Category Archives: Issues

Shannon’s Testimony

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I grew up knowing the Lord, but at fifteen came to know Him in a more personal way that changed my life forever. I’m 32 now, and I have followed Him since that day. But, the last year of my life has brought tumultuous and uncertain circumstances. I came to GFI because, though I loved the Lord and wanted to follow Him, I was stuck in patterns of anxiety, confusion, and resistance toward my circumstances. I suddenly began experiencing panic attacks and daily physical anxiety that seemed to control my life. Though I pressed into the Lord for help, I felt unable to reach Him and often a disappointment toward Him. Why was I like this? How could I get out?

I found the “Handbook to Happiness” after searching on YouTube for people who God had led out of similar anxiety. The book spoke to my heart and touched heavily on the topic of “self”—a principle that the Lord kept highlighting in my life. I had been praying for the Lord to lead me to counseling if that was something He wanted for me. GFI seemed to me a resource that was Scripture based, Holy Spirit driven, and made sense. It felt like the Lord answered my prayer!

After reaching out, I began meeting weekly with Cheryl. I will always be grateful for my time with her. Through her, the Lord helped me see how I was living through my own strength, a life of striving and “trying” to be like Jesus—but, of course, always falling short and growing more and more frustrated. Through our time, I learned how God wanted to live through me and the true meaning of surrender. I found comfort in the truth that He uses uncomfortable circumstances, like mine, to bring us into greater surrender which ultimately leads to more intimacy and life in Him.

The Lord has been bringing me to this surrender, and I have found that I am not so afraid anymore. Things that I could not do before because of fear, He is enabling me to do now. If you are in a spot of frustration, fear, and disappointment, like I was, then I highly recommend GFI. For me, it was the truth I needed to begin laying down my “self” and looking to Jesus for true life. I am very thankful for Cheryl and her kindness, wisdom, and gentle way of helping me understand. We had a great time chatting and I always looked forward to our time together! She made it so easy for me to be open and honest. Thank you to her and GFI for all your help, encouragement, and resources. I pray your ministry would be blessed as you continue to aid Christians in their walks with Jesus. Here’s to “exchanging” our life for His!

The Value of Daily Devotionals

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One of the important virtues for the Discipleship Counselor as well as the disciple/counselee is a consistent, grace-oriented personal devotional life. This includes the essentials of daily time in God’s Word and prayer.

Another kind of resource that is a helpful supplement is a daily devotional book. This should not take the place of the Scriptures, but can be a beneficial addition.

Here on ELCmatters.org we have a list of recommended daily devotional books. Some are only available in print, others are online, and some are available in both formats.

In his introduction to his compilation of daily readings Miles Stanford wrote,
“None But the Hungry Heart is a devotional study. There are twelve sections each containing thirty-one daily portions. The following factors have been considered in arriving at this form of presentation:

  1. A spiritually hungry heart is the requisite for entering into the growth truths of identification with Christ.
  2. Prayerful study on the part of the believer is the means by which the Holy Spirit ministers these truths.
  3. The concentration of the Christ-life truths in brief daily studies facilitates their assimilation.

This resource is conveniently available online at AbideAbove.org
(Keep in mind GFI’s glossary for more precise definitions of “old man,” “sin nature,” etc.)

Although we trust God for a breakthrough as our counselee/disciple discovers and appropriates the gospel of identification with Christ, this process is encouraged and supported by him/her “soaking in” grace and truth daily.

In his forward to the daily devotional volume, His Victorious Indwelling, Nick Harrison observes,

“Today, many Christians are wholly unaware of the spiritual resources they possess in Christ. Nor do most believers in Christ daily experience an awareness of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. And yet at what time in history has the Christian church and her teachings been so widely disseminated?… Yet for all this exposure, the perception of many is that the depth of our Christian life and witness is perhaps a mile wide, but an inch deep…”

We can say amen to that. Harrison continues,

“God chooses to work on us from the inside out. He wants to live His life through us, by the agency of His Spirit, so that our lives reflect the presence of Christ to those around us. There will indeed be dramatic change in the Christian who purposes to know God and His victorious indwelling – but it will be largely through the process of learning to abide in Christ, rather than instantaneous, divine ‘touch’ from God.” (His Victorious Indwelling, pp. 6,7. Available in paperback and Kindle)

May we continue to sample and use daily devotionals for our edification and so we can coach our disciples in using one as a “homework” resource and for ongoing spiritual growth.

