LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
God’s Glory in Counseling: 5 Daily Reminders
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (Ed. D) Department of Christian Leadership and Church
Ministries
By
Mary Gracias
Lynchburg, Virginia
9/2022
As a member of the Association of Biblical Counselors my prayer is that you are continually
strengthened and encouraged in your ministry to others. Walking through the difficulties and
hardships experienced by those God sends into our lives is one of the most amazing privileges
to which we have been invited (Gal. 6:2). However, this invitation also holds potential to
present some significant challenges as well. For example:
When someone shares the horrors of abuse.
When that couple who just spent time with you seems to have taken two steps
backwards in their marriage rather than two steps forward.
When you experience the crushing weight of depression that seems to be choking the
life out of the one sitting across from you.
When you witness the violent language a spouse unleashes against his or her mate.
When you have spent weeks ministering to someone only to see his or her emotional
condition decline.
When you do not know how to address a counseling crisis.
When you are engaged in your sixth consecutive session for the day and your physical
limitations begin to manifest in the form of fatigue or exhaustion.
Counseling ministry is indeed a blessing, but it is also a refining fire that forces us to the end of
ourselves. By grace, the rough and tumble nature of human pain has a tendency to press us
further into our ultimate call as counselors—the call to glorify God.
While ministering to others during the coming month, should you face a moment of frustration,
confusion or discouragement, try to remember the following:
1. Glorify God in that He has rescued you from the pressure of determining the outcomes
of your counseling (Eph. 1:11). The results of your faithful service are not up to you.
2. Glorify God in that He is far more committed to redeeming and fully healing His people
than we will ever be (Rom. 8:30). Rest in His commitment to and His purposes in the
counseling process.
3. Glorify God in that you are privileged by His Spirit to know, comprehend and apply
divine truth that cuts to the core of the soul (Heb. 4:12). Your ability to counsel biblically
is a genuine miracle brought forth by the Holy Spirit.
4. Glorify God in that your weaknesses as a counselor protect you from arrogance and
force you to rest in His all-sufficient grace (2 Cor. 12:7-9; Hab. 3:17-19). Thank Him that
he is willing to protect us from the illusion of self-sufficiency.
5. Glorify God in that He simply deserves glory (Ps. 8). Bask in the honor that you have
been personally empowered by God to do what you were designed to do—glorify His
holy name.
I extend to you the words of Paul:
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all
making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day
until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to
completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6-7).
