1Pe_4:1
Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves
likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased
from sin
We must have the
same mind as Christ- the same purpose, the same desires and they are all
heavenly. Christ preached 'kingdom come', not asking for a king's crown to lay
upon His head. He preached future
kingdom found in Him right then. We are told of the many who are known as God's
faithful and they all looked forward to the kingdom having NOT received it.
Heb 11:13
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them
afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
We need the mind of
Christ, a mind heaven focused.
1Pe 3:8
Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as
brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
1Pe 3:9 Not
rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing;
knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
One mind, all
believing in Christ- heaven focused. Christ preached the gospel of the kingdom
and that gospel was and is full of compassion for others, love for others, pity
for others, courtesy for others. That gospel we embrace in Christ having one
mind with Him will not give evil when given evil, but rather give a blessing
when given evil. This is the mind we need!
1Pe_1:13
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the
grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ
We have to keep
watch over our minds!
We have to be sober-
how well we know that a mind that isn't sober is subject to a lot of evil. We must keep the hope of grace
in our minds always!
1Pe 5:8 Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9 Whom
resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are
accomplished in your brethren that are in the world
The DEVIL is trying
to devour our minds! Truly, what do you think he is doing? The Devil isn't
going about in the 'flesh' so to speak, seeking us out to devour us. He wants
our allegiance and he can only get that through our minds- through our consent.
The Devil will try all sorts of things to get our minds, we must be aware of
his deceptions- they are REAL!
Mat 13:38 The
field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the
tares are the children of the wicked one;
Mat 13:39 The
enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and
the reapers are the angels.
Children of the
wicked one- the Devil. These children will surround God's children and they
will do all they can to bring us to follow the wicked one along with them. The
Devil believes there will be an END of this world he rules, and he wants as
many people as he can get before that happens. This is REAL, not fantasy!
Eph 4:27
Neither give place to the devil.
We cannot let the
Devil have any part of us! We cannot consent to HIM in our lives. We cannot let
him in our minds willingly!
Eph 6:11 Put
on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil.
Eph 6:12 For
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places.
We have to STAND
against the Devil!
Jas 4:7 Submit
yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
We have to RESIST
the Devil!
Now, let's reread
the excerpt from yesterday with these BIBLICAL truths in mind! With God's
truth, God's word fresh in our minds.
(Excerpt)
A Mind under the
Attack of the Evil Spirits
If we carefully examine the mental experiences
of a Christian we shall see that not merely is he narrow-minded but that he
contains many other defects too. His head, for instance, may be teeming with
all kinds of uncontrollable thoughts, imaginations, impure pictures, wanderings
and confused ideas. His memory may suddenly fail; his power of concentration
may be weakened; he may be obsessed by prejudices which arise from unknown
sources; his thoughts may be retarded as if his mind were being chained; or he
may be flushed with wild thoughts which revolve unceasingly in his head.
The Christian may
find he is powerless to regulate his mental life and make it obey the intent of
his will. He forgets innumerable matters both large and small. He carries out
many improper actions, without knowing why and without so much as investigating
the reason.
Physically he is
quite healthy, but mentally he does not comprehend the explanation for these
symptoms. Currently many saints encounter these mental difficulties, but
without ever knowing why.
Should a person
discover that he manifests the abovementioned signs, he needs to check out a
few matters to determine the origin of those signs. He need only ask himself a
few questions: Who controls my mind? Myself? And if so, why can I not control
it now? Is it God who manages my mind?
But according to
scriptural principle God never governs the mind for man. (We shall enlarge on
this principle subsequently). If it is neither I nor God who regulates the
mental life, who then is in control?
It obviously is the
powers of darkness who foment these mental symptoms. So whenever a child of God
notes that he is no longer able to govern the mind, he ought to perceive at
once that it is the enemy who is managing it.
One fact which we
must always bear in mind is: man possesses free will.
God’s intention is
for man to control himself.
Man has the
authority to regulate his every natural endowment; hence his mental processes
should be subject to the I power of his will.
A Christian ought to
inquire of himself: Are these my thoughts? Is it I who am thinking? If it is
not I thinking, it must then be the evil spirit who is able to work in man’s
mind. Since I will not to think (and my mind usually follows my will) then the thoughts
which presently arise in my head cannot be mine but rather are those which
emanate from another “person” who uses the ability of my mind against my own
will.
The person should
know that in case he has not intended to think and yet there are thoughts
arising in his head, he must conclude that these are not of him but of the evil
spirit.
To determine whether
an idea is of himself or of the wicked spirit, a Christian should observe how
it arose. If in the beginning his mental faculty is peaceful and composed and
is functioning normally and naturally according to the circumstances he is in,
but suddenly a thought or a complete idea (having no bearing on his present
circumstances or the work in which he is engaged) flashes across his brain,
such inordinate and lightning quick thought is most likely the action of evil
spirits.
They are attempting
to inject their thoughts into the believer’s head and thus induce him to accept
them as his own. It is unmistakable that the notion which the evil spirits
introduce into man’s mind is a matter he has not thought about at the moment and
which does not follow the trend of his thinking. It is entirely “new”—something
he never thought of himself. It has arisen abruptly and all by itself. When one
gains this kind of thought it is well for him to inquire: Do I really think in
this manner? Is it really I who am thinking? Do I want to think that way? Or is
this something which simply becomes activated in my mind all by itself?
