 Good morning everybody. Welcome to week two of our class to all the students sitting here and all those online students as well as those who joined us on the e-learning portal. Today we're going to move on with our chapters on counseling. We're going to do a very interesting chapter today and this is just not in the light of counseling but also for us understanding ourselves and where we are at. So quick recap about what we did last week. What are some topics that we spoke about last week? Sorry, rather loudly. How to counselor? Are you? How not to counselor? Okay, what counseling is what counseling is not okay. Okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. Right. So what are some of the principles we spoke about last week? Individualization. What does that mean? What is individualization? Yeah, so every person has a right and a dignity of who they are. Okay. The next one. Purposeful expression of feelings. What is purposeful expression of feelings? Okay. Good. All right. Mm-hmm. And also how you respond to them should be in, the expression should be controlled. I mean, you should not be lost in your expressions. Okay. Mm-hmm. Which is? Yeah. So you let the person make their own determined choices. You don't force them with the choices. Okay. Acceptance. Acceptance. Which is? Yeah. So you accept them for who they are. And no point of judgment towards that. Okay. Non-judgmental attitude. Confidentiality. Okay. So the seven principles is what this is. These are some of the overarching principles we have. And that's what we, as we help people. That's how we keep these in mind, these principles in mind. Okay. Today, I'm just going to, I'll just present my screen. Okay. Is this, can you see? Okay. All right. So today we are going to be looking at the next chapter, which is how do we understand people or how do we understand human and the needs of people? Okay. So how do we understand human needs? And we also going to look, have a biblical perspective of human needs. What are human needs? What happens when there are needs that we have? How do we meet them? And what should be our place of transformation? Okay. So this, like I said, this becomes like a framework by which we understand people. Okay. So we did a quick definition of counseling last time. We said counseling is a process and it is based on a relationship, right? Based on relationship between a counselor and counseling. It is built on acceptance. It is built on trust. It's built on empathy. Now, in this relationship, what does the counselor do? He focuses on the feelings of the, of the counseling, the thoughts and the actions. And the counselor empowers or helps them to cope with whatever their lives are to explore their decisions to make their own decisions and also to take responsibility of their decisions. Now, all of this is also in the light of scripture. Okay. So the goal, basically when you are looking at counseling, the goal of Christian counseling, the goal is to help others to bring people to the maturity of Christ, especially those who believe in the word of God, to bring them to a place of the knowledge or the maturity of Christ. Okay. Now, this could be either done through, maybe direct, when you share the gospel, it could be done through principles, it could be just done through helping them see what is right, what are things that they need to follow. Okay. So this is what we looked at in counseling. Now, next, what we're going to be looking at today is, like I said, human needs. How, what about human needs? So in order for us to understand how to help people, we should know how they function. Right? Now, if you buy a mobile, what would your first thing that you do is you probably look into the manual or figure out some way to know how it works. So similarly, when you're helping people, you also need to understand how they function or how God has made man. What happened through the fall? What happened when Christ came? So these are, so we need to have what we call as a theory of personality. We really need to know and understand what is the framework that we have when we are looking at people. Okay. So when you look at general counseling also, so when you look at counseling as a whole, even psychologists or people who are working with counseling outside, even of the biblical field, there is a big emphasis on understanding personality. Okay. So even psychologists, they come up with this first thing of understanding people. So they come with a theory of personality. Like I said, if you need to help prepare something, you need to know what exactly they're made of. So even secular counselors or psychologists have a theory of personality as they're helping others. But as Christian counselors, there's something that we know is that we understand first and foremost, we understand who God is, what is the nature of God, right? Who he is and what is the purposes of God for his creation. So when you understand God, you're also able to know or understand the way God made man, right? Because what does it say in scripture? Man is made in the image of God. So we understand who God is, we know who God is, and we also understand how God made man. How did he form man, right? So because we have an understanding of who God is, his nature and his purposes, the image or picture we have of God is also influenced by a lot of factors. How have you understood about who God is? What influences your understanding of God? How do you know God? But how did you know he was a father? Through the scripture, yes, through the word of God, you get to know who's the nature of God. How else do you know about God? Yes, from people who influence you from parents, from loved ones, sorry? From creation, yes. Yes, from teaching that you receive. Yes, wonderful. What else? From the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit reveals who God is to us. Anything else? Through our experiences. Through Christ, yes, wonderful. Through the person of Jesus Christ is who you also know who God is, right? So we have a knowledge of who God is and we understand, sorry? Rabeli? Yes, I was just saying that it's the audio field. Sorry, I can't hear. I can just type in the chat. You can hear, okay, go ahead. So I was just saying also through our experiences when we read all of that and we have seen our personal lives. Through our experiences. Okay, so when you're saying through our experiences, yes. We're also looking at our experiences may show us who God is or we may think of who God is, but then we also always need to align our experiences with God's word. Like for example, I may, because of my experience, I may think God is a task master or God is an unjust God, right? But does it align with scripture? So yes, your experiences show you who it is, but when you're looking at a sure understanding of God, it comes from maybe some of this, right? So our experience is yes, but it always needs to align itself with the word of God. Yes, Rabeli. Okay, all right. So our understanding of God is influenced by many factors. Like we spoke about, we said the study of scripture, our prayer life, the teaching we have received and the way God's images modeled to us. Okay, now, so it's important to know and see who God is. So through all of this, we learn who God is. God is eternal. He's powerful. He's perfect. He's personal, right? He's a personal God and he is a relational, which means he connects with each of us. He connects with all of us through the word, through the spirit, communicating with us. So that's how we know who God is and we understand that God is all of this. So we have a knowledge of who God is through this. Now, through this, through the scripture, we also understand what the nature or what man is, who is man. And when you look at Genesis chapter one verse 26 and 27, 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 he created them both male and female. So when you look at understanding who man is, we know for one thing that we are created in the image of God. We are created in the same way that God intended us to be created in a certain way in his image, right? In his image. So in him, we have an intellect. We are also created to be eternal beings. So what are we created? We are created in the image of God. We are created to have a free will and we are created to be eternal beings. This is the way that God created us. So as I said, why is it that you and I need to understand who man is? Because, like I said, if you need to repair something, you need to understand how things are made. So the more complex a problem that is a more difficult a problem that comes to you, the greater and more detail you need to understand people, right? Now, what do I mean by that? There are sometimes people come with very, very complex issues. It's just not as simple as, okay, I feel sad. I feel bad. There are so many things that are deeper, right? And so even our understanding has to become deeper of who, how God made man to be. So the greater the understanding, the easier it will be for us to work alongside with God to restore people. Okay, so some of the things we need to, as we understand man is that God made men or man or woman as free moral agents. What does that mean? What are free moral agents? Yes, you have the right to choose what you want to do. God has given, he's, we're not puppets. God didn't make us like puppets, but he gave us that free will. So we need to understand that every man has a free will. They're moral free agents. We have a right to make a choice, but we don't have a right to what? The consequence. I can do what I want to do, but I can't choose the consequence. Some consequence will happen. I don't have the right to choose that. Okay, so God also has given us to choose our own eternal destiny. So God's given me the choice to choose whether I want to eternally live with him or live separated from him. That is a choice he's given us. And we read that in John 5.24. I'll read the verse. 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. So what does it say? Those who listen and believe. So the believing comes from whom? From us. The believing comes from us. So we can choose to believe. Nevertheless, that's what it meant. You have the right to choose your own eternal destiny. God has given you the right to choose destiny. Another thing we need to understand about man is that every person has eternity in their hearts. That is, let's look at Matthew chapter 25 verse 41. I'll read that for you. Then the king will turn to those on the left and say, away with you, you cursed ones into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his demons. So, which means after judgment, you will either be in eternal life or eternal hell. And that is what God has placed in our hearts. In every man, there is this thought or this knowledge that there is going to be an eternity. People may accept it or deny it, but it is there. Man has placed that eternity and it is through our choice and through the power of the Holy Spirit that we