Today was no different than any other day for us. Whether we were cognizant of it or not, we were in the midst of spiritual warfare. Unfortunately, far too many of us on far too many days are not aware of the warfare that Satan wages against us daily to discourage our faith and to make us ineffective for Christ. We are far more engaged with the conflicts we have with each other, completely ignoring the fact the Bible informs us that our fight is not against flesh and blood: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places - Eph 6:12. We must wake up and get prepared to fight daily: Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind) be vigilant and cautious at all times: for that enemy of yours, the devil roams around like a lion roaring (in fierce hunger), seeking someone to seize upon and devour - (I Pet 5:8 AMPC). Satan is waging a warfare of influence and the spiritual battlefield is in our minds. He is attempting to infiltrate our thinking so our thought life will not reflect God's truth about ourselves, others or our situation. Nor does his thoughts reflect God's ways. Once we grasp hold of his demonic thinking, we wrap our emotions around those thoughts and we find ourselves feeling discouraged, defeated and doomed to acting in ways that are not consistent with our faith. We don't have to own those thoughts. Remember we are in it to win it! So how do we fight? Resistance! So submit to (the authority of) God. Resist the devil (stand firm against him) and he will flee - James 4:7 and Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world - I Pet 5:9. How do we resist? Opposition. Oppose the lies he is putting in your thoughts with the truth, God's thoughts. Satan will have us thinking crazy thoughts about ourselves, crazy thoughts about other people, crazy thoughts about our lives and crazy thoughts about our God. We must resist him steadfast in the faith and by faith. Jesus resisted the temptations of the devil by resisting the influence of the devil with the truth of the word. But he answered and said, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God - Matt 4:4 We win the battle one thought at a time. For we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to pulling down of strongholds) Casting down imagination, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ - II Cor 10:3-5. We must gird up the loins of our minds -I Pet 1:13a. Bring our wondering thoughts in, arrest our thought life and don't let any thought loose to have free reign in our lives until we identify its source. Is the thought from God or Satan? Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God's word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things (center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart) - Phil 4:8. We have to bring in our wandering minds; minds that are consumed with thinking about getting our nails done, our next social media post, what we are going fix for dinner, or what we have to get done tomorrow at work. We must be alert, aware, and prepared to dismiss every wrong thought because Satan is daily ambushing us, waging war in our minds. Recently I experienced the danger of not bringing my thoughts into captivity. I allowed my adult kids this summer to convince me to get on a body waterslide. Now I know I don't like body slides; nevertheless, I succumbed to their pressure. So as I started down this winding dark slide which was initially very slow moving, I started having a conversation with myself: What in the world was I thinking? Why did I let them convince me to get on this thing? I hate body waterslides. I was frustrated with myself, angry even. All of sudden I accelerated as the slide took a 90 degree dip, plunging me into the water. Because my mind had been filled with thoughts of frustration and self anger, I was shocked and unprepared when I hit the water. I had not thought about what I was supposed to do when I entered the water. I opened my eyes underwater saw a tank and thought I had to swim to the top, so I panicked. As I come up for air, arms flying everywhere, my kids and everyone else are on the side looking at me like I am crazy. The lifeguard is approaching me asking if I am okay and can I swim. Insulted and embarrassed, I said yes, so I quickly regrouped and proceeded to swim to the side with the smooth stroke I am known for in my family. Spiritually, that's what happens to us when we allow our thought life to have free reign. Suddenly, without warning, we will find ourselves in situations we are totally unprepared for, disoriented, discouraged, defeated and often we end up responding with disobedient. Let's gird up the loins of mind, bring our thoughts into captivity and reject any thinking that is not true, honest and pure ! fighting wrong thinking and resisting the devil with truth, Diane p.s. start paying attention to what you are thinking. Fill your mind with truth. Dismiss self talk that does not line up with what God say's about you, others, Himself or your situation! |
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