8.17.12

1 Peter 5:8 "Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

My Thoughts

Do you ever feel out of control of your thoughts?? Has anybody ever told you what a good person you were and it made you feel guilty as you thought "If the only knew the thoughts in my head?" The place the devil likes to get us is in our head.  I loved learning that the devil was always putting thoughts in our head!! For the longest time I felt like I was fooling people with my sweetness, I would think "If they only knew what goes on in my head!"  But Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts above all else because our hearts determine our actions. So if my actions were sweet, I was a good person. Whew!!  What a relief!!  When we are alert, on lookout for the devil we are able to do what it tells us to do in 2 Corinthians 10:5, take our thoughts captive.  Now  I am aware that those bad thoughts about myself and about others, come straight for the devil himself. Now I can take those thoughts captive and tell the devil just what God says!!  For instance when the devil makes me think, "You are just stupid and useless." I can tell the devil, "No, I have a purpose. God made me for a purpose and He tells me I am fearfully and wonderfully made." If the devil tells me "You can't!" I can tell him, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"  I can take my thoughts captive so that what the devil tells me won't drop down into my heart and make my actions bad.  I can check  my actions against my thoughts and see if I am acting and reacting like God would have me act.  I can stay alert guarding my thoughts so they don't become my actions. I can remember that God word is so powerful that He spoke all things into existence... God simply said "Let there be light." and it happened. Just because He spoke it, it happened! God's word is powerful and I can use it to fight my enemy if I stay alert!  The devil likes to camouflage himself, like the animals in the jungle, but when we stay alert we can recognize him,  even in his camouflaged state.  And we can win the battle aginst him because we can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens us!!