The Christian Psychologist and Healing

Posted on December 10, 2008

In the last post, We looked at several base assumptions about God’s healing activity. The Christian counselor rightly looks to God to be the power source in any positive change and healing in the lives of counselees. But, our counselees come from quite different vantage points. Some are looking for a secret method for instantaneous healing. Others despair that God cares about their situation. Others wonder if it is okay to ask God for help since their pastor or friend has warned them off from seeking help from prayer warriors or medicines and only to trust God in their pain.

So, a set of assessment questions may guide us as we consider how to talk about healing with our clientele.

1. What attempts has the person made in seeking freedom from their emotional or relational struggles? Do they focus on medicines? Healing prayer? Fatalistically waiting?

2. What do they believe about God and his concern for their situation? He’s concerned and doing something about it? He’s concerned but punishing them for past behavior? He’s concerned but unable to do anything? He’s unconcerned?

3. What is our experience with healing and change agency? Do we focus on skills or behaviors? Experiences? Do we resist healing talk due to observed abuses? Do we tend to focus on either spiritualization of life or pragmatic approaches to problems?

These kinds of questions may help us determine how best to respond to the concerns of our clients. They may cause us to question our own counseling habits (e.g., emphasizing vs. ignoring prayer as a tool; emphasizing behavior change vs. gathering spiritual insights, etc.)

When someone wants God to heal them, do we encourage this behavior? How? Are we aware of the dangers (e.g., minimizing God’s healing activity, searching for the reasons why they are unwell, etc.)?

As we seek to work as ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:16f), let us examine ourselves and make sure we understand the healing character of God and to remind our struggling friends and counselees that God is in the business of healing us–day by day.

[by Philip G. Monroe. Associate professor of Counseling & Psychology at Biblical Seminary, moderator of this blog and author of www.wisecounsel.wordpress.com]

A Christian Psychology of Healing

Posted on December 1, 2008

The Society for Christian Psychology exists to promote a thoroughly Christian model of persons and change processes. And so we work to build our understanding in a wide variety of areas that relate to the care of souls. Those of us who practice counseling and care want to walk with those who are hurting in order to help them find healing as well as strength to sustain themselves in times of trials and suffering. While some models of counseling focus on the pursuit of healing, others have focused on sanctification and holy living during illness and pain. A Christian Psychology of healing wants to consider both aspects: living well with brokenness and seeking healing from brokenness. But how might we do justice to both? Consider these 8 “acknowledgements” as our start.

1. Acknowledge brokenness and its result (suffering) as both something we live with and something we create as a result of the fall. (Gen 1-3)
2. Acknowledge God as actively working His will to save a people for himself. (Gen 3 to Revelation)
3. Acknowledge that we live in the “already-not yet.” That God has already worked his plan to finally destroy sin and its consequences but that it has not yet been fully realized. (e.g., 2 Cor 4-5)
4. Acknowledge that God calls and empowers his people to spread the good news, work for justice, and to fight the evil within and without. (e.g., Matt 6:7f; 2 Cor 5; pastoral epistles)
5. Acknowledge that it is God who heals and not us; that he has given us no one means to heal nor assurance that healing can be had in this life.
6. Acknowledge that God heals to triumph over evil but ultimately to show his power and to gain our trust (e.g., Jesus’ explanations of his healing the paralytic). God’s healing focus is first and foremost of our faithlessness and our injurious unbelief.
7. Acknowledge that God gives his people permission to cry out, ask for help, seek safety, question, mourn, despair, and remind God of his promises as shown throughout the Bible but especially in the Psalms.
8. Acknowledge that seeking the help of the “physician” is nowhere deemed unacceptable in Scripture–only that seeking the physician without faith (Asa does so in 2 Chron 16:12) leads to idolatry. 

Now, the next question we want to tackle (next week) is how might these acknowledgements shape the careful Christian counselor’s approach to clients seeking healing and rest from their struggles?

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