Matt Black Biblical Counseling
Spiritual Growth & Biblical Foundations

Responsive counseling resource

Heart of Change Journal

A guided journal for tracing fear, despair, anger, and foolishness from heart desires to faithful responses.

2 pages in the original
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Identify the Idols of the Heart

List the “idol indicators” in your life in four categories: fear, anger, despair, and foolishness. Under each heading, list the specific thoughts with which you are struggling.

Fear and Anxiety

Example: I have trouble thinking about the “what ifs” of my job, marriage, or children.

Despair

Example: I have no hope that my child will ever return to Christ. I have little hope in my marriage.

Anger

Example: If my spouse, friend, or child would just change this one thing, everything would be better.

Foolishness and Escape

Example: I sometimes check out and end up drinking or binging on movies, social media, or worse.

The Idol Replacement Journal

EXAMPLE: I have trouble thinking about the “what ifs” of my job, marriage, children.

What is the idol indicator—what am I feeling (anxiety, anger, despair, foolishness)?

I am feeling anxiety.

What do I want?

I want to create stability and be prepared for the “what ifs” in my life. My desire for earthly comfort and security has replaced my desire for God. This is idolatry, and I want to repent.

What does the Bible say (give verse)?

It says that worry and anxiety are sinful.

2 Timothy 1:7, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

PUT OFF: What should I do with this temptation (give verse)?

I need to put off fear and put on trust in Jesus who loves me and is already guiding me through the “what ifs”.

I’ll leave my fears and anxieties with him.

1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

See also

Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on you because he trusts in you.”

Also, worry does not help any situation—it only makes it worse—

Matthew 6:27, “Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”

PUT ON: How do I repent and trust God?

I need to get used to not worrying and experiencing God’s perfect peace in the chaos and fears of life. I need to have a constant attitude of trust and an expectation that God is taking care of me in every moment. Meditate on the verses you have listed and start talking to yourself with Scripture instead of with fear or

Anger

or

Despair

or foolishness.

Use the above example to work through all your idolatrous thoughts in a journal and learn to trust and hope in God.

What is the idol indicator—what am I feeling (anxiety, anger, despair, foolishness)?

I

  1. What do I want?
  2. What does the Bible say (give verse)?
  3. PUT OFF: What should I do with this temptation (give verse)?
  4. PUT ON: How do I repent and trust God?

Meditate on the verses you have listed and start talking to yourself with Scripture instead of with fear or

Anger

or

Despair

or foolishness.

Idol Replacement Journal

For each of the idol indicators and wrong thoughts above answer the questions below.

Ephesians 4:22-24, “Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”