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
A spirit of fear, worry and depression A spirit of self-pity A spirit of religion
Eph 2:2 ...You were obedient to and under the control of the demon spirit that
AMP still constantly works in the sons of disobedience; the careless, the rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes of God.
Ever met a Christian defiantly resistant to truth? Whose influence might they be under?
Healthy spiritual growth in the knowledge of God is greatly hindered or shut down completely when Christians give ear to the thoughts of any of these wicked spirits. For example, spirits of religious tradition abound in traditional denominations and churches, where the Holy Spirit does not have control of lives. These spirits dispute and sow doubt into the thought life of a Christian every time God attempts to advance that Christian into a deeper knowledge of the truth. Hence they may well become familiar spirits to some.
Eph 4:27 Don't give the devil that kind of foothold in your life (take his thoughts) MSGE
Jam 4:7 So be subject to God. Resist the devil, stand firm against him (by refusing
AMP to accept his thoughts to hinder your growth in God) and he will flee from you.
One of Satan’s deceiving thoughts is to persuade you and me that all his thoughts are of the vile and gross kind, like crime or malice or harm toward others; and that if you don’t have these thoughts then you must be free of him. This is totally false. His goal is to keep you from God, so if he can occupy your thoughts with the practical things of life, keeping your thoughts away from heavenly things, then he has been successful in snaring you.
Matt 16:23 Jesus said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me,
ESV for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man." (His wasn’t a gross thought, just a reasoning, opposing God’s will).
Col 3:2 Set your minds on things above not on earthly things (always involve God).
What opens the door to Satan’s thoughts to get a foothold in a Christian’s life – usually sin
The Devil has successfully confused most Christians about sin, persuading us that it is limited to obvious, visible acts of evil against another, like theft, violence, rape and murder. Our human nature, where sin resides, likes this narrow but incorrect definition, because it exonerates most of us. But how does God, the One who matters, define sin:
Rom 14:23 ...Whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin, whatever is
done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful. AMP
1 Jo 3:8 He who sins (acts without a conviction of its approval by God) is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil (Sin).
Our heavenly Father is the God of righteousness, which is the absence of sin. Satan is the god of sin, sin is his domain, when we act out of the will of God we are in his domain:
Isa 14:9 The denizens of hell crowd to meet you as you enter their domain... TLB
Whenever we act contrary to the nature of Christ within us, which nature is righteousness we open the flood gates to Satan. When we sin we disconnect with God and unless we quickly get reconnected to God, through repentance, we lay ourselves open to being horribly manipulated by all manner of unrighteous thoughts from the denizens of hell.
Rom 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves servants to obey, you are that one's servants whom you obey, whether of sin resulting in death (to God), or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
2 Tim 2:26 ...The snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. KJV
Is there a place of safety for the Christian where he’s untouchable by wicked spirits? Yes
1 Jo 5:18 We know that anyone (currently) begotten of God does not sin, but the One Who was (first) begotten of God (Christ) carefully watches over and
AMP protects him, Christ's divine presence within him preserves him against evil, and the wicked one does not lay hold, get a grip on, or touch him.
To be currently begotten of God means to be currently living in Christ and righteous and freed from sin. Our will submits to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we are dwelling in God:
Ps 91:9-11 Because you have made the LORD...your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you…He will give His angels charge over you to keep you...
Does this mean that if I’m living in Christ, being led by the Holy Spirit, I won’t even get any unrighteous thoughts in my head from wicked spirits? Not necessarily; but it does mean that since you walk by faith, having God’s words and Spirit of faith within you, this faith, which is in fact the faith of Christ, is well able to take captive all of Satan’s thoughts.
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench (extinguish) all the fiery (thought) darts of the wicked one.
2 Cor 10:5 ...Able to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
Eph 6:24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. NIV
