Christian Spiritual Counseling

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Christ’s Ascension: What does it mean for us?

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling Certification: The Ascension of Christ and How Christians Perceive it

For the longest time, Christians believed Christ would return soon.  After his departure, the perscutions of Rome waged on without mercy.  Christ did not come.  Then the fall of Rome and the barbarian invasions which led to the dark ages in the West befell Christendom, still Christ did not come.   Famous dates have come and gone, still Christ has not returned.  What does the Ascension mean to us as we await his return?  How should Christian Counseling address it when someone is always talking about the future instead of focusing on the present?

Does it mean we are to continually await doomsday prophesies of supposed “prophets” like in the recent year?  How many actually feared the date 2012 or felt our Lord would return?  Christ was quite clear that only the Father knows the day and hour.

When Christ gloriously ascended into heaven, body and soul, he left the pilgrim Church with leadership and on Pentacost, the Holy Spirit.  The last two-thousand years have not been about Christ rescuing us from the world but teaching us patience to exist in it.

The patriarchs of old waited eras for the Messiah to come, so shall many of us await his return.  Whether it is tomorrow or another thousand years, we as Christians know he will return, but in the meantime, we must live our faith and care for the issues that plague us today instead of window watching in a hope of his return that we may not see in this life time.

Ultimately let us take consolation in the Ascension, for Christ has given us a chance to mend his garden and expects us to show great returns–for the day the master returns to it, he will expect great things.  Will we have great things to show him?

If yoyu are interested in Christian Counseling Certification, then please review the program.  By taking the required courses, you can become eligible for the Christian Counseling Certification.

The Endangered Arab Christian by Fiorello Provera – Project Syndicate

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

The article, “The Endangered Arab Christian”, by Fiorello Provera states

In the wake of the Arab Spring, Christian communities across the Arab world have been facing a surge in discrimination and violence, driven primarily by Islamist militancy and the rise of political Islam.

American Institute Health Care Professionals‘ insight:

The persecution of the Christian Church continues, especially in the Middle East…in Egypt, Syria, North Africa, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other so-called tolerant Islamic countries.  Arab Christians need our prayers.  We must remember that the age of the martyrs is just beginning.  A new era of persecution of our Christian brethren has begun.

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To learn more about our certifications at AIHCP, click here

Our Christian Counseling Education Program requires completion of basic core courses.  After completion of those courses, one is eligible for certification within the Christian Counseling Education Program

Thank you for your interest in the Christian Counseling Education Program and please let us know if you have any questions.

See on www.project-syndicate.org

Like Lydia, Do We Share Our Home with Christ?

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling: Story of Lydia

As the Resurrection season continues, the Church reads from Acts of the Apostles.  One interesting story of relation to us is the story of Lydia.   Christian Counselors should utilize her as an example of Christian action.

Lydia upon hearing the words of Paul was moved by the Holy Spirit.  She invited Paul and his companions into her home and worshipped with them.  The faith of God in Lydia was manifested by her works of charity and her action.

As within the early Church, today, we must take action.  We must, like Lydia, give ourselves to Christ and aid those in ministry.  We must share our talents, time and possessions for the overall Church.   The Church, in micro, exists in the home and then spreads into its larger form from church to church with Christ as the head of all.  Still, the smallest actions sometimes have the greatest value.  This is what we learn from Lydia.

We can also learn that we need to give our home completely to Christ.  Spiritually invite him into your home.  Many consecrate their home to him or portray his image throughout the home.  What Christian home is it, without images of our Lord?  We enter into so many homes and see designs and fine furniture, but no image of our Lord.   If you want peace in your home, you must invite the Lord into it.  Images, pictures and statues are excellent way for our physical senses to share in the same union with Christ that our spiritual senses already share.

If you are interested in learning more about Christian Counseling, then please click Christian Counseling Education Program.

 

Mark Moran, MA

Keeping Our Conscience Sharp

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling and a Certain and Right Conscience

Christian Counselors need to constantly remind people of sharpening their conscience.  Our consciences can become weak overtime when we are overexposed to secular life and immoral conversation, pictures and friends.

With this in mind, it is extremely important to watch our company and to constantly train ourselves to feel the slightly prick from the slightest sin.  By examination of conscience each night, we can review our daily activity and acknowledge if our actions conformed with Christ.  We should not fall into the despair of scruples, but maintain a healthy reaction to each failure.  In our failures is our human nature and Christ does not wish to haunt us with them but merely to acknowledge them and have a firm purpose of amendment.

