Quotes from Jay E. Adams

All living organisms grow. Growth may sometimes take place in large spurts, and at other times may occur more slowly. In all Christians the potential for growth is significant.

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33). Jesus is saying that the so-called "basic things" that are needed should not be of prime concern in life.

while godly thought emphasizes giving God the honor and service in His church that He deserves totally apart from whether your needs are met or not.

Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing?

Christians, whose basic orientation has been reversed so that they now seek to glorify God, must learn to take the initiative, subdue and rule. To do nothing is to do something. To fail to bring biblical solutions to bear upon problems is to allow sinful conditions to continue. To accept them and adapt to them is contrary to God's mandate. The concept of adaptation to sin is non-biblical.

The fourth response is Christian: "It can be solved through Christ." Notice that the first three responses leave the problem intact and as a result the person and his course of activity is changed. Man adapts to the problem; man is subdued by the problem; whereas in the fourth situation, the problem is dealt with. The problem is sliced in two. In nouthetic counseling, clients are taught to solve problems rather than adapt to them. There is a biblical solution to every problem. 1

Typical Counselee Remarks Typical Counselor Responses That May Be Used

When clients think they are helpless, that some strange mysterious force is at work overpowering them, and they say that I Corinthians 10:13 does not apply to their case, the truth may be that they are not serious about wanting to do the Lord's will. They may be talking out of both sides of their mouths. They may deceive others or even themselves, in part, about the sincerity of their desire to obey God.

Knowing that there will be a way out, an end to the problem, is itself reassuring.

Love is self-giving; fear is self-protecting.3 Love moves toward others; fear shrinks away from them. But the counselor must remember (and persuade the counselee that) love is the stronger since it is able to "cast out" fear. In dealing with fear, nothing else possesses the same expulsive power.

As always in Christian service, he will find his life in losing it. His fears of men will diminish as his loving service to them increases. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Personal blessing comes not by seeking blessing, however, but by becoming a blessing to others.

Counselees need to structure hard tasks by scheduling them.

Distinguishing between the emotion and the conviction or judgment that triggers it is often fundamental to the solution to one's problem.

Evil is powerful, but good is more powerful. In fact, evil is so powerful that only good has the power to overcome evil. Darkness can be driven away only by light.

I don't care what problem you face; it has no power to defeat the cross of Christ.

When is a train most free? Is it when it goes bouncing across the field off the track? No. It is free only when it is confined (if you will) to the track. Then it runs smoothly and efficiently, because that was the way that its maker intended for it to run. It needs to be on the track, structured by the track, to run properly. You too need to be on the track. God's track is found in God's Word.

Maturation is fundamentally the process of learning to discipline one's self and to carry personal responsibility.

So then, the command Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good is a clear witness to the fact that you can be a winner in the battle against evil. No matter where or when it occurs, regardless of it's impact or force, there is no attack that can be made that you cannot withstand if you do so by using God's weapons, according to God's revealed strategy and are energized by His powerful Spirit.

Christians never should fear change. They must believe in change so long as the change is oriented toward godliness. The Christian life is a life of continual change. In the Scriptures it is called a "walk," not a rest. They never may say (in this life), "I have finally made it." They must not think, "There is nothing more to learn from God's Word, nothing more to put into practice tomorrow, no more skills to develop, no more sins to be dealt with.

The word grace has several meanings in the Bible, one of which is help. The Holy Spirit gives help when His people read His Word and then step out by faith to do as He says. He does not promise to strengthen unless they do so; the power often comes in the doing.

Feelings are up and down, they have peaks and troughs. Often, feelings generated by other causes get tangled up with a decision and color one's vision. Nothing short of commandment living (often in spite of feelings) can keep life stable. The peaks and troughs grow larger as they are allowed to become the life motivating force;7 however, on the other hand, they tend to flatten out as life becomes commandment oriented.

Notice, again, it is not what one does that saves him—when it is judged, the tree is already a good tree—that's why it bears good fruit (its fruit-bearing doesn't make it a good tree). One's works identify him as a good tree, wheat, a sheep, a Christian. Conversely, the bad tree, goat, tare and the unsaved man (like a child) is also "known by his doings" (Prov. 20:11). See Romans 2:6-8 in the light of this principle.

We are to vigorously and violently demolish all the fortifications of the foe, winning the battle and talking him captive for Christ. The Church is not to assume a defensive posture, but may take aggressive action to overcome evil by means of good.

Man was created as a being whose very existence is derived from and dependent upon a Creator whom he must acknowledge as such and from whom he must obtain wisdom and knowledge through revelation. The purpose and meaning of his life, as well as his very existence, is derived and dependent. He can find none of this in himself. Man is not autonomous.