MINNESOTA BAPTIST ASSOCIATION

Restoring the Joy of Salvation!

by Dr. Lance T. Ketchum, MBA State Missionary

Practice Soul Talk

VII. We need to learn to practice Soul Talk by rebuking our inconsistencies with the Word of God, confronting our temporal problems with our eternal hope and resolving to restore both our hope in the Lord and the joy of our salvation. (Psalm 43:5)

"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." (Psalm 43:5)

"Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?" (Spiritual Depression by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, page 20)

Soul Talk is rebuking our deceived fallen nature with the truth of God's Word about Who God is and His sovereign purposes in our lives.

Soul Talk involves the individual in confronting the reality of his faith and asking himself the question, "Do I know the God of the Bible personally, intimately, theologically and do I practically live in fellowship with the God I know?"

Soul Talk transposes our attention from the seemingly overwhelming problems that are consuming our joy to the omnipotence of God and our eternal hope in Him.

Soul Talk changes our focus from self to God, from the temporal to the eternal and captivates our carnal way of thinking transcending our problems and changing our countenance.

"³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: ⁴ (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) ⁵ Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; ⁶ And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (II Corinthians 10:3-6)

If you are spending the majority of your life wandering in the despair of the Wilderness Christian experience, you need to deal with your unbelief and return to the Lord. Your despair is visible to everyone who sees you. Your countenance is your testimony to the world that this Christianity thing doesn't work. The reality is that is doesn't work for you because your life is not consumed with maintaining your relationship with the Lord. As we live before God we must never forget that the majority of our attention must be directed towards Him. Fellowship with God will be evident in our countenance just as it was in the face of Moses when he returned from Mt. Sinai. Being with God changes both ourselves and those we encounter in our lives.

"²⁹ And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. ³⁰ And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him." (Exodus 34:29-30)