We forget that God’s Word is our primary tool of change. Instead, we come up with a little personal wisdom and personal experience and let the words fly.

The incarnation gets right to the heart of this struggle because it confronts people with the one thing that can make a lasting difference, the glory of God. The revelation of God in his awesome glory is the only thing that exposes the utter emptiness of all the other glories we crave. If you understand the incarnation this way, you have already le

If we want our words to be instruments of change in confrontation, we need a sense of direction. These four steps provide a road map. 1. Consideration. What does God want the person to see? 2. Confession. What does God want the person to admit and confess? 3. Commitment. To what new ways of living is God calling this person? 4. Change. How should t

But Paul is saying even more here. He says that there would be no such thing as compassion on earth if it were not for God. He is the source of all compassion. This point is important, because if God is the source of compassion, it makes no sense for his children to be uncaring. If we are members of his family and partakers of his divine nature, in

Sin not only causes me to respond sinfully to suffering, it causes me to respond sinfully to blessing.

Don’t assume—ask. This is true not only for a good counselor, but for a wise teacher, elder, spouse, parent, or friend as well. Assuming that you already know what you need to know almost always leads to misunderstandings that blunt and derail personal ministry. If you think you can take something for granted, ask anyway. Only then can you be sure

The first thing sin produces is rebellion. This is more than breaking a few rules; it is a fundamental flaw in my character. It is not something I learn; I was born with it.

The moral drama here gets to the core of human existence. Notice that the passage says that Eve saw the fruit as “desirable for gaining wisdom.” Satan was not just selling Eve the best fruit in the garden, but something more fundamentally appealing. He was telling Eve that if she ate the fruit, she would be independently wise. The promise was auton

These facts lead to a radical observation. If it is true that all human beings are constantly trying to make sense out of life, then all of life is counseling or personal ministry. Counseling is the stuff of human life! We are always interpreting and always sharing our interpretations with one another. This “sharing” ultimately amounts to advice or