Journal of Biblical Counseling

JBC issues aren’t designed to have themes. Sometimes one develops organically from the content, but usually, as with this issue, it doesn’t. This works well, though, because having a variety of content enables more people to find something that speaks to them or their ministry. This issue includes articles on the ministry of presence, being equally yoked in marriage, and praying when you are anxious. There’s also a review of a recent book written by Warren Kinghorn, a Christian psychiatrist. Enjoy the variety!

Sometimes the best way to care for someone who is hurting is to simply be with them. In this article, Darby Strickland lays out the biblical foundations for this way of caring. If we become people who sit in the dark with others—not with answers, but with nearness—then we become witnesses to Jesus, who draws near to the brokenhearted. Strickland addresses how to practice this ministry of presence in both local church settings and counseling contexts.

What does Scripture mean when it says we are to be equally yoked in marriage? Aaron Sironi argues that God’s vision for marriage is more than finding a believing spouse. It has just as much to do with how a couple partners together after the wedding as choosing someone for the wedding. The relationship between the young woman and the shepherd boy in Song of Songs illustrates this, as they care for each other in ways that are joyfully mutual and beautifully equal.

Most of us value and applaud people who bounce back after terrible experiences, and we want to know how to do so ourselves. But Andrew Collins points out that most approaches to resilience are secular and based on personal strength and self-efficacy, leaving God out. In this article, Collins examines Scripture to find that God calls us to be resilient, not in our own strength but in his.

In the chaos of anxiety, do you find it hard to know how to pray? Alex Thermenos has firsthand experience with this and gives us a method for prayer that is easy to remember, even when you are anxious. Using Philippians 4:6, he identifies three steps to follow as you pray: Tell God what you want, tell him why you want it, and then thank him. This toolbox article fleshes out each step and provides a worksheet for you to use or to give to someone you counsel.

In this insightful book, Dr. Warren Kinghorn decries the body-as-machine metaphor that dominates the American psychiatric community. Instead, he embraces Thomas Aquinas’s image of humans as wayfarers or pilgrims on a journey who need companions to come alongside them and help them grow. Kinghorn argues this view treats people with dignity, which is impossible when they are seen as machines that need to be “fixed.”

Purchase the print or digital edition of the Journal of Biblical Counseling 39:2.