Doubting God
What possible reason do we have to ever doubt God? This article is a meditation on David's doubt expressed in 1 Samuel 27:1, and how our doubt is always unfounded.
"If Only ..." Living with Regrets
Do you live with a lot of regret? This article shows by way of biblical examples that the kingdom of Christ is to be regret-free, on account of the mercies of Christ.
Four Things to Remember after You Have Sinned
This article provides four things you will do well to remember after falling into sin, or even when you feel burdened by your sin.
30 Suggestions for Theological Students and Young Theologians
How to Stop Self Injury
This article discusses the subject of self-injury. It explains why people injure themselves, and how there is peace available for those who do this.
What to Say When Someone Is in Pain
This article shows some of the unhelpful counsel people offer for those suffering, and advises on some helpful things to say.
Driving Out Discontentment
This article discusses how to cut out discontentment in one's life. Contentment comes by resting in the promises of the gospel.
Pastoring a Dying Church
This article considers what is the pastor's best approach when entering a dysfunctional, dying congregation: be a pastor to the flock.
An Open Letter to Christian Parents of Unbelieving Adult Children
This article offers three pastoral encouragements to Christian parents of an unbelieving adult child: remember the seed sown in the past, pray in the present, and hope for the future.
Burnout
This article considers one way in which burnout can be overcome: desiring nothing but the Lord of heaven and earth.
Handling Doubts
This article proposes a biblical way of handling doubts about the existence of God.
Preparing for Trials
Coping with Failings
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.
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.
The School of Grace
Visiting the sick
My Child Turned His Back on God A Mother Tells about Her Son in a Letter to a Dear Friend
I Will Be with Thee
Negativism
Faith and Shame
Comfort for Christ's Sheep
Abortion in God's Family
Our Attitude in Peacemaking
Overload
Do you ever get overwhelmed by all the things you need to get done, and discouraged by all the things you probably won't? This article is about too many responsibilities, overload, busy lives and rushed lives.
Christian Healing
We Have Not Passed This Way Before
The Hospital Visit
Abortion's Survivors Overcoming the Guilt
Prison Ministry: A Time to Serve
Pleasing God on Your Sickbed
What Are Ten Practical Tools to Hospital Visitation?
How Can Office Bearers Offer Comfort?
David Powlison's Answer to the Question "Why Me?"
Hiding
Are you hiding your struggles from others? Some people hide their struggles because of fear and shame. This article explains that we need not hide in shame and fear, but rest in Christ.
How the Holy Spirit Delivers Us from Shame
Shame has to do with feeling worthless. How do you overcome this feeling of shame? This article explains what shame is, the effects of shame, and how the Holy Spirit delivers us from shame.
Fatigue in Christian Ministry: Its Causes and Cure
The Church's Care for the Mentally Impaired
The Loss of Dreams
Help for Perfectionists
This article notes that perfectionists have a pride problem, and struggle with fear and anger. It offers counsel on how to deal with perfectionism by means of the gospel.
Why You Should Avoid Stoicism and Fake-Happiness When Suffering Hits
How should Christians respond when suffering hits? There are two responses they must avoid and one response to embrace. This article explains how the gospel shapes the way Christians face suffering.
OCD: Giving Hope to a Troubled Counselee
This article provides some guidance on how to counsel those with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It explains the spiritual and biological components of OCD, and states that ultimately, OCD is a trust issue.
Four Things to Believe When Guilt Overwhelms You
Dealing with Disappointment to the Glory of God
How do you deal with disappointment? This article considers how we experience disappointment, what God's Word says about it, and how we should process it
Hope When You Face More Than You Can Bear
How do you gain hope in afflictions? Understand the reality of suffering, the reason for affliction, and then respond with hope.
Nine Possible Reasons for Your Spiritual Drought
This article offers nine possible reasons for someone in a season of spiritual drought and in need of refreshment.
Three Tear-Wrought Lessons on Suffering
How should Christians face their suffering? 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 gives three lessons for our experience of suffering and dealing with suffering.
How Can Your Church Serve Unemployed Men?
How can the church serve unemployed men? This article suggests five things that the church can consider.
Don't Waste Your Suffering (Part 2)
How can you make the best of your suffering? You can pursue certain means by which your faith may be strengthened. This article identifies several means, such as knowing God and his goodness.
ADHD Misdiagnosis
This article provides insights on misdiagnosis of ADHD. It reveals that there is no objective medical test for ADHD, yet the diagnosis is applied all too quickly, and psychiatric drugs are prescribed that have potential dangerous side effects.
The God Who Bleeds: Hope for the Guilty (Hebrews 9:10-15)
Dealing With Disappointment in the Church (Part 1)
Sometimes believers feel disappointed by the church. How do you help them deal with disappointment in the church? This article offers seven questions they can ask to deal with their disappointment.
