The Attitude of Biblical Counseling

Eunjin Chang • August 28, 2020

 

The attitude of Biblical Counseling

 


 

Biblical Counseling leads the counselee in an invitation from God to be in a relationship with God. The main goal of the counselor is to facilitate the meeting. Biblical Counseling views the problems and issues as the symptoms and surface issues rather than the root of the true problem. By connecting the counselee to God, God heals and restores the counselee from inside out.

 


 

Connecting with God means creating a relationship with God. In a relationship, the two parties engage in revealing personal things, and as the relationship deepens, the sharing becomes deeper. By establishing a relationship with God, the counselee can view their lives in God's perspective and begin to understand God's will in their lives. BiblicalCounseling views the counselee's problems and issues as a derivate of the real issue the counselee is facing; spiritual issues.

 


 

Jesus came to this earth to heal the sick, free the oppressed, and proclaim the Kingdom of God. Jesus fulfilled the will of God perfectly on the earth. Jesus wants us to model after him, even in the arena of Biblical Counseling. Jesus' healing power came from the HolySpirit's work, and Jesus was always concerned and connected with the will ofGod.

 


 

Biblical Counseling views the deviation from God as the root of the problem. Thus, the counselor's remedy to resolve the issues and problems focuses on God's mercy, grace, and compassion. For the counselee to receive God's mercy, grace, and compassion, the counselee must have faith. Therefore, the counselor facilitates the counseling session to build up the counselee's faith with Scriptures and real-life examples and provides an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to strengthen the counselee's faith.

 


 

The healing and restoration from Biblical Counseling is a natural byproduct of the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore the counselor does not focus on the problems and issues. Instead, the problems and issues are resolved as a byproduct of the counselee increasing in faith and building a relationship with Jesus.

 

Love and trust as the building blocks

 

One of the counselor-counselee relationship's main characteristics is built upon the trust and love of the parties. Encountering God is a personal experience, and the counselor facilitating the counselee's encounter with God is personal but has to be intentional. The counselor must love and trust the counselee. It has to be communicated to the counselee for the counselee to encounter God. The reason for it is because the counselee relies heavily on the counselor to resolve the issues and problems of the counselee while being weak.

 


 

Love and trust go hand-in-hand. Without love, there can be no real trust. Without trust, there can be no real love. Therefore, during Biblical Counseling, the counselor and the counselee will begin to develop a love relationship in trust based on Scripture. This love is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. The counselor is playing a role as a type of Christ for the counselee during the process. Through the love and trust in the counseling session, Jesus Christ is manifested onto the counselee through Scripture, and the Holy Spirit heals and restores the counselee.

 


 

Scripture as the main tool

 

The content of the counseling session is based on Scriptures and the truths established in the Scriptures. Secular and some Christian counselors use Scriptures out of context and without faith. They view the Scriptures as not the main tool but some good and encouraging phrases to help the counselee feel comfortable based on their religious belief.

 


 

Even Christian counselors use the Scriptures in conjunction with tools from secular psychology to resolve the issues and problems. However, the problem with this is that secular psychology's root and goal fundamentally different from Biblical Counseling. At the outset, the counselee develops the ability to handle the problems and issues. However, the root of the problems and issues have not been resolved; sin and its consequences.

 


 

Scripture rarely deals with the symptoms of the counselee's issues and problems. Instead, the Scripture relentlessly accuses the problems and issues that stem from the heart of the counselee, and without fixing the heart, the issues and problems will continue. Thus, it is where Biblical Counselingdiffers from secular and Christian Counseling.

 


 

Biblical Counseling's foundation is on the Scripture for removing the counselee's sinful roots, and restoration of the counselee through the restoration of the heart is the focus. Thus, the counselor's extensive biblical knowledge and experiences are extremely beneficial to the counseling session.

 


 

Speak out the real issue

 

Once the counselor and the counselee discover the real issues and problems, the counselor must help the counselee confront the real issue, the sin revealed through Scripture. It can be difficult for the counselee to admit it, but the counselee must confront it. This is the crucial part of Biblical Counseling, as the confrontation of Scripture to the counselee's true sinful-self reveals the grotesqueness of their true self.

