From the beginning of my Counseling career my primary goal has been to help those I serve gain confidence in God’s willingness to guide them through His Spirit and His Word. It was out of that desire that my approach to helping and Journey Notes Praise Journaling came to fruition.
In my last post (To Feel His Pleasure) I promised I would talk about what a typical First Session might look like, with the idea of establishing a healthy helping relationship. But before I do that, I think we need to think about what it means to be a Biblical Helper.
Originally I used the term Biblical Specialist to distinguish myself as a Christian Counselor. I had earned my Master’s degree in counseling, studied the multiple approaches used in psychology, with the idea of combining what I had learned in my studies with the wisdom of the Bible But, during my Internship, when I sought to integrate the two, I found that the secular weakened the strength of the Biblical. More than that, I could see that the combination of the two was not helping my Clients.
So, I set aside my psychology text books* and asked God to use me to speak life and hope through the Scriptures to every Client I saw. In that process I learned to step out of the way as I prayed inwardly, listened to my Clients tell their stories, and asked them to open to whatever passage(s) God laid on my heart best suited to minister to each need. With the passage of time I came to embrace the term Biblical Helper as better suited to the whole idea of loving those He places on our paths.
Sound mysterious? It truly is! Using this approach I learned to lean on the Lord for strength and direction as I opened every Session with prayer:
- Thanking God for joining us,
- Giving thanks to Him for the life of my Client and
- Asking that He “direct the path of our conversation.”
What I learned in the process, is that WE don’t have to have all the answers–
and were never meant to . . . BUT HE DOES!
I must add that, like so many worthwhile things in life, helping can be difficult and even messy. But the rewards are great when you are privileged to watch as God works in an individual heart and you witness the outward tension on their faces begin to soften.
So what are the requirements of a Biblical Helper?
- A Biblical Helper actively seeks God in the Scripture for their daily needs.
- A Biblical Helper willingly shares lessons they have learned from particular Scriptures, but are mindful of keeping the Client’s story the primary focus in a Session.
- The role of a Biblical Helper is to minister to the hearts of people, mindful of keeping God in the conversation through prayer and using Scripture.
- A Biblical Helper is merciful in speaking truth in love.
- A Biblical Helper is dedicated to helping Clients gain confidence that God truly cares and has something to say to them personally. (That is why, during a Session, we examine passages of Scripture–not just Bible verses–to broaden the scope of what the passage is saying.)
- A Biblical Helper encourages the one they are working with to do Journey Notes Praise Journaling-–at least 3 entries between Sessions. (Clients who seek God’s perspective on themselves and their problems between Sessions typically make greater progress than those who do not.)
To be clear:
Being a Biblical Helper is not about having all the answers.
To be a Biblical Helper requires a willingness
to be humble and in the process be blessed
by the One who changes and enlarges the hearts and minds
of those willing to trust Him.
In my last post I talked about the requirements needed for helping:
2 Chairs (comfortable enough to have a chat)
+ 2 Bibles (a good contemporary translation is essential
for clarity of application–I recommend the NIV or ESV)
+ 2 Hearts willing to look at Scripture
and a quiet space to talk and to pray–keeping God in the conversation.
As we reflect on the simplicity of this approach, it is important to focus on the “2 Hearts willing to look at Scripture” aspect.
- First, the one seeking help must be agreeable to reading and thinking about what God says in Scripture.
- Secondly, the Helper must have first been willing to apply whatever passage is presented personally. As you seek God’s help with matters large and small in your own life, you will find that the scope of what you offer will broaden.
From the very start, God gave me Jeremiah 17 to help establish that in problem-solving there are three influences people typically subject themselves to. I appreciate the clarity the passage offers when it comes to establishing what is ruling the heart (the key to problem-solving), and Clients generally do too. This is how a typical first-time Session progresses:
I ask the Client to read Jeremiah 17:5-10 aloud to me. (I recommend that you do the same so that you get a taste of what a Session is like.)
This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh,
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in Him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”
Then I ask, “What in the passage stands out to you?” (I invite you to read over the passage again and answer the question.)
Generally, we talk about their response and and I add some of my thoughts. Then I invite the Client to re-examine the passage, this time likening it to the old game show “The Price is Right.” At the end of the show, winning contestants are given a chance to choose from one of three “doors”. Typically there is a groaner, ‘Oh no!’ prize, an “okay” prize, and what is considered a “dream” prize.
I then refer them back to the passage to identify the three influences that the Lord says typically hold sway in how people face life challenges. In honor of “The Price is Right“, I ask them to identify the three “doors” discussed in Jeremiah:
Door #1: We follow the teaching of the world around us–“Cursed is the one who trusts in man . . . whose heart turns away from the Lord.” The result? I know of no better description of depression recorded in all of Scripture: We end up, “like a bush in the wastelands . . . in a salt land where no one lives.” In the end robbed of hope because darkness swallows us up.
Door #2: We seek after God as we work through our problems, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord . . . like a tree planted by the water . . . and never fails to bear fruit.” No matter how “dark” things may appear: As we cling to the Hope that is ours in Christ, fear cannot overtake us.
Door #3 is a bit tricky to identify, but I have a wonderful story that lends clarity to it. It has been more than thirty-five years since the first Session I had with a Client. She was a single-mom, sincere in her faith, very concerned with helping her twenty-something-year-old son. She read the Jeremiah passage slowly, trying to take it all in. What I remember most was as she read verse 9–“The heart is deceitful . . . beyond cure”–she suddenly stopped reading–obviously startled. She then looked up at me with her huge brown eyes and slowly said,
“But I thought I was supposed to follow my heart?!!”
She brought up a valid point. As the world teaches us to follow our hearts (our feelings) we often reap disastrous consequences. Better to persevere in seeking God’s wisdom and direction in addressing problems, rather than being run by our feelings.
“Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.”
Proverbs 4:23
“. . . but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give them will become
in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 4:14
I share all of this in the hope that these insights might strengthen you personally. I also offer them to encourage you to buildup whoever God puts on your path with His help. Enjoy the process as you lean on Him, and be sure to take notes so that you don’t forget the insights gained from the One you are serving.
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
Galatians 5:1 and 6
All to His Glory!
*This is NOT to say that there is no value in psychology. We live in a hurting world and there are some things that are beyond the scope of our ability to help. Also, there have been times when I have helped with the spiritual side of a Client’s needs, while they saw another therapist separately to focus on the psychological aspects of their problem. (God ultimately uses it all!)
