The theme today is biblical counseling.
David Powlison on using Ephesians in counseling – "You will not go wrong if you plunge into Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Master it. Be mastered by it. Work Ephesians into your thinking, your living, your prayers, and your conversation. The Bible is vast and deep, and human life is diverse and perplexing. But in a pinch you could do all counseling from Ephesians. It’s all there: the big picture that organizes a myriad details. And Ephesians is not only 'counsel,' but also 'counseling.' It talks and walks method as well as content. Paul himself is a changed man. He lives out and teaches wise pastoral strategy. Ephesians aims to teach you how to live. That is a synonym for counseling biblically, for doing face-to-face ministry."
X-Ray Questions – "Counseling that is faithful to Scripture must do justice to what God says about the whys and wherefores of the human heart…The questions aim to help people identify the ungodly masters that occupy positions of authority in their hearts. These questions reveal 'functional gods,' what or who actually controls their particular actions, thoughts, emotions, attitudes, memories, and anticipations."
The Basics of Biblical Counseling (mp3) – A free, thirty-five part introductory course taught by Jim Newheiser, Director of The Institute for Biblical Counseling and Discipleship (IBCD). I've been through the material a few times. It's excellent.
Psychotherapy and the Pursuit of Happiness – "Psychotherapy is no longer an intellectual movement today as it once was. But in the form of modern professional 'caring,' it has assumed a new role, which is to provide a peculiar sort of substitute friendship — what we might call 'artificial friendship' — for lonely people in a lonely age."
Ryan Wentzel