Seismic Activity in California

With all the seismic activity in California lately, the below thoughts seemed relevant.  California’s Inyo County is home to the highest point in the lower 48, Mount Whitney. This Sierra Nevada peak is just five feet short of measuring 14,500 feet above sea level.

Less than 100 miles to the southeast, still in Inyo County, is Death Valley. This depression’s deepest point (near Badwater) lies some 282 feet below sea level. This is the lowest point not just in the 48 contiguous states, but in the whole North American continent.

There are a few neighboring mountains from which, on a clear day, you can see both of these locations. The temperature variation between these spots (the notoriously hot Death Valley and the thin, cold peak of Whitney) can be incredible.

Interesting.  It has been preached that the above facts are so like ourselves.  In the "first adam" of our existence on earth we can have the highest peak of the goodness of the Tree of Knowledge, even doing incredible things in the name of God, yet, so close is the potential of experiencing the ‘bad’ part of the Tree of Knowledge, too.  Man can be good, man can be so brutal and bad.  It’s our state of being.  Without the regeneration of Christ, we are left to highs and lows.  Hot and cold and nothing to rectify or justify our actions.  With our home in Jesus by faith however through salvation in His finished work, we take our place in the state of the "second adam" and we have a whole new viewpoint.  Thank God for that He gives us a daily portion of Himself.  We are of the "new mind" of Calvary’s forgiveness and find ourselves on a new mountain peak of God’s divine viewpoint. 

Now that’s when I feel like singing "The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music…" and I like that song:)

Let’s be praying for our fellow Californians,

Scott Robinson 

Understanding Craving

Understanding craving

• Describing craving
• Identifying triggers
• Avoiding cues
• Coping with craving

  Because craving is such a difficult problem for so many abusers, this topic is introduced very early in treatment. Episodes of intense subjective craving for cocaine are often reported weeks and even months after the inception of abstinence. This experience can be both mystifying and disturbing to the abuser and can result in cocaine abuse if it is not understood and managed effectively.
  The goals of the session are to:

  • Understand the patient’s experience of craving.
  • Convey the nature of craving as a normal, time-limited experience.
  • Identify craving cues and triggers.
  • Impart and practice craving- and urge-control techniques.

It is important for patients to recognize that experiencing some craving is normal and quite common. Craving does not mean something is wrong or that the individual really wants to resume a life controlling problem.

Because of the frequency and the variety of circumstances in which a chemical substance or self-defeating behavior is self-administered, a multitude of stimuli have been paired with habitual abuse. These may act as conditioned cues or triggers for craving. Common triggers include being around people with whom one used chemical substances, having money or getting paid, drinking alcohol, social situations, and certain affective states, such as anxiety, depression, or joy. Triggers for craving also are highly individual, thus identification of cues should take place in an ongoing way throughout treatment.

To explain the ideas of conditioned cues is often enough to demystify the experience of craving and help individuals identify and tolerate conditioned craving when it occurs. It is also important to convey the time-limited nature of craving, that is, conditioned craving usually peaks and dissipates in less than an hour, if not followed by chemical substance use. Counselors should also explain the process of extinction of conditioned responses.

Describing Craving
Next, it is essential to get a sense of the patients’ experience of craving. This includes eliciting the following information.

• What is craving like for you?
  Cravings or urges are experienced in a variety of ways by different patients. For some, the experience is primarily somatic; for example, "I just get a feeling in my stomach" or "My heart races" or "I start smelling it." For others, craving is experienced more cognitively; for example, "I need it now" or "I can’t get it out of my head" or "It calls me." Or it may be experienced effectively; for example, "I get nervous" or "I’m bored." It is important for the therapist to get a clear idea of how craving is experienced by the individual.
• How bothered are you by craving?
  There is tremendous variability in the level and intensity of craving reported by individuals. For some, achieving and maintaining control over craving will be a principal treatment goal and take several weeks to achieve. Other individuals deny they experience any craving. Gentle exploration with individuals who deny any craving (especially those who continue to use cocaine) often reveals that they misinterpret a variety of experiences or simply ignore craving when it occurs until they suddenly find themselves using. Other, abstinent patients, who deny they experience any craving often, when asked, admit to intense fears about relapsing.
• How long does craving last for you?
  To make the point about the time-limited nature of craving, it is often important to point out to individuals that they have rarely let themselves experience an episode of craving without giving in to it.
• How do you try to cope with it?
  Getting a sense of the coping strategies used by individuals will help the therapist identify their characteristic coping styles and select appropriate coping strategies.