 


 

Without faith, this part is impossible, as the counselee will flee from facing such a horrendous self-image. Most people have high self-esteem and do not view themselves as problems and issues. Instead, most blame others and the environment they are situated in. However, true healing and restoration start from accepting that truths revealed through Scriptural application into the counselee's heart bring illumination to undisclosed perception on the counselee's self.

 


 

To tell the counselee that the counselee's heart is the main problem, the counselor and the counselee must be in a love and trust relationship. To get to this point, the counselor must intentionally utilize previous counseling sessions to build trust and love in the reflection of Jesus Christ. The counselor must not allow the counselee to focus on the counselor but Jesus Christ in the Scripture reflection. When the counselor facilitates the meeting between the counselor and Jesus through Scripture, the Holy Spirit brings hidden things to light, causing the counselee to face the real issue.

 


 

Action leads to restoration

 

Once the counselee is confronted with the real issue, the counselor encourages the counselee to act on it. The action must be based on what the counselee learned from applying Scripture. The action must be something that the counselee can do so that the action reflects the exercising of the counselee's faith.

 


 

The counselor must continue to encourage the counselee to live and exercise the counselee's faith in daily life. When the cycle of exercising faith continues, the restoration begins from the inside of the counselee. Through exercising the faith, the counselee begins to develop a relationship with God, and the Holy Spirit begins to lead the counselee's life.

 


 

The process builds the counselee's character to Christ-likeness. As this process continues, the counselee lives under the Holy Spirit's influence, and Scripture becomes the guide.

 

