Lately, I’ve been thinking about what I’ve been thinking about. In other words, I’ve been listening closer into the spiritual realm to discern the demonic activity trying to come against my mind and trying to come against people in my region.
When I was driving to church last week, for example, I suddenly heard thoughts like, “I’m so discouraged.” When I got in the car and started driving, I was happy as a lark, listening to classical music and praying. But when I crossed the line into Fort Lauderdale, Fla., thoughts of discouragement suddenly started bombarding my mind.
Although I’ve experienced this before, I almost fell for it. I started thinking about discouraging things going on in my life and in the world. By the time I pulled into the church parking lot, I was deflated. And then the Holy Spirit broke in and reminded me, “That’s not your thought.”
I called a friend and asked her if she was sensing discouragement in the spiritual climate, and she offered a confirmation. As a church, we prayed against a spirit of discouragement, loneliness and oppression, and we felt something break. The joy of the Lord fell on the congregation, and we had a lovely service.
What Are You Thinking About?
Of course, it’s not always something in the city I’m hearing. Sometimes the enemy is targeting my mind with destructive or seductive thoughts. Yes, Satan does put thoughts in our minds. Consider Luke 4:3, where “the devil said” things to Jesus. The devil is a spirit—a fallen angel—who moves in the spirit realm. He doesn’t need a body to talk to you any more than God needs a body to talk to you. Just as the devil talked to Jesus, he’s still talking to people today.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about what I’ve been thinking about. In other words, I’ve been keener on discerning the thoughts that are floating around in my mind and their origin. Did you know that you could go throughout much of your day on autopilot? You can get dressed for work in the morning, drive to the office, drive home, cook dinner and watch television at night while your mind is reasoning through all sorts of thoughts.
We need to start paying attention to what we’re thinking about and the origin of those thoughts. We need to be quicker to listen to the inner talk going on in our souls. When we do, we’ll start to discern the demonic strategies against our lives. For example, you may hear thoughts like, “No one appreciates me.” If you reason that thought out in your mind, you’ll end up a little angry, maybe resentful and eventually bitter. That thought will eventually drive your behavior toward the people you feel underappreciate you.
God’s Thoughts Versus Satan’s Thoughts
Where are your thoughts coming from? God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Is. 55:9). Satan’s thoughts are lower than God’s thoughts. Which way our internal thought life sways depends, in part, on our reasoning. God’s thoughts toward us are of peace and not of evil, to give us a future and a hope (Jer. 29:11). Satan’s thoughts toward us are of war and not of goodness, to give us a future without hope. Which way our internal thought life leans depends, in part, on our reasoning.
Although our thoughts will never reach the height of God’s thoughts—the Creator is all-knowing—our thoughts need not reach the lows of Satan’s thoughts. In other words, God gave us the ability to reason and a free will to choose what we think about—whether thoughts of peace and hope or thoughts of evil and hopelessness. So, stop and think about what you’re thinking about.
And know this: Many of the negative words we speak and the ungodly actions we take originate from the seed of a thought Satan whispers to our souls. That seed can grow into demon-inspired weeds as our minds reason out the thought. That seed can spark a fire in our souls, so to speak, that fuels more wrong thoughts, wrong words and wrong deeds.
When the enemy plants a vain imagination in our minds, we have two choices: cast it down or meditate on it. When we meditate on vain imaginations, we tend to connect demonic dots that create skewed pictures of reality. Believing what we see in our thought life is real, we talk ourselves into taking action based on a wrong perception. That action could be a negative attitude toward people, an angry outburst that hurts someone you love, or a sinful behavior that leads you into bondage. But believe this: It all starts with a thought.
There’s a war in your mind whether you discern it or not. I urge you to start discerning what is going on in your mind, will and emotions and to bring your mind into submission to the mind, will and emotions of God by His grace. Paul put it this way: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled” (2 Cor. 10:3-6). Amen.
Be sure to check out the video below for more of my teaching on this topic.
Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel. You can email Jennifer at [email protected] or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.
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