It is important for patients to recognize that experiencing some craving is normal and quite common. Craving does not mean something is wrong or that the patient really wants to resume drug use.(Much of this material on key interventions used with episodes of craving was adapted from Kadden et al. 1992.)

Identifying Triggers
Therapists should then work with patients to develop a comprehensive list of their own triggers. Some patients become overwhelmed when asked to identify cues (one patient reported that even breathing was associated with cocaine use for him). Again, it may be most helpful to concentrate on identifying the craving and cues that have been most problematic in recent weeks. This list should be started during the session; the practice exercise for this session should include self-monitoring of craving, so patients can begin to identify new, more subtle cues as they arise.

 

Our lives are a series of habits, held together in perfect sequence by our subconscious mind. Whether it is over indulgence or the task of typing on my computer keyboard, the subconscious takes me through the paces without having to think about results – or consequences. Over 90% of our daily living is an action of habit, systematically driven by our subconscious mind. Healthy habits like washing our bodies, brushing our teeth, driving a car or looking both ways before crossing the street are behaviors learned by the Subconscious mind and fed back to us without a conscious thought. As we enter the New Year, many of us are choosing to create new habits, for healthier living.

 

Here are some tips to keep in m

ind:

1) All habits are learned behavior. The subconscious mind receives the impress of our repetitive thoughts in order to set habit patterns. Begin to take stock of your habits.

2) Become aware of your thinking patterns. Each thought and word is an affirmation. See if you are thinking negatively. To say or think, “No matter how much I try, I cannot keep my finances in order,” is negatively driven and no good can result from this. Don’t judge yourself. Merely observe your thoughts. Trust in your words and thoughts to create a healthy belief system.

3) Consciously set in motion healthy thoughts and words. Affirm positive thoughts and words: “I am bright and aware of my finances. I always bring in far more money than I need. My finances are healthy and in perfect balance.”

4) Do not allow the turbulence of change to cause you to falter from your healthy intent. While your subconscious is learning the new patterns, you are going to create a break in long established patterns. Like the farmer, you must disturb the soil to create the means to plant new seed. The kingdom of God is there within you, ready and supportive of your intentions. Habits are a healthy thing and your subconscious is your greatest ally if you will but allow yourself to direct and insist on the right and perfect results. approaching, adjusting and establishing new and healthy habits.

 

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/heroin/ase/Image33.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/heroin/ase/chap_4.htm&h=349&w=472&sz=7&hl=en&start=16&um=1&tbnid=UKAZp2QvCVslcM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3DAddictive%2BConditioning%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGFRD,GFRD:2008-17,GFRD:en%26sa%3DX

 

These are examples of CONDITIONING and the REALITY they represent:

 

• ANGER OR RAGE WHILE IN A TRAFFIC JAM
• FEAR OF SITUATION OUT OF OUR CONTROL, ANGER IS FEAR DISPLACED

 

• RACIAL OR ETHNIC SLURS
• FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN, THE OTHER – INHERITED FROM PARENTS, OTHERS

 

• VERBAL BERATING OR JUDGMENT OF  OTHERS: FAMILY, FRIENDS, CO-WORKERS
• DEFENSE MECHANISM TO AVOID RELATIONSHIP, ALSO FEAR OF REJECTION, HURT OR LOVE

 

• FEAR OF FLYING
• FEAR OF LOSING CONTROL, FEAR OF DEATH-FEAR OF LOSING ONESELF

 

• ALCOHOLISM, DRUGS, ALL ADDICTIONS
• FEAR OF THIS MOMENT AND MANY OTHERS- AN ESCAPE FROM REALITY

 

• TELLING A LIE
• FEAR OF FAILURE, NEEDING TO BE ACCEPTED BY OTHERS AND SELF

 

• SEXUAL PROMISCUITY, ADULTERY
• LOOKING FOR ACCEPTANCE, WANTED TO BE LOVED-FEAR OF REJECTION

 

• NEED TO DOMINATE OR CONTROL OTHERS
• FEAR OF RELATIONSHIP, INTIMACY, BEING ALONE

 

• BELIEF IN A BETTER TOMORROW
• REFUSAL TO LIVE THIS MOMENT AS THE ONLY REALITY

 

• BELIEF IN THE "ME"
• FEAR OF DEATH, FEAR OF OTHER

 

 

 

