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147: God's Way in Counseling: The Word
What is God’s way in counseling? What are the means that God uses to get His counsel into our lives? How does this impact our lives? In this podcast, Pastor Jeff Christianson aims to provide reminders to counselors that when we seek God’s counsel we only need to look into The Word.
The Lord as the Counselor
The major difference between counseling God’s way and counseling God’s way is in God’s kingdom, the Lord Himself is the counselor. When He is allowed to counsel, He is going to do it differently than the world.
In the kingdom of man, a person goes to school and becomes an expert on “man and theories”.
When God is allowed to counsel, He counsels unto discipleship.
This is the Great Commission - to make disciples. When we get to know Him, get to know him, and get into a relationship with Him, it changes our lives day by day. This is also what we do with whom we counsel. It doesn’t matter what goes on in the world around us. The bottom line is, we need to know Jesus Christ because He will give wisdom.
If the Lord is allowed to counsel, He will always aim to counsel through the Word of God and by the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit.
When we counsel through the Word of God, it is also with hearts that are dependent upon Him. This takes place in a relational body of Christ in a fellowship.
This is why our aim in the Biblical Counseling Podcast is to remind us about these fundamental things. A lot of counselors miss this in their lives.
Psalm 119:24
The Word of God is simple enough for a child to understand but has a depth and power in it that the mind of a scholar will never exhaust. It’s the very life of God. This is God’s way for His people. He wants us to delight in His testimonies (Word of God).
Delight in the Word of God. He wants it to become a joy to our hearts and our lives. When we are delighting in the Word, they become our counselors. Allow the Word of God to get into you.
This is God’s way in counseling: through His Word, by His spirit, in prayerful seeking heart, all in the context of church life (the body of Christ).
That is how God works. That’s how we get his counsel to us.
Join us in the community section and share your thoughts about this podcast.
My small takeaway from this podcast was the counseling unto discipleship discussion. I must confess I haven’t always viewed it that directly. That is, the purpose of ALL biblical counseling is not merely to help facilitate and guide people in and through their problems, but for the express purpose of making them disciples of Jesus Christ! This may not always fit in neatly into the secular modality of seeing a person for 55 minutes once a week. We are called by Jesus to invest our lives FIRST and FOREMOST into fulfilling His great commission found in Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8.
This podcast was an encouragement. Ps 119:130 spoke plainly to me and provides that reassurance knowing that He is working and we are just a counterpart in His Plan. Knowing if I am prayerfully delighting in Him, He is doing the Counseling. We, in our humanistic ways will try to do things in our strength and fail. ONLY in the LORD will provide understanding all knowing everything in Him is complete. Understanding will never come from a human but ONLY the Creator. He is continually growing each and everyone of us for His purpose regardless of our comfort level. At times it can be nerve racking yet so rewarding knowing that it is His will.
There is nothing more encouraging than knowing that God is the counselor, who has provided the tools, His Word and the Holy Spirit to counsel and grow and shape His people.
Agreed! The knowledge that Jesus invites us to take upon ourselves HIS yoke which is easy and HIS burden which is light, to learn from the ONE who is gentle and humble of heart….. and we will enter HIS REST….. is staggering to contemplate, especially in light of the chaotic world we live in.
As I listened to the podcast I kept being drawn to Matthew 4:1-16, The Temptation of Jesus. When Jesus was being tempted by Satan, where did He go for counsel to respond to Satan’s temptations? He went to the word of God. His wisdom and counsel came from Scripture so He could rebuke Satan. If we thought of his temptations as a counseling session for someone struggling with sin He shows us how we are to counsel. We counsel using the Word of God. Jeff said the word has depth, power and works supernaturally but it also has a simplicity because the answers are all there and we simply need to use His words like He demonstrated to us. However, this does not apply just to counselee’s it applies to our own life. We need the light of His word in our lives so we can have counsel during our own temptations.
I completely agree. If Jesus went right to the Word of the Lord, one would think that we ought to too.
Several comments made during this Podcast stuck out for me. One thing that Jeff said about Psalm 119:105. I have heard this verse many times in the past, but it’s always refreshing to hear someone else refer to it. A confirmation of what I know is true. God counsels us through His Word was something else that I found interesting. I hadn’t heard it said like that before. But that makes sense. When ever we or someone goes off in a different direction then what God says in His Word. I’m sorry, it won’t work. Thank you again Jeff for sharing God’s Word.
Counseling to discipleship helps me to keep focus when I’m counseling because the goal is set.We have an opportunity to make disciples for Christ. What I appreciated also was that this goal of discipleship is for me too as the Counsellor because there is so much to learn ,to grow in and become more like Christ. John17:17 one of my regular prayer points. Lord sanctify me with your truth Your Word is truth. I want to be an instrument in Gods hands fully equipped and able to rightly divide the word of truth because there are so many people to be discipled by the truth of Scripture through the help of the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Truth. As usual Pastor Jeff I’m enjoying and benefiting from the podcasts.
Yes it is so reassuring that He is doing the counseling. We are the instruments delighting in Him as He counsels.
I love how Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth in John 16:13. Not only is He the Spirit of truth, but He guides us in truth. And just as Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life (John 14:6), it makes perfect sense that He is the centerpiece of our counseling message. I know personally that my hope and comfort comes from knowing who Jesus is (my Savior), knowing what He has done (died on the cross for my sins, and rose again), and what He is able to do (exceedingly, abundantly above all that I can ask or think). To God be the glory as we proclaim this truth given to us by The Holy Spirit, to those we counsel.
OOPS! This comment was supposed to go with Podcast 149. Sorry
Thank you, Irene, for your comments. Very well said, and from the heart.
