Helps in Biblical Counseling

Biblical counseling is built on the foundation that the Bible is inspired by God and therefore, infallible, inerrant and sufficient. All that we need to know about God and how to live for Him is contained in the Bible. We also discover the root issue of all of our problems (sin) and the remedy (the gospel).

Here is a simple outline, easy to remember, that is instructive as you seek to be faithful to God and helpful to fellow Christians.

Remember. When counseling a Christian dealing with sin issues it is important to help them to remember where they stepped off of the right path. Wrong responses to challenges stems from the battle that we all have with remaining sin. It may be helpful for the counselee to write a brief chronicle of their recent history, retracing the pathway back to the beginning of specific sin issues. Remember therefore from where you have fallen” (Revelation 2:5). This does not require one to morbidly reexamine all of the details of their existence, but that they seek to get back to the time in which their present struggle with sin first began. For the church of Ephesus, in Revelation chapter two, the problem was that they had abandoned their first love and needed to remember the circumstances around which they steered off course.

Repent. Biblical counseling, to be faithful, must address sin. Psychological counseling often fails at this point. Sin may not be considered or discussed at all. The counselee is identified as having some sort of psychological disorder and the cure offered is medicine. Medicine might be necessary when there are truly physiological issues that are diagnosed by specific health tests. However, medicine is often the first stop on the pathway of finding a “cure.” The Biblical counselor must help the counselee to examine their heart for sin issues and then call them to repentance. There is hope when one turns away from sin and back to Christ. Biblical counseling is fundamentally Christ-centered because repentance demands that one look to Christ for help (see Revelation 2:5; I Corinthians 4).

Return. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else… (Revelation 2:5). Ask the person that you are helping to remember when their lives were more characterized by faithfulness to Christ. Revelation 2:4 identifies the sin issue with the Ephesians as abandoning their “first love.” The “first love” spoken of is love for God and love for others. The Ephesian Christians were doing many right things but their motivation was not pure. They were not being faithful to the great commandment. Christ called them to return to works that were motivated by love. Christ is always concerned first for a persons heart—their desires—the inward motivation. Encourage the counselee to seek God in prayer, listen to Him in the Bible and cultivate a heart of love. A loving heart will result in loving deeds of obedience.

Recall. When engaging in Biblical counseling you want to leave the person you are helping with a conviction that if they turn to Christ then there is great hope that they can change. Recalling God’s faithfulness and promises is a strong motivation to work on changing attitudes and actions (Revelation 2:7). Be a student of the goodness of God. His goodness is revealed in Scripture and evident in the daily provisions of life.

If you are a Christian then you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you and you have God’s Word before you. You can help your fellow believer to grow in godliness and to change for God’s glory and their good. What a blessing to be able to love our fellow Christian by pointing them back to Scripture and to Christ. So don’t forget, remember, repent, return and recall.

Ray Rhodes, Jr. is President of Nourished in the Word Ministries and Pastor of Grace Community Church in Dawsonville, GA. He is the author of the new book, “Family Worship for the Reformation Season” and the best-selling book, “Family Worship for the Christmas Season.” Leave a message if you would like to order either book.