This is an interesting Book The Meaning of Addiction by Stanton Peele and I want to preface that I do not agree with every statement. However I like the research and hope you will examine your beliefs about addiction and the hardliner ideas that addiction is a disease. You can access the entire book at the  link below.  I think it is a recommended read for alternative viewpoints on addiction and the causes and treatment options. This book has helped form my personal treatment of addictive and life controlling problems with thousands of individuals. I has been helpful to challenge the erroneous idea of addiction as a disease with competence and thorough evidence. I believe that the root cause of all life controlling problems is the God shaped hole in everyone’s soul that we fill will everything but God because of our Free volition(will which defines our human responsibility) and Total Depravity (called total inability and total corruption) It is the teaching that, as a consequence of the Fall of Man, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin and, apart from the efficacious or prevenient grace of God, is utterly unable to choose to follow God or choose to accept salvation as it is freely offered. Total depravity is the fallen state of man as a resu

lt of Original Sin. The doctrine of total depravity asserts that people are by nature not inclined to love God wholly with heart, mind, and strength, as God requires, but rather all are inclined to serve their own interests over those of their neighbor and to reject the rule of God.

 

In His Grace forever,

Teddy

 

 

The Meaning of Addiction

http://www.peele.net/lib/moa.html

EIGHT PRINCIPLES WHEN DEALING WITH DEPRESSION

 

EIGHT PRINCIPLES WHEN DEALING WITH DEPRESSION

Eight principles which are proven Biblical techniques which we can use to successfully deal with depression in our life, REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE:

1. CONFESSION OF PERSONAL SIN:

Personal sin leads to depression, especially not isolated and confessed sin.We must deal with sin on a daily basis by isolating and confessing our sins directly to God the Father. Then getting on with our life or we will begin to enter into chain sinning and which will develop into habitual sin. If we don’t do this, sin becomes a burden which clouds our joy, drains our spiritual energy, and destroys our productivity and vitality. In short, sin is always depressing and extremely dangerous when left to fester because it erodes our rational minds!!

So, make it a spiritual habit to confess sins and walk in constant repentance the moment we are aware of them. This step toward recovery from depression is absolutely critical!!

2. THE FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit fills us and controls our life when we have no unconfessed sin in our life. We can trust the Holy Spirit to reveal sin to us when we commit it, or even before to help us prevent entering into sin.

When the Holy Spirit is in control of our life, He produces His fruit in our life. And the fruit of the Holy Spirit does NOT include heaviness, depression, discouragement, disillusionment, anguish, sadness, dejection, or loss of vitality.

WHAT IS THIS FRUIT?

Well Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that it is: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONGSUFFERING, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, AND SELF-CONTROL.

These 9 virtues REPLACE DEPRESSION!

3. LIVING IN THE WORD OF GOD:

Make it a daily practice to read and study the Bible each and every day. By living in the Word of God we are constantly reminded of GOD’S viewpoint, of His Plan, of His provision, of His awareness of our spirit of heaviness; and we are reminded of what He wants to accomplish in us with the tests or trials that we are going through.

A Christian’s response to the Word of God are:

READ IT Deuteronomy. 31:11; Isaiah. 34:16; Luke. 4:16; Ephesians. 3:4; Colossians. 3:16; 4:1; 1 Thessalonians. 5:27; 2 Timothy . 4:13; Revelation 1:3.

HEED IT Psalm 119:9; 1 Timothy. 4:16.

SEED IT Matthew. 28:19, 20.

DESIRE IT 1 Peter. 2:2.

PREACH IT 2 Timothy 4:2

RIGHTLY DIVIDE IT 2 Timothy. 2:15.

LIVE BY IT Matthew. 4:4

USE IT Ephesians. 6:17.

SUFFER FOR IT, AND IF NEED BE, DIE FOR IT Revelation 1:9; 6:9; 20:4.

THE CHILD OF GOD :

KNOW IT in his HEAD

STOW IT in his HEART

SHOW IT in his LIFE

SOW IT in the WORLD:

Deuteronomy 4:1-10; 12:32; Joshua 1:8; Psalm 33:6; Proverbs 30:5, 6; Mark 4:24; Luke 8:12; John 12:48-50; Romans 8:7; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 2:1-4; Revelation 1:1-3; 20:12; 22:18; 19.

Living only in the sphere of human, secular viewpoint is a powerful source of depression. Remember King Solomon’s experience?

4. APPLY THE PRINCIPLES OF GRACE:

Depression is often caused by PEOPLE, and most of the time by people we cannot escape, or people we love, or people we cannot confront, or people we trust.

By applying the principles of grace we will develop the ability to look at people and see them as GOD sees them. This includes the ability to let them live their lives as unto the Lord, and trusting God to make His way clear to them. This technique lets people make mistakes without us judging them.