It is truly amazing when one begins to realize the “pleasures” of past that are truly seen in their true light.  The will pursues these illusionary goods, as Eve pursued the forbidden fruit.  With a sharper conscience, we are more attuned with the Holy Spirit and his grace.  We are able to detect the dirt of sin and the littlest stain on our soul upsets us.  This is the type of certain and rightly formed conscience we need.

If you are interested in learning more about Christian Counseling Courses, then please click here.

Mark Moran, MA

Nigeria: The Deadliest Place to Be a Christian

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

The article, “Nigeria: The Deadliest Place to Be a Christian”, William Stark states

“With countries like North Korea, Pakistan and Somalia topping the list as some of the world’s worst persecutors of Christians, it’s hard to imagine that none of these countries hold the highest Christian death toll.”

American Institute Health Care Professionals‘s insight:

Modern day martyrs defending their faith at the hands of anti-Christ.  This is a sad event of intolerance towards Christians and is very common in Islamic countries, or those countries they seek to overrun.

Nigeria is no different.  Split in two by Islam and Christianity, the Islamic element seeks to destroy the Christian counterpart.

Much prayer needs to be said in these hard times.  The Christians of Nigeria suffer greatly at the hands of persecution and raids by Islamic militants.

If you are interested in taking courses in Christian Counseling, then please review the program.  By taking courses in Christian Counseling, one can become eligible for certification.

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See on www.religiontoday.com

Want to Become a Christian Counselor: Where is Our Vocation?

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling: Daily Life is Where We Will Find Our Vocation

So much time is spent in Christian Counseling hoping to discern a vocation.  Should I marry or enter the religious life?  With such uncertainty, counseling can offer ways to find discernment.  The Ignatian model of discernment is an excellent way to discern spirits and vocations, but today, I do not want to focus on aides of discernment.  Instead I would rather emphasize what we already know–that we are called to know, love, serve God and our to love our neighbor as yourself.  No vocation will ever flourish unless we already lead a Christian life.

How much energy is lost over worry?  Uncertainty and chaos are forces of the enemy that seeks to uproot peace and take our mind off our daily duty.  Daily duty is the key of vocation.  What we do on a daily basis is vocation of the present.  God can see our final end.  We are clearly a work in process, but our final spiritual product is not our “vocation”.  Vocation is not a goal at a top of a mountain but is a continual evolving thing with various phases.  So while many seek their vocation they should already have it in their daily life.  As they live their vocation, it will develop and grow through the grace of the Holy Spirit.

So is our vocation complete when one becomes a priest, minister or religious, or if one marries their spouse?  We may see it as final accumulation, but the reality is it has already started and will continue to progress.  That moment is of no greater value in our vocation than today, as we go to work, school, or perform various acts of charity.

What we need to see is that our vocational call is not at a particular moment, but a life process.   Prayer to fulfill one’s daily vocation and unlock what God wants us to do is the key.  St. Teresa the Little Flower emphasized this in her teachings.  She found her vocation in performing the most menial tasks because that is what the day brought.  In fulfilling daily tasks, she fulfilled her vocation.  The same way, our daily lives will unfold to what God wills.  As finite creatures, we cannot see the overall picture and this is why we must trust in the Holy Spirit to guide us each day in fulfilling our daily vocation.

If you are interested in learning more about Christian Counseling and certification, then please review our program.

For those who want to become a Christian Counselor, you can take the required courses to become certified in Christian Counseling.

Mark Moran, MA

Christian Spiritual Counseling Certification Program: You Are Already Forgiven

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Christian Counseling: Sin is Forgiven, We Need to Only Seek Forgiveness

Christians as they go through life bear much guilt.  While non-believers will mock Christian guilt over sin as a psychological malady, we know much better.  Christian Counselors can help their spiritual children by emphasizing that while guilt leads to contrition, it can also lead to despair.

The reality is we are already forgiven.  We need merely to tap into the sacrifice of the cross and bathe in the precious blood of Christ.  The grace is already there and the payment for the sin has already been paid.

