Prayer To Begin A Counseling Session

I begin counseling with a prayer

I begin with a prayer before every counseling session.  I also close with prayer.  The reason I open with prayer is to bring the Holy Spirit into the session.  I specifically request in my prayer that God share His mind with us. (1 Corinthians 2:16 “…for we have the mind of Christ.”

I believe that when we pray for the mind of Christ He commingles His vast and unlimited wisdom with our everyday thoughts.  In counseling, I have the wisdom of great psychological minds that I have learned through my graduate studies.  In addition,  I believe the Holy Spirit has joined the session and is imputing His knowledge through mine and the client’s  mind.

We Pray Through The Entire Session

Because we have asked God to join the session the entire time period is one big prayer.  We discuss our problems with the Holy Spirit, we confess our sins to God, we ask His forgiveness for our sins and we petition God to intervene in our lives to bless us.  Our prayer is continuous. (1 Thess. 5:17)

Because we have prayed, there are times when the Holy Spirit chooses to intercede during the session by stepping through time and space!  The intercession is insight of the problem that we’re discussing.  Both the client and I have become vessels of God.

Prayer Strengthens the Client’s Faith

The prophet, Habakkuk says: The righteous will live by His faith.   Whose faith?   His faith, not ours.  When we pray for His strength we also pray for His faith which is stronger rather than our faith which is weak (Mt. 14:31).

If the cause of the suffering is personal sin God offers cleansing, assurance of pardon and healing (Towns, 2009).