If you think that your mailman is trying to kill you, you
will fear and protect yourself against him. Instead, if you have the highest
regard for him and believe that he has the highest regard for you, you will feel
very differently about him and even look forward to seeing him. This simple
illustration demonstrates the power of our thoughts.
I noticed how I was thinking towards my wife when she said
hurtful words to me, whether true or not. I found that I was running a tape in
my mind: “She really hurt me; he really hurt me….” The more I ran this negative
tape, the more negative I felt towards her. However, when I interrupted that
tape and began telling myself, “How fortunate I am to have such a wonderful
wife,” my feelings began to change towards her.
Our thought life matters. We are what we think!
Consequently, we must be watchful regarding our thought life. Our thoughts can
kill, even us. We can become obsessed with fears—of failure, rejection,
physical harm, and an entire variety of things. These fears can make life
unbearable and lead to self-loathing and even self-harm.
What can be done about improving our thought life? We can
challenge our thoughts and refuse to succumb to them. But how? Such thoughts and
their accompanying feelings hit us with such a strong sense of authority that
we believe that they represent the truth, and the truth is hard to deny.
Consequently, if our mailman is trying to kill us, we want
to take appropriate action. But what if he is not trying to kill us? We need to
know the truth through evidence. However, other thoughts are much more
difficult to challenge. For instance, what evidence can we find that we aren’t
garbage and deserve to live. These are values, and scientific studies and other
forms of evidence cannot tell us the value of humans or even ourselves.
Is there an authoritative objective measure by which we can
resist the inner voices, which tell us that we are “worthless garbage?” Only a
real and trustworthy measure can enable us to scream-down our thoughts and
replace them with confidence that we are love, valued, and that our lives have
meaning! Only God can be this standard or measuring stick. Even if we are
beloved by our parents, their estimation is quite biased and therefore lacks
the objectivity or truth content that we desperately require. Even scorpions
love their offspring.
The Scriptures inform us that we have incalculable value in
the eyes of our Savior:
·
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order
that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16–17)
However, it is often difficult for us to believe this. We
struggle with doubts and even the refusal to acknowledge the evidence. But
there is also another obstacle that few in the West are willing to
consider—evil spiritual beings who seek to take us captive through deception for
their own evil satisfaction:
· And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled
to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world [Satan] has
blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3–4)
Why is there unbelief? Because Satan, the ruler of this
world (1 John 5:19), has blinded those who have rejected God, the truth, and
even the presence of evil. Nevertheless, the witches and wiccans have
rediscovered the existence of evil spirits. However, they naively believe that
they can control them with silly items such as salt and sage, which are unable
to repel even a burglar. They also believe that they have the power and
intuition to engage the spirit world without being controlled by them. However,
they fail to realize that these spirits are far more powerful and knowledgeable
than they. Consequently, they are readily deceived by demons and by those they
have been taken captive by the devil:
·
For such men are false apostles, deceitful
workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even
Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his
servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness... (2
Corinthians 11:13–15)
Can we see through the deception? Rarely! We believe what we
want. We’re impervious to any evidence. One male, who was dabbling in witchcraft,
was smacked across the face by a demon. (Yes, they can intervene physically!)
However, instead of questioning the existence of evil spirits,
the male was thrilled with this painful encounter! He was clearly blinded to
the evidence.
In contrast, the Bible repeatedly warns us against the
deceptions of the devil and his demons:
· Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary
the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist
him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being
experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 1(Peter 5:8–9)
How does he devour?
Through deception. As our through can bring good outcomes, they can also bring
evil outcomes. Our defense has to begin with God and His truths, the ultimate
standard of truth and our protection:
· Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)
We also must make
use of the resources He gives us:
· Put on the whole armor of God, that you may
be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11)
The armor of God
begins with faith. Me must believe who He is what He has done for us—that He
loves us and cares for us beyond all comprehension. This is but one aspect of our
defenses:
· In all circumstances take up the shield of
faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. (Ephesians
6:16)
Without trusting
God, we cannot stand against the lies of atan. The “flaming darts” are the
ideas and temptations the devil inserts into our minds. I had taught at the New
York School of the Bible for 30 years. For the first several years, I had
been afflicted with self-doubt, and Satan knew my areas of vulnerability. He
convinced me that I was a charlatan and didn’t deserve to be teaching Bible of
all things. I was clearly lacking in every area of my life—faith, love, and
peace. How then was I to stand up before the class as a role model of Christian
principles! I felt so unworthy that, on many occasions, I was on the brink of
calling my school to tell them to find someone else.
However, as I
continued to study the Word of God, known also as the “Sword of the Spirit”
(Ephesians 6:17), this absolute standard of truth convinced me that none are
worthy, that I belong to God (Galatians 2:20) and that He uses the weaknesses
of very imperfect people to perform His great plan (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
These truths freed me and enabled me to stand against the accusations of the devil.
When Satan would
continue his attack, I would respond:
· Satan, you are right! I am not worthy to
teach. In fact, I am not worthy of anything good from Him, but He loves me and
has called me to teach. Thank you for reminding me of His goodness and undying
love towards me!
However, since then,
the Accuser has shifted his attack. Now he seeks to disqualify me in another
way. He is able to sync his voice with my own so that the negative messages I
feed myself are blended and reinforced with his own:
· I am a Christian failure. I am self-centered,
self-obsessed, worried about a thousand things, anxious, and cannot gain victory
over these weaknesses as can others. I am doomed by my failures to remain a third-rate
Christian. Besides, I am an old man in decline.
However, the Word of
God again came crashing down upon these lies, these violations of my Lord’s
Scriptures! I found that I needed to strenuously come against these lies with
the truth:
· If God is for us, who can be against us? He
who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also
with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31–32)
Our Lord has even
promised to make us fruitful even in our old age (Isaiah 46:4)! I cried out the
promises of God, vowing to believe His Word instead of my fear and the devil’s deceptions.
They had become so powerful that I had wanted the Lord to take me home to be
with Him—right now! But I also recalled the many ways He has delivered me and re-committed
to trusting Him once again to my great relief:
· And they have conquered him by the blood of
the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives
even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But
woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short!” (Revelation 12:11–12)
The devil has come
to kill and destroy and will not relent. Even though “he knows his time is
short,” he will not repent. His own evil has taken him captive. He has a
passion for evil alone. However, with our Lord’s truth and oversight, we can resist
the devil, and he will flee. He has promised:
· Resist him [Satan], firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:9–10)
3 comments:
Amen!
Thanks for the witness brother👍❤️
Gladly!
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