We sometimes waver back and forth in our temptations.  We sometimes find victory, we sometimes find defeat.  Christ understands the weakness of our broken human nature.  He is patient and loving.  He will utilize our failings to later raise us up.  The moment we recognize that “I” or “Me” is uncapable of overcoming our shortcomings and we place our faith and hope in Christ, then we shall find greater strength in temptation.

Padre Pio spoke of temptation as a battle.  He said to take heart in temptation for it means the evil one does not have you.  He said to place all faith in Christ and remove any ego centric language for that is where the devil is.   In this way, as we struggle, we should not find despair but realize we are being tested for a greater end.

If we do fall, realize Christ is not surprised, he already knew our sins before we were born.  He is merely working with us until we reach our final goal which is him.  He is always there even when we sin.  The sin merely weakens our ability to see and feel him.  The moment we sin, we should bounce back–Christ is there and waiting.  He was not surprised or grudge holding in our offense– in fact he is ready to move on.  Some saints have likened Christ’s love to that of an obsessed lover, who never sleeps or rests when their beloved is gone.  In sin, we leave Christ, but he worries until we return and embrace him.

In this, take peace in your failings and strive harder to overcome them for as long we are engaged in Christian perfection, our failings while natural, will become less and less over time.

If you are interested in learning more about our program, then please click Christian Spiritual Counseling Certification Program.  Our Christian Spiritual Certification program has core courses that after being passed makes one eligible for certification.

Mark Moran, MA

 

How to Pray in the Midst of Crises

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

The article, “How to Pray in the Midst of Crises”, David Standford states

“How should we respond in the midst of crises? The short answer is: by praying. Here are some examples from the Psalms.”

American Institute Health Care Professionals‘s insight:

In our most turmoil, we sometimes do not realize that God is closest, but he still needs to hear our prayer.  This is when prayer is most beneficial.  In these moments of desolation, Christ and God is very close to our heart.  We may not realize it, but we are being carried in these moments.

St Teresa of Avila teaches that when we feel most abandoned is when Christ is most near.  The soul learns that it needs God to survive and the yearning is a teaching process of the soul’s dependence upon God.  It also can merit for us, through the Holy Spirit’ kindness, much grace in our spiritual development.  We in this way show God we are with him regardless of blessings or misfortune, as Job was.

If you are interested in learning more or would like to learn where to take Christian Counseling Courses, then please review our program.  Our program has a variety of Christian Counseling Courses that can be utilized towards certification of qualified professionals.

Thank you for your interest in where to take Christian Counseling Courses, if you have any other questions, please let us know

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See on www.crosswalk.com

Alister McGrath on Why C.S. Lewis is So Important

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

The article, “Alister McGrath on Why C.S. Lewis is So Important”, by Alister McGrath states

“Alister McGrath discusses reasons for C.S. Lewis’ enduring influence as an author and Christian apologist.”

American Institute Health Care Professionals‘s insight:

C.S. Lewis one of the greatest early Twentieth Century Christian Authors was famous for a variety of books, including the Screwtape Letters.

Alister McGrath takes sometime to discuss the role of C.S. Lewis as an author and Christian apologist.

In the meantime, please review Education Program in Christian Counseling offered by AIHCP.  The Education Program in Christian Counseling offers a variety of courses that lead to certification.

For those who wish to recertify in the Education Program in Christian Counseling, must accumulate over five hundred hours of academic and clinical practice within the field of Christian Counseling.

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See on www.crosswalk.com

How to Find Spiritual Renewal at Work

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

The article, “How to Find Spiritual Renewal at Work”, by Laura Polk states

“In a normal day, it’s a wonder you find time to breathe, much less to connect with God – one you need the most during this time.”

American Institute Health Care Professionals’ insight:

Some good tips on spiritual renewal.  Remember always, your daily work is your vocation, make your very life a prayer, as St. Theresa the Little Flower did so long ago.

St Theresa the Little Flower would offer up her daily duties to God.  Whether as menial as sweeping the floor to taking out the garbage, she offered it up to God.  The crosses that we choose, even if greater, are still of our choosing.  God finds great pleasure when we accept the crosses and duties that are thrown upon us instead.  So one may fast, which is good, but by simply accepting daily duty which is beyond our control is greater because it is not within our will to do or not do.  This is how daily tasks at work can become most pleasing to God.

If you are interested in learning more about our Christian Counseling Certification Program, then please review.

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