Page 12 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 22
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Nehemiah’s first response to the broken walls ve healing and opens the way for the power of
of Jerusalem was to weep, and mourn and seek God in the therapeu�c rela�onship. While it is
the Lord in prayer and fas�ng. He recognized unlikely the counselor will pray, fast and mourn
not only the disgrace, but that rebuilding the for a client with the same intensity or passion
wall was not a human undertaking. It would re- as Nehemiah, it does provide a model of what
quire the help of the Lord. God is the Author of to do in the face of brokenness.
Hope and the God of the impossible. He is the
God who restores brokenness. The Character of the Counselor
When a Chris�an counselor is faced with a cli- The counselor must be a trustworthy person.
ent whose walls are broken down or whose life The character of Nehemiah is one to emulate.
seems a pile of rubble, the first place to go is Nehemiah was “cupbearer to the King” (Nehe-
prayer. From Nehemiah’s model of prayer, we miah 1:11), which meant he was trusted to test
can glean important concepts of prayer. Rather everything the King was to drink. This place of
than start with prayer for the client, the first honor and trust allowed Nehemiah access to
area of prayer should be for the counselor. The the King, which was in essence the catalyst to
counselor is dependent on the Holy Spirit, the the rebuilding process. As Chris�an counselors
Wonderful Counselor, the Healer, Comforter we also have access to the King of Kings and
and the One to impart wisdom and discern- being trustworthy is founda�onal to the coun-
ment, and the true Agent of Change. Many cli- seling rela�onship.
ents will be, in a sense, like those Nehemiah en-
countered, they have “survived the exile”, they Surveying the Damage
are survivors. They have managed to reach out Before Nehemiah designed a strategy for re-
for help and now they are in need of restora�- building, he surveyed the extent of the dama-
on. In some cases, the client may even feel like ge. We see Nehemiah quietly, without fan-fare
Israel, exiled from God. The counselor can be inspect the broken down walls. The counselor
instrumental in helping restore this fundamen- should also quietly, with great discre�on, sur-
tal rela�onship. vey the damage of the broken life. What is the
extent of the damage? How deeply is this per-
Prayer and Repentance son affected? Why are the walls broken down
A�er declaring the awesomeness of God, and in this person’s life? What might prevent the re-
imploring His a�en�on to the plight of His peo- building process? Is there unconfessed sin,
ple, Nehemiah asked forgiveness for sin. He in- bi�erness, unforgiveness, or anger? Is there
cluded himself in this confession. It was not a unspoken or unresolved trauma? Is the presen-
top down prayer. He was convicted of his part �ng problem really the key issue? This requires
in this collec�ve sin and disgrace. This is also prayer, discernment, wisdom, and skills in inta-
true of Chris�an counselors. Counselors reco- ke and assessment processes. In carefully sur-
gnize that coming alongside another is not a veying the damage the counselor can begin to
top down approach but a collabora�ve one. formulate a game plan and assess what needs
Counselors are also broken and need a Savior. to be done to help begin the rebuilding pro-
The best a counselor can do is declare depen- cess.
dence on the Lord and point to the One who re-
stores brokenness. The second area of prayer is What About All the Rubble?
for the client. While counselors must respect “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and
the religious preferences of a client and not im- there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild
pose his or her beliefs, there is nothing stop- the wall.” (Nehemiah 4:10). Many ci�es in bibli-
ping a Chris�an counselor from praying for the cal �mes were built one on top of another cal-
client in their personal prayer �me. Prayer offe- led tels. In modern �mes walls are not built
red on behalf of the client can be a powerful from the ground up but from below the
tool. Prayer prepares the client’s heart to recei- ground. What is seen above ground is not the
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