Christian - Do Some Of Your Thoughts Come From A Familiar Spirit?

Christian - do some of your thoughts come from a familiar spirit?

God has a voice – the Holy Spirit is God’s voice, speaking through God’s word or directly. It takes a re-born human spirit that can currently hear to recognize God’s voice. Sin makes the heart dull of hearing. God’s voice may be audible to the natural ear when He speaks through a person; or the voice may be inaudible and come directly as a thought.

Rev 2:7 He who has an ear (of his spirit), let him hear what the Spirit is saying…

Rom 8:16 The Holy Spirit Himself communicates (through thoughts) with our spirit…

Jo 10:27 (Jesus) My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Angels have a voice – they are invisible spirits and speak God’s will through thoughts into peoples thought lives, mainly the righteous, either directly or through visions and dreams.

Matt 1:20 But while he (Joseph) thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream (which are thoughts), saying...

Prov 16:3 Roll your works upon the Lord, commit and trust them wholly to Him;

AMP He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will (by His angels and by His Spirit) so shall your plans be established and succeed.

Demons have a voice – they are invisible spirits who influence people through thoughts, doubt, questioning, reasoning, argumentative thoughts. To hinder people from knowing God well and doing His will. They succeed when the thought life is not centered on God.

2 Cor 4:4 Satan, the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't

NLT (currently) believe, so they...don't understand the message we preach...

1 Jo 5:19 ...The whole world lies under the (thought) influence of the wicked one.

Isa 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace all...whose thoughts are fixed on you! NLT

Notice the devil communicates with peoples’ natural minds not their spirits. The word “minds” is translated as “thoughts” in other parts of the Bible. Since demons are cut off from God their thoughts have no life in them and cannot directly enter a human spirit that is alive to God. Instead they get inserted into people’s, including Christian’s, head thoughts. Since all demons are deceivers they don’t announce that they are the source of these thoughts. So the person not currently in right relationship with God, who would expose such thoughts, will likely think they are their own and tend to believe them. These thoughts are in fact the voice of strangers that Jesus said His true sheep refuse to act on:

John 10:5 (Jesus) Yet they (My sheep) will by no means follow a stranger, but will

flee from him, for they do not know (not taken in by) the voice of strangers.

God does not want us His children to be ignorant of the existence of thoughts that enter our thought lives from an external, wicked spirit, source; and definitely not to obey those thoughts. If Christians are ignorant of this reality they will be taken advantage of by those spirits in innumerable harmful ways. Most Christians think these thoughts are their own.

2 Cor 2:11 Lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his

devices (same word is translated minds above, and thoughts – Satan’s mind)

This conflict between opposing thoughts or voices is what spiritual warfare is all about

Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle (in our thoughts) against flesh and blood (people),

but against...those mighty satanic beings...who rule this world (though

their thoughts of unbelief in, resistance to and independence from God)... TLB

A thought from a wicked spirit to my head is not immediately harmful. But if, out of ignorance, not knowing its source, of willfully, because it appeals to my evil human nature, I take the thought, think on it, believe it and so take it down into my heart and then act on it – Now I’ve become the captive of that thought and of the evil spirit from which it came. Will I now go out and kill someone? Probably not, but my mind has now been blinded to God’s truth in that area of my life; and consequently I will think, speak and act in opposition to God. If this process is repeated often enough with the same kind of God opposing thought, then the spirit from which it comes has become to me a familiar spirit.

Prov 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…(either God’s thoughts or the devil’s)

What are some examples of the evil spirits and their thoughts that capture Christians?

A spirit of offence and un-forgiveness A spirit of anger A spirit of jealousy

A spirit of disobedience A spirit of pride A spirit of addiction