5. FOCUS ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST:

When we focus on Jesus Christ it helps to cure depression because it gets our eyes off our spouse, our children, our neighbors, our friends, ourselves and our problems. Instead, as we move through the day, we are thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ, His plan for our life, the Father’s provision for each incident in our life, and His provision of wisdom for each decision we must make.

Depression is a by-product of being solely occupied with ourselves, with our lives, and with our own problems.

6. TRUSTING AND APPLYING THE PROMISES OF GOD

When we trust and use the promises of God we then enter into the "REST" phase of Christian living. We need to have a good grasp of just who God is so that we will not hesitate to believe that He can do what He has promised to do.

We know Him as He reveals Himself in the Bible.

We believe Him when He tells us what He will do for us.

This builds trust in Him!! He will never let us down!! Let our faith REST on it.

CAST our burden on the Lord because He really does care for us!!

7. RELAX – TAKE IT EASY – LET GOD DO HIS WORK.

A relaxed attitude is based on knowing God personally and intimately as His special child that we are. A relaxed attitude is one of the results of living in the Word of God, walking in fellowship with Him, trusting in and using Hi

s promises to us, and being focused on Jesus Christ.

All of the components of depression will MELT away and dissolve when we finally come to realize that our Heavenly Father has everything in hand and He doesn’t need us to help Him. This omnipotent God who has sent His Son to die for us and who bottles our tears and numbers the very hairs on our heads, loves and cares for us more than we can ever possibly imagine!!

If you are a Christian, YOU are His personal gift to His Son, who categorically stated that no one can ever snatch you out of His Father’s hand, nor out of His!! (John 10:27-29) 27. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28. "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29. "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand”.

We are personally being trained and groomed by God Himself to rule this entire universe with Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. God already sees us seated in heavenly places perfectly sanctified and glorified. But to have the glory, we must also have some suffering for a little while on this earth. This is part of our training and is spiritual development in maturity.

But God wants His child to learn how to handle the suffering and the trials WITHOUT DEPRESSION. – Without falling apart – without feeling sorry for ourselves – without blaming everything, everyone and including GOD!!

God wants us to grow toward spiritual maturity, – His goal is to progressively transform us into the glorious image of the LORD JESUS CHRIST!! – And trials, testing, tribulations, traumas and everyday problems are PART AND PARCEL OF THAT PACKAGE SOMETIMES!!

Look to the Lord for every detail in life personally. Our Joy should NOT depend on people, circumstances or things. True joy is found when we trust and obey God. We can have the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding. Like the apostle Paul, we all need to learn to be content under any circumstances.

8. STRIVE FOR INNER JOY IN YOUR LIFE:

Inner joy is not possible for the Christian who is occupied solely with himself and his own needs. It is also not possible for the person who occupies himself solely with his own problems, his own circumstances and his own efforts.

Inner joy is a state of joy based on knowing that God is everything He claims to be and that He can do ALL that He has promised.

Inner joy is the living with every provision for physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, and therefore made by God in the life of a Christian who is walking in daily fellowship with Him. This inner Joy!! It is truly worth it and it is the antidote to depression, misery and feelings of helplessness and despair!!

For the Christian, depression usually marks lost faith in the One with whom I have entrusted my future destiny. It dishonors the One who floods my life with endless love and manipulates for good everything that touches me.

Jesus Christ is the answer to all the broken dreams, the collapsed hopes of our lives, the pressures that we feel from day to day, the sense of our failure and the inability to perform as we would like to perform.

Jesus Christ is alive and He is ready to meet us in the hour of death, but more than that, he is ready to meet us in the pressures of life.

He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)

The Christian life is all about dying to our own selfish interests and allowing Jesus Christ to live His life in and through us. It about being less independent and less self-reliant, and instead, depending on CHRIST and finding our sufficiency in His all sufficiency.

It’s very much about focus, too. Not on other people; not on things; not on circumstances; not on ourselves; – focus on these things will only make us miserable, depressed and wretched. (Isn’t this how most people get depressed?)

Our focus and key interest should be on the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ and on the written Word of God, the Bible.

These eight proven Biblical techniques are your guaranteed way out of depression and on to the road to a healthy recovery. They are also a sure fire method in avoiding depression taking hold of you in the first place.

