The Word of God is powerful, sharper than a two edged sword (Heb 4:12),

¹²For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

but it is useless if the person does not have access to it while they’re under spiritual attack between sessions with you as their intercessor. They might have the Bible on their smartphone, but that requires them to unlock it, open the Bible app, and then find the verse they are looking for. If they’re being overwhelmed, then that might be too complicated, or take too long to stabilize them with the Word before they harm themselves.

A solution is to prearm the person with a verse pack. Verse packs are a set of flip flash cards where the person writes their favorite Bible passages, one per card, including the reference location of where to find it in a Bible on the bottom left corner of the card. Choosing and writing the Bible passages is part of the discipleship and stabilization process for the person. They can use a preselected list like the one from the Navigators, or copy the passages from your verse pack as an example.

They should bring their verse pack with them every time they come for a session with you. When you answer one of their questions with a quotation from the Bible, have them write the reference location on the next blank card if it speaks to them, and then have them transcribe the whole passage after the session is over. In this way, verses that come up during your session form the biblical answers to the problems that they struggle with. Thus, each person’s verse pack is their lifeline of truth that counters the particular lies that destabilize them.

How to Use the Verse Pack in an Emergency

The person should carry the verse pack in their pocket at all times. Whenever they feel stressed, they should pull out the verse pack and start reading it out loud. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God” (Rom 10:17).

¹⁷So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

They hear the Word of God when they read it out loud, and that will automatically build faith and calm them down. They should not bother reading the verse locations while under attack because they are not inspired. Instead, they should read one card at a time until they hit a Bible passage that speaks to them in that time of crisis. Then they should read that passage out loud over and over again until they are stabilized. Most people stop reading when they are stabilized, or they reach the end of their verse pack. If necessary, the person could start from the beginning of the verse pack and read it all over again until they are stabilized enough to continue on with life or reach out for help.

Other Uses of a Verse Pack

If the person underwent an attack since the last time they had a session with you, have them describe the trigger for the attack and the verse that particularly spoke to them. If they forgot to use the verse pack, then quote a Bible verse that speaks against the trigger or the lie that animates that attack and have them add it to their verse pack if they do not already have it. In this way, pairing up the trigger with the Bible passage that counters that trigger is a discipleship method for desensitizing the person to that trigger.

Another use of a verse pack is for Scripture memorization. Since the verse pack should always be available in their pocket, have them pull it out during down times like waiting for the bus and then start memorizing it. If they can counter lies with memorized Scripture like Jesus did during His temptation in the desert (Luke 4:1–13),

¹And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ²for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. ³The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” ⁴And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” ⁵And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” ⁹And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ ¹¹and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” ¹²And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ¹³And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

then they’re well on their way to stability and taking back control of their lives.

Take-aways

Further Reading

Hurting Too Much to Hear God tells the story of how we invented our version of the verse pack. The verse pack is a stabilization tool, so it will not heal the person of their recurring spiritual attack. For that, you need a healing method. The role of stabilization tools in a larger healing method is detailed in the Healing Methods Overview, and the theology of how to overcome temptation and spiritual attacks is explained in How to Stop Sinning.