decide whether we believe in Christ or not that will help us into eternal life or into eternal hell. So this is just for us to understand how God created us. God created us as free moral agents. God placed eternity in our hearts and we are the ones who choose our destiny, eternal destiny. Now, we'll move on to something that's, here's where all the good part starts. Now, what does it mean to be an image bearer? So, think of the time back when God created Adam and Eve, right? So, when you're saying that God created Adam and Eve in his image, what does it mean? He designed Adam and Eve to resemble who he is and reflect who God is. That's how he created them. So, before the fall, how, you know, tell me what do you think about how Adam and Eve were? Before the fall, they were flawless, okay, which means, okay, so they were perfect, okay. They were sinless, they were pure. What do you think their needs were at that time? Food, okay. All right, they may have had a need for food, okay. What do you think they're? And so, they don't need an excellent, right? So, in that state, they were perfectly loved. They didn't have a question, does God love me? Does God not love me? They were perfectly loved. They never, and I don't think you and I can even think of that state, right? But at that time, they were perfectly loved. They were perfectly valued. And there was a significance and purpose or a meaning and a purpose in their lives before the fall. This was their inherent attribute before the fall, right? They were so much in communion with God that they lacked nothing. They didn't lack love. They didn't lack security, acceptance, a feeling of importance. They lacked nothing. It was all in perfect harmony, right? Because they were communing with God. That was the relationship that they had with God. I'm sure Adam didn't even bother whether Eve loved him or not. Everything was perfect, right? Or Eve didn't think of, you know, am I important to Adam? No, it was perfect, right? There was never a thought about having this. So this was the attribute of man before the fall. That is, they felt loved. They felt valued. They felt accepted. So three things, love, security and significance. So they felt completely accepted. They felt completely secure and they felt important. They knew they had purpose and significance. This is all before the fall. Now what happened after the fall? Before that, I think, let me just add one more thing before we talk about that. So when we're talking about being perfectly loved, perfectly secure and perfectly significant, you know, as man, God made us as a three-part being, right? I have slides on. I hope you'll have it all. So we made a three-part being. There was the spirit, there's the soul and the body. And all of this was in perfect harmony, right? At the time before the fall. That all of this was in continuous relationship with God. These three-part being, the spirit was alive with God. The spirit was communing with God. And as a result, the soul and the body functioned perfectly, right? So I want you to understand this because later, we will talk about it a little bit more. Now, when you're looking at how God made each one of us. Okay, sorry, I probably shouldn't confuse you. So what happens after the fall? What do you think happened after the fall? Okay, where there was complete communion, what happened? There was separation. So sin separated God from man. There was a void, there was a separation because of sin. And so what happened? So what happened? Remember, I told you they felt perfectly loved and secure and significant. What happened? Okay, so this changed. This changed after fall. That is after they sinned. So what changed? Although they have the capacity for love, for security, for significance. They had no way of satisfying it. When it came so without any effort on their part, after sin, it became a need. They had to find a way to satisfy it because that separation happened. Yes, so what happened? These three needs, the need to be loved, the need to be secure and the need to be significant and purpose is something that man began to look for in different things, in different people, in different events, in different situations. They began to look for because sin separated that harmony, separated that relationship. Okay, so what came before the fall as normal inherent attributes, attributes that were there became a need. You know what a need is? Yeah, so the need is something you don't have and you want. It's not something that's there inherently. And so that is what got lost at the fall. That man, and that's why you see in scripture, they became aware of their nakedness. Right, they became aware of the nakedness. Why? Because they started looking for ways to satisfy that inner need of feeling accepted. That's when shame came about. That's when lack came about. So then they probably that's when they began to look at each other for support and love because they began to feel empty there. And that's how, you know, and that's the state of man in a fallen state. So all of us in a fallen state look for love. Right, we look for security. We look for significance. These are the three, the attributes have turned into needs now. Okay, are we clear here? Yes, are we clear till here? Any thoughts? Because I need you all to understand this well before we move on. Clear? Okay. Now, going back to understanding, when we say that we are image bearers of God, right, even after the fall, we continue to be the image bearer of