Chapter Seven

STEP FIVE: PERSONAL CONDITIONING

In the context of this procedure, "conditioning" is defined as: "to adapt, modify, or mold." (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.)

Personal conditioning, as the fifth and final step of Biblical Directionism counseling has one primary goal: to move the counselee from individual commitment (Step Four) to the experiential reality of literal change. That is, personal conditioning is designed to implement the adaptation, modification, and molding of the counselee's state of being whereby he or she is thus able to bring his or her life into conformity with the principles and practices of God's Word.

Personal conditioning is viewed as a cooperative between counselor, counselee, and the Holy Spirit with the burden of proof resting upon the counselee in the matter of actual practice. In this regard, personal conditioning is to be not merely a short-term solution to a long-standing problem but, rather, a life-long process of adapting, modifying, and molding one's life within the framework of the Scriptures.

The short-term goal of personal conditioning is immediate adaptation, modification, and molding. The long-term goal of personal conditioning is that this process of conditioning will continue life-long but without the continual aid of the counselor. The ultimate goal of Biblical Directionism counseling is to assist the counselee in becoming free from dependency upon counselors and totally dependent upon God and His Word for the direction necessary to live in a state of well-being. Stated more succinctly, Biblical Directionism counseling has as its primary goal the hope of assisting the counselee in becoming Christ-centered and Christ-dependent. This goal can be fully realized only by way of life-long personal conditioning.

The methods employed in personal conditioning are varied and predicated to some extent by the specific situation. Personal conditioning may be accomplished by the use of homework assignments, projects of various types, or cooperative arrangements between the counselee and other involved persons. Essential to the success of any personal conditioning is the need to make clear to the counselee both the reason why a particular adaptation, modification, or molding is required and how he or she may actually implement such as is required.

The acceptance of personal conditioning as the fifth and final step of Biblical Directionism counseling is based upon the belief that genuine change must ultimately be evidenced in the empirical.

Scriptural Methodology

Essential to literal conditioning is the need, on the part of the counselee, to know and understand the reason and the rationale of the biblical principles necessary for positive change. Most especially is this true if the process of personal conditioning is to continue life-long. Then, the counselee must develop a system of what may be properly termed "continuing education." It is the goal of personal conditioning to initiate both a process of "immediate" and "continuing" education.

The Scriptural premise upon which this final step is developed is found in the Book of Ezekiel. "They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean." Ezekiel 44:23.

The process of personal conditioning, as illustrated in the above text, is two-fold. First, "They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common." This corresponds with short-term conditioning whereby the counselor assists the counselee in immediate adaptation, modification, and molding. Second, "show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean." This corresponds with the long-term goal of conditioning whereby the counselee becomes skilled at the use of God's Word and is able to make any necessary distinction without the continual need of a human counselor.

The word translated "teach" in the NIV is the Hebrew word "yara." "The basic idea of the root 'yara' is 'to throw' or 'to cast' with the strong sense of control by the subject. The three most frequent uses of this root deal with shooting arrows, sending rain, and teaching." Thus, teaching is an act of "throwing out" or "pointing out." One might correctly restate the verse by translating "yara" as such---"They are to point out to My people the difference between the holy and the common."

The first part of personal conditioning involves "pointing out" or "teaching" the counselee the course of right action. The Hebrew word translated "distinguish" in the NIV is translated "discern" in the KJV. The word represented here is "yada" meaning, in this context, "to distinguish." The word "distinguish," as applied here, is defined as "to perceive a difference in: mentally separate."

The second part of personal conditioning is to bring the counselee to the place where he or she is personally able to "mentally separate" right attitude and action from wrong attitude and action based upon his or her ability to "distinguish" on the basis of God's Word.

Thus, if the concepts of "teach My people the difference" and "show them how to distinguish" are divided correctly, we see clearly the two-fold application of personal conditioning. This two-fold application is actually the closure point of Biblical Directionism counseling so far as the counselor is concerned, and is totally open-ended as far as the counselee is concerned.

Why God Imposes Conditioning

The reason for God's imposition of personal conditioning upon His people is simply that without it man would never move on into corrective action nor would real maturation ever be possible. This principle is clearly illustrated in the following Scriptures. "Jesus replied, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.'" Luke 9:62.

"But now that you know God---or rather are known by God--how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?" Galatians 4:9

"Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on into maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction on baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so. It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because of their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace." Hebrews 6:1-6.

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." II Timothy 3:16-17.

