Don’t believe every thought that crosses your mind…

Yesterday morning my eight year old son asked me to have a playdate with his best friend.  But it wasn’t just any playdate.  He wanted me to take him and his friend to Texas Roadhouse and let them eat out by themselves.  Although it was a beautiful thought, I said no.  He couldn’t understand it.  Why would I not let them go out to eat by themselves??

In his anguish, he began saying Mommy doesn’t love me.  He repeated it over and over for 20-30 minutes.  Then he began to cry.  He began to believe the lie he had told himself.  Or maybe, the lie Satan had whispered into his ear but he began to repeat to himself.

He resisted my hugs and kisses.  He resisted the reassurances of my love.  He resisted me.

Believe it or not, what happened yesterday exemplifies one of the foundational truths necessary to say yes.

Don’t believe every lie the enemy whispers in your ear, every thought that crosses your mind, or every feeling you experience.  Instead hold every thought and feeling up to the Word of God to see if your thoughts and feelings are rooted in lies or truth.

This means we will have to open our Bibles.  We will need to seek truth.  Consistently.  We may need to google “Bible verse for God’s promises”, “Bible verse about healing” or “Bible verse about does God love me”.

The enemy works hard to infiltrate your soul.  He realizes your thoughts and feelings will influence your choices.  They will influence your ability to trust God and obey.

Satan is subtle.  He may not tempt you with a big lie as much a small lie.  Something to get you 10% off course.  But 10% off course repeated over time gets you 100% in the wrong direction.

Satan tempted Henry to believe I didn’t love him.  He tempted him to believe I didn’t have what was best in mind for him.  He tempted him to believe I was not good. Henry fell for Satan’s lies and it wrecked him. He sobbed as he repeated mommy doesn’t love me over and over again.  

A lot of things in this life don’t seem good at face value.  Africa certainly did not seem good.  Not going to Texas Roadhouse did not seem good. The cross did not seem good. But it was good.  God used an innocent man’s death, Christ’s death, to provide salvation to all who would receive it.

More than ever, we live in the age of deception.  Truth has been twisted.  And it is increasingly difficult to differentiate the truth from a lie.  So, stay in God’s Word.  Intentionally hold your thoughts and feelings up to the Word of God.  Live a life governed by God’s truth instead of every feeling you experience or thought that crosses your mind.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.  2 Corn. 10:5