A few things that I thought were particularly well-said at the biblical counselor training conference last weekend (due to limitations in my transcription skills, these may not be exact quotations):
- Biblical counseling discerns thinking and behavior that God wants to change. [Lance Quinn]
- There is a two-fold purpose in and for our lives: becoming more like Christ (2 Cor. 3:18) and that we would be used more by Christ. [Lance Quinn]
- There are four keys to understanding issues of idolatry in our lives:
- God demands our exclusive allegiance (Ex. 20:1-3)
- Idols of the heart are the problem (Ezk. 14:1-8)
- Idols are really God replacements (Rom. 1:18-25)
- Idols must be repented of and replaced with the living God (1 Thess. 1:9) [Keith Palmer]
- The object of our worship leads us to do what we do. [Keith Palmer]
- Idolators believe that “something other than God can satisfy me.” An idol is anything that replaces God in our hearts. [So] even good things that become the best thing, is idolatry. [Keith Palmer]
- Conflict arises when a person lusts and doesn’t get that desire. The lust is a governing desire that steers our hearts in the way it wants to go. [Keith Palmer]
- When a desire becomes a demand: the person’s ultimate desire is not to please God but to gratify self, the thing desired has become an idol, the person is worshiping the creature rather than the Creator, and sin has occurred. And conflict is probably not far away. [Keith Palmer]
- Anger is God’s warning system that we want something too much. Anger is God’s warning system that we’re committing idolatry. [Keith Palmer]
- How do I know if a desire has become a lust or a demand? Ask these questions: am I willing to sin in order to get what I want? and, did I sin when I didn’t get what I wanted? [Keith Palmer]
- For sin to occur, the mind must be deceived, the conscience must be ignored, the affections must be captured by desire, and the will must follow the affections. [Keith Palmer]
- The flesh gains a foothold through deception — and the mind is the first area to be tricked. [Keith Palmer]
- Strength comes from the Word of God; responding [to affliction] in our own strength is vanity. [Lance Quinn]
- Affliction is the portal through which obedience comes. Affliction drives us to God. [Lance Quinn]
- Because God’s Law is our delight, we don’t perish in our afflictions. Scripture is our necessary food. [Lance Quinn]
- If we are growing Christians, we are afflicted Christians. [Lance Quinn]
Words of Grace 