Failure to move on into personal conditioning, whereby one's life is adapted, modified, and molded by the will and way of God is a primary cause of late-phase failure in most counseling cases. The process of determinative profiling, comparative silhouetting, redemptive confrontation, and individual commitment may all move effectively; but failure to go on into personal conditioning will always result in a breakdown of the counseling process. Man must ever be motivated to move forward into the life-long process of personal conditioning.

How God Accomplishes Conditioning

God accomplishes personal conditioning in much the same manner as He accomplishes the process of "redemptive confrontation." Here again, let it be understood that the human counselor is only one of many instruments used of the Lord in the rehabilitation of His children. Nevertheless, personal conditioning is one of the elements of God's dealings with man whereby the individual (the counselee) must bear the weight of responsibility.

Through the written Word, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and the use of human counselors, God may communicate His will and way; but, in the final analysis, it is the individual's willingness to cooperate which determines the outcome. Once the individual enters the adaptation, modifying, and molding stage of conditioning, another of God's methods for impelling positive change comes into play. This might be termed the "law of sowing and reaping."

This law is well defined in the following text. "Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load. Any one who receives instruction in the Word must share all good things with his instructor. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."   Galatians 6:4-10.

The good harvest of right actions is a powerful influence for continual conditioning. The rewards of adapting, modifying, and molding one's life according to the principles of God's Word are usually sufficient as an inducement to life-long orthopraxis. The wonderful thing about the instruction given in God's Word is that it works exactly as promised!

Experiential Methodology

If personal conditioning is a generic final step in biblical counseling, the Scriptures ought to abound with clear evidence of it. The following selections are only representative of a vast quantity of such evidence.

Biblical Case Studies

Two angels counsel lot and his family.

"With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, 'Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.' When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, 'Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!' But Lot's wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt." Genesis 19:15-17, 26.

Here personal conditioning is in the form of a specific command, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain!" (:17).

Naomi counsels Ruth.

"One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, 'My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, and don't let him know that you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.' 'I will do whatever you say,' Ruth answered. So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son." Ruth 3:1-6; 4:13.

In this case, personal conditioning is in the form of a difficult and unusual recommendation. What Naomi asks of her daughter-in-law is so strange that only Ruth's commitment to doing right could have possibly sustained her through the literal implementation.

Elisha counsels Naaman.

"Elisha sent a messenger to him to say, 'Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.' But Naaman went away angry and said, 'I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.  Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?' So he turned and went off in a rage. Naaman's servants went to him and said, 'My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then when he tells you, wash and be cleansed!' So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy." II Kings 5:10-14.

The tremendous element of humility involved here initially became a barrier to Naaman's healing. Personal conditioning often requires the breaking of the pride barrier. In this case, personal conditioning was essential, in that only by following Elisha's specific command, "Go, wash seven times in the Jordan" (:10), could he be healed.

God counsels Ananias concerning Saul.

But the Lord said to Ananias, 'Go! This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.' Then Ananias went to the house and entered it.  Placing his hands on Saul, he said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord---Jesus, Who appeared  to you on the road as you were coming here---has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength." Acts 9:15-19.

God's call to Ananias for personal conditioning was no easy thing. The reputation of Saul was such that Ananias had good reason to fear for his life. The biblical call to personal conditioning is often a risky thing by man's standard, and only the genuinely committed will actually take that step of adaptation, modifying, and molding.

Premier Case Study: Nathan counsels David.

"'But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.' After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleased with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. 'Is the child dead?' he asked. 'Yes,' they replied, 'he is dead.' Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions, and changed his clothes he went in the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her.  She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; and because the Lord loved him, He sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah." (Note: Jedidiah means loved by the Lord.) II Samuel 12:14-16; 19-20a; 24-25.

While the ways of God are always infinitely above the ways of men, this particular account of God's dealing is so extraordinary that it defies full explanation. However, the call to personal conditioning is a call to David's heart; that is, a call to remain faithful to God through the pain and embarrassment of public exposure and the death of the son conceived by his adulterous relationship to Bathsheba.

The Results

Two angels counsel Lot and his family (Genesis 19:15-17; 26).

The results of personal conditioning here are mixed. Lot and his two daughters are obedient, while Lot's wife failed to adapt. As a result, Lot and his daughters are saved, and his wife is lost. Such is always the result of obedience/disobedience. Those who adapt, modify, and mold their lives to the personal conditioning call of God will experience reward; those who refuse, no matter how well-intentioned, will experience loss.

Naomi counsels Ruth (Ruth 3:1-6; 4:13).

The result of personal conditioning here is obvious. "So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son" (4:13).

Elisha counsels Naaman (II Kings 5:10-14).

The results of obedience to personal conditioning are clearly expressed in verse 15: "his flesh was restored and became like that of a young man."

