 Okay, welcome back. We'll be moving on to our next lesson and in the just for y'all to follow through. We're going to be looking at the second chapter that is understanding human needs in your textbook. And I'm at page nine. We're going to be looking at understanding human needs through a biblical perspective. But before we go there, I just would like to take on Kennedy's question. Kennedy asked the question that Kennedy asked is please talk about palliative care when you are to terminate. What are the best steps to take? Okay. So in palliative care, that there may be times and conditions in which you may you may find yourself not really being able to completely terminate a contact, especially when it comes to issues with palliative care, terminal illness, that it may be essential and needed that you have regular follow ups with your councillors also for those who are going through, you know, challenging situations, maybe dealing with a child who is differentially abled, or maybe someone who's going through a physical disability. There may be certain situations where termination may not really take place, but then there is a follow up that happens and this follow up generally takes place, maybe once in a couple of months, where there is a quick recap of where they have been. So you wouldn't completely terminate in some of these cases. You can sometimes leave it open for a re-contact and a regrouping of sessions, maybe for a short period of time, and then there may be a lull for some point of time and then it comes back. So maybe a formal termination also does not happen for many cases where, you know, there is a place where the councillor and the councillor sits and says, okay, this is, you know, we will begin to terminate. Some of them just leave, some of them, you know, say they don't want to terminate, but they will come back after six months. So it, like I said, there aren't any watertight compartments on how this needs to be done. Remember, this is a relationship and a lot can be accomplished when you begin to relate to people in their time of need. So even when, for example, if there are some clients who've actually terminated or who've said that they want to take a break of six months, and in between, you know, when I'm probably looking up a list of people to pray for, they kind of pop in my head and I just, you know, quickly send them a message and find out how they're doing. We may have a one-off session, just like a follow-up and then, and keep it at that. So I wouldn't say there are specific pointer steps, but you can keep it open, especially when there are long-term needs that may be there, especially for elderly, you know, elderly senior citizens who are left home alone without real support. So a counselor who's actually just helping to build contact once in a while really helps them to deal with whatever they may be going through, right? Okay. All right, we're going to get on to our fresh chapter, and this, I think, is one of the most exciting chapters in this book. And I'd like you all to see this, not from a counselor's perspective, but I'd like you all to see it from a perspective of your own understanding and understanding your own human needs and how you can grow through this. So I'm just requesting if we can keep questions to the end so that I can, you know, finish this at one floor because I don't want to break it up and take it on to the next class because the entire essence of this is lost. So if you can keep your questions to the end, we'll probably have around five, ten minutes at the end to work through some of these questions. Just give me a minute as I just share the slides. Okay. So the next chapter that we are looking at is understanding human needs. Okay, so we've kind of established what counseling is about. We know that it is a process. A counseling is based on a relationship that has empathy, that has acceptance, that has trust. And within this relationship, the counselor focuses on the client's feelings, the thoughts, the actions, and also helps guides, empowers them to cope with what they may be going through to explore options to make their own decisions, to make them responsible for those decisions. And one of the goals of Christian counseling is to bring every person to a maturity in Christ. So we've established the beginnings of this. Okay. And what we need to look at is, so maybe let me give you an example. Let's say when you buy a phone or buy some kind of appliance or a gadget, what you need to do is you really need to look back and find out how this entire thing works. Okay. I know for those of you who are a generation much younger than me, you don't even need a manual, you know, you just have to click a few buttons and you figured it out. But maybe for me, on an older generation, require that manual or maybe let's say something that's new you haven't used before, you go back to a manual to understand how it works. And even in counseling, something that, you know, we need to understand is that when you are learning, or when you're learning how to deal with man, you also need to understand this man or what his personality or what these what goes on inside of the person. Okay, now that's that's a very crucial thing for us as for for a counselor to do that. So even, you know, psychologists and those who are in the secular field place a big emphasis on this thing on the fact that that one of the thing the most important things one must do before they counsel is to understand a personality or to find out a theory of personality. As Christian counselors, we know that understanding who God is, his nature, who his purposes, what he has for us is the foundation of understanding even man. Okay, and that becomes foundational in our relationship with the counseling. So, so for us as Christian counselors, it's knowing who God is and how God created man to be really helps us to understand your, your counseling. Okay, so to get to get to an understanding what are we, what are we going to be looking at when we look at personality, we need, we understand that we need like I've saying we need to understand the nature of God, and we need to understand the nature of man. So when we're looking at the nature of God, what are we doing is to finding out an understanding who is God, what is our image of God, what to, where do we get our image of God, how do we understand who God is, and the image of picture we have of God is influenced by many factors. Okay, we, we understand it by the study of scriptures, we understand it through our own prayer life to our personal prayer life, through the teaching of the word that we have