Thursday, May 30, 2024

Ten Reasons To Ask for Biblical Counselling for Yourself

 This list is right from page one of my website. 

Here are 10 important things you should know about Biblical Counselling

  1. Biblical Counselling is BIBLICAL: James 5:16 says, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."
  2. Biblical Counselling is BLESSED: Matthew 5:6 says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
  3. Biblical Counselling is BENEFICIAL: 1 Timothy 4:8b says, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come".
  4. Biblical Counselling is UNIQUE: 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. The Bible is the sole source of truth for Biblical counselling. No other counselling can claim this.
  5. Biblical Counselling is HONOURING TO GOD: James 3:17 tells us that wisdom comes from above, from God. He often uses Biblical counsellors for this very purpose when they rely on His wisdom in their counselling.
  6. Biblical Counselling is HEART CENTRED: Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." The heart is the center of our desires, emotions, and will.
  7. Biblical Counselling is a DISCIPLESHIP MINISTRY: Matthew 11:28 reminds us that we, who are burdened, are to come to Jesus, and He will give us rest. Biblical counselling is, as a basis, a discipleship ministry drawing people closer to Jesus.
  8. Biblical Counselling is PARTICIPATORY: 1 Corinthians 3:9 says, "For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field..." The Biblical counsellor and counselee work together under the authority of Scripture. The counselee is expected to fully participate in the counselling process.
  9. Biblical Counselling is TRUTH FOCUSSED: John 14:6 says, "Jesus answered, "I am the way, the TRUTH and the life."" Jesus continually communicates this truth to us through His Word by His Spirit.
  10. Biblical Counselling is SPIRIT LED: John 16:13 says, "When the Spirit comes, He will guide you into all truth." The results are wholly dependent upon God and His Holy Spirit, not on man's efforts.

Here at YBC, I hold to these truths in all my Biblical counselling.

Monday, May 27, 2024

Biblical Counselling Especially For Men

 As I have been honing my website and adding more information about Biblical Counselling, I am seeing an uptick in website clicks.


I am focusing on Biblical counselling for men as there is a great need for this and there are relatively few Biblical counsellors who specialize in this area.

I know men tend to be somewhat oblivious in their belief that they are 'OK'. In reality, men have as many 'life-issues' as women in this day and age. I really encourage men to give me a call and chat about 'men's' issues of anger, anxiety, identity, and more. Simply fill in the Contact Form on my website at: https://www.yourbiblicalcounselor.ca/contact-form.htm

Thanks and blessings men.

Ian

Monday, May 20, 2024

Valuable Resources Are Available on My Website

I have made several resources available to the general public and some available to my clients only. All of them are conveniently posted on my Resources Page. I have chosen to do both types in order to give my counselees an extended list of resources that are only available to them, such as applications forms, history forms and contracts.

For others, please feel free to download the resources and use for your own benefit. These resources include such topics as "What is Biblical Counselling?", "Why is Biblical Counselling different that Secular counselling?". There are also some lists of Scriptures on the topic of Anxiety, and more.

As a Certified Biblical Counsellor, I exclusively use the Bible as my primary source of counselling information. There are however, many books and articles written to support and enhance the counselling experience.

Blessings to all, 

Your Biblical Counsellor.

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Biblical Counselling and our Desires, Emotions & Will.



It is well known in Biblical counselling circles that behaviour modification is not the primary target or goal of such counselling. Behaviours are the outward or horizontal manifestations of a person's life. This only changes when the there is a vertical (God vision) change of the inner heart. This inner heart of a person is made up of their desires, emotions and will. It is the will that transforms emotions into behaviours.

Emotions are always driven by desires, met or unmet. There is always fear or lust associated with unmet desires. Either the fear of getting something we don't want, or the lust of wanting something we don't have.

This concept can be shown by looking at any behaviour, then looking at the emotion that is driving the behaviour and then looking at the unmet desire or expectation.
DESIRES --> EMOTIONS --> BEHAVIOURS
Here is a list of a few examples. These do not necessarily go directly horizontal across from each other. Any of the Desires can trigger any of the Emotions, that show up as any of the Behaviours.
Esteem --> Escape --> Yelling
Love --> Anger --> Violence
Approval --> Self-pity --> Blaming
Respect --> Frustration --> Escape
Comfort --> Bitterness --> Gossip
Ease --> Sadness --> Judging
Control --> Hopelessness --> Avoidance
etc
Can you cross reference any of these? Biblical counselling looks at the root of the desire to understand the emotion. The behaviour eventually always comes from any met or unmet desire.

A List of Some Common Biblical Counselling Topics

Here are some of the more common Biblical counselling topics that I know of. I am sure this is not an exhaustive list though. And some topic...