Thoughts… do they belong to you?

Posted by on May 30, 2016 in Mind(Soul), Uncategorized

Thoughts… do they belong to you?

There are vast differences between our internal world and our external world. While we all may portray ourselves a certain way on the outside, it can be vastly different than the conditions internally. Sometimes I have racing thoughts that feel like they number in the thousands all firing off at the same time. Mostly, my thoughts are in the first person (I did this…, I am going here…). However, lately, I have been making a conscious effort to evaluate my thoughts on a daily basis. One day, I analyzed my thoughts and began to wonder do they all originate with me? So I began performing research (ie searching on the internet) to see what others have found on this topic. The video below gives a more scientific explanation on how others can communicate with us via thoughts:

Where do the voices come from?

Below was taken from (Voices in Your Mind: Discerning Between God & Demons by Anna Diehl)

…the thoughts in your head are better described as voices. There are only three sources: you, God, and demons. There is nothing simple about sorting this mess out and the Bible gives us no practical help in the matter. Happily, the Holy Spirit educates us beyond the contents of the Bible.

When God calls us sheep, He’s using a metaphor that applies in more ways than we care to admit. Sheep are very responsive animals, reacting automatically to many types of stimuli. So also, we humans are very responsive and suggestible beings. This makes us very easy for demons to manipulate.

Demons want as much influence over you as possible. One of the greatest footholds they have is being able to plant thoughts in your mind and then trick you into taking credit for them. They’ve been successfully doing this to you your whole life, and unless you’ve become very good at discerning, they’re still doing it to you now.

How do you know when demons are talking to you? They’re a very crafty group and they use one very simple trick to disguise their voice: they speak in the first person. They use “I” instead of “you” when speaking to you. Sidling up to you, they whisper in your mind, “I am such a loser.” Because the thought appears in first person, you assume you thought it yourself and chalk it up to your low esteem. But you didn’t think it.  They said it, then you owned it, and that’s where the mess begins. Once you think you thought something, the effects are just as damaging as if you’d actually thought it.

 

Some of you may have heard Rihanna’s song “Monster”:

Eminem-Rihanna

“I’m friends with the monster that’s under my bed Get along with the voices inside of my head You’re trying to save me, stop holding your breath And you think I’m crazy, yeah, you think I’m crazy”

That song only describes one source of the thoughts in your head. If you allow it, they will be the dominating voices in your head. The other side wants nothing more to separate you from God.

Painful memories

As a youth I suffered a disease that left permanent and visible scars on my head and face. It also damaged muscle and nervous tissue in a way that makes it difficult to control half of my face. I felt ugly. My esteem was low. I purposely would not cut my hair so my scars would be covered. This visualization of myself lasted into my teens years. As I grown older I realized that I noticed my scars much more than other people. I slowly realized that the people in my circle liked me because of me rather than my appearance.

We humans are extremely easy to deceive. It is vital that we get a firm grip on this truth for learning how to discern between God and demons is largely a matter of becoming very educated on the extent of our own vulnerability. We all fall for the first person language trick. We all fall for the negative mental flashbacks. It takes a lot of time and discomfort to learn how to catch demons in the act of deceiving you. When they see you start to make strides in this area, they will instantly react with new deceptions and more intense attacks. You need to be patient with yourself and not expect to get this overnight. You also need to remember that there are no limits on how far you can go when the Holy Spirit is your Teacher. (Voices in Your Mind: Discerning Between God & Demons by Anna Diehl)

Recognizing the trap

With so many tricks up their sleeves, how can you possibly defend yourself against the onslaught of demons in your mind? Most of the time you won’t even recognize them: you’ll mistake their voices as your own, a memory of someone else’s voice, or God’s. Once we realize what masters of deception demons are, it feels almost impossible to ever win against them. But there is one massive chink in their armor—one fatal flaw in their strategy that you can take advantage of. Remember that their end goal is to create distance between you and God. When you can learn to recognize this signature on any thought in your head regardless of where it seems to be coming from, you will know that demons are talking to you.

Demons are masters of disguise, but their bottom line message is what blows their cover. To make things even more clear, the Holy Spirit is just as consistent as they are, but in the opposite direction. Everything He says to you will encourage you to move closer to Him. (Voices in Your Mind: Discerning Between God & Demons by Anna Diehl)

How does God talk to us?

As mentioned in a previous article we have two natures inside of us. God doesn’t really speak in your native tongue. Why would he? Do you really think Yahweh, Jesus and the Holy Spirit sit around sipping tea discussing current events speaking English?  God is complex, so are his methods of communicating to us. Sure, there may be times that you are so consumed with your daily life that speaking plain English (or whatever your native tongue is) in your head is the only way to get through to you. Other times you will receive visions, intuition and other people that speak his word to your soul directly.

The Final Word

We are very suggestive beings. External influence is responsible for a majority of our being and personality. The main goal of this article is to challenge yourself to evaluate your thoughts. Listen to what they say. Are they uplifting? Are they constantly breaking you down? Are you so caught up with the past that you fail to live in the present? While demons are crafty, they are not all powerful. Knowing their ways and methods gives you discernment to see the illusions. The greatest trick evil performs is convincing individuals that they do not exist. They want perform their work unnoticed. I encourage you to exercise these demons… they are lazy.