received. Some of some of some of things that we understand about God is what has been modeled by our own parents, or what has been revealed by the Holy Spirit. Okay, so when we look at at what is our image of God, and when we look at all that we said collectively, we see that God is eternal. He is powerful. He's perfect. He's personal. He is relational. So we see these different aspects of God. Okay, so he's eternal that he, there is no beginning and end to him. He's powerful. He has his sovereign. He has everything in his power and control and authority. He's perfect. There is no blemish in God, no lie, nothing in God that is imperfect. He's personal. That is he relates. He's a relation. He's a personal God that he, he has, you see in the Bible of how there are emotions that God displays what his thoughts are towards us. So he's a personal God and he's a relational God. We see that the relationship that he shares in the Trinity, the son, the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. He's a relational there and his desire to be relational to his creation also. So these are some of the attributes that we see. Okay. So we, we agree that, you know, a theory of personality is important and we understand as Christians that we base our foundation on what the Bible says about the nature of God. Now what does the Bible say about the nature of man? What does the Bible say about the nature of man? We understand that man is made in God's image. And if we really need to understand people and all their problems, we need to understand how God made man and how he, how, how he created us to be. So scripture shows us that we were made in the likeness of God. And thus you and I are seen as image bearers, Genesis 126 to 27, very familiar verse. It says, then God said, let us make human beings in our image to be like us. So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. So he created us in his image, in the same nature and image that he is, he created us. So he created us in the image of God. So what does it mean to be an image bearer, to be an image bearer God and to reflect God. So it means to resemble God when I'm, so when you look at yourself in the mirror, it is an exact replica of, of who you are. That's what you're seeing in the mirror. And so when we are an image bearer of God, we were created to resemble God and to reflect God just like how he is. Now we need to understand this because if we don't, if we don't understand this, we are greatly, you know, limited in our approach, in the way that we approach people. For it's only when we understand the design that has gone into how we are made that anything significant can be done. Like, you know, only if you know what, what buttons lead you to do something on the phone, can you actually work out a problem. So similarly, only until you know your design, would you be able to know what can significantly work out of that. So why is it we need to understand man? It is, if we need to repair something, an understanding is needed of how it is made. So the more complex the problem, the more greater or detailed should our understanding be. Like, you know, you go to the doctor, if you're going with a fever, he will say, okay, do these things. But let's say with the fever, there are some hundred other things, there is a lot more of detailed tests that he needs to do to really understand what's going on. So the greater the understanding, the easier it is for us to work alongside with God to seek how we can bring back and restore the image God has for fallen man. Okay, so we understand the nature of God, we understand the nature of man that we are his image bearers, and we are created to be, we were created to be like him. So when we look at this of how God made man, we see these three specific points, okay, that people are God made man as a free moral agent. Which means he gave each one of us the will and the right to make a choice. He's given us the ability and the decisions and the ability to make those decisions. However, we don't have the right to choose our consequence. We have the right to choose what we want to do, but there may be a consequence that will follow both in this life and for eternity. So that's how we see or how we see man has been made. Secondly, man is been made as an eternal being. If you look at Matthew chapter 25 verses 41 and 46, it says then the king will turn to those in the left and say away with you you cursed once into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. So man is an eternal being and God has placed eternity in our hearts. So there is going to be a place where we are going to be either with him to live forever or in eternal hell or eternal fire. So God made man as a free moral being, a free moral agent where we use our own wills and the right to make choices but not to choose the consequence we were made as an eternal being. And thirdly, God has given the right for man to choose his eternal destiny. He has given us the right to choose that as it says in John 5 24. It says, I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death to life. And that choice is something that God has given each one of us. So to understand this is important for us as we move ahead in knowing what are the needs that we have. So as we were explaining this, what does it mean to be an image bearer of God or bearer of God's image or bearer of divine image? Now if we look at this, we try to represent it as best as possible. To be an image bearer like we figured out and we understood is to resemble God and reflect his nature. Now God, before the fall, prior to the fall, Adam and Eve or man was perfectly valued, perfectly loved and was perfectly significant. This were inherent attributes in man because he bore the image of God. I know sometimes it gets very difficult for us to understand this because right now in the fallen state that we may be in, we always need to be loved, to be accepted, to be significant. But because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we experience this perfectly loved, being perfectly valued, being perfectly significant. Yet there are glitches in that, right? So prior to the fall, Adam and Eve never experienced this need of wanting to be loved or wanting to be valued or wanting to be significant. These three things was already inherently there in them. But this changed when fall happened, when sin took place. But they still do have the capacity for security or significance and worth, but they have no way of actually satisfying it. So as the bearers of divine God's image, we have these inherent attributes that were perfectly loved, valued and having