God. Right. So what does it mean to be an image bearer of God? And there are five areas that we function five areas of functioning. Okay, so it is physical, emotional, volitional, rational, spiritual, and I explain each of this to you. So let's start with when God made us in his own image. There are these five areas we see in God that's been given to us. Okay. Okay, so the first one, spiritual. Now, God is spirit. And this finds expression in man as the image of God. So at the core of our personalities, there is an area of being that can function, that can function effectively only when our spirit is in contact with God. Okay, so there is, there is a spirit being in every person. In every man, God has created the spirit being, which is that God shaped vacuum or a God shaped void. And it is only in that relationship with God is that need fulfilled, that area of functioning is fulfilled. So in every person, there is a yearning for an intimate relationship with God. Some identify it, some don't identify it, and that is why you see people seeking. There is a seeker in all of us seeking that something, I know there is something that is missing. And that's the spiritual being of us. Okay, so that's the spiritual. The rational being is our ability to reason. God has given each of you a brain. Why? So you can think and you can understand and you can make your decisions. Okay, and if you look at scripture, scripture places a large emphasis on the way you and I think, right? It says renew your mind. What is it talking about? Changing your thoughts, right? So God has given you and that's what God's made you a free moral agent also. Why? To think and decide for yourself. So God is also a big, is a thinker. God thinks, right? And God's thoughts, the thoughts of God are higher than ours, right? So God has, this is the way God is. We reflect him, we reflect his nature and part of that is one spiritual. We have a spirit being where we connect with God. We have a rational mind where we reason with reason. Okay, clear? Next one is volitional. What is volitional? What is the meaning of volitional? The meaning of volitional is the power or the ability to choose. Okay, so we are all choosing beings. That is the part of, from where do you choose? You choose, you have a will. You decide to do something. So God has made us volitional beings. So man like God has the power to set his will to choose and move in a direction. You also, like for example, you are choosing to get out of the class right now, right? So you have a will to do it or you choose not to eat biryani but to eat thai desaadam. God has given you a will, a choice that's given you. So God has not made you like a puppet but has given you a free will and a lot of things can influence our decisions. Okay, but Bible is very clear that we are all responsible for our choices. Like that's what I said. You can choose to do something but consequences is not your choice. Consequences will come about. So God has made us a choosing being. A person who can, will to do something. All right. Next is, he's also made us an emotional being. So would you agree that God is emotional? Are we all, where do you see God being emotional? Okay, that's one very common one. What else? I'm talking about God. The Lord is the jealous God. Lord is compassionate. Lord, the Lord shows justice. He shows mercy. All of this shows you that God is an emotional God and that's how he's created you and me. So don't push down your emotions. Okay. So both God and you and man, we are all emotional beings. If you see in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 it says, the high priest understands our weaknesses. Right. For he faced all the same things we did but did not sin. So he's also had those emotions that we have gone through. Okay. So our emotions actually play a very big part in the way we see life. Imagine you didn't have emotions when you're eating a yummy cake. Very indifferently, I'm hungry so I'm eating or I'm going to get married. I'm getting married because I'm supposed to get married but I don't have any excitement. Like Francis is. I don't have any excitement or I don't have any love, none of that. Can you imagine that? You can imagine a life without emotions or someone steals something that you really like. No emotion. Okay. So next time God gave me and God took away. Okay. So imagine that's what makes life exciting. Isn't it that we have emotions that God has placed emotions in that we can look forward to something or we can fear something. That's what makes life either enjoyable or it makes it miserable also. Right. But we experience these emotions and we were originally designed with to be emotional beings because God is emotional. God is a person with emotion. Okay. All right. So what are the different areas of our functioning? Spiritual, rational, volitional, emotional and the last is physical. So physical is yes, God does not have a body because he is pure spirit. But when he created you and me, the image of God had to function in one frame in a case. Right. And so in this case, in this physical case, my spirit and my soul can be expressed. Right. It's just not like a clothing, right? Our bodies are not clothing. It is holding our emotions, our rational, our spiritual being. It's holding that. Right. So this is another area of our functioning, although God is spirit for us to have expression of all of this. This is why the body is given to us. Okay. So these are the way that God created us. And this is how we