JBW

Five Basic Counseling Skills

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Whatever counseling approach one uses, there is a need for basic counseling skills.

Compare this to cooking. Whatever the recipe and ingredients a cook has in mind, cooking skills are needed for preparing food, using utensils, operating a stove or oven, etc. Similarly, there are basic skills that we need keep in mind and develop in Exchanged Life counseling and coaching. (Some of these are identified in the lecture, Counseling Skills, in GFI’s Online Lecture Series course.) 

In this video lecture Fred Antonelli of Basic College Ministries presents five practical counseling principles for counseling young adults on college campuses. He briefly discusses:

1 Learn to listen

2. Be empathetic

3. Know when to triage (refer to a counselor with more training)

4. Don’t be judgmental

5. Keep Jesus the center of your counseling

Although his target audience is college ministry, these principles are basic for other contexts as well.

Pursuing Peace

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In September I attended a lecture by Dr. Janeen Davis on Biblical conflict resolution. She uses resources from the ministry Peace Pursuit. This model complements our teaching on The Wisdom of Forgiveness (in The Christ is Life Conference and Dimensions of Forgiving at GraceNotebook.com). Their Quick Start Guide is available at PeacePursuit.org as a free download. They also have a downloadable app to facilitate this process step by step. Dr Davis’ site is www.purposeandpeace.com. I recommend this as a biblical, practical resource for “phase 4” ministry.

peace_pursuit

-JBW

What About Mindfulness?

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One of the trends in counseling is the use of “mindfulness.” This sounds compatible with biblical discipleship (such as the need to “renew your mind, Rom. 12:2, etc.), but a closer examination of the philosophy and practice of mindfulness reveals that it is contrary to Christ Centered Counseling.

Dr. Joanna Jackson wrote an excellent article on this topic in The Journal of Biblical Counseling. Here are some excerpts:

Mindfulness has become a buzzword in our modern Western world. It appears on the cover of magazines, in the news, on bestseller lists. It is a go-to treatment in the therapy room, and it is heralded in schools, the military, and businesses alike. It is the antidote to everything from daily worry to clinical depression. Celebrities swear by it, neuroscientists study it, monks practice it, and psychologists are trained in it. And with good reason. An increasing body of research attests measurable benefits for a wide range of physical disorders and psychological distresses. Something in mindfulness is resonating deeply.

In addition to its popularity in the wider world, it has received an increasing level of commitment and following from many Christians who testify to the benefit that mindfulness has been to their own faith, and who recommend its use in therapy and counseling. At the same time, many Christians remain skeptical and cautious about mindfulness, both for themselves and in their roles helping others. So what are we to make of mindfulness? What is it really about? What should we be wary of, and to what degree can we benefit from the insights that mindfulness provides?[1]

See a summary of her article here: Mindfulness_article

A Biblical view of mindfulness would include Scriptures such as these:

“You keep him in perfect peace
 whose mind is stayed on you,
 because he trusts in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.” Isaiah 26:3,4 ESV

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” ESV

Dr. Jackson summarized her analysis of secular/Buddhist “mindfulness” in psychotherapy:

Although mindfulness practice contains some common-grace wisdom, we must not be naive in thinking it is easy to engage in mindfulness meditation in a non-Buddhist way. It is incredibly difficult to divorce the techniques of mindfulness from its metaphysical framework. In light of this challenge, I do not advocate “Christian mindfulness,” or efforts to Christianize mindfulness practices for use in counseling. Rather, it is more prudent to let the mindfulness revolution spur Christians on to revive and more fully realize the contemplative resources for living well that are already contained within centuries-old Christian practices.