significance or having meaning and purpose. But it all changed when sin came into this entire equation. Now quickly, just to help us understand, and I know some of this we dealt with in emotional wholeness, but just to quickly bring this together. There are passages in the Bible that clearly establish the fact that man is a triune being that is composed of the spirit, the soul and the body. And some of those that we spoke about was 1 Thessalonians 523. It says, I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we are made in his image in this way. Now, just to quickly bring about and establish some difference between these three is, let's look at the spirit first. When before sin or before the fall, the spirit of man was one with God. The spirit of man was one with God. And that's where I spoke about, we have those inherent attributes of just being loved and valued and having that purpose. There was never a question about it because the spirit of man has was joined with the spirit of God. But when the human race fell in Adam, sin closed that window of the spirit. And that part of the spirit became like a death chamber. And it remains so in every unregenerated heart until the light and the life giving power of the Holy Spirit floods this dead chamber with the life and light giving power of the new life we have in Christ Jesus, right? So we were one with God in spirit where we had value and love and acceptance. When the fall happened, it became like a death chamber until a point of time we face regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit because of our new life in Christ Jesus. So it is then that the spirit of man becomes the sphere of God consciousness. It's that inner or private place of man where the work of regeneration takes place. So that's the spirit, okay? Now when we look at the soul, remember man not only has a living soul, but he is a living soul. So the Bible says in Genesis 2.7, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. So he became a living soul. So we must be careful not to confound that which is spiritual and that which is soulish. We have seen that the spirit of man is the sphere of activity where the Holy Spirit operates. Just so is the soul, the sphere of activity where Satan operates making sure that the affections and emotions of man are targeted. So Satan knows full well that he dominates the soulish part or the psychical part or the part of our minds. He knows that we as his victims are people of emotions and for him it doesn't matter whether you cry or you are sentimental. As long as your spirit does not come in contact with God's spirit, he continues to attack the soulish part of it. So the soul is the seat of our passions, our feelings, our desires and Satan is satisfied that he can master these in this area. So it is also the seat of affections, the right or wrong of love, hate, lust, the appetites of our body. Like you know it says in Peter, I think it's 2 Peter 211, it says, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. So the soul of man has his affections and desires which are not directed to God until after the spirit has become regenerated. So man cannot love God nor the things of God until he is born from above. A man may have a troubled conscience or be stirred emotionally but still can remain dead in trespass and in sins. So man's desires and affections are turned towards God only when he realizes his sinful condition and how God's grace is there in salvation. So when the spirit of God illuminates the spirit of a man with light and life, the man begins to yield his affections of his soul, desires, affections of his soul to God. So it is important to understand this and of course man being a triune being, he also has a body in which we have the interaction with the outside. And we will talk about this a little more in length. So when we're looking at us being the bearers of God's image as image bearers, how do we resemble and reflect God? And there are five areas of functioning that earlier, this is what I was, Sam I was talking about these five areas of functioning. So as a bearer of God's image, we have these five areas of functioning. The first one is our spiritual being. So as God is spirit, this finds expression in man as the image of God. So at the core of our personality lies an area of being that can function effectively only when the spirit is in contact with God. There is that God shaped vacuum and we have that deep yearning for a close and that intimate relationship with God. So that's the spiritual being and this is there even in everyone, in every person God has created. There is a place of vacuum that only God can fill and there is that deep yearning for that close relationship with God so that they can bear that image. So that's the first one, that's a spiritual being. The second is the rational being. The rational being is man having the ability to reason, the ability to understand, the ability to comprehend and scripture places a big deal or a great deal on the emphasis on man's ability to think. So we are spiritual beings, we are rational beings, we are volitional beings. What is volitional beings? The volitional being is the part of you or the faculty where you have which gives you the ability to make a choice or faculty of choosing the will. So man like God has the power to set his will to choose and even to move in different directions. So man's not a puppet, God didn't make man as a puppet but was given a free will and many elements or things that will influence our decisions. But the Bible is extremely clear that we are responsible for those choices. You are given the free will but we are responsible for those choices. So God has given man a will to choose and to decide. The next part is man, God has made man as an emotional being. Now we see that even God is an emotional being and some of the examples that I can bring up is in Hebrews 4.15 it says the high priest understands our weakness for he faced the same things that we did and yet he did not sin. So Jesus he faced the same emotions that we are facing and he went through those temptations and tests of time but yet he did not sin. These emotions play a big role in determining whether our life is meaningful or miserable. So we experience emotions which we were originally designed to experience. God designed us to experience those emotions just like how he has those emotions. And lastly is the physical being. Now God does not have a body as he is spirit but in his creation of us as human beings the image of God is designed to function in a frame. It needs a frame to function through which our spirits and our