Page 112 - Advanced Biblical Counseling Student Textbook

1. Validate that the person in fear understands the Gospel. Find out if they have truly trusted in Christ
as their Savior and Lord. Make sure that they have placed their FAITH in Him who can save them from
sin, but from fear.

2. Find passages of Scripture that deal with fear. Since fear and anxieties are so present in everyday
life, and since they are explicitly identified in over 300 passages, show them some of them. Take a
common passage (e.g., Psalm 56:3, Matthew 6:25-33, Luke 12:22-34, Philippians 4:5-7, 1 Peter 5:6-7) or
an uncommon one (e.g., Joshua 1:6-9, 2 Kings 6:8-17). Provide a list of some accessible passages on fear
and worry and ask that person to identify one text that can belong to him or her when fears and
anxieties emerge.
3. Help them Turn to Jesus in their fears. If there is anything close to a command about fear in
Scripture, it would be this. When we are afraid, and we will be, we are to turn to Jesus. This is God’s
calling in our lives and it is our growing aspiration in the midst of worries: “When I am afraid, I put my
trust in you” (Psalm 56:3). We can try depending on ourselves as if we can manage and control our
world, or we can try to quarantine ourselves with our worries, as if worry itself might shield us from
future threats, but it won’t work.

But trusting God in times of anxiety takes practice. It is a spiritual skill, and it is less automatic than we
realize. With practice, we will be able to turn to Jesus more quickly and in ways that actually erode
anxieties. Results will not be immediate. The ways of God are that we gradually grow in meaningful trust
and confidence in him and love for him. If anxieties were immediately extinguished, we would turn to
him less, which would be to our detriment.

And if we don’t turn to him? Then, and only then, can we add sin to the picture. We need to confess that
we want other things more than him. We confess that our desires have become what are most dear to
us. Then, we turn and humbly listen to his words, and, as little children, grow in the skill of truly
believing what our father says. 177

Anger

Anger is a completely normal, often healthy human emotion. Everyone gets angry sometimes. But when
a person’s anger gets out of control it can lead to problems at work, in personal relationships and in the
overall quality of life.

The Bible has a lot to say about dealing with anger.

James 1: 19-20 “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to
anger; 20for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

Psalm 37:8 "Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil."

Proverbs 14:29 "Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper
exalts folly."

177 https://www.ccef.org/fear/

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