G
gideons300
Guest
How many brothers and sister, myself included, have experienced defeat through the thoughts we think. We are told that there is victory in Christ and thus our failures here leave us feeling defeated, hoppeless. Is it truly possible to have victory here? The answer is a resounded YES!
We assume that when we have thoughts that they are our thoughts. We take "ownership" of them and thus, when they are bad thoughts, we feel condemned and the condemnation itself leads us to fall into actual outward sin. It seperates us from fellowship with God and we are left dazed and confused and feeling unworthy.
But I firmly believe that thoughts like that are "satan's arrows" and he awaits us buying into ownership of them, like a fisherman luring his prey to bite. He then goes after his real goal, our faith in Christ and what He has accomplished in us. His method of attack? He becomes the accuser of the brethren. We then feel unworthy, unsaved, our faith becomes shaky, and how many thousands, nay, millions, have fallen prey to his devices.
But we are told that we are not to be ignorant of his devices, right? This is a perferct example.
So, what if..... what if those evil, selfish, or lustful thoughts do not originate with us at all? What if these are the arrows of the enemy, hoping to get us to "bite" and accept them as our own? If we take the bait, we then wonder "How can I be saved and think such trash?" and sooner or later, our faith in what God has accomplished in us is itself under attack and the spiritual danger escalates greatly.
This is our enemy's real goal. He cares not so much that we fall into evil desires That is child's play. He wants our faith in Christ. He wants to root out the words of God to us that have sprouted in our hearts. THAT is His goal. And if he cannot pry that faith out of our hearts, his secondary goal is to make sure we are ineffective witnesses of the delivering power of our God, so that we can help no one else. How can we witness confidently if we feel our hearts are polluted with evil thoughts, that a part of us is still in rebellion to Him? Thus, we are consumed by guilt and shame, so we think "Who am I to witness to another? I cannot even gain the victory myself!"
What is the answer? How do we overcome these attacks? God's word is clear. Our shield of faith must be up. Our sword must be polished and ready to cut down lies of the enemy. So what is our shield of faith that quenches these accusations? What is our sword that cuts our enemy to the core and makes him flee from us? It is TRUTH, truth God wants us to believe, so that we may be set free indeed. And what is the truth about who we are in this world? It is that:
We are new creatures in Christ. Our old man is dead, old things are passed away, and we are NOW light in the Lord.
If these words are true, then those thoughts cannot come from within us, from our own hearts... CANNOT. They are from our enemy and once we see that, we can fight him with the weapons of our warfare. Our weapons are not diligence or self control, especially in regards to our thoughts. So what weapons are we to use here?
When Jesus was tempted, satan whispered in His ear "IF you are the son of God.....". Do we see the real temptation Jesus was faced with was not power, or riches or lust, or drink? The real temptation was for Jesus to NOT believe what God had spoken to Him, that "THIS is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased".
Satan was after his trust in the Father's love for Him and how did our Lord respond? Each time the tempter came, Jesus responded with "It is written....."
As children of God, that is our way out of temptation as well. We must rely solely on what God has said about us, not on what we think or feel or how we have acted 10,000 straight times in the past. What has God said about us?
We are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God.
We can do all things thru Him who strengthens us.
We can bring every thought into subjection to Christ.
We owe the flesh NOTHING.
We are no longer in the flesh but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwells in us.
It is no longer I but Christ who now lives in me.
Old things are passed away, and all things have become new.
In every temptation, God will make a way of escape that we might be able to bear it.
It is this knowledge, faith in promises like this to us, that enables us to walk with our victory undisturbed, our peace secure, our eyes on Him and not on us at all.
How satan hates this! How he strives to make sure that these truths, spoken to us by our God who loves us, who cannot fail us, do not take root in our hearts. God has declares us righteous, whiter than snow, not because of how we have "performed" but because of one thing, the atoning death and ressurection of Jesus himself and our accepting His death as our own.
How easy it is for us to not feel like these are true for us, and our eyes are off of Christ and on our many failures instead. Let us accept the fact that without Him, we can do nothing. Yes, in ourselves we are weak, we are crummy, just earthen vessels, but we are earthen vessels filled with God!
Is it a bad thing to think lowly of ourselves? Not at all. Brokenness and humility is a must to any who will truly set his mind to fight off the enemy. But God does not want us to dwell there. He then wants to fill us with the knowledge of HIS truth, and what is that?
We are NOT who we used to be. We are NOT old
men trying to act new. We ARE new. And now we
have the mind of Christ. Amen!
And if this is true, (and it is!) what does that say about those thoughts that fly at us day and night? Are they ours? No, no longer. Does Christ think lustful, selfish, evil thoughts? God forbid!
Thus, we KNOW where the origin of those thoughts are. They are works of the enemy and God's will is for us to latch onto the truths of God's promises to us, and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set us free.
May God bless you richly, and may faith arise in our hearts in a saviour who is an ever present help in time of need. Let us all hold fast to the truth and believe our weakness does not eliminate us from obtaining victory but rather makes us perfect candidates for liberty!