function as people. So these are things we need to understand that when you're looking at a person who you're counseling, they are just not bodies. Like for example, when you go to a doctor and if they treat you just as a body, would you want to go back to the doctor? Okay. This body is not well. You give 10 medicines to the body and you're saying, doctor, please, I don't want to have 10 medicines. I don't care. You just have it. They're treating you just like a physical being. Right. But a doctor who treats you emotionally, well, who is probably asking you, you know, I have these 10 medicines to give you. What do you say about it is asking you for your choice, making you think, right, is encouraging you in your spirit. Isn't that doctor a good doctor? Yeah. So similarly, when you are dealing with people, you don't see them just as a body or just as someone who made some rash decisions or a spirit who's dead. But we look at them as a whole. So when, why is this important? Because when you're counseling, you can't cherry picked one part of their functioning and say, okay, we will just sort that out. They come in this package. It's a package deal. Right. And you are helping these different areas of their functioning. Okay. So clear to understand how God's made us. So up to now what we spoke about is God is the one who's made us. He's made us in his image. What does that image mean that we have these five areas of functioning. God has made us free moral agents. God has put eternity in our hearts. There were attributes that God put in our hearts before the fall, but after the fall it became needs. Okay. So are we clear till here? All right. Okay. So now when we look at ourselves as people who bear God's image. Okay. Like I said, we are essentially those who carry the nature, the image of God, of our creator God. And this should be the reality when you are doing counseling, which means any person who sits in front of you, what should come first and foremost in your mind that they are made in the image of God and how God sees them. All right. Now, so when God made us, what did he put over us? He put over us a dignity. Right. Can you see those two words in those glasses? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. So God put his dignity upon us when he made us, but because of the fall, we are not only dignified, but we are also damaged, which is depravity. So we have dignity, but we are also depraved, which means we are also damaged. Now the image, the image God gave us was not lost, but it became marred, it became spoiled, it became adulterated or it became corrupted because of sin. The image is not lost. We still bear the image of God with the dignity God's put us, but it's a damaged image. It's something that's been damaged. And this design, okay, the complete dignity that we had was violated by sin. And so what happens? We become very self-centered. Our concern is all about making our lives better rather than on the dependency of God. And that's what you saw on the fall, right? What happened to Eve? She thought she make her own choice outside of God's, outside of her dependence on God and that led her to sin. Right. And so that's the image that that's what we carry. Yes, we are dignified in God. We are image bearers, but because of the sin that we have, we try to make our lives better by our own efforts without depending on God. Alright, so that's the position all of us are in without Christ. Okay, without Christ. So anyone who comes to you, this is what you understand. This is what you see that yes, they are made in the image of God. They are dignified yet because of the fall. There is a sense of damage. There is a sense of depravity. Why? Because they, we as men are looking at ways to fill these needs that we spoke about without being dependent on God. So there is dignity, but at the same time, there is depravity. Okay, any questions here before I go on. So again, to just reiterate, because of sin. Like I said, the God given attributes have become needs. And so even though we have the capacity to feel to be secure, to be significant, to be loved, we have no way of satisfying it. So we become, the need becomes a strong motivator. Let me ask you this, if you, how many of you didn't have breakfast today? Okay, two people didn't have breakfast to get today. Didn't have. Okay. Now, if you don't eat, let's say for a couple of hours, or maybe couple of days, whatever, don't bring fasting into it, please, and complicate my course. Right? And say, if you didn't eat at the point of time that you're really hungry, what would you do? When you're really hungry, what do you do? You will do anything to get that piece of food or that bread, right? So your unmet needs become very strong motivators. When you need something, it will motivate you to do, to get that. So your need becomes a motivating factor towards that behavior. So if you look at that, the slide that's here, your needs will become a motivation. Like for example, if you're hungry, what is the motivation? Your hunger, or your thirst in this thing, there is a strong desire that you need to get something to eat or to drink. And so what happens? It will lead you to your behavior, which is you go and maybe steal something or you buy a drink, and thereby you receive your goal, which is, I'm satisfied. I'm satiated. Okay? Now, this is a very practical example I've given you. But think of it in more emotional terms or more personal terms. Suppose you feel unloved. Okay? You feel nobody