soul can be effectively expressed. So when we say we are bearers of God's image there are these specific five areas that we function from. Now I will get into detail as to why that is important. Now when we look at being bearers of God's image what we are also seeing is that we carry, when we say we are image bearers, we carry in our nature the image of God our Creator and this reality is the foundation of all Christian counseling. That God in making us like himself what did he do? He bestowed in us something called as dignity. He bestowed dignity upon us. But because of the fall people are not only dignified they are also depraved, they are wicked. So when man sinned the image of God was damaged. The image was never lost but it was marred and it was corrupted by sin. Which means the design, this image or this design that we have been given has been violated by sin and we become self-centered. There is a lot of self-concern and there is an attempt to make our lives work by our own effort rather than dependency on God. I am just going to bring this up once again. We are God's image bearers and we carry the true nature of God, of our Creator God and that's where we see that yes I am an image bearer of God. But because of the fall, so when we are his image bearers we are given that dignity. But because of the fall we are not just have dignity but we also are depraved. And when we sinned that image of God became damaged or became marred or became collared, became blurred. It did not go away, the image was never lost but it became marred and was corrupted by sin. Which means the design has been violated by sin and that's why there are times of being self-centered and feeling that sense of self-preservation. Which is an attempt to ensure that we can work out things on our own life and don't require the dependency that we need from God. So what happened? When we look at, if you remember the earlier slide, as a result remember before the fall we had those innate inherent attributes of being loved, of being valued or belonged or secure and significant or having a meaning and purpose. But as a result of sin these attributes have become needs. So people still have the capacity for security, significance and worth but they have, because they have gone away from God they have no way of satisfying it. So what they do is there is that urge or the drive to meet that need of security, to meet that need of significance, to meet that need of love. And it is looked all over the place but not to God. And that's the fallen nature of man, that we depend on everything outside in the sin-fallen world to make us feel those needs, those attributes again. But we find that we fall into further sin. And these unmet needs, you know, that need when, so let me give you an example. So for people who don't feel loved, look at multiple relations for where they can feel loved. People don't find value in themselves, they hope their accomplishments will give them value, their money will give them value, maybe a relationship will give them value, maybe a name will give them value. Or at a place where there is no significance, they're looking at different things in life to give them that place of significance and purpose. They may be going in lengths to find this in order to find that sense of significance and security. So these, and it becomes needs and man continues to look for it all over and these needs become powerful motivators. So remember that the needs we are talking about becomes very vital to the effective functioning of a personality. So unless these needs are met, you don't function in yourself as a person or as a personality. So to quickly help us understand how needs become strong motivators, so let's look at a very common example. Suppose, you know, you're thirsty and that becomes your motivation, right, to go and fetch something. So there is a need, you feel thirsty and the desire becomes the desire to quench that thirst becomes a motivation. And that leads to a certain behavior where you probably go and get yourself something to drink and the goal is you don't you don't thirst anymore. Okay, so this is a very common example. So similarly, if you were to look at it at some of the needs that man has we were talking about the need to be loved. The need to feel secure, the need to be significant. So let's say here there's a need to be loved. The motivation is, you know, the desire or the, the, the, the, the, the pool to have that that sense of emotion to be fulfilled. And maybe the, and then that leads to a certain behavior. So there's probably, you know, maybe in, in different relationships, they are, they're hoping to feel that sense of need till they reach the goal of having fulfilled that specific need within them. Okay, so when we look at needs, we need to understand why do people need to live effectively is because they, because it's important for them to fulfill their needs. It's important for them to fulfill these personal needs that are there for them. So, and I'd like to categorize these needs into three kinds or bucket it into three kinds. So the first one are those casual needs or those casual longings. Often when these are not met, you know, life can just go on the same. It doesn't, it doesn't really matter. And I will bring about a certain example, certain examples to help us understand. The second is those critical needs that if these are not met, life can be a little difficult and, and a bit strenuous. And the last is those crucial, most important needs that if these are not met, the person is God just not able to function. Okay, let's, let's look at these one by one casual needs, the casual longings of a heart, what are those casual longings of a heart. So, for example, you know, these are these are some those needs that ranges from being very trivial to significant like for example, you know, I wish I can have chicken kebab today. Or I wish, you know, this restaurant is open for us to eat today. I hope it doesn't rain today. You know, I hope my people all like my cake, right. Life is really not affected by these, if these needs are not met, if they're not met, you experience some kind of discomfort, but you're able to go along. Or let's say, you know, I wish I go to the shop and get that bright color top I want. It doesn't affect you as much. So these are those casual needs that one may have. Let me give you an example. For example, you know, you booked a holiday in the summer for a break to a resort on the day of your travel. Let's say one of your family members come down with high fever and is unwell to travel. You may be disappointed, right? Or you may be