Don’t Let Satan Direct Your Thoughts

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:16, “…we have the mind of Christ.” But what does that mean?

Now that we are saved, does our mind automatically think right? Mine didn’t. As a matter of fact, it maintained the same thoughts until I purposefully changed my mind. We are born again and can think like Christ if we exchange our thoughts for God’s thoughts. I soon discovered this thought exchange was my responsibility.

The Bible says we can forsake our old ways and thoughts, accepting God’s higher way of thinking in the process.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:7-9).

For a few years after we moved to Kansas, I worked for a property management company. My responsibilities included painting, cleaning, and light maintenance repairs of the houses that had been vacated, preparing them for the next tenants. The previous tenants often left behind trash, broken furniture, and unwanted items. Before I could clean or do any repairs, I had to remove the trash out of the home. I went from room to room, bagging up the clothes and rubbish and removing any broken appliances or furniture. When I had succeeded in removing all of the trash left behind from the people who once lived there, it was easy to apply the fresh paint and deep clean the house to prepare for those who were moving into the home.

Before you can successfully live this new life that God has provided, you have to remove the trash that was collected by the previous tenant—the old you! This is the connection between the old life and the new.

Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy (Ephesians 4:22-24 NLT).

The instructions in these verses are directed toward us. In verse 22, we are told to throw off the old, and in verse 24, the instruction is “Put on the new….” Right in the middle, we have the key: Renew the thoughts!

Let the water of God’s Word wash your brain. Yes! Allow God’s Word to brainwash you into thinking in line with Him. When we first began to pastor the church in Kansas, we encountered many lovely people who had been in church but not in the Word. As we taught basic principles from the Bible, one dear lady said, “I feel like I am being brainwashed but in a good way. This is God’s Word. You are reading it straight from the Bible, but I’ve never seen it before.”

One of the things she had been taught was that it was dangerous to pray for patience because God would put terrible things on you to teach you patience. We began to teach on the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23, and she saw that patience was placed in her heart at the new birth. She found that patience is the tool that we can pull out and put to work when difficulties arise. When we work our patience, it is developed. But patience is a supply of God to help us walk in victory and obtain the promises. That dear sister had been deprived of the help that patience provides because she thought wrong!

In Romans 12:2, we find the same instruction to renew the mind. In this verse, we can see an indication that the renewing of the mind helps us to mature spiritually.

And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you] (Romans 12:2 AMP).

This text says we are transformed and progressively changed as we renew our minds. The transformation is like a caterpillar who becomes a butterfly. Although it began as a caterpillar, the metamorphosis provides such a change that you can’t even recognize it as the same creature. The butterfly not only looks different in appearance, but it also has mobility and agility that it never knew as a caterpillar. We are designed to soar above adversity and move into God’s kingdom provisions, but we must think right to live right.

Spiritually or Carnally Minded?

If the renewed mind is a spiritual mind, what do you call the mind of the Christian who has not renewed their mind? The Bible calls it a carnal mind.

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be (Romans 8:6-7).

According to this verse, the carnal mind positions itself against the direction of God and doesn’t want to follow God’s plans, instructions, or leadings. I think this is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate” (Romans 7:15 NLT).

I have been there! Have you? Have you ever found yourself wondering, Why did I do that? Why did I act that way? One day, I found myself following my husband through the house so I could get the last word. The whole time I was doing it, my heart was telling me to find a soft word that turns away wrath (Proverbs 15:1). But no! From one side of the house to the other I went, determined that he would admit I was right. Of course, I had to repent to him and to the Lord, kicking myself spiritually while asking, Why didn’t I just give a soft answer? Why did I keep the disagreement going? I knew the answer. I was carnally minded. Thank God, I’ve come a long way!

Another vital purpose of renewing the mind is to shut the door to the attack of the enemy. Satan attacks through thoughts and ideas. If we have our minds renewed to God’s Word, the enemy can’t find an entrance or gain a stronghold.

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

Our weapons work by pulling down, casting down, and taking thoughts captive. The list describes thoughts at various stages of development—strongholds, imaginations, thoughts that try to gain a position above God’s Word, and basic thoughts.

If you bring a thought into the obedience of Christ, it will never gain the momentum to exalt itself against the knowledge of God. It won’t expand into an imagination, and it will not advance to the level of a stronghold.

A stronghold consists of thought patterns that have been highly developed and entrenched in your mind. You have allowed those thoughts to process in your mind multiple times until they seem normal to you. Prejudice is a stronghold. Phobias are strongholds. An addiction is a stronghold. None of these are built by thinking that way once. While the enemy “energizes” the hate, fear, or addiction, the basis of the bondage is a thought process. The description of how our weapons work against them is “pulling down,” which paints a picture of something built high in your mind.

Imaginations and thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God are at a level under a stronghold but above a basic thought. Imaginations have details like a video that plays in the mind. When my teenagers would be late coming home, I had to cast down imaginations. The mental images of all the terrible things that might have happened were running through my mind. I felt like a tennis player constantly swinging at the ball as I cast down the imaginations, time after time.

Any person who has overcome addiction can remember how the temptation started with a thought and continued into an imagination. For instance, they have been doing great all week. But when payday comes, the knowledge that money is available comes with a thought. If they don’t take the thought captive, they will soon have a plan. They will think, I can cash my check over my lunch break, drive down to the drug dealer, get high, and be back in time to finish my day. The imagination or plan circles around in their mind, pressuring them and gaining momentum until they act on what they are imagining.

We are supposed to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. What is a high thing? Well, what about the wind and waves that provoked thoughts in Peter, causing him to doubt the word of Jesus? So, a high thing can be a situation or event that tries to change our minds and convince us against the Word of God.

We should develop a spiritual alarm system that blares loudly and flashes red whenever something tries to make us move away from the Word of God. What would our lives be like today if Eve would have had an alarm system? When you read the details of how the devil attacked her, you don’t see any resistance from Eve. She might as well have invited Satan to sit down and have some coffee. She made him comfortable in the conversation and allowed him to exalt his deadly lies above the loving truth of God that was once protecting her. When the imagination was playing its mental video at full force, Eve perceived things she had never considered before.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat (Genesis 3:6).

Once Satan had access to Eve’s thoughts, he directed her actions. When she saw or perceived it wrong, she acted in line with that wrong thought. Do you see why the Lord told us to forsake the thoughts we used to think and embrace His thoughts? God’s thoughts contain God’s ways, and Satan’s thoughts contain Satan’s ways.

So, can we bring every thought into obedience? Yes! The Bible says we can, so we can. And it is not as overwhelming as it sounds. If you renew the mind, you remove and replace the old, twisted thinking with sound judgment and wisdom. At that point, it is a matter of maintaining the mind, guarding it against the entrance of wrong thoughts.

Michelle Steele

Pastor Michelle Steele knows God’s life-changing power from firsthand experience. Her zeal to spread the Word stems from how Jesus miraculously delivered her from a life of destruction and addiction. Today, Michelle, and her husband, Pastor Philip Steele, co-pastor churches in De Soto, Kansas, and Little Rock, Arkansas. In addition, Michelle hosts Faith Builders, a television program provided in English and Spanish that airs on Victory Television Network and Almavision Christian Network. The Steeles make their home in Little Rock and are the parents of five children.

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