The Bible is the Best Mental Health Text Book Ever Written!

Godly Counsel: Scriptures For Today's World 

By Dr. Brian Campbell - Assisted by Rev. Jim Angelakos

The Bible is the best mental health text book ever written! And God's Word is the best counselor. "Godly Counsel: Scriptures For Today's World" focuses on 33 topics relevant to psychological problems encountered by Christians. It is designed for people who are hurting and the counselors who help them.

Whatever your problem or concern may be, there is no greater authority for living than God's Holy Word. "Godly Counsel" contains over 1400 scriptures for counsel and guidance.

Topics: Abortion, Addictions, Adolescent Rebellion, Anger, Anxiety, Worry, Fear, Backsliding, Belief, Salvation, Christ, Who He Is, Citizenship, Communication, Death, Dying, Depression, Divorce, Forgive, Forgiveness, Grief, Judgmental, Love, Marriage, Money, Riches, Parenting, Persecution, Prayer, Pride, Self-Esteem, Sexual Sin, Sin, Suffering, Temptation, Thinking, Healthy, Trouble, Hardship, Truth, Unemployment, Weak, Tired 

Angry is a Habit

Seth Godin Blog

It's easy to imagine habits like a scotch after dinner, biting your nails or saying, "you know" after every sentence. An event or a time of day triggers us, and we go with the habit. It's easier than exploring new territory--it's merely a thoughtless response to an incoming trigger.

But emotions can become habits as well.

Distrustful is a habit.

Lonely is a habit.

Generous is a habit.

When that stranger doesn't do what you expect, is your response to assume that she's out to get you, trying to make an extra buck, looking for a shortcut? Or do you default to the habit of giving that new person a chance to explain herself?

Habits are great when they help us get what we want. Bad habits, on the other hand, are bad because the shortcut that satisfies us in the moment gets in the way of our long term goals.

Once you can see that your emotions are as much as a habit as cracking your knuckles, they're a lot easier to work with.

Recommended Resources: Godly Counsel

God is at Work by David Wilkerson

David Wilkerson Devotions

A key message for believers today is that God has the future all pre-programmed. He knows the exact moment Christ will return, and the final Tribulation, the Judgment and the Battle of Armageddon are all on His calendar. 

The God who controls all of heaven and earth said, "The nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. . . . All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing" (Isaiah 40:15, 17). 

God wants us to keep working until the return of Christ. That simply means that we are to work as though the end will never come, and live as though it were coming tomorrow. 

God is still keeping count of the hairs on our heads. He is still counting the sparrows that fall, still hearing petitions before they are asked, and still answering before being called. He is still giving abundantly more than we can ask or think. So why be afraid? (See Matthew 6:25-34.) 

Prepared Christians, wake up! Everything is under control, and God is at work! He is saving, healing, baptizing, and getting His house in order. To fear is to blaspheme. We are commanded to encourage ourselves in the Lord and to begin to sing and rejoice as we see the final hour approaching. Someone may ask, "But how can I rejoice when I see this old sin-cursed world falling apart?" 

My answer is the Bible answer: "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain . . . waiting for the adoption . . . the redemption" (Romans 8:22-23). 

A woman in labor may scream because of pain, yet in her heart she rejoices because of the new birth taking place. The kingdom of God is coming. The kingdom of Satan is falling. So the Christian can say with confidence, “God has everything under control!”

Recommended Resources: Dake Bible, Dispensational Truths, 

Scriptures on Forgiveness

Excerpts from Dr. Brian Campbell's Book:  "Godly Counsel."

“Forgive  and you will be forgiven.”

(Luke 6:27)

Forgive : to pardon; to waive any negative

feeling or desire for punishment

All of us have been hurt or offended by others at one time or an­other in our lives.  Sometimes these hurts run so deep that it’s hard to “let go” of them, even when the person who hurt us has apologized, repented, and asked for forgiveness .  When we begin to recognize the depth of our own sin, and the incredible sacri­fice that Jesus Christ made on the cross for our sin, we can begin to forgive others, and even ourselves.

Synopsis

We are all sinners.¹ No one is perfect or good except God alone.² When God first created the world, it was “good,”³ but sin soon entered in.  It was the mission of Christ to come to this earth to die for our sins so that we might be reconciled with God and have eternal life .⁴

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time

my mother conceived me.

(Psalm 51:5)¹

No one is good—except God alone.

(Mark 10:18)²

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

(Genesis 1:31)³

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous  for

the unrighteous, to bring you to God.  He was put

to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.

(1 Peter 3:18)⁴

When Christ died for us on the cross, He took away all of our sins.⁵  Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, and acknowledges that He died for our sins, receives complete forgiveness  of sins.⁶  From God’s perspective , forgiveness  is a “one hundred per­cent,” all-or-none type of thing.  That is, when we accept Jesus Christ and repent  of our sins, God forgives each and every one of our sins, no matter “how many,” “how big,” or “how small.” 

Scriptures give us vivid illustrations of how deep and complete God’s forgiveness  is for our sins.  For example, the Bible states that God: hides our sins behind His back;⁷ covers over them;⁸  doesn’t remember them anymore;⁹ removes them “as far as the east is from the west”;¹⁰ and, when God forgives us com­pletely we are “whiter than the snow.”¹¹  

God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,

not counting men’s sins against them.

(2 Corinthians 5:19)⁵

Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness  

of sins through his name.

(Acts 10:43)⁶

In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction;

you have put all my sins behind your back.

(Isaiah 38:17)⁷

You forgave the iniquity of your people

and covered all their sins.

(Psalm 85:2)⁸

Their sins and lawless acts

I will remember no more.

(Hebrews 10:17)⁹

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

(Psalm 103:12)¹⁰

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me,

and I will be whiter than snow.

(Psalm 51:7)¹¹

God’s Guidance

Jesus Christ made it very clear that in order to receive the in­credible gift of forgiveness  from God, we must first forgive oth­ers.¹² There is no “wiggle room.”  He stated that:  “if you do not forgive men of their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”¹³

As human beings, we often find it difficult to forgive the sins of others.  Deep down, we would sometimes like to “pick and choose” the sins of others that we will forgive, or decide on “how many” sins the other person has committed against us before they have “exceeded their limit” and we can no longer forgive them.  However, Scriptures  indicate that God does not allow for this type of “selective” forgiveness  when someone repents and asks us for forgiveness .

For example, God’s Word makes it clear that when we come to the Lord in prayer, if we hold “anything against anyone,” we are to forgive him.¹⁴  Along similar lines, we are to forgive “whatevergrievances you may have against one another.”¹⁵

 

Forgive  and you will be forgiven. 
(Luke 6:37)¹²

For if you forgive men when they sin against you,

your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 

But if you do not forgive men their sins,

your Father will not forgive your sins.

(Matthew 6:14-15)¹³

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything

against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father

in heaven  may forgive you your sins.

(Mark 11:25)¹⁴

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances

you may have against one another. 

Forgive  as the Lord forgave you.

(Colossians 3:13)¹⁵

In addition, if someone genuinely and sincerely repents of his sin, we are to repeatedly forgive him, no matter how many times he repeats the sin, and regardless of how many times he returns to ask for forgiveness .¹⁶

Finally, in addition to forgiving others, we need to forgive our­selves.  When you believe in Jesus Christ, and repent  of your sins, you are now blameless before God.  Try to fully embrace this fact.   Obviously, if the Son of God sets you free from sin, you are free indeed!¹⁷

                                                                                               

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many

times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? 

Up to seven times?”  Jesus answered, “I tell you,

not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

(Matthew 18:21-22)¹⁶

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

(John 8:36)¹⁷