This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. (1 John 4:13 TNIV)
God answers our prayers. Sometimes the answer is, "yes." Sometimes the answer is, "no." Sometimes the answer is, "Hold on, we're not there yet." But He answers. Often times, His answers are by putting thoughts directly into our minds. Any thought God gives us is always a "good box."
God knows everything. Angels do not.
God can do anything. Angels can not.
Angels are not God. Angels are created by God...for a purpose.
While angels are more powerful than you and I (2 Peter 2:11) and can do pretty cool things like appearing and disappearing, they have a purpose. "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" (Hebrews 1:14 NIV) They are here to serve us.
Some angels, for whatever reason, decided they didn't want to serve God or us. They decided to rebel against God and try to hurt us. We refer to these fallen angels as "demons" and their ring-leader is Satan.
Angels, then, can be a source of "good boxes" or a source of "bad boxes." Those "bad boxes" (or thoughts) are often referred to as "temptation." In human form, Jesus experienced temptation just like you and me. "Immediately the Holy Spirit compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness. He was there for forty days, being tempted by Satan." (Mark 1:12-13 NLT)
I'm not trying to freak you out by saying that some spiritual beings are able to send boxes down the conveyor belt into your mind. I am, however, trying to help you see that there may be more folks contributing to the thoughts in your mind than you realize. Here's how this often plays out:
You're all alone and you have a bad thought.
You think to yourself, "How could I think such a thing! What a horrible person I must be! What's wrong with me?!?" You start beating yourself up, go on a downward spiral, and end up in anger or depression.
What really happened? You weren't the one who put that bad thought in your mind to begin with. You aren't a bad person because that thought came in your mind. Your simply experiencing temptation...just like Jesus did. He showed us how to overcome temptation when he experienced it and won the battle every time. You're beating yourself up when you should be beating up the one who gave you the thought in the first place.
Your having a discussion with someone and it turns into a fight.
You say to yourself, "I know what they really mean by that!" You start to get angry, defensive, and then even fighting back with your words. Later on, after everyone calms down, you find out they didn't mean what you thought they meant at all.
What really happened? The other person wasn't the one who put the bad thought in your mind. You weren't either. Once again, you were being tempted. The thought should have been thrown away. Had it been, the whole conversation could have stayed a conversation.
Now here's the point.
Just because you have a thought, it doesn't mean it's true.
It may not be from world or people or even inside you.
Just because you had that thought, it doesn't make you bad.
It's just a thought, wherever it's from. Don't let it make you sad.
No comments:
Post a Comment