Preaching the Truth to Yourself with Perseverance
In the last twenty years or so, the phrase, “preach the gospel to yourself” has become well-known within certain pockets of Evangelicalism. Popularized by author Jerry Bridges, it has been a needed truth to repeat in a Christian context that, in years past, tended to believe that the gospel is really just for unbelievers.¹ A lesser-known quote is instructive in a similar way. In his book Spiritual Depression, Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “The main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self” (emphasis mine).² Lloyd-Jones goes on to quote Psalm 42 as an example of talking to our self: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” (v. 5).
I wholeheartedly agree with Bridges and Lloyd-Jones on this matter. The loudest voice in our head each day ought to be the voice of God as we recall His Word intentionally. In fact, helping people adopt the practice of speaking gospel truth to themselves daily should be a vital part of any biblical counseling ministry. However, while assigning one verse for memorization and meditation each week is a wonderful way to move toward embracing this habit, I have found the need to go further in my counsel for those who feel as though they are crippled by their particular struggle.
A person may take up their Scripture memory verse in the midst of a heated bout with temptation only to find that “it didn’t work,” and the temptation returned with a vengeance. This can be truly discouraging, but the fight against the flesh calls for more than momentary resolve. John Piper once told a story to a group of young men about an occasion when he was tempted toward lust. In fighting the temptation, he said that it took fighting every second of ten minutes before the temptation went away.³ So often our fighting is short-lived because we didn’t find immediate relief. What is needed in those moments when you feel like the sword of the Spirit isn’t a strong enough weapon against lust, anger, anxiety, or depression? The answer is perseverance in preaching the truth to yourself. It’s important to recognize that the author of Psalm 42 twice repeated these words to his downcast soul: “Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (vv. 5 and 11).
But if you’re like me, when the battle is raging it can be difficult for you to bring Scripture to your mind and keep it there. It feels like you can’t get the sword out of its sheath and the enemy is bearing down on you. In moments like those, perhaps this bit of practical counsel will help. It comes from a season of desperation in my own spiritual life when I was sloughing through deep anxiety. During that time, the anxiety was so intense that it was difficult to even think clearly about God’s truth, so I needed some way to cut through the fog of my fear. That’s when I went to the store and bought a stack of 3x5 cards. On each of those cards I wrote a verse (or a helpful Christian quote) that helped me drown my anxiety in the flood of God’s grace. After that, when the temptation toward fear returned, instead of fumbling around in my mind for what truth to preach to myself, I simply picked up my stack of cards, read each one slowly and thoughtfully, and then, oftentimes, turned it into a prayer. This helped me get to the truth quickly and remain there, persevering in God’s Word until the temptation had subsided.
If you think that 3x5 cards are too archaic for you or your counselee, then use any number of Scripture memory apps and load them up with an arsenal of verses to use when the battle is raging. Fighter Verses, the app our church uses, has a section called “My Verses” that allows you to store any texts you want to save and use in your walk with Christ. The medium is not the point. The point is that we must continue in the fight, believing that the Spirit does work through the Word and God is faithful to give us “the way of escape, that [we] may be able to endure [the temptation]” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
In our counseling ministry, let us remember that it is the blessed man in Psalm 1 who meditates on God’s law “day and night” (v. 2). He is sticking with God’s Word, and so must we. In our society, we are so used to immediate results that we quickly move away from Scripture if it doesn’t give us the outcome we want when we want it. Let us trust that God will use His Word to help us overcome temptation, even if it takes longer than we’d like. And let us also trust that God is worth our perseverance in the fight.
¹ Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace (NavPress, 2018), 8.
² Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression, 20-21.
³ You can find this message here: https://pewtopractice.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/the-sermon-i-have-referenced-most-in-counseling-young-men/