A Three-Pronged Team Approach When Caring for People with Eating Disorders
How do you counsel people with an eating disorder, be it anorexia, bulimia, or binge-eating? This article suggests that you need a biblical counsellor, medical physician, and nutritionist when helping people with eating disorder.
Caring for a Loved One with Cancer: Don't Forget about the Kids
How can care for cancer patients be shown? When one of the parents suffers from cancer, children are also affected. This article shares practical ways to support children in such a case.
Then Shall the Lame Man Leap Like a Deer: God and the Disabled
This article addresses the question of how the disabled fit into God's world. In particular, the matter of how God views people with disabilities is addressed. The Bible leaves no question: he has a special concern for these ones. Thus, we are to as well.
Ten Tips for Your Next Hospital Visit
Do you as a pastor approach hospital visits with a sense of fear and trepidation? These ten tips can help you prepare better for your hospital visitation.
When God Withholds Babies
This article considers those instances where the Lord in his providence withholds children from a couple.
Never Sorry Enough
This article explains how sometimes we fail to forgive someone because we hold them to a standard to which we ourselves could not hold.
The Guilt and the Shame
Fearing a Call from God!
Searching Hearts and Testing Minds: The God of Biblical Counseling
What is biblical counseling? It can be defined by the definition of who or what is man, and who is God. This article shows how this understanding of the relationship between man and God is crucial for biblical counseling.
Responding to Spiritual Desertion
Comfort While Living in a Dying Body
Ministering to Adult Sex Offenders: Ten Lessons from Henry Gerecke
How can the church reach out to adult sex offenders? Looking at the ministry of Henry Gerecke to the Nazis, this article develops ten lessons for the church seeking to minister to sex offenders or pedophiles with the gospel.
Reflections on My Cancer
Sevenfold Mercy (6): Visiting the Sick
Shame
Shame has its ultimate source in sin. However, not all shame comes as a result of sinning. This article shows the many ways in which shame expresses itself and how the Bible speaks about this shame.
Discouragement
Every believer will face some form of discouragement in his life. This is a fact. However, how should believers deal with discouragements? This article provides some answers to this question. Prayer, "positive thinking", God’s refreshing visits through His Spirit, and the gift of fellowship with other believers are the cure for discouragement.
The Cure For Shame
Due to the Fall, all individuals experience shame. This article discusses a right and wrong approach to dealing with feelings of shame.
"Rarely, Rarely Comest Thou Spirit of Delight"
This article looks at John 20:19-31. Jesus dealt lovingly with doubting Thomas, and is able in the same way to deal lovingly with those struggling wih doubt, depression or anxiety today.
The Elder and the Visiting of the Sick
What to Say to the Depressed, Doubting, Skeptical, Confused, Angry
Here is some wisdom for how to support those struggling with depression, doubt, skepticism, confusion or anger.
What is Your Life?
The Fear of Man: When People Are Big and God Is Small
This article is about the fear of man and the fear of God. It also looks at the needs of people and peer pressure.
Not Again, Lord
Four Tips for Pastoring to Kids in Tragedy
Do you find it hard to minister to children in tragedy? This article suggests some basic ways to pastor children.
An Open Letter to the Suffering Christian
When You're Not Sure God Accepts You
A Time to Weep The Christian, Like the Bible, is No Stranger to Tears
Martin Bucer: Carer of Souls (Part 2)
This article considers the work of Martin Bucer, Concerning the True Care of Souls, a pastoral manual. Bucer lays out five main tasks to which carers of souls should give themselves, and this article outlines the last three: to help in the reformation of church members who have grievously sinned, to strengthen the somewhat feeble and sick in the Christian life, and to protect the healthy sheep from all offence and falling away.
Martin Bucer: Carer of Souls (Part 1)
This article considers the work of Martin Bucer, Concerning the True Care of Souls, a pastoral manual. Bucer lays out five main tasks to which soul-carers should give themselves, and this article outlines the first two: to bring to Christ those who are still estranged from him, and to restore to Christ those who had once been brought to him but have been drawn away again.
Caring for the Widows
The elders have a calling to care for widows. This article shows the grounds for this call and the manner in which such caring must be done.
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.
Trust
We live in a world where many people have experienced betrayed trust. Ultimately, Christ is the only One who cannot disappoint. This article is a call to trust in Him.
Ghosts from the Past
Gospel Development: A Cross-Centered Vision for Global Change
What is Gospel Development? What is its place in the life of the church and believers, and in light of the need for community development? This article deals with these questions as it looks at the role that Gospel Development is taking in various communities. In the process the author notes that Gospel Development is gracious, and brings hope and honesty. The author also looks at various foci of the Gospel Development, which are people, the fruit of the Spirit, and the truth.