Get Free in Your Mind!
I was at the top of my stairwell (on the second floor of the house), and I was getting ready to go downstairs. I put my hand on the railing, and proceeded to walk down the stairs. It sounds simple enough, does it not? Yes, it is a very simple process, for most people, at most any time of the day or night.
But this day was different.
On this particular day, God wanted to get my full attention. And, through thick or thin, through good or bad, through purity or through pure evil, he was going to get it.
What?
God can use evil?
Yes, for in the book of Revelation, chapter 17, for example, we see that God uses “pure evil” to accomplish his will. For in that chapter, we find out that God uses the ten-horned antichrist “beast” to metaphorically “eat the flesh” of the “whore of Babylon” in the last days. This is a judgment that God pours out on this institution or organization that has caused so much trouble on the earth. For we read,
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. (Revelation 17:16-17, KJV)
So to recap, God can use “pure evil” to deal with “pure evil.” Or, to put it another way, he can use “pure evil” for the sake of good.
So here I was walking down the stairs, and God spoke to me. He said something like this (this may not have been the exact words, it is approximate):
“Wait!”
I rushed ahead and walked down the stairs. By the time I had walked just 13 steps —from they top of the stairs, to the bottom— something like “pure evil” came upon me, and trounced my mind.
I was in the throngs of something absolutely horrible! I cried out in pain, holding my head, “Ahhhhh!” I crouched down low, clutching my head. This “evil” had taken a hold of me, in just about the worst place —my mind!
I immediately cried out to God, “Oh, God! What happened! I am in pain! Ahhhhhh!” Then, “Ahhhhhhh! My mind, Lord ..... my mind!!!”
I was so overcome, I simply could not function anymore. I mean, I was neutralized! And yes, that is exactly how it works, sometimes. But why would God allow this? Perhaps for your sake.
Perhaps you are important enough to God, that God would want to provide a teaching like this for you, so that you could understand what is going on in your own life, and why your mind is causing you such trouble!
For God is the author of peace! Jesus said,
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don't let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.” (John 14:27)
Which means, if you are not experiencing real peace in your mind, you absolutely need to go to God. For he knows exactly what is wrong.
You say you have been to a doctor. But have you been listening to Jesus? That day, when I was at the top of the stairs, I was “thinking my own thoughts,” and “doing my own thing,” but I was not listening to the voice of Jesus! I was simply off in my own “fairy tale” land, with my own thoughts, imagining how great this day was going to be. All that, except that Jesus had no part in it.
That's not good.
Especially when you claim to be a follower of Jesus.
Did you not know that Jesus will discipline you if you say you are his follower? He is trying to get your attention. But are you even listening? Jesus said concerning the religious leaders of his day,
“for this people's heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again, and I would heal them.” (Matthew 13:15)
So from this we can see that men can grow dull in their hearing, and that is a real problem. It means you cannot receive the blessings of God. Yet God was speaking, and he was telling me, “No! You cannot just ignore me!” Yes, that is what it was all about. And that was a good thing. For the Bible says,
It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn't discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not children. Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:7-11)
So all this was for my good, and not for my harm. God did not intend this “evil” to destroy me. On the contrary, he knew I would be reformed by it, if I heeded his voice. (I did not heed his first voice ... so he spoke a little louder, by giving allowance to the second. The second “voice” was not his, it was the enemy's, Satan's, but it was my job to discern why this had been permitted by God.)
It is just like C. S. Lewis (the author of the Narnia series) wrote, “We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”[1]
As for me, I'm guilty as charged. I ignored God. What else should you expect?
It is as Joseph said to his brothers, who had betrayed him and sold him into slavery,
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.” (Genesis 50:20)
Thus, at one and the same time, God can allow evil to affect you, and still be entirely good in the process. Whoever charged God with wrongdoing? Can such a charge stand? May it never be! For God did not will that any evil befall me. He merely allowed it for a greater good (if I would heed the message). What was that message?
