Quotes from James MacDonald

Counseling is ultimately not about the counselee or the counselor, but about the Divine Counselor.

Our hearts are wired for worship, and our worship is directly tied to our sense of hope.

Any counseling that does not pursue spiritual formation through an intimate relationship with Jesus by faith as one of its chief goals is not worthy to be called BIBLICAL counseling.

The reason God responds to persistence is because prayer is changing the one who prays. As we pray, God is making us spiritually fit to receive what He is already willing to do. Prayer changes us into the people who can participate in the greater work of God without being spoiled by it through pride or becoming discouraged by the increased weight of greater fruitfulness.

Mark 3:25: "And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

Whether you realize it or not, your ongoing battle with unbelief drives all your sinful thoughts, emotions, desires, and actions.

When the people of God are not told the works of God, they lose the wonder of God, and everyone does that which is right in his or her own eyes.

Prayer is the easiest thing to assume in church and the hardest thing to maintain. Prayer is the first thing our flesh stops when times get easy, and true prayer is the last thing we resort to when times get tough.

When we pray, we are speaking to the One Whose eternal purpose and designs are unfolding as our present realities. In order to find hope in them, we must seek HIM and HIS perspective. This requires a keen understanding of the redemptive nature of our existence, which points to the glorious gospel of Christ.

Holy Spirit of God, thank You for filling my life with You. You are in control of all that I am—my thoughts, my actions, my words, and my feelings. Thank You, Spirit of God. I am now living under the downpour of Your power and strength and blessing, and I thank You for the riches of Your mercy. In the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

when we want decisions more than we want disciples, we get tares instead of true converts and Ichabod, departed glory for the church.

How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they" (verses 11–12). That's when Moses pleaded with God not to wipe them out even for His own reputation. And God relented.

The role of biblical counselors is facilitate the discovery of a greater God awareness through spiritual eyes that look at life through scriptural lenses.

Don't get a bad attitude like they did back in the wilderness, or you're going to be joining them.

To complain is to say in effect; "God, You blew it! You had a chance to meet my expectations, but You couldn't handle it! Nice try, God, close—but not close enough." So complaining definitely injures you and the Lord.

When we shift from personal purity to personal happiness, we lose biblical hope because we are not focusing on God's agenda, we are focusing on our own. God's agenda is guaranteed on our agenda is not.

More of anything other than God will never fill that longing for fulfillment He has placed within you and me.

So often, it's others around us who can see where God wants to grow us even before we see it ourselves.

With God, we can be satisfied and fulfilled with very little, but without Him, all that we have will always be dry and deeply disappointing.

Thankfulness is the attitude that perfectly displaces my sinful tendency to complain and thereby release joy and blessing into my life.

Too often, we think of sin as self-contained, point-in-time choices with no interconnection or momentum. But sin refuses to remain contained in the moment it is conceived.

Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired.

Our view of human problems determines who is qualified to speak to them. If sin is the primary human problem, then those with the theological and practical expertise in dealing with sin – in its varied and complex forms – should lead the way in the field of people-helping. Unless we have an accurate and robust conception of sin, the church will concede much of its work to outside professional and will be ill-equipped to cooperate with them when needed.

Whenever you are in a critical temper, it is impossible to enter into communion with God.