1. "The gospel of Jesus Christ is the foundation of biblical change (2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 5:1; 6:16-18; 8:13). The gospel brings
spiritual new birth, and it orients, guides, empowers, and dominates all of the
Christian life following regeneration (Col. 2:6).
2.
Change is always possible for believers in Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6; Rom. 6:17-18). No Christian is so entrenched in
sin, so dominated by his past or anything else, that he cannot be
changed by the dynamic work of the Holy Spirit.
3.
The Word of God applied by the Spirit of God is the primary tool for
change (John 17:17; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; Ps. 119:1, 24, 133). Living and
active, inerrant, God-revealed, Christ-commended, Spirit-empowered—when it
comes to changing people, there is nothing like the Bible.
4.
The heart is the place where real, long-lasting change takes place (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 10:5; Prov. 4:23; Mark 7:21-23; Matt.
12:34). The heart is where a person thinks, considers, analyzes, evaluates,
feels, decides, and chooses—the mission control center of life, the real person
on the inside, the inner man. Counseling is about changing a person’s heart or
moment-by-moment thinking.
5.
God’s plan for practical daily change is: put off
/ be renewed / put on (Eph.
4:22-24; Col. 3:8-14). That plan includes the following components: put off, be
renewed in your mind, put on true thoughts and righteous acts.
6.
Sanctification is a joint, divine-human effort (Phil. 2:12-13; 1 Cor. 15:10). While regeneration,
justification, conversion, and glorification are completely the work of God,
sanctification is a God-empowered joint effort. Understanding that, biblical
counseling avoids the extremes of mystical passivity, on one hand, and
legalistic self-reliance on the other.
7.
Sanctification is a corporate project, requiring church life and input
from other believers (Rom.
15:14; Gal. 6:1; Eph. 4:15-16; Heb. 10:24-25; Prov. 12:15). True change does
not take place in the counseling room, but in the church, as a person is
actively involved in both serving and being served by the body of Christ."
The following 7 principles are the foundational principles of biblical discipleship and counseling. This is an excerpt from missionary/pastor Joel James' latest book (pictured above).