You can live in pure peace, if you want to. You will never be oppressed by negative thoughts, or controlling influences again. That is — if you will it.
You can will to obey.
And you can will to ignore all that, as well.
So the choice is yours.
Spiritual Warfare
Now this “thing” is called “Spiritual Warfare.” You are in this world, but not everything that exists can be seen with the eyes. There are spiritual forces around you. There are good forces, which are good angels, and there are evil forces, which are fallen angels (or simply, “demons”). They are also called “evil spirits.” The demons are also known (by some) by another (very deceiving) name: spirit guides. These spirit guides are liars and thieves. They may make you into a great magician, for example, or they may gain you money by fortune-telling, or divination, or palm reading, or any such occult practice as this, but they will lead you right into hell, as well. So if you think you know anything about this spiritual world, and think there are any other entities besides fallen angels who disobey Jesus Christ, and good angels who only obey Jesus Christ, you are completely wrong. There are no “third options”. There are no “spirit guides” as you have been taught. That is deception which come from these fallen angels.
The war does not end here.
I was sitting down doing some work one day, and this work was for God. I was doing some writing, even as you see right now. But suddenly, a painful and arresting thought came upon me! This thought seemed to suggest I was wicked, even though I had done nothing deserving of such a charge. I had prayed in the morning. I was entirely at peace with my beloved family, in the sense that there was calm in the house, and no reason whatsoever to feel that anything might be wrong. Furthermore, there were no friends (or enemies) that I knew of, that I had offended. I was living at peace with God. Yet the arresting thought was there. What was it? It was like something that pierced me. Was this the same type of thing as before? Hardly. The thing that happened before (when I was coming down the stairs) was major, sudden, and pretty much devastating. It was God's way of saying, “Hey, I'm trying to get your attention!” But in this second case, it was not like this, at all.
But you never really know what these “things” are really about — until you go to God.
When David won his battles, that is because he inquired of God.
David inquired of God, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?” Yahweh said to him, “Go up; for I will deliver them into your hand.” (1 Chronicles 14:10)
You, too, need to inquire of God, and do it frequently! You are not going to inquire of him merely a single time each week, or each day. You will need to inquire of him multiple times each day, in order to ensure that you are really “on track” to do his will. His will is not a “once a day” thing, but you will need to check back with him consistently — because he is your heavenly father, who seeks to lead you and guide you.
I inquired of God, and said, “Lord, what was that?” In other words, “What was that pain in my mind that suddenly pierced me?” Then, I added the following (this was rather important). “Was that you?” (Meaning, “Was that from you?” Meaning, “Are you trying to get my attention over any issue at all?”)
The answer came back very clearly. “No. It is not from me.”
How did I hear that? Right in my spirit. For the Holy Spirit dwells inside the spirit of a believer. But if you do not have the Holy Spirit, then you do not belong to God (yet). Why not submit your life to Christ, if you do not know him yet? For he desires that all should come to repentance. And if you do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you, you will never have this discernment. It is only given to believers in Jesus Christ.
Now the natural man doesn't receive the things of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can't know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
So by inquiring of God, I found out the answer I was looking for. Namely, that the painful and arresting thought did not come from him, nor was it intended to get my attention on anything.
That was the enemy (usually a demon, since it is under Satan's domain, but it could technically be Satan as well, but much more rarely would that be the case, but it does not matter, since all demons are under his charge, anyway). The Lord enlightened me when I asked. This does not happen when you do not ask, and when you are not listening! But if you ask, and you wait patiently to hear from God, he will tell you. Then, I knew with certainty, this had been an attack from the enemy.
Yes, it had still been permitted by God. But no, God himself was not trying to get my attention.
I rebuked the painful and arresting thought, which had demonic origins, and went back to my work.
Why had this even happened? Because, sometimes, when you are doing God's work, the enemy will be very offended, knowing that he is going to be exposed and put to shame by your good deeds. He does not want that, so he will make attempts to thwart what you are doing. For thus, we read even in the Bible, concerning Jesus himself,
When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time. (Luke 4:13)
Thus, Satan “comes and goes” and he (or one of his demons) will do exactly the same in your own life, even if you are not a believer.
