So how did your day go?
What you start the day thinking about will probably be the thing you go to bed thinking about. The next day will probably be along the same lines, unless you make an effort to change what you are thinking about, or meditating on. So the thought pattern you establish at the start of your day will be the road map that takes you to the end of your day, be it a negative or positive day, a cursed or a blessed day.
What you think about will not only chart the course of your day, but will influence who you become. If you think on the negative evil things of this world, placed in your mind by the devil, then you will end up living a life which align with these negative thoughts. Your life will be one of negativity because your thoughts will attract demonic activity, kind of like something sweet attracting flies.
As you continue meditating on negative thoughts and start saying them, it signifies to the devil that you accept them and are in agreement with them. This allows demons to establish a stronghold in your life, first through your mind and then into your heart.
Once established in your heart, you will then see, or perceive, things through the lens of that stronghold. A distorted lens means you will not see events and people with truth and clarity. Your resulting words and actions will be contrary to what God expects since they will be aligning with the devil.
How your brain works
Brain research has shown that negative thoughts will keep your brain activity locked up operating in the emotional part of the brain, therefore limiting access to another part of the brain that releases activity for creativity, reasoning, and problem solving.
Your negative thoughts will then rule your actions, which will then reveal your negative thinking pattern, which then affects your character, and that will be how people will know what is in your heart.
The same is true if you entertain foolish thoughts in your mind. When people first meet you they may perceive you as a person of integrity, but that will soon vanish as you start to speak and begin to act out the foolish that is in your heart.
Proverbs 4:23 states, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” The thought seed that you allow your mind to plant in the garden of your heart will produce a harvest from the seed your heart contains.
Thought interaction with the emotional part of the brain also works concerning positive thoughts, except they free the brain from being locked up in the emotional part and release brain activity in the part that produces creativity, reasoning, and problem solving.
When you start your day out thinking Godly, positive thoughts and continue in them, then your day will attract the host of Heaven to work in your behalf to bring you a blessed day. Demons won’t be able to interfere with your day as you meditate on and you speak God’s Word and will for you.
Godly thoughts will create a barrier to the entrance of the devil's thoughts. You will keep the devil from be able to “steal, kill and destroy” for you will then give opportunity for God to move in your life.
Evil, negative thoughts are always waiting for an opportunity to enter your mind
In Genesis 4, we see where Cain murders his brother Able because Cain had allowed the thoughts of rejection, anger, vengeance, and then murder to be entertained in his mind, which then flowed to his heart and caused him to kill his brother.
The Lord warned Cain what the devil is trying to do to him and tells him to take control. In Genesis 4:7&8 we find, “So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
The devil was putting thoughts of continued disobedience to the correct offering he was supposed to offer to God, which would be sin if he continued to disobey. And, the devil was also putting thoughts of vengeance against his brother in is mind as well.
But Cain could have taken control of them had he wanted to. It was his choice. The same was true with King David when he lusted after Bathsheba. If he had taken control of his thoughts about her, he would not have followed those thoughts into the sin of adultery, and then murder.
The nation Israel fell away from God numerous times because they failed to keep the Word of God in their minds each day.
God's remedy
In Deuteronomy 6:1-5, the Lord promises to the nation Israel that if they, their sons, and their grandsons would observe to do the law that was given them that they would have a prolonged life in the land and be able to enjoy the benefits of the Promise Land.
Then in verses 6-9 He tells them how to accomplish this, as it reads, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Paul wrote to the church at Philippi instructions on what to think on each day to keep them walking in a life of peace. In Philippians 4:8 we find, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.”
When Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, in I Thessalonians 5:7 he wrote “pray without ceasing.” Doing this would keep their minds God centered, with no allowance for the devil’s thoughts to enter in their minds.
Just because you become a Christian does not mean that the devil will stop trying to place evil thoughts in your mind, to try and regain control of you. The devil will always, constantly, every minute, be bombarding your mind with thoughts to lure you into sin. This warfare won’t stop until we get to Heaven, since he won’t be there to do this to us.
In Acts chapter 8 we find the story of Simon the sorcerer, who had believed the gospel preached by Philip, and was baptized. He was a new born-again believer, and because of that the devil worked on him to try and get him back under his control.
When Simon saw that when Peter laid hands on people that they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he wanted to be able to do that as well. But his motive was to make money at it, as he had done before his salvation when he duped the people with his sorceries. The devil began to put evil thoughts of manipulation and greed back into his mind, since he had entertained these evil thoughts before he was saved.
Peter rebuked him for the evil thoughts of his heart, declaring that he had allowed the thoughts to enter in to his heart again and poison him with bitterness and iniquity. Thankfully Simon saw the error of his way and repented.
Simon had not yet learned that he could rule over the thoughts that the devil had placed in his mind.
According to Revelation 20, the people on Earth during the millennial reign of Jesus will not have learned the lesson that the devil does not give up in attacking their minds. After this 1,000 years of Jesus reigning on the Earth, the devil is loosed one more time to be allowed to deceive the nations. Nations will be taken in, and fall victim to his deception, and this will be their undoing because they did not have the law of God in their hearts.
James gives us this advice, in James 4:7, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
It's our choice
You have the choice. It’s within your power. You can either entertain the thoughts of the devil and have your heart act upon those thoughts. Or, you can entertain Godly thoughts, and let them guide you heart’s actions.
Have you been thinking about the Lord Jesus today? If not, why not? We are the Bride of Christ, and we are to be sold out to our Beloved, and Him only.
When a bride gets engaged and the wedding day is set, the bride sets her mind on her groom and the preparations for their wedding day. Her heart is meditating on the love she has for him and the love he has for her. They are both thinking about each other in anticipation of the great day. Their thoughts are not centered around anyone else. There is no second groom, or second bride to even be considered.
Yet, don’t we find ourselves forgetting to Whom we are betrothed when we entertain the thoughts of the devil. These wrong thoughts may be just fleeting at the moment, but once we allow them to land they start taking over. You may not be able to stop the devil from trying to put evil thoughts in your mind, but, like removing a fly that bothers you, you can rebuke them and not accept them.
Only when you entertain the thoughts do they lead to sin, so the thoughts are not evil unless you dwell on them. It’s the meditation on the thoughts that gets you. Jesus warned, in Matthew 5:28, “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her (meditating on the thoughts of adultery) has already committed adultery with her in his heart (already sinned against God).
As the Bride of Christ, what should we do?
As the Bride of Christ we should declare the armor of God each day, making sure we do not forget the helmet of salvation, which protects our minds from the evil thoughts of the devil and keep us focused on our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave us our salvation.
You can do as Paul directed the church at Corinth concerning their spiritual warfare. In II Corinthians 10:3-5 we find, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds (created by thoughts meditated upon in the mind), casting down arguments and every high things that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”.
Bind the thoughts in Jesus name, declare to the devil that you do not want them, nor will you accept them, and then fill your mind with Godly things. This is why Paul emphasizes to Timothy, found in II Timthy1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
Let the Holy Spirit, which every believer has within himself, guide your mind on the right thoughts, for God wants us to think on those things that are positive and Godly, allowing you to accomplish God’s desire for you.
Mediate on the positives of Jesus and the benefits of His salvation. Be Kingdom of God minded, declaring what God says about you and what you have in Christ. As you meditate on God and His Word, and speak it (meditate means to read the Word of God and then speak it), you allow God to move in your behalf to make your day the blessing He intends it to be for you.
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