sad that you couldn't do it, but it's not going to impact you as much. So these are casual needs. All of man, we all have these casual needs. Let's look at the next one, which is the critical needs. What comes in these critical needs? Critical needs are those that are often related to relationships, to money, to career, to shelter. Like critical longings are those that are met in your relationship with maybe your spouse, with your children, with your friends, all of which are important and legitimate and their important desires for quality of life and for the enjoyment of life. Or, you know, you require some money in order for you to feed your family or to have a home, have a stable place to stay in. And these become critical. So if this becomes unmet, one will definitely experience some discomfort. Sometimes the sorrow lasts like, for example, when you lose a job or when you lose a loved one, the sorrow lasts for a while, but recovery can happen over some time. They are critical. It does matter to you. It makes a difference if it isn't there, but it doesn't throw you completely off balance, right? And maybe let's look at an example of that for us to understand that. So the company that you work in has decided to retrench and you're sure that your job is at stake. You've always managed with a single income, but now with two kids at school and a huge loan to pay off your concern. So you do experience that sense of worry and concern and difficulty as to how things are going to manage. So these are what are called as, sorry, the critical needs that are there which needs to be fulfilled. The next one we're going to look at, which is the most important part of us as human beings is those crucial longings, those important needs that require, that needs to be fulfilled in us for us to keep going on. So these are the most basic and profound longings of the heart. And these desires or these needs must be met if life has to be worth living. So nothing can fill that core except what we are designed to experience and that's what we were designed to experience. Nothing can satisfy these crucial needs that comes from a kind of relationship which only God offers. When these needs go unmet, people experience that spiritual, emotional and psychological problems. You remember going back to the initial slide of what we spoke about when God made us in his image, we were inherently loved, we were inherently valued, we were inherently had meaning and purpose in life. But because of sin, this becomes needs and this becomes our crucial need and the need to feel secure, the need to have that sense of worth, the need to have that significance. And that is something that if goes unmet gets people into having spiritual, emotional and psychological problems. So these crucial needs is the security, the self-worth and the significance. And as human beings, as we grow up, we find this in our relationship with our significant loved ones, maybe our parents or people who we grow up. And that is what becomes a window of God's love to us. However, we realize that the relationship that we have with our earthly people can never be perfect as our relationship with our heavenly Father. So what happens is these crucial personal needs, these needs of love, acceptance, self-worth, security, significance becomes needs that become strong motivators. Because every one of us longs for something. Every one of us longs to have these things met in us. What does the Bible say about longings or needs? God never condemns us for those needs. God doesn't condemn you for being thirsty. He says, is anyone thirsty? Come and drink. Or the scripture that shows as the dear pants for brooks or water brooks. So my soul pants for the living God. So we all long for something. We all long to have these needs met within us. So all of us long for something. All of us, everyone is controlled by what they long for. When there is a need to be loved, we go searching after it. And any of these needs that are not satisfied, like we said, leads to those problems, spiritual, psychological, emotional problems that come about. So to understand how do we see these needs? How do we see these needs even in our councillors? Where are they at? What is the needs that actually motivate them? What are those crucial needs that they may need to have? So just quickly, just to help us to understand through a case example, so that we can... This is packed in an actual case so that we understand what are the needs you feel this person has, Miss S. So Miss S comes to the councillor for help to be more confident in her job. Her mental state reveals that she has feelings of sadness and a discontentment to life. Her past history reveals two broken relationships. Her childhood had been difficult with her trying to cope with a father who was addicted to alcohol, which led to severe discord between her parents. Her work was being affected due to her mental state. She is due for a new job interview and wants to give it her best shot. So what needs do you assess this young lady to have? So I'm just going to help us understand this so that, you know, we'd be able to pick this easier. So what is her emotional state? She's sad. She's discontented. She's dissatisfied. There's anxiety. There is fear of not being able to reach her goal. So there is a sense of a lack of self-worth. And we see that there have been problems in the way that she is related to her alcoholic father. There's been discord there. So she's grown up not being loved, not being secure in a home. And that becomes a need. And she's looking for that significance in different things. She comes to help find confidence in her job because in some scheme of understanding, she probably feels that the job is what is going to give her value, is what's going to give her significance, is what's going to bring her about self-worth. So her lack of self-worth, her lack of security and significance, she's hoping to find it all in this new job which will give her this. Yet the goal of meeting that need is uncertain. She's not sure if that's going to go. So we assess and see that her crucial needs is what she's gone through. As a result of the different things she's gone through, she's in a place where she has none of those crucial needs met. And she's looking and hoping to find it. So this need, it becomes a motivation to find a better job so that she can have a sense of worth, have a sense of value, a sense of security, a sense of significance in that. So that's just to give you an example of what that is. So like we said, the crucial personal needs that God has put into us is threefold. The sense have