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Tools of Biblical Counseling
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Tools of Biblical Counseling  |
| The primary tool of the Biblical counselor is the Bible. The Word of God is sufficient to equip the saints to minister to both believers and non-believers. The Bible is filled with examples and explanations of why people behave the way they do and how they can make genuine change. Beginning in Genesis, God demonstrates the basic problem of mankind, separation from Him through sin. Scripture explicitly lists the types of sinful behaviors man exhibits through his defi ance and independence of God as including "immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, heresies, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these." (Galatians 5:19-21). God’s Word also provides the only lasting remedy for changing sinful behavior, a restored relationship with God through repentance of sins and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Biblical counseling, in addition to providing help for hurting people, also gives an opportunity for evangelism and discipleship. Clearly, a Biblical counselor encounters great diffi culty when counseling the non-Christian through Biblical principles. Consequently, the determination of the status of a counselee’s spiritual walk should be addressed early in counseling much the same way Christ dealt with the woman at the well in John 4. Christ knew that this woman’s problems could not be solved until she was first healed spiritually. Similarly, if the counselee is not a true believer who has accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior, it would be appropriate to share the Gospel of Christ. The opportunity to help a hurting person is enhanced when he or she can respond to the direction of the Holy Spirit. At the conclusion of Biblical counseling, the healing person should be referred to a small group within the church for discipleship to foster continued growth in Christ.
Another tool of the Biblical counselor is wisdom. It has two components: knowledge and experience. Wisdom comes from respect of God, meditation on His Word (Joshua 1:8), and submission to His will in one’s daily living (Galatians. 5:25). Finally, the Holy Spirit is the real change agent of the counselor. The Holy Spirit acts in both the Biblical counselor and the counselee to convict the conscience to repentance, to guide the mind to the wisdom of God, and to intercede with Christ through prayer on behalf of the believer (Romans 8).
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Prayer is the only way to communicate with God. Biblical counselors and counselees take everything to God in prayer (Philippians 4:6) Prayer is addressed to God in the name of Jesus. Three criteria for prayer are: