With Insights From Pastor Joe Johnson with Heart of the Father Ministries* Kristi and I were fortunate to receive instruction in healing and deliverance ministry in college. Many Christian pastors, counselors, and lay ministers today have not received this training and so they don’t know how to use the authority that Jesus gave them to pray…
As a Christian psychologist it’s been important for me to look to the Lord Jesus Christ as the perfect psychologist. I look to him as my counselor. I study him and his ways to learn how to be a better counselor. I rely on his Spirit present in my counseling office as I care for…
How were you cared for as a child? How well were your needs met? What were your early experiences in your relationships with your parents and your family? And how did this affect your personality, identity, and life going forward? Relational wounds are more damaging when we’re younger, they come from a beloved and trusted…
We have loved ones that die. We suffer losses that hurt. Do we grieve or repress our emotions? Here are the stages and process of good grief with insights from the Bible and psychotherapy.
Recently I was trail running in the hills during a private retreat at the Prince of Peace monastery. It was a beautiful day and I felt so alive and free as I was running with Jesus. Little did I know that I had brushed up against poison oak! A few days later the urushiol oil…
Have you ever seen something that brought you distress or even traumatized you? Do you have any harmful images you’ve internalized that periodically come back to upset you?
Ignatian meditation is the most used method for Scripture meditation around the world. It was developed in the 16th Century by Ignatius of Loyola and used in his famous Spiritual Exercises, which Kristi and I completed on a thirty-day Sabbatical in 2015 under the spiritual direction of Tom Ashbrook, founder of Imago Christi. At the heart of The…
What is Biblical meditation? Here are some key Bible verses on imagination and examples of Biblical meditation techniques for counseling, spiritual direction, small groups, soul care, prayer, and Christian discipleship.
In Henri Nouwen’s Dark Night he received pastoral counseling and kept a secret journal. Shortly before he died this was published as “The Inner Voice of Love.” Here are some quotes and insights for pastors and ministry leaders.
Praying the lament psalms with Jesus teaches us to reorient ourselves in God’s kingdom where we’re blessed, even if our circumstances remain bad.