to have security, to have self-worth and to have significance. It's on that that we stand and we get that in our relationship with God. So as we said, the fall breaks all of that and these things becomes our needs, becomes our motivators to keep moving forward. Okay, I'm going to just move fast. Okay, let me go through this. So I want to explain these three crucial needs. So here's an example. So let's imagine a scenario where you're a victim of an earthquake, where you have lost everything you owned, your house, your bank balance, your assets, even the closest people you call your own. So what need does this evoke? So what need does this evoke? There is a sense of insecurity. Security is a place where you sense being unconditionally loved and having a sense of belonging. So for a person who's lost everything, everything, there is a place where there comes that place of insecurity that the person experiences. And we see that even in certain, you know, when we look at scripture, it shows, you know, where Jesus promises living water and he gives us an invitation. He says, anyone who is thirsty, come to me. Anyone who needs out of that living water to come to him. Or again, in Psalm 103 verse 4, it says, he redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercy. So he's the one who brings about that security. Even, you know, there are times where you hear David saying that in Psalms. It says, I thirst for you as a parched land thirst for water. So, you know, if you look at that line that we keep discussing as we've spoken about our identity, it says, you don't know who you are till you know who's you are. You don't know who you are till you know who's you are. So for this person that we spoke about, you know, one lost in the earthquake, the sense of security has become the people, the things, the values around. But when we begin to know that we are gods and our identity in him is always what carries us through, we become strong in our spiritual and in our emotional selves. Okay, so that's the sense of security, the need to be unconditionally loved, the need to belong. The next need that we are looking at is the need for self-worth. So again, an example, imagine a scenario where you were an indispensable part of the organization you worked for. Soon, one came smarter and better than you. Your organization says they are in need of you no more. And this is, you will have a lot of people come to you like this. What have they lost? They have lost their sense of self-worth, then sense of value. Okay, the sense of value that helps them think that they are of some importance. And you see that often people base their value on the wrong things. Like this quote, it says, I am not what I think I am. I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am. So a lot of times people base their self-worth on what others think of them. So if others don't think well of them, then they don't think highly of themselves too. And then they begin to look for people or places where they can fulfill this sense of self-worth and value. But the truth is our self-worth comes only from our identity in Christ. And we understand that as believers we understand that our self-worth comes only from our identity, from what we have in Christ. Okay, the last need that we have is the sense of significance. Now imagine a scenario where you as an aged parent have been asked by your child to leave the home and live in an old age home. Since you are too old to be of any use to your grandkids, what do you think you have lost? You have lost a sense of significance or a sense of purpose. What is significance? Significance is a sense of meaning and purpose that we have for our lives. What am I here for? What is the reason that I am on this earth? And this is something you would see across people. There are points of time, especially if you've seen people in their middle age, they come and say, you know, I had a lot of fun in my life. I did all that I wanted. I splurged. I had pleasure. I did all that I wanted. But I've come to a place on not understanding what the meaning and purpose of my life is. Now God has designed us in a way that we can function effectively only if we stand on the purpose that he gives us. Without that, there is nothing that we have for ourselves. So we see that the sense of significance, our real worth comes from the fact that God has something for us to do. Ephesians 2.10 says that we are God's masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do good works and something that he has planned for us to do long ago. So that significance comes only when we know that God has a specific purpose for us. So when we are looking at people, when you're looking at your counselling, what you're looking for is to understand where they are in these crucial needs. It is either that they are looking for a sense of being loved, sense of being significant or a sense of value. So quickly, I will be done in five minutes, just the last part of it. Now, in order for us to understand why problems begin in the person's life, it is, like I said, it is necessary to examine these five areas of functioning. So our physical being, we need to remember that the body is prone to dysfunction and disease. So anything that disturbs the thought or the soul can have an effect on the body. So we cannot, as a counsellor, we should not be ignoring the physical aspect. Because if you ignore that aspect, you may be missing out a very vital component which can be contributing to a person's problem. So the physical being is the area of functioning that we need to look at as we work in through counselling. Then comes, yes, the emotional being. The emotional being, as we said, is, like we said, it plays a major role in determining whether our life is meaningful or miserable. And we need to come to help to see, help the individual see that emotions are experienced because we were designed to experience it in the first place. But what we need to understand is to look to take care of those signal emotions. What do we mean by signal emotions? Sometimes there are, these signal emotions arise within us indicating that there can be a malfunction. And they are often compounded by a refusal for us to face it and feel what is going on as part of us. For example, let's take, sorry, let's take anger and resentment. You know, we believe that we must reach a certain goal in order to feel good about ourselves because something has been blocked by someone or something outside of us. And the usual reaction we have is anger and resentment. Something is blocked and we feel someone is responsible and we react with anger and