This was such an important mindset check, and reminder, of the importance of scripture in the counseling process. It seems now, more than ever there has been an attack on individuals making time for diving into the Word. Which has led primarily to the emphasis on “Christian Counseling” using psychology, rather than Biblical Counseling using scripture. I personally found it encouraging to hear the advice/suggestion of guiding counselees to the Word; spending personal time with the Wonderful Counselor, and then coming together “in fellowship” of what God revealed. Every podcast I hear God saying through Pastor Jeff “I am the Counselor, not you, remember?”
I agree with you Timothy it was encouraging to receive the advice on using the scriptures for counseling. There is a wealth of treasure in the Word to instruct us during counseling. I like what Pastor Jeff shared as he expanded on Psalm 119:24 Thy testimonies are my delight and my Counsellors that the word should be a joy to our heart, like living water. I also like the thought of getting into the Word and letting the Word get into you.
This podcast was a wonderful reminder to me, the need for taking in God’s word regularly. I know I have heard it said a million times, but tonight it hit me hearing that God’s word is living water. It doesn’t take long for the human body to perish when it is not given water. This is the same for my soul. Without consistently taking in God’s word, I am allowing myself to die off spiritually. If I only take in God’s word once in awhile, I am not receiving that full life that the Lord wants for me. This not only needs to be encouraged in my life, but the life of others. I loved the comment that we need to “Give the word of God as homework–set people up with the REAL counselor.” Only the Lord can change their heart. By sending them to the word, we are helping them to become dependent on the Lord, and know that they can find all that they need in Him.
I had the privilege of meeting with a woman this week for counsel, and this podcast was very helpful in how I was to allow God to counsel her, I am just a broken vessel, allowing HIM to cover those areas in her life.
The podcast that Professor Jeff spoke about was really insightful for this meeting. She spoke about how she was meeting with a counselor previous to meeting up with me, and even she knew she needed something more, that the tools, and exercises the therapist gave her, it wasn’t enough, she did not believe she was being helped. She said to me “I need my heart to be healed”
Just like Professor said “people are missing the word in their hearts” and because we are of Jesus and HIS Kingdom, we crave to know HIM even when we are in our deepest hurts or pains. Thank you for this insightful podcast.
Thank you for sharing this! There are so many that come and do not know the abundant resources the Lord Has in store for every individual. As we prayerfully seek Him, He guides us with His Word through the Holy Spirit.
I am thankful that the word of God and the Holy Spirit do all of the heavy lifting in a person’s heart. All I can do is be in stride with God as much as possible and He will shape me into what I need to be and also influence those who need a little help getting plugged into Him along the way.
Yes, amen. So thankful that HE does it all, but it is us who are obedient to Him and the words HE would have us say to reach others.
I agree Dean. Knowing that Jesus is the Counselor encourages me to stay in His Word, and prayerfully seek Him through the Holy Spirit when I disciple young ladies that I meet with. We are merely vessels being used to bring His truth, hope and comfort to others.
I’m thankful for this also! Knowing that the Lord is the counselor, and He has the tools in place to help with this lifting of heart is very encouraging and exciting.
I am very needing to renew my mind with God and His Word. Do you know any online help to help me do that?
Yes. Reach out via email to Kady – support@jeffchristinason.org
Your email is not working. Is says that the domain doesn’t exist.
Adam, please show me a screenshot so I can fix it 🙂
jeffchristianson@gmail.com
or support@jeffchristianson.org
Hey there Adam. Please email us at support@jeffchristianson.org
I agree the answers are not found in our past nor are they found by analyzing a deceitful heart. The Lord directs us to His word for counsel. How wonderful that the word provides direction, understanding and sanctification. Its so important for us to start magnifying the word of God and trusting it for counsel and sanctification. The world cannot do this.
God’s direction is forward and upward versus inward and backward!
We surely do not have all the answers, and it nice how much of a heavy hitter the word is, there is so much that goes on in peoples hearts in response to it that we do not see.
Just like Pslam 119:105
“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”
Psalms 119:105
He lights the way, we walk through, stopping to see what HE has for us.
Hi Serena I learned this verse from a teenager and that was decades ago and the Word to this day still gives me light. It is so amazing bulbs will grow dim and have to be replaced but the precious and priceless Word of God never grows dim no matter often or how long we read it. We can truly delight in it.
This entire training process has shown me just that. Even in my own family/friend circle (all believers), there has been a push towards an understanding of “Psychology is a tool.” And advice I have received has been to the effect of “you need to do some inward reflection as to what caused this/that.”
I loved your last sentence, “The world cannot do this”. The scary part is how many people think the world is the answer or has the answers. As Jeff keeps pointing out during his podcasts how many churches keep pointing people in the church to the world for the answers. I can’t agree more, “How wonderful is the word”. Thanks for the great words.
I like the idea that as we read the bible, the bible reads us. This is kind of how it feels when the bible talks to me through the Holy Spirit. And then like you said, when we give someone a scripture to meditate on, that is an appointment with the real wonderful counselor, where the real wisdom and healing power is.
It’s true right? Set people up with an appointment with the True Counselor – The Lord Jesus Christ – by having them read the Word!
It is also fun to see how beyond coincidence God’s word is. All the time I hear the same message from multiple sources and passages.
Amen Chuck!! That is such an amazing bit of truth. Hebrews 4:12, The word is alive, cuts through our soul like a sword. I heard it translated once “The word of God is alive and active. It filets us like fish to be gutted.” The Word, Jesus, lays all things bare and opens our most tightly closed points, shines light in our darkest places.
Charles great words of wisdom. Healing doesn’t start until they meet the real counselor. Great reminder.