Knowing God Personally

Download Knowing God Personally MP3

 

.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre
{
font-size: small;
color: black;
font-family: consolas, “Courier New”, courier, monospace;
background-color: #ffffff;
/*white-space: pre;*/
}
.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }
.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }
.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }
.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }
.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }
.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }
.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }
.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }
.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }
.csharpcode .alt
{
background-color: #f4f4f4;
width: 100%;
margin: 0em;
}
.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }

 

Download PDF version

 

     

 

.csharpcode, .csharpcode pre
{
font-size: small;
color: black;
font-family: consolas, “Courier New”, courier, monospace;
background-color: #ffffff;
/*white-space: pre;*/
}
.csharpcode pre { margin: 0em; }
.csharpcode .rem { color: #008000; }
.csharpcode .kwrd { color: #0000ff; }
.csharpcode .str { color: #006080; }
.csharpcode .op { color: #0000c0; }
.csharpcode .preproc { color: #cc6633; }
.csharpcode .asp { background-color: #ffff00; }
.csharpcode .html { color: #800000; }
.csharpcode .attr { color: #ff0000; }
.csharpcode .alt
{
background-color: #f4f4f4;
width: 100%;
margin: 0em;
}
.csharpcode .lnum { color: #606060; }

What does it take to begin a relationship with God?

Wait for lightning to strike? Devote yourself to unselfish religious deeds? Become a better person so that God will accept you? NONE of these. God has made it very clear in the Bible how we can know Him. This will explain how you can personally begin a relationship with God, right now…

 

Principle One: God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.

God created you. Not only that, he loves you so much that he wants you to know him now and spend eternity with him. Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."¹

 

Jesus came so that each of us could know and understand God in a personal way. Jesus alone can bring meaning and purpose to life.

 

What keeps us from knowing God? …

 

Principle Two: All of us sin and our sin has separated us from God.

 

We sense that separation, that distance from God because of our sin. The Bible tells us that "All of us like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way."²

 

Deep down, our attitude may be one of active rebellion or passive indifference toward God and his ways, but it’s all evidence of what the Bible calls sin.

 

The result of sin in our lives is death — spiritual separation from God.³Although we may try to get close to God through our own effort, we inevitably fail.

 

This diagram shows the great gap that exists between us and God. The arrows illustrate how we might try to reach God through our own efforts. We may try to do good things in life, or earn God’s acceptance through a good life or a moral philosophy. But our good efforts are insufficient to cover up our sin.

 

How can we bridge this gulf?…

 

Principle Three: Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for our sin. Through him we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our life.

 

We deserve to pay for our own sin. The problem is, the payment is death. So that we would not have to die separated from God, out of his love for us, Jesus Christ died in our place. On the cross, Jesus took all of our sin on himself and completely, fully paid for it. "For Christ also died for sins…the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God."⁴"…he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy."⁵ Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, our sin doesn’t have to separate us from God any longer.

 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."⁶

 

Jesus not only died for our sin, he rose from the dead.⁷ When he did, he proved beyond doubt that he can rightfully promise eternal life — that he is the Son of God and the only means by which we can know God. That is why Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one can come to the Father except through me."⁸

 

Instead of trying harder to reach God, he tells us how we can begin a relationship with him right now. Jesus says, "Come to me." "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me… out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."⁹ It was Jesus’ love for us that caused him to endure the cross. And he now invites us to come to him, that we might begin a personal relationship with God.

 

Just knowing what Jesus has done for us and what he is offering us is not enough. To have a relationship with God, we need to welcome him into our life…

 

Principle Four: We must individually accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

 

The Bible says, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."¹⁰

 

We accept Jesus by faith. The Bible says, "God saved you by his special favour when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."¹¹

 

Accepting Jesus means believing that Jesus is the Son of God, who he claimed to be, then inviting him to guide and direct our lives.¹² Jesus said, "I came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly."¹³

 

And here is Jesus’ invitation. He said, "I’m standing at the door and I’m knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in."¹⁴

 

How will you respond to God’s invitation?

 

Consider these two circles:

 

Self-Directed Life

 

Self is on the throne

Jesus is outside the life

Decisions and actions are solely directed by self, often resulting in frustration

 

Christ-Directed Life

 

Jesus is in the life and on the throne

Self is yielding to Jesus

The person sees Jesus’ influence and direction in their life

 

Which circle best represents your life?

 

Which circle would you like to have represent your life?

 

Begin a relationship with Jesus…

 

You can receive Christ right now. Remember that Jesus says, "I’m standing at the door and I’m knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in."¹⁵ Would you like to respond to his invitation? Here’s how.

 

The precise words you use to commit yourself to God are not important. He knows the intentions of your heart. If you are unsure of what to pray, this might help you put it into words:

 

"Jesus, I want to know you. I want you to come into my life. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin so that I could be fully accepted by you. Only you can give me the power to change and become the person you created me to be. Thank you for forgiving me and giving me eternal life with God. I give my life to you. Please do with it as you wish. Amen."