We have a rich heritage that can teach us the discipline of biblical meditation, psalm-like reflection on our inner lives, the importance of embracing the present moment as God’s precious children, and the need for silence and solitude. Having support for how to do these things in the current context of our individual lives and church communities would be of great value. Herein lies the possibility for developing further resources that are tailored to the challenges our culture presents and the individual struggles that we face.” [1]

________

[1] Joanna Jackson, Journal of Biblical Counseling 33:1 (2019): 25–45. http://www.CCEF.org

[2] For a good downloadable booklet that compares Biblical meditation with eastern meditation, see https://comeandreason.com/meditation-guide/ (Note: Dr. Tim Jennings is a Seventh Day Adventist psychiatrist and author.)

Bracketed content added, J.B.W.

Jenny’s Testimony

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An audio recording of her spiritual journey is at https://gfiworld.sermon.net/
 
Jenny’s experience in the Exchanged Life Counseling Certification track
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I came across Grace Fellowship International when I was exploring practicum options for my final semesters at Luther Rice in anticipation of graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Religion/Biblical Counseling.  I had several ministries that I am connected with and have enjoyed serving with in the past that I could have gone back to.  I could have easily fulfilled the requirements in that way.  The problem I saw with that was that I wanted to go deeper and even expand what I was learning before just jumping back into serving.  
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So, I began considering a couple of ministries that I was interested in and because I was intrigued with their methodologies, I planned to contact them to learn more about their counseling model and how I might use it in ministry.  One of the ministries involved “attachment theory” concepts, another focused on a call to live fully from the heart by recognizing how our emotions are a tool from God to help us to connect more fully with God and others, and then finally was the “Exchanged Life” model.  I started with Grace Fellowship because of the three ministries I felt most drawn to what I already knew of the deeper life teachings like Watchman Nee and Hudson Taylor.  Luther Rice also had a partnership with GFI for their Master’s students.  After going through the reading list recommended at GFI and speaking with John Woodward and a few other advisors, I knew this was the path I needed to take.  I was not disappointed, at all, even though it meant quite a bit of additional work.
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The greatest benefit that I can summarize from my training with GFI is that I feel like it gave me a stronger framework for what I wanted to share with others about the abiding life in Christ.  Not only have I gone deeper into what the Lord had already taught me, but the Holy Spirit gave illumination in areas that still seemed fuzzy or I just had not fully grasped yet.  For example, the three cross testimony sums up what should be an average Christian’s experience, yet, for many of us there are years that go by between our initial accepting Christ as Savior and then surrendering our lives to Him as Lord.  Many Christians never enter into the place where they identify Christ as their very life source and victory over the temptations of their flesh, the world, and the devil. 
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Personally, I feel like I have benefitted from a clearer understanding of how each person’s background and history lend insight into how their unique flesh was developed.  I feel like this is an important illumination, because without an awareness of how my flesh patterns influence my relationships and interactions, I am not as aware when flesh is in control rather than the Spirit.  To give further understanding of what I mean, I will use this personal example of a flesh pattern that has plagued nearly every day of my almost 32 years of marriage. Every tension or conflict we have ever experienced (which has been varied and many because we are so different!) I either responded to them by withdrawal and avoidance strategies or angry outbursts when the pressure built beyond my control.  There have been very few differences that I feel like I handled through the Spirit.  I felt that anger was fleshly and wrong, so I would try to hand it over to God before I sinned.  My learned pattern to subdue anger was to withdraw or bury it.  But I am learning that the “Spirit-led” way is to face whatever I need to with honesty and kindness.  Avoidance is not biblical submission but a learned flesh pattern. Understanding that avoidance is not equal to submission has been important in growing intimacy and genuine relationship with my husband.  Avoidance does not cultivate gentleness but rather it creates distance and distrust, which is an ideal atmosphere for ugly, sinful bitterness to take root.  I am coming to better recognize where my flesh shows up and thus, I am able to resist and submit to the Lord differently.  It is not the same as avoiding or denying a problem.  I now understand clearer that flesh patterns can appear good and bad, but all flesh is to be rejected. 
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My husband and I both have separate experiences with legalistic churches and then we started our marriage by joining a church with the same type of legalism.  My husband grew up with rigid obedience-focused, performance-based teachings.  I came to Christ as a seventeen-year-old single mom and a high school drop-out.  When I became a Christian, I was hugely disappointed to learn that I was not able to untangle the webs of sin in my life. Actually, those webs were rather sticky and when I thought I was loosening one area, I became more aware of another.  I became discouraged, felt somewhat tricked, and quit trying.  After a couple years, God brought me back into fellowship but I joined a church that was very performance-based.  For me, even with the legalism, this would be the “second cross” part of my journey because the Spirit literally changed how I understood my relationship with Christ.  At salvation I asked Him to come into my life and join me in what I wanted.  In this time of returning, I understood that I was joining Christ in His plan and work instead of my own agenda.  Consequently, I willingly signed up to work for Him.  
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This is where I see the third cross at work in my life.  It has been truly a progressive revelation by the Spirit over a span of time.  It took many years for me to further understand that Christ wanted me wholeheartedly in relationship based on what He has done, not on what I was willing to do for Him. I had earlier still missed the mark by the tricky performance-based stance, but I am thankful for God’s grace and the gentle leading into truth and freedom.  I owe a great deal of freedom in this area to GFI and Dr. Solomon’s teaching on the rejection syndrome.  The teaching that I have received this year has gone a long way in helping me see strongholds and false assumptions that have affected my relationships. I am a work in progress and I am excited about the journey.  
I am deeply thankful for the work being pursued at Grace Fellowship International and I hope to continue learning and being a part of what God is doing through this message.  I trust that I continue to be transformed through Christ, He is also working to touch the lives around me. 
 
