:20 NIV). God can use other people to guide us and encourage us to go a certain way. But we shouldn’t let everyone give us advice. We need to be discerning whether people should be speaking into our lives. ‘The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps’ (Proverbs 14:15 NIV). Not everyone will be trying to give godly advice, some people will have their own interests in mind rather than God’s will. So when we’re given advice, it’s a good idea for us to pray about it and decide whether we should be taking that advice on board or not. And if we feel that it’s godly advice, we then need to make sure we’re putting that advice into action. He uses us to give advice to others too. We need to be open to God’s guiding when it comes to sharing advice with others. Not only do we need to make sure we’re speaking godly advice into people’s lives, but we also need to think about how we’re giving the advice. Advice shouldn’t come across with aggression, judgement or patronisation. It shouldn’t sound like we think that we know better than the person we’re advising. Instead, we should be ‘speaking the truth in love’ (Ephesians 4:15 NCV). And also encouraging the person to pray for God’s guidance too.