loves you. What is the motivation? What is the goal? You want to feel loved, right? You want to feel loved. So this unmet need becomes a strong motivation to get your goal. And often you will find that the way that because we are damaged in our image, the way that we meet that goal can be wrong, can be mad, can be not depending on God. Right? So we said, let's say I feel unloved and I'm having this sense of emptiness that nobody loves me. And my goal is I want to feel loved. And I move away from my dependency on God because I think God can't do it for me. So what do I do? I probably find it somewhere else. I try and seek it from somewhere else in different ways. Some may do it through food, some may do it through shopping, some may do it through multiple wrong relationships. Right? Some may do it through whatever, whatever other means they have, but it becomes a strong motivator to meet your goal. And in the midst of that, we find we get into problems and difficulties because this need that there are those unmet needs. What are those unmet needs? Those three needs? So love, security and significance or acceptance, value, acceptance, love, security, significance. Right? For example, let's look at an example of security. Maybe you're in an organization you're working and you're not appreciated. You're not appreciated for your work. So there is that unmet need of, okay, I don't feel secure in this environment, but I want to feel secure. So what do I do? It becomes a motivator. So I may stamp over people. I may do some things. I may bribe my boss. Something I would do to get that even through whatever means it is because I'm in a fallen state. I depend more on what I can do rather than depending on God. So is that clear? Okay. Right? Okay. Any questions there? Any questions? Is this helping you all look at look at your own lives? But it ought to and I hope I'm able to bring that to that state. Okay. All right. Now, let's look at for us to live effectively for us to live happy fulfilled lives. We should, as we said, we should have our needs met. We should our personal needs should be fulfilled. So when we're looking at needs, we're looking at three types of needs. So if you look into that circle, there are three needs. The casual needs, critical needs and our crucial needs, casual needs, critical needs and our crucial needs. So let me, I'll explain each of them going forward. Our casual needs, you know, when, when these are not met, life can be the same. So probably I'll show you the next slide. Okay. So these are our casual needs. Okay. So can you give me an example of your casual needs? Very good. I saw one dressed in the shop. I want to buy it, but I don't have the money to buy it. So I, I withhold it. Not that my life will end there. No, it's okay. Or yeah, maybe I'm hungry. I want to eat biryani, but there is only chapati curry. It's okay. It doesn't make much of a difference. It's, you know, it's not affected too much. Your life is not affected when these needs are not met. That's what you call casual needs. So when it is not met, we may experience some discomfort, but for some time. So these are the general, what do you say, the outer thing. You know, I didn't have, I couldn't go to my favorite restaurant or I didn't get this dress or I didn't go for a movie, all of those becomes your casual needs. Okay. Relatable. We all have that, right? So life doesn't, it doesn't get spoiled or lost because of that. For example, as an example, you booked a holiday in the summer for a break to an exclusive resort on the day of your travel. One of your family members come down with high fever and cannot travel. What emotions would you experience? It'll be sad, but will you be sad for two, three days? Okay, fourth day. After some time, you will let go of it, right? It doesn't become so impacting to you. What about critical needs to get a job? Okay. So what are some examples of critical needs? Okay. He said, he said job. Okay. Yeah. What else related to job? What else? Money. Very good. Related to money. What else related to some relationships, maybe, okay, or related to maybe things like much more that is legitimate for you. So critical needs are those that may be met in your relationship with your spouse, your parents, your children, you know, significant other people. And these are important for you to maintain a good quality of life and the relationship. They're important, like the need for money, right? It's important. If you don't have money, then your life becomes difficult. It's a significant stress. So that's what becomes a critical need. Sometimes there can be sorrow, like let's suppose, you know, your friend cuts away your relationship, there may be sorrow for some time, but recovery will happen after some time. Or you may not have a job for some time, but then after a point of time, you may recover, you may find something. So that's what is called a critical need. I'll just put the example and then we'll take a break. For example, the company that you work in has decided to retrench and you are sure that your job is at stake. You have always managed with a single income, but now with two children at school and a huge loan to pay off, you are concerned. So that can bring emotions of significant stress, right? And difficulty. So that's what we call as the critical needs. Okay? After break, we will talk about the crucial needs. All right. We'll stop for 10 minutes. We'll join back at 11-1. It's 10-51. We'll join back at 11-1. Thank you.