You can contact her at jenilyn357@gmail.com
 

Simply Profound and Profoundly Simple

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In the current post at Biblical Counseling Coalition, Pat Quinn underscores the simplicity of biblical counseling in contrast to the ever-increasing complexity of secular counseling labels and methodologies. He writes,
 
“Both secular and biblical counseling acknowledge the ever-expanding number of troubling life issues for which people seek counseling. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) has undergone five editions, increasing its diagnostic categories from 102 in 1952 to 265 in 2013. Within biblical counseling, New Growth Press, the largest publisher of counseling mini-books, currently has minis on approximately 155 counseling topics. Whichever way you look, there is a prolific (overwhelming?) number of counseling issues! It begs the question, “Is there a foundational, unifying diagnosis and cure that provides a larger context, makes sense of all issues, and gives hope for deep and lasting freedom? This question leads us back to biblical counseling basics.
 
“Matthew 1:21 gives us the ultimate reality and final (not the only) word about counseling [‘She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’]: Jesus saves us from our sins. This ultimate reality and final word can be expressed in three statements:
 
  • Sin is our deepest problem.
  • Jesus is our only Savior.
  • We receive and live out this saving grace through justifying and sanctifying faith.”
The rest of the article expounds on those three statements through some insights from Galatians 3:10-14. Please read this article here: biblicalcounselingcoalition.org/2023/08/25/the-ultimate-reality-and-final-word/
 
We heartily agree about the importance of simplicity in biblical counseling, staying rooted in the basics. But BCC contributors write from a viewpoint of dichotomy (i.e., body and soul instead of body, soul and spirit), with a Reformed model of sanctification (with identification with Christ as implicit instead of explicit). Thus, most of their content would be considered as “phase 4” in emphasis (Romans 12-16). [1]
 
As Exchanged Life Counselors using Spirituotherapy 2.0, we would add some clarifications to this article.
 
Clarified diagnosis:
The root problem is not just sin, but sin, self, and strongholds.
 
Clarified remedial process:
Not just sanctification by faith, but Christ-centered sanctification by faith, oriented around Jesus Christ as Lamb, Lord, Life, Liberator and Leader. This relationship is experienced in redemption, identification, liberation and devotion (4 phases model).
 