 

If you sincerely asked Jesus into your life just now, then he has come into your life as he promised. You have begun a personal relationship with God.

 

What follows is a lifelong journey of change and growth as you get to know God better through Bible reading, prayer and interaction with other Christians.

 

I just asked Jesus into my life (some helpful information follows)…

I may want to ask Jesus into my life, but I have a question

I would like answered first…

(1) John 3:16

(2) Isaiah 53:6

(3) Romans 6:23

(4) 1 Peter 3:18

(5) Titus 3:5

(6) John 3:16

(7) 1 Corinthians 15:3-6

(8) John 14:6

(9) John 7:37,38

(10) John 1:12

(11) Ephesians 2:8,9

(12) John 3:1-8

(13) John 10:10

(14) Revelation 3:20

(15) Revelation 3:20

four spiritual laws

The Christian Counselor and Christian Therapist

 

---

The counselor must have knowledge of the dark side of life in order to diagnose sin.

This means a working knowledge of the definition of sin. Moreover, be comfortable about passing that knowledge onto a counselee.

You are Christ’s ambassador when you enter into counseling.

1) Be compassionate – You must love the counselee enough to present him with God’s truth regardless of what truth may suggest for him. Example the rich young ruler (Mark 10:21). Do not force the solution on the counselee for he has a freedom of choice. Just like the rich young ruler, he was given the freedom of choice. He can reject or accept god’s solution to his problem.

2) Listen to the problem – You are a specialist in spiritual problems being more concerned in the counselees’ current problem instead of probing into the past. Listening is an art. You have the same confidence in the message of God as the surgeon has in the benefits of an operation.

3) Point the counselee to a solution – Do not jump into a solution hurriedly before you are sure of exact nature of the problem. Many people first talk of a “surface problem before they talk about their real problem. The word firm is important to know and not the word stern. When you are firm, you can be compassionate, but when stern you are striving in force. Give the person a solution from the word of God in a category.

The apostle Paul wrote the believers in Thessalonica to “warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone” (1 Thessalonians 5:14). The term-translated therapy indicates service rendered to people in times of turmoil. In its historic context, therapy (or counseling) is the attentive, careful helping of others.

The history of the word “therapy,” the Greek therapeia, with its derivatives therapon, therapeuo, and therapontos, gives birth to some illuminating meanings for the current practice of Christian counseling. Therapeia means, “Service.” The therapon is the servant who renders careful, experienced, watchful, meticulous, skilled, obedient, painstaking service to the one to whom he is intimately responsible.”

Notably the closest Greek synonym for therapon is diakonos, which also means “servant.” We can glean from the resemblance of the therapist and minister. In fact, in the ancient world, therapeia was commonly translated into Latin as ministerium. Among the Greek words signifying “servant” (therapon, diakonos, oiketes, pais, doulos), the most intimate of these is therapon, which always refers to personal, considerate, and confidential act of service.

The word “psychotherapy” may sound like a purely modern term, but its roots are ancient. The New Testament example of the therapon is Jesus Christ, the message and means of God’s intimate, healing, restoring service to all people (Matt. 9:1-8; Mark 1:32-34; Luke 4:18; et al). God Himself is the therapon, according to the kerygma, which means “proclamation.” The therapeia, which He renders, is the reflection of God’s redemptive love, portrayed in the banishment of demonic powers, and was made clear in the occurrences of the last days of Jesus’ earthly ministry.

The issue of the lawfulness of rendering therapeia on the Sabbath became a volatile point in the ministry of Jesus (Matt. 12:1-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:1-11; et al). The religious culture of the time of Jesus’ ministry did not want to see any therapeia on the Sabbath, but instead, they held to their own rigid interpretation of the Law regardless of the damaging consequences to those they were responsible to serve. Jesus, however, offered therapeia on the Sabbath as a sign of the emerging reign of God, thus intruding on the holy day with His ministry to sick bodies and tormented souls.

Many passages of Scripture depict Jesus’ interwoven ministry of teaching, preaching and healing. His life and ministry validated Isaiah’s prophecies of the Messiah as the Servant who comforted the anxious, encouraged the depressed, reconciled the hostile, and healed the lame and blind. The three-fold ministry of teaching, preaching, and healing, remains a concise summary of the purpose and mission of the church.