resentment. And that is a signal emotion. And that helps us to see that something is going wrong. Like for example, when the wife thinks that her worth is only in having a career or earning an income. And when that becomes denied, she becomes very angry and resentful because there is an undermined goal. Or let's look at guilt or shame or embarrassment or self-pity or contempt. When the goal we are pursuing is not attainable or the failure to reach it, if we fail to reach it, it produces that sense of guilt and shame. This is because we believe that life is found by our own efforts. And when we fail to reach that specific goal, we face guilt. We face shame for not reaching that goal that we have wrongly set over us. It becomes an unreachable goal. Like for example, parents putting pressure on their children to perform leads them to a place of guilt and shame because they feel it is unreachable. And that becomes a signal emotion within them that needs to be dealt with. Or the last one of anxiety and fear that the emotions often begin as feelings of doubt or apprehension or uncertainty. And these arise out of some failure that we may not be able to reach. That failure that we won't be able to reach that goal, which makes us feel a sense of anxiety and fear. So though the goal is reachable, we are plagued with uncertainty. And there are those uncertain goals. For example, you're not willing to do an exam because you don't trust that you're going to do well. And as a result, you don't take it up. So a counselor who pays little or no attention to this emotional part of it does not regard the person as an entire being because that is a very important part of their personhood. Next one we said was the rational part, the rational being of a person. The rational, you know, scripture says as a man think it in his heart, so is he. So it is to know that the person has the capacity to think the counselor needs to help the person to think and search for solutions. The often the wrong thinking of the human mind goes unchallenged. What have been their process of thoughts, you know, thinking that they may need a job to make them feel good about themselves. They may need to pursue fame to make them feel significant. These are wrong patterns of thinking. And by overlooking that, we can be, you know, we're not really helping the person holistically. So to deal with them at their rational parts of it. The next one is the volitional being. The volitional being, like we said, you know, we have wrong beliefs. When we have wrong beliefs, there are wrong goals. And behind most of the problems, there is a wrong goal. If there is no understanding of the fact that the person can choose a counselor will fail to help the person to responsibly make a right choice to change what is happening in his life. So just like God, you know, just like God has the power to set his will, he gave us the place to choose and to move things in a certain direction. So we need to help the counseling to make those right choices because when when we think properly or when we think right in alignment with God, we are also able to make those right choices. And the last one is being a spiritual being. Now being a spiritual being only when it becomes clear why people act and behave the way they do because of these strong spiritual needs of security. Of self-worth and significance. When we begin to understand that this is their core spiritual crucial need. And then when the counselor pays attention to these deep longings, you know, we begin to help them at the core of their personality. We begin to help them see that this is what is unmet and this is what is taking you to this place. You know, maybe there's a sense of feeling unloved and that's why you're trying out multiple relationships. There is a need to feel significant and that's why you work 24-7 at your job losing everything else to it. So helping them to come to a place of understanding that. So the three central convictions that we have when we look at the personality is that people are made in the image of God with these five clear areas of functioning. That sin has broken and distorted this image. And what does counseling do is to work with God to restore them back to that image. So that's what we are aiming at as we do that. Okay. I will move away from the slide just get on to the last. So what are we doing to restoring a person back to their image? We're looking at these five areas by physically. You are looking at what is a vital component that contributes to their problem. Emotionally, you're acknowledging their feelings. Rationally, you're challenging the wrong thoughts or the wrong patterns of thinking and thereby helping them to make a good decision where they take responsibility towards that change. And help them in their spiritual place of the core of their personality. So when you're looking at counseling, you're basically looking at following this specific path. Okay. Now what is there are some often there are two parts that we generally follow. The first one is the path one is one holds that God fills the circle from outside in. First, he makes us comfortable. We trust him for health and wealth. Then as that develops, maybe our relationships improve. Our marriages are strengthened. We learn to enjoy our money or sexuality or personality as we relate to others. Then together as a community, we praise God for his goodness. His blessings leads us to a presence. But this is not a path to maturity. When we think that if everything our casual needs are met, then our crew critical needs are met and then there is satisfaction. This is not the path to maturity. What is the path to maturity? The path to maturity is when the deepest fullness comes from our knowledge of God. And that we find our significance, our worth, our security by pursuing God. When we have a fellowship with God, our fellowship with others and things around us becomes better. The latter becomes perfected and the total our total satisfaction does not work on until we reach heaven. But then it comes on forever. So if we have our crucial, our most inner needs met, the other things fall in place and our satisfaction comes by knowing that he is the one who fulfills us. Like in scripture it says, seek the kingdom of God above all else and he will give everything you need. So what is that place of maturity that we are hoping our clients to bring in is to restore them back to that image of God. To reconnect their spirits back to God. Wherever that insecurity or inferiority or insignificance comes about is to bring them back by restoring and reconnecting their spirits back to God. So