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For a Christian to be healthy, we must sleep or rest in Jesus. Just like sleep is essential to the health of our physical body, sleep or rest in Jesus is essential to our spiritual walk with Jesus. When Jesus came to the world, he came to do the works of the Father, and he completed them on the cross, when he said, It is finished. The very reliance of the blood of Jesus that he shed for us on the cross gives us the rest that our spirit needs. To sleep or rest in Jesus means to cease all our agendas. Many Christians fall into a trap that once you become a Christian, you must do so many things and not do so many things. Being a disciple becomes a matter of checking off a list of dos and don’ts. However, this is far from rest that Jesus gave us when he said, It is finished, on the cross. The rest comes to us when we die in Jesus. When we follow Jesus as a disciple, Jesus is inviting us to pick up our own cross, deny ourselves, and follow him. Where did Jesus end up? On the cross, and he died for the sins of the world. When apostle Paul stated that he had been crucified with Christ and he no longer lives, he was stating the mere nature of a disciple of Jesus. When Jesus invites us to die with him on the cross, it is not to destroy us or end us. Human nature is to struggle to survive and to have another breath. But to follow Jesus is to deny that very nature. How can it be done? It is impossible with human effort or will, as it is contrary to the very nature of humanity. When one becomes a disciple of Jesus, everyone has one or a few things that they cannot surrender to God. It may be finances, children, or even their own life. However, Jesus invites all of his disciples to give up that one thing that everyone has. Every Christian faces this question at some point in their walk with Jesus. They have eaten and drunk the flesh and blood of Jesus. They have tasted the goodness of the Lord and His mercies. They delight in worship and even give up many things for the Lord and His body. But that one thing, no matter how minor it seems, Jesus asks the question, “Can you give up that one thing for me?” Which is the question of death. The death of our old self. To Abraham, it was to offer Isaac on an altar. To Jacob, it was to deny his ability to cheat, steal, and lie. To the Apostles, it was to give up their life for the sake of the gospel. So many of our ancestors of faith have demonstrated giving up that one thing that matters the most to them for the sake of Jesus. Why would they do that? The most important question of all is, how were they able to do that for Jesus? The answer is simple: daily eat and drink Jesus’ body and blood; daily excrete out what the Holy Spirit is telling us; daily rest in Jesus. This daily trust and obedience provides us with a sense of security and guidance in our walk with Jesus. The death of oneself does not come from human effort nor willpower. It comes from trusting in Jesus even till death. It can only be done when one is deeply involved with Jesus and Jesus’ DNA becomes their DNA. Without questioning, they hear the voice of Jesus, respond, and lay down their lives and their most essential things for Jesus. It is a daily walk with Jesus and having a moment-by-moment relationship with Jesus. Jesus said My sheep hear my voice and follow me. It is interesting to note that when Jesus calls his sheep, it is among other sheep that are not of Jesus’. Jesus calls his sheep to take them through the valley of the shadow of death. Jesus’ sheep hear his voice and follow initially. Then, when the sheep sees Jesus walking away from the green pasture and onto the valley of the shadow of death, the sheep begins to wonder if the voice it hears is Jesus’ or not. But as Jesus continues to call the sheep, the sheep respond by trusting in Jesus’ voice, recognizing it as their own. But as the sheep nears the valley of the shadow of death, the sheep gets close to Jesus, embracing his breath, scent, and sweat. Following him closely, as he fears he might be lost if he does not hear the voice of his true shepherd. Ultimately, the valley of the shadow of death separates the true sheep of Jesus from other sheep. Jesus calls all of his disciples to carry the cross, deny oneself, and follow Jesus daily. Which ultimately leads to death. Death is not to end our essence but to deliver us from ourselves, our old ways of living, and to redefine our DNA to become like Jesus; ultimately leading us to the resurrection of Jesus, as he has said, I am the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus is not something that we find when the last day comes; the resurrection that Jesus gives us is the very nature of all of his disciples that must go through to become faithful followers of Jesus. Many modern Christians are what we might call 'zombie Christians'. This is not a metaphor, but a reality. When Jesus calls us to die with him, many reject this calling, believing it to be from Satan. They know deep down that it is the call of Jesus, but they prefer to be deceived in their hearts as it seems logical, reasonable, and satisfies their current values. However, when a Christian rejects the call of Jesus, the life of Jesus leaves that Christian, and that person becomes a 'zombie Christian'. A 'zombie Christian' is a person who knows about Jesus but does not follow Jesus because they have denied the call of Jesus to be his disciple. There are many 'zombie Christians'. Many become like Pharisees, and they are satisfied with knowing about the Scriptures, rather than obeying them. They begin to lose the joy, rest, and light of Jesus in their lives and begin to replace it with religious activities and the endless pursuit of knowledge about Christian life. When the Father speaks, He speaks once, and the Holy Spirit continuously reminds us to obey what the Father has said. However, once you become a zombie Christian, it is difficult to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, nor the voice of the Father. The Holy Spirit continuously prays to the Father with groaning that cannot be uttered because the Holy Spirit is in agony over the disobedient Christian. Just like the Prodigal Son, the Father waits for the son to return. An interesting observation can be made regarding the story of the Prodigal Son, that the father did not go after looking for the son, nor did the older brother. The reason the father did not go after the prodigal son was that the son made the choice, and the father respected the son's choice. But an interesting thing is that the older brother did not go after his brother, even though he could have. The older brother did not know the heart of the father, and when the prodigal son returned, the older son’s response reveals his true intentions. The Father waits for the zombie Christian to return. To return means to realize that their effort and ways of living caused much turmoil and must abide under the ruling of the Father. The Father gives another chance to zombie Christians. But when the second chance comes, the sacrifice that a zombie Christian makes seems greater than the first time. As that person has drifted away from the proper way of living and been replaced by religious activities that have no life. Every disciple of Jesus knows that one thing that Jesus asks us to give up. It is not to destroy us but to trust in the Lord. Just like when Peter asked Jesus to walk on water, Jesus is telling us to walk on water like Peter did. When we die in Jesus, it is the very spirit of Jesus that resurrects us. When we experience death and resurrection through Jesus, that is when we truly find the peace and rest that Jesus desires for us to have, not through religious activities, disciplines, and training. When we realize that our death does not lead to destruction, as the one inviting us to death is Jesus, who is life and resurrection, we trust in Jesus and follow through our death, and we wait on Jesus to resurrect us in his power and spirit. That is when we are truly free from the world and its bondages, and nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus. We become one with Jesus as we suffer with him, and we glory with him. We can become truly victorious in all aspects of our lives, not with our power or abilities, but by what Jesus has done for us in himself. A true crown of glory awaits those who follow Jesus even to death.