The authority of Scripture and the role of psychology are important to anyone interested in Christian counseling. Some people use the term integration to refer to the relationship of the Scriptures and psychology, but this term can be misleading. The Bible and psychology are not two equals blended together. The Word of God is the ultimate authority by which all theories and practices are measured.

Psychology is man’s attempt to analyze the human condition and provide assistance. Most psychological theories contain some valid observations of human behavior, but they are usually based upon erroneous presuppositions about both man and God. Secular theories and practices, however, cannot provide the ultimate source of healing power: the love and strength of Jesus Christ. He is our Creator and Savior. He is the one who can touch our deepest needs and bring light and life. God reveals the nature of man as well as His own nature.

The Christian counselor’s goal, however, extends farther to include helping the client love God with all his heart and to live by biblical values. In accomplishing this goal, the Christian counselor may present the gospel to someone who is not a believer or is unsure of his faith. He encourages the person to confess his sin and experience forgiveness, and also, to extend forgiveness to others. He helps the person understand proper behaviors and to take substantive steps to act appropriately and responsibly. The Christian, has transcendent values to motivate and guide, as Paul wrote, “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

As a servant of Jesus Christ, called to love and to strengthen others out of a full heart, the Christian counselor has limitless resources as he or she experiences the wisdom of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. The counselor, just like the client, is in the process of growing in the knowledge of God and is being watered, pruned, and shaped by the Spirit’s work. This process makes the counselor increasingly effective and competent to counsel.

After, Careful stu

dy, selection, and orderly combination of compatible concepts from a variety of sources, based on the principle that “all truth is God’s truth.” People seem to yearn for a clear, simple answer to life’s complexities. Many people view psychological problems through a simplistic lens and desire one definable set of problems and solutions. These simple answers, however, seldom stand the test of scrutiny. Some religious people follow the “sin model”; some in the recovery community follow the “medical model”; and others follow the “GRACE Model.”

The Different therapy models:

The Sin Model –

Reduce all the problems of human interaction, personality, and physical functioning to sin. In this paradigm, sin accounts for emotional distress, addictions, and other behavioral difficulties, and idolatry is the fundamental problem of mankind. Predictably, repentance is seen as the single solution to this problem. Individuals are responsible for both the problem and the solution.

The Sickness Model – The idea that emotional problems originate from natural causes was popularized in the early years of the Alcoholics Anonymous movement. Dr. Silkworth introduced the disease concept of alcoholism to Bill Wilson, one of the founders of AA. Later, the disease concept was applied to drug abuse, and still later, to codependency. In this model, the person is not responsible for the perceived medical problem, just as he is not responsible for contracting the flu.

Indeed, many behavioral and emotional problems are related to specific chemical deficiencies, and medical treatment is a vital part of care. The model is taken too far, however, when it is applied indiscriminately to any emotional problem. For instance, it can be argued that alcoholism addiction has a physiological component, but codependency does not include any identifiable, external substance.

The GRACE Model – The psalmist proclaims that man is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14-15). We are made in the image of God, but we are deeply fallen. Individuals are Personally responsible for acting out in their fallen nature and the only solution is death through the cross by the wonderful grace of God which teaches us to deny all ungodliness. The solution is the Grace of God, not by our own work or behavior modification can we fix our selves or our own problems.

We are deeply fallen, which includes physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, and social aspects of our being. Virtually every problem we have is multifaceted;  practically treated with a multi-modal approach, and finally its solution is only one the cross. This message is not a popular one and neither spoken about in many contexts of treatment of sin because honestly sin can not be treated, war must be waged against it, and not the devil alone. The war against sin can only bring sin to the work of the Cross that sin was nailed to over 2000 years ago, agree with God that its power has no more authority over me and mentally change my mind about the sin that I was in love with personally in idolatry,I now HATE like God HATES. This change of mind internally will cause a radical inward transfiguration that will result in outward transformation..

For instance, an addict has chosen coping mechanisms outside the will of God to block pain and to gain a sense of value or control. There are usually factors outside his control, and therefore, outside his responsibility, such as childhood trauma, poor parental modeling, cultural reinforcement, and biochemical deficiencies. The biochemical dependencies may require detoxification. Effects of depression may require medication to enable the person to think clearly and make wise choices. New communication skills need to be learned, and new courage needs to be acquired in order to follow through with the communication and the skills. Repentance is right and appropriate in particular points of responsibility, but we do not repent of the wounds received from others or of biological factors outside our control.