The child of God
should determine whether or not it is he himself who does the thinking. If he
has not originated the idea but on the contrary opposes it, and yet it abides
in his head, he then can assume that that idea issues from the enemy.
Each thought which
man chooses not to think and each one which opposes man’s will come not from
the man but from the outside.
Oftentimes also
one’s brain is abounding with sundry ideas which he is helpless to stop. His
head is like a thought machine, operated by external force; it continues to
think but is impotent to desist. The believer may shake his head repeatedly,
yet he cannot shake off the thoughts in his mind. They come to him in waves,
rolling unceasingly day and night. There is no way to terminate them. He is not
aware that this is but the activity of the evil spirit.
He ought to
understand what a “thought” is.
It is something
which his mind grasps at. But in the case of these unmanageable thoughts it is
not that his mind is grasping at something but rather that something is
grasping his mind.
In the natural
course of events it is the mind which thinks about matters; now it is these
matters which force the mind to think.
Frequently a person
wishes to set aside a matter but some external power keeps reminding him of it,
not permitting him to forget and forcing him to think on further. This is the
perpetration of evil spirits.
To summarize, then,
we should investigate every abnormal sign. Aside from a natural cause such as
sickness, all other abnormal indicators have their source with evil spirits.
God never interferes
with the operation of man’s natural ability; He never abruptly mixes in His
thought with man’s nor does He abruptly restrict or destroy the functioning of
man’s intellect. The lightning cessation of all thoughts as though the brain has
become a vacuum, the flashing interjection of thought at complete variance with
the trend then current in the mind, the hasty severance of memory as if a wire
had snapped leaving the mind paralyzed: all these are the results of the
operation of the enemy.
Because the evil
spirit has seized hold of the organ of thought, he is able either to force it
to cease functioning or by loosening his grip to let it work again.
We must recognize
that natural causes can produce only natural symptoms. Flash thoughts or loss
of memory are entirely beyond the ability or control of our will and are
contrary to natural cause and effect: they must therefore be inspired by
supernatural evil forces.
In his letter to the
Ephesians Paul is found writing about “the spirit that is now at work in the
sons of disobedience” (2.2).
Eph 2:2
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience
It is very important
to know that the powers of darkness work not only outside but inside the man as
well.
When men work they
can at most do so with their words, gestures or bodily movements; the evil
spirits, however, can work with all these but even more. They can act from the
outside in the same way as man acts, but they can work additionally from the
inside. This means that they can squeeze themselves into man’s thought life and
work therein.
Man is not capable
of doing this: he is unable to enter another man’s brain, subtly making many
suggestions and confusing this matter of the source of the thoughts; but the
evil spirits can.
They possess an
ability in communication which man does not have. They work initially in man’s
mind and then reach to his emotion, for mind and emotion are closely knit: they
operate first in the mind and from there they arrive at man’s volition, because
mind and will are intimately joined too.
The manner by which
these enemy spirits operate is to plant covertly in man’s head notions which
they enjoy so as to accomplish their aim, or, conversely, they block thoughts
which they do not relish so that man cannot think them through.
The Bible distinctly
indicates that the powers of darkness are able both to impart ideas to man and
to steal them from him.
“The devil had
already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him”
(John 13.2). This shows that Satan can put his thought into man’s mind.
“Then the devil comes and takes away the word
from their hearts” (Luke 8.12). This attests that Satan removes whatever word
man ought to remember and causes him to forget everything. These two verses
reveal the two-fold operation of the evil spirits upon the mind of man, either
to add something to, or subtract something from, his mind.'
(End excerpt)
When someone, like
Watchman Nee, speaks of the Devil and evil spirits as real forces fighting for
us we might be tempted to believe He's a little bit crazy, that he's ventured a
touch too far. Truthfully he hasn't ventured too far at all and he's not crazy.
This is REALITY. We are the ones caught up in believing the Devil and evil
spirits are figments of imagination, bits of fantasy for our entertainment on
tv and in movie theaters, in books and magazines, online all over. We've
treated the Devil and evil spirits as fiction for so long it seems wrong to
believe in their REAL-REALITY! Yes, I
said that, I'm trying to force home that they are so very real and actively in
pursuit of us that to believe otherwise should be the foolishness. The fiction
is NOT believing in them, it is regulating them to fantasy and as such unable
to affect us in any way at all. We've
gone the way of making evil spirits and the Devil as reality a thing of the far
past. Enlightened people will NOT believe in the Devil or evil spirits, that's
what the majority of people believe as truth.
Science has replaced superstition and that superstition is the Devil and
his evil spirits. Oh how they must LOVE that we've done that! The work they can
do on us and never be blamed, never be thought of as real and therefore never
fought as a reality. A person that doesn't believe the Devil and evil spirits
can attack them, is a person who will not seek the power of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ to protect them from the evil. The evil will have full sway in
their lives. It only take a tiny bit of
evil to spoil the entire human being, the Devil doesn't have to go full blown
demon possession on a person to control them, to claim them. We live in a world FILLED with 'broad path'
people yet we seem to believe otherwise. We don't want to believe the majority
of people can belong to the Devil, to do that opens the door to the reality we
too could belong to him under his deception that will fool ALL but the VERY
ELECT!
God help us! Please,
Lord help us! We believe, help thou our unbelief!!! All through our Savior, our Lord Jesus
Christ, now and forever!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment