Biblical Counselling is God-Centred

The more I have been counselling as a Biblical counsellor into the lives of men especially, the more I realize that without first establishing their relationship with God, it becomes very difficult to counsel into their horizontal (this world) life situations.

No matter their expressed behaviour such as anger, anxiety, guilt, shame, identification and more, the emotions associated with these behaviours nearly always are dependent upon some unmet desires of their heart. And, because the heart is the center of our desires, emotions and wills, it is the heart that must first be considered.

The Bible is clear on the fact that we must guard our hearts with al vigilance because from it flow the wellsprings (springs) of life. [Prov 4:23]

Therefore, I always spend the first sessions in determining their relationship and life with God through Christ. The introductory information sheets that I use (called Personal Data Inventories) can tell me a lot but further probing into their Christ-walk is always a first step of my Biblical counselling.

I then delve into two sides of this 'relationship coin'. That is, who is God to them and who they think they are to God. I give them two handouts. These muti-Scriptures handouts take a few weeks to go over and they include a lot of homework. It is amazing what ideas (lies even) people have about God and what He actually says about them in the Bible.

Often times, breakthroughs come during this time. Once people really understand who our God is according to His Word, and visa-versa, a lot of shame and guilt and anger drops away.

For individual life issues, Scripture always has something to say about them and always has an antidote. Two questions I often ask people who I am counselling are, "Do you believe in Jesus?" and "Do you believe Jesus?" There is a huge difference in these questions. The answers will say a lot, not only of their salvation, (Question 1) but of their faith and belief system (Question 2). I usually don't doubt their salvation, but I often question their unbelief.

The details about their particular 'issue(s)' can take a short or long time. So, never be in a hurry to jump into what they say they are at counselling for without discovering what are their Biblical world views and what is their relationship with God.

I hope this helps. Please send me any comments that you may have. Let's all grow in our Biblical counselling through each other. In love and grace, Ian - Your Biblical Counselor.

Biblical Counselling is Discipleship at Heart

 BIBLICAL COUNSELING IS DISCIPLESHIP AT HEART

It goes without saying that the core of Biblical counseling is (or should be) discipleship. The Great Commission calls us all to make disciples of all nations... Why should Biblical counseling be any different? That is why I always try to establish a counselee's standing with the Lord (their relationship in the vertical, so to speak, with their Creator) before delving into their worldly or horizontal issues and relationships

I have said this many times before and I see how important it is not to jump into a counselee's issues before jumping into their heart's position with the Lord.

I truly believe this is the huge differential between secular counseling, Christian counseling and true Biblical counseling. I also now that there are sensitivities among the three 'schools' of counselling and I am not about to get into these.

All to say, I believe that physical circumstances and/or chemical imbalances certainly do have a part to play in a person's emotional well-being. Nevertheless, it is the heart that must be the target of Biblical counseling - not the blood-pumping organ, but the center of mind (desire), emotion and will.

The Bible is rife with references to the heart in negative terms such as - it is deceitful and beyond cure, it can be hard and more. The more positive aspects of the heart are also talked about in the Bible. The heart can be pure, blameless and full of joy.

Biblical counselors do not minister into physically ill hearts, but emotionally despondent ones. Therefore our tools for 'heart cure' are not metal scalpels and synthetic sutures, but Holy Spirit and heavenly insight.

Discipleship in Biblical counseling has been identified as important and nearly all courses offered on Biblical counseling, delve into the discipleship nature of the various counseling activities.

This is a huge topic and in my opinion, we often rush to the symptom before first discerning the spirit.

In Christ's love, Ian Ridpath,

Your Biblical Counselor (YBC)

NOTE: for my non-US Biblical counsellors (Canadian like me), I have used the US spelling of the word counselor/counseling in this article for this wider audience.