Though the symptoms and the contributing causes of a person’s problems are multifaceted, the root cause of all human problems is our fallenness, manifested in apathy toward God, rebellion, and a desire to keep control of our own lives whatever the cost. All of our relational, behavioral, and emotional difficulties spring from this underlying condition. Physiological and psychological analysis certainly has validity to enable us to understand the dynamics and destructive powers in our lives, and also, to help us gain insight into channeling our motives and energies into constructive attitudes and behaviors. At the deepest level, however, the sin problem exists and must be addressed so that people can be rightly related to the God who created them and loves them, and so they can draw on His strength and wisdom to live more healthy lives.

The complexities of the human experience demand that counselors carefully take a complete history on each person. Past and current emotional traumas, environmental and family difficulties, physical problems, behavioral manifestations need to be considered in order to make an accurate assessment. The goal is that the person will feel better, but also take steps toward knowing, loving, and following Christ. For Christians, recovery is inherently a part of the process of sanctification, including foundational spiritual issues of our identity, repentance, and our motivations. Bible-based teaching, prayer, meditation and other Christian disciplines must be used knowledgeably. Quite often, spiritual behaviors are held most tightly, perhaps because they falsely represent God and ultimate authority and safety. Giving them up is both difficult and confusing to many people. We need to show the negative effects of trying to find ultimate meaning and safety in these activities, and also, we need to present the Lord, Himself, and the attractiveness of a vital relationship with Him.

 

In His Grace Forever,

Pastor Teddy Awad, CMHP

Young Adult Crisis Hotline and

Biblical Counseling Center

Call Toll Free: 1-877-702-2GOD

                                        (2463)

theodoreawadjr@comcast.net

http://yacrisishotline.tripod.com/

http://youngadultcrisishotline.blogspot.com/

youngadultcrisishotline@comcast.net

BUILDING AN EFFECTIVE YOUNG ADULT MINISTRY

 

BUILDING AN EFFECTIVE

YOUNG ADULT MINISTRY

Discussion geared toward young adults, age 18 to 28.

Haven’t been to church in a while?

Looking for a new church home?

Looking for a vibrant, non-judgmental, and sacred space to explore what kind of person the spirit is calling you to be?

To build an effective young adult ministry, you need to dedicated to create an environment for people attending college and others in their 20’s and 30’s to encounter, explore, and enjoy spirituality in day-to-day living. Building a community of young people while knowing their lives are in transition daily is vital to success. Understanding that they are who are gaining new perspectives, focusing on true priorities, and experiencing God’s grace, love, and peace in real life situations.

They key to having an accepting environment is not to give into the young adult’s desire of tolerance. I believe that tolerance is an erosion of Godly acceptance. Providing a non-judgmental fellowship open to all college and young adults who are journeying along in this world who are not Christians and or are Christians Open to all means open to all. Not open to only those who conform to our image of what or who a Christian looks like. In a world full of stress and anxiety, this spiritual support group is an excellent way to take a break from demanding, everyday schedules and form new friendships in the process.

To serve young adults doesn’t come from a desire to help a particular age group, but rather to reach people experiencing the transient nature inherent in this stage of life: finishing school, starting a career, living out your faith, going to grad school, dating, questioning what you believe, breaking up, relocating, living on your own, hating your job, moving back in with your parents, getting engaged, getting married, changing careers, wondering why you got married, going back to school, having kids, not being able to have kids . . . and this is all in the first few years of living in the "real world."

In the midst of all of the turbulence and transition, we believe that Jesus offers something that doesn’t change. Teaching his disciples about how to ensure survival in the midst of such circumstances, he told them a story of two general contractors who had just acquired some prime riverfront property. One of them, the not-so-smart one, built his house on top of a sandbar-which was fine when the river wasn’t at flood stage. The other one, the wiser craftsman, secured his house to the bedrock.

The difference in the two builders wasn’t their experiences: both were being hit by a terrible storm, with torrential rain, gale-force winds, and flash flooding. But one survived those circumstances because his house was built on something solid. The other one saw his life’s work vanish in the raging flood. The "solid rock" Jesus tells us, is hearing and doing the things that he teaches: "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." (Matthew 7:24)

Did you know that for the first time in the history, the majority of young adults in America are second-generation un-churched? Most of those entering college and the workforce today grew up in homes where not even their parents attended church.

In His Grace Forever,

Teddy Awad, CMHP

Young Adult Crisis Hotline and

Biblical Counseling Center

Call Toll Free: 1-877-702-2GOD

                                        (2463)

theodoreawadjr@comcast.net

http://yacrisishotline.tripod.com/

http://youngadultcrisishotline.blogspot.com/

youngadultcrisishotline@comcast.net