Page 69 - Biblical Counseling I Textbook

Study Section 12: Learning a Method for Helping People (7 I’s) - continued

12.1 Connect

One of the wisest men who ever lived was Solomon. In fact, people came to all nations to observe
his wisdom. Such was the case with the Queen of Ethiopia. She discovered that not even the half
of what had been told her was true; Solomon was truly the wisest man in the world. Yet, as
Solomon grew older, he married 700 wives and 300 concubines. That wasn’t the smartest thing to
do! The Bible says that Solomon’s wives caused his heart to drift from full surrender to God. He
even built alters and high places to worship their false Gods.

Man’s wisdom falls miserably short of God’s wisdom. Proverbs 9: 10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Basically, this verse teaches that the fear of
God is foundational to all true wisdom; all other type of learning is worthless unless built upon a knowledge of
the Lord Himself. Every counselor desires wisdom. However, wisdom comes from a knowledge of the Lord as
revealed in His Word.

Without the knowledge of who God is and His revelation in the Bible, we make final decisions based on our
faulty human understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6). Let’s make sure our advice is God’s advice!

12.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to describe the process of instruction and why it is so important in a
counseling session.

2. The student should be able to describe intention and why it is so important in a counseling session.

3. The student should be able to define implementation and explain why it is so important in a counseling
session.

4. The student should be able to define integration and explain why it is so important in a counseling session.

12.3 Instruction

Providing counsel to people from the Bible will necessarily involve teaching. The Scriptures you use
must be explained and applied to the person in such a way as to show how these truths may be
appropriated into daily life. Our problems most commonly result from wrong thinking. As we
instruct the person we are helping, we work to correct his thinking by explaining and applying
biblical truth. Believers desiring to truly help another do not simply replace one worldly way of
thinking with another worldly way of thinking, even if it has the appearance of being biblical. We must rightly
divide God’s Word and then rightly apply it.

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