Four Ways to Read the Bible for Personal Application
Are you looking for ways to read and apply the Scriptures to yourself? The article discusses four ways that can help you read the Bible for personal application.
An Open Letter to Those Debilitated by Their Sexual Sin
What do you do if you have a continuous struggle with sexual sin? This article discusses how the unending love and mercy of Christ can serve as great encouragement for growth in holiness and the resistance of sexual temptation.
An Open Letter to the Suffering Christian
David Powlison's Answer to the Question "Why Me?"
Three Things to Remember When You're Anxious
Face Your Doubt and Then Fight It
This brief article is written to encourage believers in their fight against doubt.
The Christian's Most Crippling Disability and Enemy
What is the most crippling thing in the Christian life? It is when we still see our identity in relation to indwelling sin. Remaining sin does not define us.
An Open Letter to Those Nonchalant about Their Sexual Sin
This article addresses those who do not take their sexual sin seriously. It offers four indicators of one caught in sexual sin, and four ways to change.
Insights from Idolatry Nature, Nurture or the Bible? In Fact, it’s All Three
An Unredeemed Sense of Guilt
How do you deal with the guilt that leads to self-condemnation because of sexual sin or any sin? When your conscience condemns you with guilt you need to hold the right standard, and know where to turn to.
Why Are You Suffering? Here’s God’s Answer
With an eye to Job, this article reckons with the question, where is God in your suffering? It discusses three truths about suffering: God doesn't promise to keep us from suffering, he doesn't promise earthly goods, and he works through suffering. So the article shows how we can find hope in suffering.
The Sovereign God’s Care for His Own
Sanctification Is a Direction
This article underlines how sanctification is a lifelong process, and that God does not follow a certain schedule but takes his time with us.
The Local Church is the Place for Biblical Counselling
Biblical counselling thrives when it is placed in the context of a local church. Why? This article explains that there are five advantages to making the church the place for biblical counselling.
The Biblical Counseling Movement – The Making of a Conservative Protestant Counselor
Chapter 2 continues the examination of the history and significance of the biblical counselling movement associated with Jay Adams. It traces the history of Adams’s development of nouthetic counselling and its leading institutions.
The Biblical Counseling Movement – Introduction
This chapter introduces the history and significance of the biblical counselling movement associated with Jay Adams. Adams crossed swords with the established practice of referring members of the church to psychiatric and psychological experts without trying to take care of “their own.” That is, psychiatry replaced the pastorate’s jurisdiction over personal problems.
Helping Those Who Are Angry at God
By way of a case study, this article considers appropriate steps to minister to those who are angry at God. It considers what such anger stems from, and also how such anger bears witness that we are designed for a lasting relationship with God.
Breaking Pornography Addiction
This article holds out hope for those addicted to pornography. Powlison explains that God can and does transform the addict's imagination and behaviour, as the individual is challenged to face his behaviour, understand the deeper struggle, and go to God for his help in the fight.
Understanding Scripture – Reading the Bible for Personal Application
The author tries to guide us as modern readers of Scripture to read and understand the Bible, which was written to others in such a manner that it speaks to us.
The Sufficiency of Scripture to Diagnose and Cure Souls
This article shows that biblical counselling is rooted in a conviction that Scripture is sufficient to define and cure man's problem. Scripture does this by looking at the meaning of desires of the flesh.
Why Do We Pray?
This article discusses the reason for prayer and what that means for its role in pastoral care and counselling. It reflects on what prayer communicates about your beliefs, what you need to pray for, and how you may pray.
Helping Those Who Are Angry with God
Prayer Is a Great Place to Begin Biblical Counselling
What do your prayer requests look like? How do they match up with the focus of Scripture's prayers? This article explains how right praying and prayer requests are good avenues to pursue in order to care well for one another.
The Great Commission Is a Great Place to Begin to Understand Biblical Counselling
The great concern of biblical counselling is to remake broken people into disciples of Christ. Therefore, as the article explains, this form of counselling is for everyone—both those who "need" counselling as well as those who don't think they need it.
The Local Church Is the Place for Biblical Counselling
The author highlights five advantages to having counselling carried out in the local church, over against the secular model of the office-bound counsellor.
Are You Using That Proof Text Well ... Or Are You Proof-Texting?
When it comes to counselling or ministering to others, a lot of harm can be inflicted when you proof-text instead of using proof texts. The author outlines the difference, and advocates a use of Scripture that is sensitive to someone's life circumstances.
Don't Waste Your Cancer
What is the godly way of receiving your cancer? The authors, each of which has personally experienced cancer, explore the discipline of regarding your illness as a gift of God for the purpose of nurturing your faith in Christ and relationship with him and others.
Should We Really Call It a "Quiet" Time?
How do you pray when you are alone? Silently, or audibly? The author considers the designation "quiet time" in light of his study of the Psalms, and regards silent prayers as the exception in Scripture. He advocates instead for "noisy time."
Idols of the Heart and "Vanity Fair"
Why is idolatry by far the most frequently discussed sin in the Bible? It is a problem of the heart, the chief object of God's concern since from the heart issues everything. Yet idolatry is also a social problem. This article considers the interplay between our hearts and the situation that surrounds us, and the implications this has for counselling issues.
Recovering from Child Abuse: Help and Healing for Victims (2)
This article is the second of two on the topic of child abuse. Here counsellor David Powlison provides some concrete suggestions for child abuse victims to consider as they desire to progress in their walk of faith. His thoughts center around prayer and possible ways of engaging with the abuser.
Recovering from Child Abuse: Help and Healing for Victims (1)
This article is the first of two on the topic of child abuse. Here David Powlison opens the Word of God, looking specifically the Psalms in order to bring comfort and hope to victims of child abuse.
Is Anger Morally Neutral?
David Powlison answers the question of whether anger is morally neutral or conditioned.
What Good is "Don't Worry" in Times Like These? (4)
What Good is "Don't Worry" in Times Like These? (3)
What Good is “Don’t Worry” in Times Like These? (2)
What Good is "Don't Worry" in Times Like These? (1)
Facing Death With Hope: Living For What Lasts
What Distinguishes Biblical Counseling From Other Methods?
This article outlines ways in which biblical counseling is different from other types of counseling.
Should We Get Married? Five Pre-engagement Questions to Ask Yourselves
Helping the Perpetrators of Domestic Violence
This article focuses on the perpetrators of violence and abuse (specifically domestic abuse), and the pastoral care they must receive.