that their problems or their psychological problems come to a place of null and void because they have seen every one of their needs being met in the presence and in the power of God. Yes, I know I've done actually a really quick marathon but it really helped to work these out together. I know we are off time, we are five minutes into time but is there any specific questions that y'all would want to bring up? Any specific questions? Okay, Elisha said, counseling in effect can be an effective evangelism too. I think when God when done with Christ focus, absolutely. You know, that's why when we were speaking about difference between Christian and secular counseling, Christian counseling deals with the heart of the matter with deals with these crucial needs that the only thing that can meet us is God and our identity in God. Everything else becomes a chasing after the wind, right? So that's the huge and biggest difference in this that when we begin to see that we don't have to earn our security, our acceptance, our insignificance, we don't have to earn it. And that's what people don't see, those who do not belong to Christ don't see. They attempt to earn it on their own efforts, maybe in work, in relationships, in sex, in money, in looks, they earn it. But for those who believe we are, it is there inherently given to us and we live a life out of fulfillment out of that, even though there may be issues with relationships, even though there may be issues with other things around, maybe not a good job or physical disability, whatever. But because of what comes from within, we live fulfilling lives and that's what we are hoping to focus on, right? Any questions? It gives me goosebumps when I keep doing this lesson because it's so beautiful that we can experience this. Yes, I will, I will ensure that you can have the presentation. Yes, Sam, you'll go ahead. I think you've lifted a hand. Thank you. Thank you, Prasad. Prasad, I think like you mentioned, one is it's such a crucial concept to understand and you had just this one hour, so I don't think it's fair to... I'm thinking if it's possible at all to just spend some more time on this a little bit next week, if at all it's possible. Sure. Yeah, I think I'm dealing a little bit with needs, you know, so like the thoughts around needs, I mean one perspective is we have these needs and hence we act out of these three nature of needs. Yeah. A lot of things that are acting out of these needs and I'm thinking, so there are these other school of thoughts, especially the secular school of thoughts and borderlining to Buddhism as well, which talks about all of these needs are actually illusion and the one solution is to kind of strip oneself out of these needs. And so that's one. But even the other thing is like, so as, you know, so I think as Christian counselors, if our goal is to help our counselors to rightly adjust their displaced needs to the source, who is God. So in that, so there's the danger of, you know, displacing it versus, you know, I'm imagining a person who might say like, I don't have the need to be loved. Like, you know, like, I just don't feel that need to be loved. I can love people and I can serve. So maybe a person like so how do I identify like I don't have a need of self worth. Like, could they be people who select, you know, I don't have a need for self worth and I don't need to be recognized. I just, I'm happy with who I am. So I'm having like, does this do do these needs. Like one blanket rule is to say that yes, everyone has these, which may be true. So exploring that like, is it an absolute truth or could there be people who may have the needs but they might on the surface might might be claiming like, you know, I don't need a self worth. Yes. It's a lot of thoughts around that. Yeah, so we can I think we will probably spend maybe half an hour next week, a one clarifying doubts and maybe just going through this quickly again. So if you all have questions and I'm sure a lot of you have them as you're thinking about it, please read through the second chapter, I will add in the notes as well for you. I mean the presentation as well for you so read in, put down your thoughts and your questions and we will handle it to the first first couple of minutes in the next class so we'll do that. Just to Samuel just to add to what you said is that these are attributes and needs that universally man experiences, even look for those, you know, like many of when you're looking at Buddhism for those who you're saying that they're they're called to strip themselves of their needs. Now that that seems a lot intellectual in its in its way. But emotionally is it something that is that is practical because we were all wired with that that need to be loved need to be maybe in it's in different degrees maybe some requires more significance but then these are those three crucial ones. I'd say, and I think if let's say a person who does not have the need to be loved, there seems to be a significant issue in their personality, or as a result of their upbringing or a result of their experiences in their lives they've just shut that need because it's never been fulfilled for them in their growing up so it becomes like an absolute dead chamber for them that they don't explore it because it's never been. It's not something that they've ever experienced, and they've come to lie and deceive themselves that that they don't need to be loved, or it isn't something that is an important component I would see that there definitely has a history to that. And so if you I'm going to use loosely use this word called sociopath that people generally use. If you look at those who have a personality issue like that definitely have difficult childhood experiences. They have unemotional experiences in their childhood that makes them to understand that love is not an emotion that should be felt. So it's a deception it's a lie that people stick on to when they may come to a place of understanding that they don't need it and so they are free from it. And that makes them even more vulnerable to a place of of of raw of sin or wickedness because nothing comes out of love or there isn't there isn't any anything that drives their actions there isn't even a conscience that that's actually working which means it's completely dead and in spirit, but this is something. So that's how I'd see it. Maybe I'll also mull over that question and see if there's, you know, in any other way that that that can be answered as well. Okay. Yeah, thank you so much for for staying in this long and for your patience. We will meet again next week. God bless. Thank you.