Clarified counseling agent
The Holy Spirit as Ultimate Therapist ministering to and through the Discipleship Counselor and counselee.
 
In the article’s concluding Questions for Reflection, the author asks: “Do you see your counselees as primarily ‘suffering sinners’ or ‘sinning sufferers’? It makes a difference.”
We prefer a third option: “suffering/sinning saints.”
 
So, although this article is helpful in reminding us of simplicity in the contrast of the complexity and confusion of secular therapy, Nouthetic Counseling’s model of man and view of sanctification go beyond simplifying to some shrinkage.
 
Chuck Solomon used to say that the most frequent criticism of Spirituotherapy was that it was too simple. But the truth of the Cross is profoundly simple and simply profound (1 Cor. 1:23,24). Therefore he would advise us with this principle: “K.I.S.S. — keep it simple…saints!”
 
-J.B.W.
 
 

The SALT Curriculum

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For those looking for exchanged life “Phase 4” materials, check out Victorious Christian Living International. They have gleaned material from GFI and elsewhere to create a unique curriculum for mentoring or small groups. One of their goals is to make this wisdom easier to share with others.

SALT: “Seven Areas of Life Training® (SALT) is a discipleship series designed to teach people God’s plan in the seven areas of life: spiritual, psychological, social, physical, financial, marital, and parental. The series consists of workbooks and the Instructor Guide. Unforgettable diagrams illuminate the path to victorious Christian living, unlocking the practical application of the Bible’s instructions.”

The SALT Instructor’s Guide is a great value. It includes all the SALT lessons plus a PowerPoint to share them.  https://vcli.org/seven-areas-of-life-training/

The SALT workbooks are now available in ebook edition as well through their digital store: vcli.kartra.com/page/VCLiBookShop

A free sample lesson is offered: The Rejection Lesson from the SOCIAL SALT e-BOOK
vcli.kartra.com/page/Rejection

The best value is to subscribe to “the SALT vault.” This online resource includes all downloadable PDF SALT lessons, teaching videos, review quizes and more. vcli.kartra.com/page/SALTVAULT

Here are brief videos that explain the diagrams of the lessons in volume one—The Spiritual area.,

From Diagnostic Insight to Transformational Truth

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“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free… Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” John 8:31-36 NKJV

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 NKJV).

In surveying the effects of mainstream counseling, Jewish-Austrian psychiatrist and holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl (1905-1997), concluded that “the dream of half a century century has centered around mechanisms to explain, and techniques to heal neurotic diseases. I believe that this dream has been dreamt out.” [1]

E. Staley Jones made this important observation about the limitations of secular counseling:

“Psychiatry has had as its working basis—insight. Give a patient [with mental/emotional illness] ‘insight’ and it will automatically cure him. That has about run its course—it is proving to be near bankruptcy … Why? Because ‘insight,’ knowledge about themselves, won’t cure them. Can’t. For the disease is not lack of insight, it is something else. It is the lack of giving love and receiving love … If he [the patient] began to care about others, that moment he would be on the road to health. It is self-centered, preoccupation that is the disease. No amount of ‘insight’ will cure that unless the insight is accompanied by a self-surrender to God, and outgoingness to man.” [2]

As a missionary, apologist and author, Jones was concerned that even Christian teaching must advance to being incarnational—the word being made flesh—in believers (Gal. 2:20). He continued his critique of mainstream counseling:

“Education, psychiatry, religious education, and non-directive counseling have for the most part gone on the assumption that it is the truth, the insight, that sets people free. That assumption is now proving sterile … Unless the truth leads to the Truth, the Son who makes you free, is not transforming. It is informing, but not transforming. For to be introduced to the Son, the Truth, means surrender, allegiance, obedience, life-committal —that is transforming, it sets men free. It issues in conversion – Christian conversion, regeneration [and sanctification] … [that] takes place when self surrenders itself as the center to Christ, the Truth, the Son, as the center. Then the Son makes you free.” [3] 

Because Biblical counseling emphasizes renewing the mind (Rom. 12:2) it has some similarities to cognitive therapy. But Christ-centered counseling is more than an educational experience. Even “Exchanged Life” teaching will miss the goal of potential transformation if it neglects an experiential appropriation of Christ as Lord, Life, Liberator and Leader. Teaching can share information, but only the Holy Spirit filling the believer can give inner healing, sanctification and potential transformation (Eph. 5:18; 2 Cor. 3:17,18).

