Page 111 - Advanced Biblical Counseling Student Textbook

to a place where she no longer could see the dog. This is an example of stimulus generation as well as
reinforcement.

Reflection: Can you recall a fear that you have learned? What role, if any, was played by fear
conditioning? What was influenced by observational learning?

Experience helps shape such fearfulness or fearlessness, but so do our genes. Genes influence our
temperament – our emotional reactivity. Scientists have isolated a gene that influences the amygdala’s
response to frightening situations. People with a short version of this gene have less of a protein that
speeds the reuptake of the neurotransmitter serotonin. With more serotonin available to activate their
amygdala neurons, people with this short gene exhibit a revved-up amygdala response to frightening
pictures. 175

Let’s look back on what you learned in Biblical Counseling I. There are eight reminders you can tell
yourself or someone else who feels overcome by fear:

1. Remind yourself that God’s wrath is what should be feared most, but that it has been removed in
Christ (Matt. 10:28, Heb. 2:14-15).
2. Remind yourself that Christ is the good shepherd and is taking care of you (Psalm 23, John 10:11, 14).
3. Remind yourself that you are secure in Christ (Rom. 8:35; Jude 24)
4. Remind yourself that love casts out fear and you are loved by God (1 John 4:17-18).
5. Remind yourself that God has not given you a spirit of fear but of power (2 Tim. 1:7)
6. Remind yourself that Christ faced the temptations of fear but overcame on your behalf and now you
can receive the help you need (Heb. 4:15-16).
7. For those who fear imperfection, remember that you are already perfect in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21, Heb.
12:22-24)
8. Remind yourself that God is in control of all things and is working them together for your good
(Rom. 8:28)

Counseling those with fear and anxiety.

Fear and anxiety are real challenges in life. As our world increases to become more and more lawless,
and as diseases that take life emerge, we face life more than every with uncertainty, which can lead to
fear. Sometimes the thoughts in our head can become so overwhelming that it becomes hard to
function daily. As in the folk tale of Chicken Little, the dim-witted chicken convinced the farmyard into
mass hysteria saying, “the sky is falling, so we fear what COULD happen and our fears may magnify.

Fear, obviously, has a lot to do with perception. As Dr. David Calvert, Pastor for Creative Arts at Grace
Community Church in Angier, NC said,
“The gospel tells us of God’s overwhelming love for us, proved in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
– but sometimes we need help remembering God’s forgiveness and remembering God’s deep love. 176

So, in counseling those who live in fear, consider the following process.

175 Ibid.
176 https://foundationsft.com/how-christian-counseling-can-help-you-overcome-fear/

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