The Bible Guides The Believer

The Bible guides the believer as God’s representative to others to reveal the truth of God. You may not consider yourself a biblical counselor as a career path but all believers are biblical counselors in daily life. Your specialty is a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible and absolute confidence that it is God’s sure guide for all people. When you preach, teach, or counsel, you stand straight and talk in the confidence that you are the custodian of the most important information in the world.

You may look to other disciplines for help in perfecting your interview technique in counseling, developing your skill to listen objectively, or to learn how to help the individual tell his story. But your view of the nature and needs of people is to be drawn from and is to coincide with God and His Word.

Definition of a Biblical Counselor

What is a biblical counselor? A biblical counselor is any person (pastor, teacher, husband, wife, friend, etc.) who uses the Bible, the Word of God, as the foundation for sharing truth with a person who has “escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Pet. 1:4).

Why is it important to center the foundation on “the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4)? God’s Word is truth. The mind of man can give human reasoning and solve some human problems, but only divine wisdom (God’s Word) will have solutions to “evil desires.”

Will people always desire to be comforted in their troubles? No. Some who come to you may be ready for repentance and life change. Others will simply want a counselor to console, sympathize, and agree with their condition. Remember, you cannot shove God’s comfort down unwilling throats.

Your Experience and the Bible

Can your experiences shed light on God’s Word? No, but God’s Word will shed light on your experiences. For example, one does not need to experience murder to know it is wrong or experience joy to know it is good. How can we know these things? Simply by reading, studying, and living in a relationship with Jesus as the Scripture shares:

How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! 

Romans 11:33

If a person wants to become a professional counselor there are certain academic studies and an internship period required in order to be licensed. The biblical counselor may or may not meet such academic qualifications. The basic requirements are not academic; they are personal characteristics:

• One who has a joyful, relaxed wholesome attitude toward life

• One who looks to God for wisdom and discernment

• One who loves to encounter God through studying His Word on a regular basis

• One with a reputation for good judgment in interpersonal relations, marriage and family relations, finances, and helping people–based on biblical knowledge

• One who loves to help others apply God’s Word to life

If a biblical counselor were to have received the following letter from the apostle Peter, it would sound like an accurate summary of the work of a biblical counselor.

…as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 

2 Peter 1:3-4

Results

Take a closer look. A knowledge of God leads to predictable results:

• Ability to distinguish right from wrong

• An abundance of faith, grace, and peace

• Everything we need for life and godliness

• A way of escape from corruption in the world caused by evil desires

It is not surprising that our politicians, our educators, and even many ministers have lost the basis for spelling out a code of ethics or morals. Rather than looking to God for guidance, the prevailing mood is to banish His Word, the Bible, as a source that gives us direction.

Let me encourage you to be refresh your confidence in your relationship with God and His Word as the source of all wisdom. What an incredible resource for helping others with the issues of life!