Deliverance Ministry: Three Voices

Rev. Brian Burke begins the fourth Lesson with some insights from Craig Groeschel on the battle that is constantly taking place between the forces of darkness and our mind. The mind, he says, is Satan’s primary target and where he hits us the hardest. Here is a quote from Dr. Groeschel:

“Every day you are engaged in a battle. Are you aware of it? You may not recognize the battle you’re in while it’s wreaking havoc in your life. Ever wonder why you can’t shake a habit? Why, too often, you make bad decisions? Why you’re consumed with worry, fear and negativity? There’s a reason why. Your mind is a war zone and you are under attack. It’s critical that you become aware of the fight. You cannot change what you do not confront. If you ignore the battle, you lose the battle.”

Craig Groeschel

In order to defend ourselves against these attacks, Rev. Burke indicates that we need to be able to distinguish between three voices that we regularly hear in our minds.

First, some thoughts are our own. However, we can also hear other thoughts in our heads. For example, we hopefully hear the voice of God in our minds as we read Scripture, worship, and in general, “pray continually” as we go through our days (1 Thess. 5:17).

However, other voices in our minds come from the Devil and his angels. These can be accusatory thoughts, telling us that we are not good enough or that God couldn’t possibly love us. These are lies from the Devil (cf. John 8:44). They can be thoughts of temptation to sin. When we have these thoughts, Rev. Burke suggests two ways to fight them.

1. Take every thought captive.

This strategy calls us to capture every thought that comes from the Devil. We capture it, and make it our prisoner. We dismiss it, relying on the Spirit, and pray it away. As, Rev. Burke says, “Take control of your thoughts before your thoughts take control of you.”

What thoughts are these? They are the thoughts that fit with the Devil’s mission, as we have been exploring. These can include:

Lies about God, his existence, and his nature, such as his love for us.
Lies about what we should do, temptations to go against God’s will.
Lies about who we are or what is possible in Christ, accusations, and condemnation when God wants to forgive and empower us.
Doubts about our calling, doubts about God’s direction.

“Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

This strategy is based on 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, which talks about making every thought obedient to Christ. Like this Lesson, Paul assumes that there will be thoughts and arguments out there that are not of God. By God’s power and grace, we need to demolish the ones that are contrary to God’s will and purpose.

2. Have God’s truth in Scripture ready.

Replace the lies with the truth, because the truth will set you free (John 8:32). Have God’s word hidden in your heart (Ps. 119:11) so that the Spirit can bring Scripture to mind when you need it to vanquish thoughts from the enemy. Rev. Burke suggests we have at least three truths on hand to blow up every lie from the Devil.

May the word of Christ dwell among you so that (Col. 3:16) so that the body of Christ can filter out together the misdirections of the enemy. Here we remember that none of us are lone Christians. We are part of the body of Christ. On the one hand, we can do none of this fighting successfully without the Holy Spirit. Further, God does not ask us to do this fight alone. We have each other to fight together. In his wisdom, God may require us to seek out the help of others to fight some of the enemy’s arrows.

Dr. Groeschel says “if you ignore the battle, you lose the battle.” Certainly, that is true of any human war. Thankfully, we are not fighting alone. The Holy Spirit is fighting for us. There are likely others that are praying for us. If our wills are aligned with God’s will in the fight too, Satan has no hope.