If you are a believer, he will do it in order to thwart God's purposes for you. But if you are not a believer, well, his goal is to keep you in unbelief. That's super dangerous. You need to get out of that trap, quickly. Because Jesus is coming back. And if you ignore him, you will end up being ignored.
For God speaks once, yes twice, though man pays no attention. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, in slumbering on the bed; Then he opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.
He is chastened also with pain on his bed, with continual strife in his bones, so that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty food. His flesh is so consumed away that it can't be seen. His bones that were not seen stick out. Yes, his soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the destroyers. If there is beside him an angel, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to man what is right for him; then God is gracious to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.' His flesh will be fresher than a child's. He returns to the days of his youth. He prays to God, and he is favorable to him, so that he sees his face with joy. He restores to man his righteousness.
He sings before men, and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it didn't profit me. He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit. My life will see the light.' Behold, God does all these things, twice, yes three times, with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living. (Job 33:14-30)
Well, that was a fairly long quote! However, in it, the heart and mind of God is revealed. God speaks. We do not perceive it (verse 14). He allows angels access to help us (verse 23). He does these things to save us from the pit (used in a dual sense to refer to “misery” on the earth, and “eternal hell” — both these senses apply in different part of this passage).
But who is God to you? Is he like that? Is he so loving that he would allow misery to come upon you? In some cases, this misery might be providential, in the same way that Joseph was sold into slavery. You will need to “roll with it” and be on your “best behavior” so that you can “pass the test” and earn God's approval in the midst of your struggles. Yes, there was merit in what Joseph struggled through, but we cannot get into all of that now. But in the end, many people were saved. And that is a good thing.
On the other hand, trials may come, which are due to not listening to God. Our minds can be badly affected. I know what that is like. It can be very troublesome indeed. This is not meant to stay. But I will tell you, it can be difficult for some to escape this trap. It requires patient and godly discipline to get free from some of these “Satanic mind traps.” If you have developed habits that are ungodly, you will easily fall back into the horrific mind game again, and find yourself at square zero. Listen carefully to God, and make it your aim to be completely obedient. Speak to God about what you are going through. Move slowly.
Several times I was trapped because I was trying to move too quickly for God. He was trying to tell met to “move slower” (even though I thought I had to rush). And the Lord was saying, “Slow down!” Because I was not listening, he was giving Satan (or one of his demons) access to the worst place of all — my mind. This went on for probably weeks. Then, when I had finally learned the lesson, to discern what was going on, and to obey God in the midst of it, the hand of the enemy was completely lifted from me.
When a man's ways please Yahweh, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. (Proverbs 16:7)
Finally, allow me to show you what else can happen if you listen to God. He can begin to speak to you in amazing ways, yes, in your mind, because there are three sources of thoughts: (1) your own thoughts, (2) thoughts from dark sources (demonic), and (3) thoughts from God.
One day, I had a thought about putting an ad in a certainly advertizing publication. But then I forgot about it and felt grieved. So, because I felt grieved, and knew I had had a good thought (yet I could not remember the good thought), I prayed, “Lord, I remember I had a good thought! But I cannot remember it. What was it?” Then, the Lord reminded me, it was a thought about putting an ad in an advertizing publication. At the time, I was serving websites (and still serve websites today). I got the “cue” God wanted me to put an ad in this publication. So I went ahead and did it, and obtained a single customer, a church, that needed a website. In the years that followed, I received back ten times as much as the ad cost. Secondly, that church that I served experienced some serious problems, because the pastor “backed out” and left the church stranded in terms of their website and other things. God used me to help speak words of encouragement, strength, and hope to this congregation during their time of need. It was great to see the hand of God moving so obviously. But of course, it took time. And it required that I listen to God and discern all those thoughts.
Are the thoughts that you are receiving from God, or not? Discern. Listen. Obey. God will bless you as you do.
[1] C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain ↩
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