J.B.W.

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[1] Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning.   Douglas T. Kenrick noted, “Victor Frankl was a neurologist and psychologist who had been imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, and lost his bride to the gas chambers … Frankl developed the idea of self-transcendence, emphasizing that the more you can devote yourself to another person or an important cause, the more you can transcend the miseries and anxieties of everyday life.” – Shepherd.com

[2] E. Stanley Jones, The Word Became Flesh (Abington Press, 1963), 276.

[3] Jones, 280.

Surrender as Response

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In the path to personal victory, and in Exchanged Life Counseling, a vital checkpoint is Total Surrender. In the GFI Conference and Workshop we use the Total Commitment page that lists relationships and rights that need to be relinquished to God. Of course, this commitment is not made in an attempt to be saved, because Jesus’ work on the Cross is finished and the believer is saved by grace through faith apart from works (Eph. 2:8,9). Nor is this commitment required to maintain our salvation. Rather it surrender is our reasonable response to “the mercies of God.” The biblical text we use on the Total Commitment page is Romans 12:1,2. This is the Amplified Classic translation:
“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God…”
The aorist tense and imperative mood in Greek mean that we are exhorted to make a wholehearted presentation of ourselves to our Redeemer. There is also a need for continual surrender as well (Luke 9:23), but that intentional daily cooperation should flow from one’s grace-based salvation, identification and consecration experiences.
In Handbook to Happiness, Dr. Solomon listed “Total Commitment” as point 5 in the spiritual blessings section of the wheel diagram. A few years ago, we replaced this term with “identity.” Total surrender principle is now addressed in the recently “Appropriation” wheel diagram as “Relinquishment.” (Thank you to Jeff Barbieri for helping develop to Appropriation diagram. Chuck approved of these updates in 2019.)
Why this change in the Total Commitment sequence and diagrams?
1. Notice that the other four blessings in the spirit area of the believer’s wheel diagram are grace-gifts at salvation. Although Dr. Solomon (and I) had surrender experiences years before experientially entering into identification, focusing on surrender before teaching the Gospel of identification can be misunderstood as self-effort rededication.
2. Notice that Romans 12:1,2 comes after Romans 5:12-8:39 [the Gospel of identification] in the flow of that epistle.
Writers from yesteryear confirm the importance of consecration as a response to a greater appreciation of the gospel:
“God asks us to present our bodies as living sacrifices to Him (Rom. 12:1). Until we have done this, there is nothing else we can do. But notice that this exhortation comes after Romans Six. There is a reason for this order—crucifixion comes before consecration. Uncrucified self refuses to be consecrated (to say nothing of God’s refusing to accept it). That is why so many people with all sincerity walk down the aisles again and again, consecrating uncrucified self to God.” (quoted by Miles Stanford)
“We must learn to know God and to love Him. Then we will not have to struggle to move into consecration. The heart will lead into it. A lover never thinks about giving himself to a loved one. He cannot do otherwise. He loves to do it. Is there not here a key to consecration?” -C.A.Coates
One of the most appreciated resources we use when exploring surrender is The Pineapple Story (video and book) by Otto Koning. It’s both funny and convicting (IBLP.org)
Laura Story’s music video is an example of surrender: “Open Hands.”
So as you write and share your “three Cross Testimony” remember to describe surrender to God’s will as a grace-based decision. And as you guide your disciple/counselee, discern how to convey surrender as a grateful response, enabled by the Holy Spirit, in light of the wonderful blessings of redemption and identification.
J.B.W.