God counsels Ananias concerning Saul (Acts 9:15-19).

The results of personal conditioning here is actually two-fold. Both Ananias and Saul receive the benefits of obedience to God's command. It is most often the case that when any individual remains faithful to the personal conditioning required as a consequence of his or her commitment to God, others will surely benefit also.

Premier Case Study: Nathan counsels David (II Samuel 12:14-16; 19-20a; 24-25).

For the purpose of recapitulation, all five stages of Nathan's counseling of David will be reviewed here.

Step One: Determinative Profiling (II Samuel 12:1).
God reveals to Nathan all the facts concerning David's sin with Bathsheba.   Consequently, Nathan is able to proceed with his counseling without fear of misdiagnosis or misdirection.

Step Two: Comparative Silhouetting (II Samuel 12:1-6).
Nathan takes the determinative profile data provided by God and projects (compares) that data over against the righteous standard of God's law. David becomes so incensed at the injustice of the case that he sees clearly the incongruence between the act committed and the standard violated.

Step Three: Redemptive Confrontation (II Samuel 12:7a).
Following the clearly defined comparative silhouetting and David's declaration that the man was deserving of punishment, Nathan brings David face to face with the reality of his own sinful condition.

Step Four: Individual Commitment (II Samuel 12:12-13).
David was king and, as such, was all-powerful in matters of government and law. He might easily have sentenced Nathan to prison or condemned him to be executed. Nathan's confrontation of David required an individual commitment from the King. David must either commit to God's call and repent or commit to rejecting God's call and order Nathan's punishment. That David committed to God's call for repentance is confirmed in his own words, "I have sinned against the Lord" (:13).

Step Five: Personal Conditioning (II Samuel 12:14-16; 19-20a; 24-25).
In this final step, the call to personal conditioning is expressed in Nathan's warning, "The son born to you will die" (:14). Even after his powerful expression of individual commitment (:13), David might easily have refused to enter this final phase . However, his willingness to adapt, modify, and mold is implicit in his attitude and actions immediately following Nathan's warning that the son born to Bathsheba would die. This same willingness is explicit in verse twenty (20), "Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions, and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped."

The final result of David's willingness to enter conditioning is revealed in verse twenty-four (24), "Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him..."

Summary

The Premier Case Study of Nathan's counseling of David illustrates clearly the relationship each of the five steps of Biblical Directionism counseling has with the other. Quite naturally, all five steps tend to interface with one another and must be viewed with libration when considering actual implementation. While totally ridged, sequential actuation would tend to weaken the system's natural effectiveness; it is equally true that indiscriminate application of the Five Steps would disrupt the inherent balance of this methodologically derived system of biblical counseling.

The Premier Case study also illustrates the fact that Biblical Directionism counseling is no quick or easy way out of a problem. David and Bathsheba lost the illegitimate son born of their adulterous union; David's sin was made known to the nation; and David's older sons apparently loathed their father from that time on. Yet, God did forgive and offer a pattern for recovery. God's ways are not paths of least resistance, but they are always paths of righteousness, and reward of righteousness ought to be sufficient inducement for conditioning one's life according to the Word of God.

To bring a counselee to a place of commitment then fail to lead him or her on to actual adaptation, modification, and molding of his or her state of being to the infallible standards of God's Word, is to violate a simple and basic premise of sound reasoning. "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good and evil." Hebrews 5:14.

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brother, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." II Peter 1:5-11.

END OF CHAPTER QUESTIONS

Chapter 7

Instructions:  After reading the chapter, study each question.  Try to determine the correct answer without referring back.   Check the accuracy of your answer by clicking the hyperlinked portion of the question.  The link takes you to the correct place in the chapter.

Q.1  Define the term "PERSONAL CONDITIONING" as presented in the text.

Q.2  List the "short-term" and "long-term" goals of personal conditioning.

Q.3  What is the "ultimate" goal of Directionism counseling?

Q.4  Define the Hebrew words "YARA" and "YADA" as used in Ezekiel 44:23. How do these Hebrew words relate to the concept of personal conditioning?

Q.5  Explain why God imposes personal conditioning.

Q.6   In the end, what is the most critical factor which determines the outcome of Biblical Directionsim counseling?

Finished?

Have you completed the entire course?  If so, congratulations!  May God help you and bless your efforts as you use the knowledge gained in this course to bring hope and healing to those in need.

Course Navigator: [Table of Contents]  [Introduction]   [Chapter One]  [Chapter Two]   [Chapter Three]  [Chapter Four]   [Chapter Five]  [Chapter Six]   [Chapter Seven]  [Bibliography]

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