Your thoughts can control you!!!
There is spiritual war fare going every day. Can we all agree on that? We are in the middle of spiritual war fare right now. Where? IN OUR MINDS!! There is a tug of war going on. I don’t care how strong of a Christian you think you are it is happening. The world calls it a conscience. Battle between good and evil. The Holy Spirit is leading you one way and the devil misleading you another. You think just because you accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior the old devil gonna leave you alone? Right the opposite. He will do everything in his power to stop you. You see he’s already got the lost. He ain’t worried about them but he wants us to deny God, turn our backs on Jesus. He will get in our heads and make us think all sorts of things that are not true. To take and twist something so bad where you think it is the truth. He will make you believe the things he is trying to convince. He will make all seem like reality. Like its true, like it’s real.
Your thought is one of the most precious gifts God gives us. It is a part of the free will God has granted us. God gave us a mind, a brain to think for ourselves. When we have a thought it’s on us. Now we as Christians need to pray that our thoughts and our actions on guided by the Holy Spirit. Pray every day that he protects your thoughts. Pray every day he guides your path. But the ultimate decision is ours. To follow down the path of the Great I am or go down one that is false fake and full of lies.
Proverbs 4:26 says “Give careful thought to the paths of your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.”
1 Cor. 2:11 says “For who knows a persons thoughtsexcept their own spirit within in them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God…”
God has given us the gift of thinking. God didn’t create the car. We did. By thinking. God gave us the materials. God didn’t physically build this church. We did. Here is the trees now go do something with it. He wants us to think. He wants us to grow. He made us in his image. He was and is the creator. So if we are made in his image, then we are creators as well. We can’t be creators if we can’t think. WE CAN CONTROL OUR THOUGHTS!!!
I know it doesn’t seem that way but we can. How? How can we fight this spiritual war fare going on inside our brain? This tossing and turning from good to evil. We are gonna share 5 points this morning to help with the battle.
1. Replace worry with faith. Paul wrote in Phil. 4:6-8 “Do not be anxious or worried about ANYTHING….but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
When we worry what does that mean? We have doubt. We have doubt in God. We get upset when things don’t go our way. We think… ok God what now? Why is THIS going on? We cast doubt that the almighty God isn’t at work in our lives. Just the slightest shred of doubt in our minds gives the devil a playing field to work on. He wants that doubt. He wants you to doubt God isn’t in control. He wants you to doubt that God is gonna leave you high and dry. He wants you to feel abandon by God. Worry is nothing but the devil. Worry is nothing but a lack of confidence in God. Its doubt!
2. Replace despair with hope…Psalm 33:17-18 David wrote “the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.”
We can change the odds when we quit putting our hope in others. Hope in God instead of hope in others or your circumstances. Sometimes we put all our eggs in one basket. And that basket isn’t God. What happens? Life gets shattered. Dreams fall apart. If you are doing everything you can to follow Gods desire he will protect you. Circumstance happen. People will let you down. But if you have hope in the Lord, you will never be broken. Now I’m not saying God won’t throw you a curve ball, but I rather have God coach me than the world. HOPE!!
3. Replace anger with love. Jonah wrote…”I know you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” (Jonah 4:2) Paul writes in 1 Cor. 13 4-6 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, and it is not easily angered. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth.”
Anger is another one the devil can take and make grow like a chia pet. You know the old saying “give the devil and inch and he will be your ruler.” Christ love for you enables you to love others rather than show anger and resentment. Anger can control your thoughts. And Satan will ride it like a wave in a hurricane. Give it to God. Bring it to the well…let it go…harboring anger will do nothing but give the devil more stomping ground.
4. Replace suspicion with trust…In Proverbs 3:5-6 God tells us to “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Devil is the king of suspicion. He created it. Trust is not even in his vocabulary. No trust no God. It’s amazing what God can do with loving trusting people. I know how hard it is to trust people. Someone may have lost your trust. And you want to give it back to them but you can’t. That’s the devil. Feeding that doubt. You have had a storm in your life, God threw you a wicked curve ball. And you’re scared to get back out there with God. DOUBT!!! Maybe you are in a marriage where trust is an issue. Satan despises marriages!! Why? Cause marriage is a covenant with God. The doubt that keeps being raised is nothing but the devil trying to destroy the covenant. God can heal those wounds. Restore that trust in him, your life, and your marriage. It is amazing what can God can do in your life if you put a little trust in him.
5. Replace skeptical with belief…We live in a cynical and skeptical world. Abraham did too but it was written of him. “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith and gave glory to God. Being persuaded that God has the power to do what He had promised.” (romans 4:20-21) Let faith give you the victory. Let your faith in God give you the fire power you need to stand up in this world. Let your faith in God be your shield, your sword, and your armor. KNOW THAT GOD IS STILL GOD!!!
