What If Your Thoughts Are Not Your Own?

Have you ever found yourself going about your day, running errands, at work or connecting with friends, only to be startled by a thought that seems to come out of nowhere? Perhaps it enters as a subtle judgmental opinion or perverse idea, or maybe it is a loud and overwhelming statement of, “I hate myself!” Scripture is clear that we are to be sober-minded in all that we do and to manage our thinking so that it is lovely, pure and noble. But, scripture also teaches us to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). I propose that not every thought that enters your mind originates from you. There are thoughts from the enemy that will enter your mind uninvited, and those thoughts you must take captive!

Consider this analogy: your mind is like a car with the radio turned on, and the spiritual realm represents the vast array of radio waves around you. On one channel there is a never ending stream of truth being broadcasted by God Himself that you always have access to, but an opposing channel serves to spew the lies of the enemy to anyone who will listen.  Humans have the ability to "tune in" to these channels, but without the awareness that these channels even exist, one could see how easy it might be to mistake external thoughts for your own. Without understanding this principle, Believers can find themselves racked with shame, attempting to repent for a thought that wasn’t theirs from the start. 

Let me be clear, I’m not saying that we aren’t responsible for our own thoughts, but rather that when a lie from the enemy knocks on the door of our mind we have a choice. We can either recognize the lie that it is and slam the door in its face or we can choose to entertain the thought and allow it inside. 

In a recent conversation with my dear friend Dawna De Silva, a bestselling author and founder of Bethel Sozo, she made an insightful point: "It’s important that we understand what the broadcast of the enemy is, not so that we can tune into it but so that we know what he is doing, discerning how to shift and release the opposite of what he is doing." There are countless channels we can choose from, but it’s important to have discernment when selecting what we will receive into our spirit. I’d propose that developing discernment to identify the enemy's deceptions has the potential to transform more than just our personal lives. This ability equips Believers with the power to change the very climate around us as we counter the adversary's tactics.