Thoughts That Aren't My Own

I have been studying a lot the last few months on our thought life and how the enemy tries to come in and wreck havoc with us. The one thing that I know is that he only has access to me through my mouth. He places a thought in our minds and tries to get us to say them. The Scriptures tell us that we are to take every thought captive. That we are not to just say whatever pops into our heads. Yesterday I had the opportunity to live out what I've been studying, and I just want to say that it was not one of my finest days. I share this with you in the hope that you will learn from my mistake and not make the same one.

It started out early, around 6 am with coffee, prayer, Bible reading and comics, you know my usual morning routine. I got ready, prepared my clothes for work, drove to work listening to KNYD, the Oasis Network and some ministers teaching God's Word. I opened the store, had some business, checked some emails, etc. It was a good day...then it happened.

An older lady who has a habit of buying stuff, and bringing it back came in. This time she brought two pair of shoes back, one with a box and one without. Shoes she had purchased in June, and now she wanted to return them. Realizing that this was probably a trap of the enemy, I decided to not take the bait. All good so far, then as I went to the back to look for a shoe I bit into the lie and got angry.

The dialogue in my mind I should have realized was from the enemy, but I took the thought as my own, and then began to vocalize it. (Stupid David) By the time I came back out to the check out counter, I was red in the face, and just refunded the lady her money so that I could get her out of the store.

Now here is the interesting thing, she starts thanking me, which of course makes me madder. She leaves, and I get mad and start saying all manner of stupid stuff. It's at this time I realize that not only did I refund her money, I refunded her too much money. Now the thought that I took as mine (even though knowing that it was the enemy's) and vocalized has caused me to make an even bigger mistake.

Today looking back on it, I see what happened. As they say, "Hindsight is 20/20." and it is, but dang how I wish I would have had today's clarity yesterday. I see now that the conversation that played out in my head, while sounding like my own, wasn't. As I said earlier, I had decided to take the high road, but by the time I came back I was on the low road. Why the difference? I listened to what the enemy said, took it as my own thought and vocalized it. Once I had done that, it opened the door wide for the enemy to do what he does, kill, steal and destroy.

I know that God gave us our emotions for a reason. What I found out from yesterday's life lesson is that even though I had spent time in the Word and prayer, when I let my emotions get away from me, I still went stupid. I have told people before, you can sin and be praying while you do it. Just because you pray and read your Bible does not mean you can let any stupid thought run its course. We have to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ
(2 Corinthians 10:5).

The battle really is for our mind. The enemy whispers thoughts to our minds, and as I can attest from yesterday those whisperings are so subtle that we will think the thoughts really are our own. This is why it is imperative that we know God's Word and apply it to every thought that we have. If it is a stupid thought, we'll only know that if we know what God says about that subject. Holy Spirit help me to know the difference between what I think and what God says. In Jesus Name.