For a brief overview of the history and philosophy of Biblical counseling click here for a previous post. We made the video above to visualize Paul Tripp’s helpful 3 trees handout and exercise.
As we walk through our six week series on Connecting (2/11/24 – 3/17/24) it’s an opportunity to reflect on our own hearts and our relationships. The conceptual overview is here. A good summary is found in the two key questions:
- Do you believe there is something GOOD in everyone, even when all you see is bad?
- Do you believe there is something POWERFUL in you to help a friend in crisis?
That is connecting – when the powerful life of Jesus in you meets the good life of Jesus in them. Boom. Sparks. Life. Hope. Change.
The key, of course, is Jesus. On your own, you are not powerful. On their own, your friend is not good. But Jesus is working in everyone – and is doing a special, supernatural work in those who belong to Him by faith. So you are more good and more powerful than you realize! Which is precisely what Paul prays for the believers in Ephesus to realize:
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might…”
Ephesians 1:17-19
Only through divine intervention in answer to our prayers will we have the supernatural insight to perceive two things:
- The HOPE to which Jesus has called us and;
- The POWER that Jesus has placed inside of us
So our first ministry to others is to PRAY that God would give them hope and give both of us power.
Listen to the words of Jesus as He explained to His disciples about His imminent departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit:
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
John 14:10-14
“Greater works.” Did you catch that? How? Not because the apostles were so amazing much less that you and I are so amazing. No. “Because I am going to the Father.” It’s all because of Jesus. If we will pray in His Name, He will flex His omnipotent muscles to do far more than we can even imagine.
I bet we are all like that father who asked Jesus to drive a demon from his son. “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). That is a great place to start when it comes to helping someone else.
Is there good in there? Is there power in you? “I believe; help my unbelief.”