Blessings,
Gideon
We assume that when we have thoughts that they are our thoughts. We take "ownership" of them and thus, when they are bad thoughts, we feel condemned and the condemnation itself leads us to fall into actual outward sin. It seperates us from fellowship with God and we are left dazed and confused and feeling unworthy.
But I firmly believe that thoughts like that are "satan's arrows" and he awaits us buying into ownership of them, like a fisherman luring his prey to bite. He then goes after his real goal, our faith in Christ and what He has accomplished in us. His method of attack? He becomes the accuser of the brethren. We then feel unworthy, unsaved, our faith becomes shaky, and how many thousands, nay, millions, have fallen prey to his devices.
But we are told that we are not to be ignorant of his devices, right? This is a perferct example.
So, what if..... what if those evil, selfish, or lustful thoughts do not originate with us at all? What if these are the arrows of the enemy, hoping to get us to "bite" and accept them as our own? If we take the bait, we then wonder "How can I be saved and think such trash?" and sooner or later, our faith in what God has accomplished in us is itself under attack and the spiritual danger escalates greatly.
This is our enemy's real goal. He cares not so much that we fall into evil desires That is child's play. He wants our faith in Christ. He wants to root out the words of God to us that have sprouted in our hearts. THAT is His goal. And if he cannot pry that faith out of our hearts, his secondary goal is to make sure we are ineffective witnesses of the delivering power of our God, so that we can help no one else. How can we witness confidently if we feel our hearts are polluted with evil thoughts, that a part of us is still in rebellion to Him? Thus, we are consumed by guilt and shame, so we think "Who am I to witness to another? I cannot even gain the victory myself!"
What is the answer? How do we overcome these attacks? God's word is clear. Our shield of faith must be up. Our sword must be polished and ready to cut down lies of the enemy. So what is our shield of faith that quenches these accusations? What is our sword that cuts our enemy to the core and makes him flee from us? It is TRUTH, truth God wants us to believe, so that we may be set free indeed. And what is the truth about who we are in this world? It is that:
We are new creatures in Christ. Our old man is dead, old things are passed away, and we are NOW light in the Lord.
If these words are true, then those thoughts cannot come from within us, from our own hearts... CANNOT. They are from our enemy and once we see that, we can fight him with the weapons of our warfare. Our weapons are not diligence or self control, especially in regards to our thoughts. So what weapons are we to use here?
When Jesus was tempted, satan whispered in His ear "IF you are the son of God.....". Do we see the real temptation Jesus was faced with was not power, or riches or lust, or drink? The real temptation was for Jesus to NOT believe what God had spoken to Him, that "THIS is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased".
Satan was after his trust in the Father's love for Him and how did our Lord respond? Each time the tempter came, Jesus responded with "It is written....."
As children of God, that is our way out of temptation as well. We must rely solely on what God has said about us, not on what we think or feel or how we have acted 10,000 straight times in the past. What has God said about us?
We are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God.
We can do all things thru Him who strengthens us.
We can bring every thought into subjection to Christ.
We owe the flesh NOTHING.
We are no longer in the flesh but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwells in us.
It is no longer I but Christ who now lives in me.
Old things are passed away, and all things have become new.
In every temptation, God will make a way of escape that we might be able to bear it.
It is this knowledge, faith in promises like this to us, that enables us to walk with our victory undisturbed, our peace secure, our eyes on Him and not on us at all.
How satan hates this! How he strives to make sure that these truths, spoken to us by our God who loves us, who cannot fail us, do not take root in our hearts. God has declares us righteous, whiter than snow, not because of how we have "performed" but because of one thing, the atoning death and ressurection of Jesus himself and our accepting His death as our own.
How easy it is for us to not feel like these are true for us, and our eyes are off of Christ and on our many failures instead. Let us accept the fact that without Him, we can do nothing. Yes, in ourselves we are weak, we are crummy, just earthen vessels, but we are earthen vessels filled with God!
Is it a bad thing to think lowly of ourselves? Not at all. Brokenness and humility is a must to any who will truly set his mind to fight off the enemy. But God does not want us to dwell there. He then wants to fill us with the knowledge of HIS truth, and what is that?
We are NOT who we used to be. We are NOT old
men trying to act new. We ARE new. And now we
have the mind of Christ. Amen!
And if this is true, (and it is!) what does that say about those thoughts that fly at us day and night? Are they ours? No, no longer. Does Christ think lustful, selfish, evil thoughts? God forbid!
Thus, we KNOW where the origin of those thoughts are. They are works of the enemy and God's will is for us to latch onto the truths of God's promises to us, and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set us free.
May God bless you richly, and may faith arise in our hearts in a saviour who is an ever present help in time of need. Let us all hold fast to the truth and believe our weakness does not eliminate us from obtaining victory but rather makes us perfect candidates for liberty!
Blessings,
Gideon