What do you think of when you hear the word “counseling”? What do you picture when you think about what counseling is? Maybe you have met with a counselor before, and your thoughts go to that experience. Maybe you have never met with a counselor before, and your mind imagines a counseling session looking like someone laying on a couch talking about their problems to someone else.
When thinking about counseling, do you ever picture two people sitting together, with their Bibles open, discussing what God’s Word tells us about Him, ourselves, our experiences, and the world around us? In my letter to our church last week, I wrote to you regarding how thankful I am for the various ministries of God’s Word that the Lord has provided the Church with. If you haven’t had a chance to read last week’s letter, I invite you to do so (Last Week’s Letter). In this week’s letter, I would like to highlight a specific ministry of God’s Word: biblical counseling.
Biblical counseling is a personal ministry of God’s Word in which someone provides counsel that is rooted in the truth of God’s Word to someone who is struggling with personal, interpersonal, and/or difficult life experiences. Biblical counseling can also be defined as a season of intense discipleship for someone who is experiencing a difficult season of life.
If you think about it, all of us have been the recipients of counseling. Also, we have all been counselors to someone else. Have you ever listened to someone explain their struggle with something and then offered your advice, or have you shared your struggle with someone else and they offered their advice? If so, counseling took place at that moment. What was the foundation of the advice? Was the advice based on emotions, worldly wisdom, or personal experience? Was its foundation rooted in God’s Word? Why is it even important that we give and receive counsel that is rooted in God’s Word?
David wrote in Psalm 19:7–14 that
[7] The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
[8] the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
[9] the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
[10] More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
[11] Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
[12] Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
[13] Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
[14] Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
Did you see what David says? David declares that God’s Word is true, right, pure, everlasting, and of great value. God’s Word revives the soul and makes wise the simple. The author of God’s Word is the one true God, our rock and our redeemer! This means that counsel that is truly rooted in God’s Word is true, right, pure, everlasting, valuable, nourishing, and discerning.
The Psalms also declare in Psalm 147:3 that, “[God] heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” God promises to heal those who are brokenhearted. We often need counseling when we are either heartbroken by our own sin, by the sin of others, or by the effects of living in a fallen sinful world. We should run to God with our brokenheartedness and look for the healing that only His Gospel can provide!
The apostle Paul wrote throughout his letters to the early church that Scripture (God’s Word) is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
When we minister to one another, disciple one another, and counsel one another, we do so as a means for “building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:12b-16). During difficult seasons of life, we are often in danger of being “tossed to and fro.” Biblical counseling is a ministry of God’s Word that seeks to build up others in Christ as a way to guide others towards maturing in Christ and protect them from being deceived by sin.
I am excited that in 2024, we (TCBC) are increasing our efforts towards building up a biblical counseling ministry at TCBC. My prayer is that the Lord will use this ministry as a way to disciple those who are experiencing a difficult season of life, to equip others to counsel biblically, and to share the gospel with those who have yet to follow Jesus. Please join me in praying that the Lord will raise up this ministry according to His will and purpose, for His glory!
If you have any questions about biblical counseling, please feel free to email me at jbledsoe@tcbchurch.org.
With much love and in Christ,
Jeremy
Jeremy Bledsoe
Elder / Member Care Pastor
Jeremy and Aerial have been married since 2005 and have served at Tri-Cities since 2010. They have four children: Camille, Clayton, Chandler, and Carson.