For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
Many times we have people come to our ministry for counseling because they have gone to secular counselors and spent thousands of dollars without ever resolving the issues they went to counseling for. After a few weeks we have many tell us that they have accomplished much more in a few short weeks than they have in months or years with their prior counselors.
When dealing with life issues there are three things that need to be addressed in every issue – the emotional aspect, the physical aspect, and the spiritual aspect. Nearly all secular counselors deal only with the emotional and physical aspect of a person’s issues. Emotionally, they deal with people’s thinking and emotions using an evolutionary psychological approach. For example, in anger management, they approach the emotional aspect of the problem with things like recognizing triggers, engaging man-made techniques, and venting in order to be successful and accepted by society. They approach the physical aspect of the problem with the use of medications to calm people down.
They do not approach the spiritual aspect of the problem because to do so would be considered unethical. Secular counseling under a state license considers any Spiritual intervention to be unethical. They say that the counselor is transferring their values to the person they are helping and the person is influenced to accept the values because the counselor is an authority figure. Therefore, instead of using the Bible as the standard to determine what is right and wrong, they use the standards of the community as determined by man. While this may sound good, even Adoph Hitler had the approval of the legislature and the people to do what he did to the Jews. So, using man’s standards of right and wrong, no matter how well thought out leads to disastrous consequences in many cases. We consistently see this same result with those who have come to us from secular counselors and even counselors who call themselves Christian counselors that use a secular model without using the Bible.
Life issues are complex in that they require intervention on an physical, emotional, and AND SPIRITUAL level. We recognize that sometimes there are physical issues that contribute to the person’s struggle. For example, I find many times that people who have panic attacks or depression also have symptoms of irregularities with their thyroid or adrenal glands. When I hear someone tell me what they are experiencing physically, I recommend that they go to their medical doctor and get a physical to make sure there are no physical issues that need addressed medically. Then, if something is found, we can coordinate with their doctor as needed to proceed with helping the person.
When it comes to Biblical counseling, we are not transferring our values to the person we are helping. This is because we are not the counselor! We are merely faithful men (and women) that are teaching others what we have learned about God’s counsel (2 Timothy 2:1-2). It is Christ that is the counselor and has the Spirit of counsel. It it is HIS authority and HIS values that are being transferred by the Holy Spirit through His Word (Isaiah 7:6; Isaiah 11:2). Unfortunately, most Pastors do not believe that they have the expertise to counsel because they do not understand this or understand Biblical counseling. Yet, I am sure that every Pastor that prepares for his Sunday sermon prays that God will use the message he delivers to change the lives and address life issue of the people he loves in his congregation.
We stress to our counselees that although we posses the same Holy Spirit that gives counsel, we are NOT their therapist or counselor. Instead, we teach them how to look to what Christ, the Master Counselor, says in the Bible about their life issues. Then, they have a choice. Do they accept the counsel of the Master Counselor or do they continue to struggle in the counsel of the ungodly (Psalms 1:1-3)? May we all seek His counsel in all things to His glory.
