We’ve been talking about thoughts recently, our thought lives. On Friday, we asked if God can read our thoughts. The resounding answer is yes, God can read our thoughts, and not only our thoughts, but also the intentions of our hearts.
That fact carries vast implications for each of us. It means God can see the difference between what we want to say and what we actually do say. He can weigh the difference. So we can glorify God by stopping sinful words from exiting our mouths. That’s one of the fascinating implications we looked at Friday, in APJ 1917.
We’re going to start this new week with another short but profoundly important question about our thought lives. It’s asked by Garrick: “Pastor John, can Satan himself put thoughts into our heads?”
Yes, he can and he does. And of course, the urgent questions then are, How do we recognize them? And how do we resist them and not get controlled by them? But before I give some biblical examples of this, it would be good to remind ourselves that Satan’s putting thoughts in our minds and putting desires in our hearts or our bodies are very closely related.
Sometimes he may put desires for something sinful directly into our hearts, followed by thoughts that justify those sinful desires. Sometimes he may do the reverse by putting deceptive thoughts in our minds that lead to sinful desires. Now, Garrick only asked about thoughts, but I just wanted to make plain that thoughts and desires are so closely related that we should be asking about both, so I’ll keep that in mind.
