When we have ungodly thoughts – those that are angry, lustful, coveting, whatever is not grounded in love, they have either one of two sources. Initially, they may stem from something within our carnal nature that we haven’t put to death. We may not have allowed the Holy Spirit to renew that part of our character or change that particular attitude (Romans 12:1-2).
If that’s the case, demons can prey upon that weakness and will use it as leverage for an entry point into our life by hurling thoughts at us that take advantage of our weakness. When demons cast thoughts into our mind they are often prefixed with ‘I’ to deceive us into thinking that such thoughts are our own. If we’re deceived in this way we’ll be quicker to get angry, make decisions while our emotions are running high, say hurtful things and damage relationships.
The situation is similar to a puppet master operating the strings to make a marionette move and act according to the puppet master’s will. Because thoughts lead to speech and speech leads to behaviour, we say what we think and we do what we say, so it’s vital to cut off wrong thoughts at the root. Scripture instructs us to control our tongue (James 3:2-12) but first we must control our thoughts to ensure that we speak the right things. When indulging in ‘self-talk’ it’s better to eliminate all usage of personal pronouns. By doing so it’s less likely that we’ll be deceived.
Cultivating a positive attitude assists tremendously in recognising projected thoughts from a demon. If we have a negative mindset, we will have greater difficulty recognising intruding thoughts. Also, allowing our carnal nature to dominate provides fertile ground for wrong thoughts to be planted. We need to cultivate an attitude of love, which always looks for the best in people rather than the worst (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). This passage details the attributes of love: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres”12. When we develop these attributes, by crucifying the carnal nature and allowing the Holy Spirit to mould Christlikeness into our character, we’ll be much better positioned to discern between projected thoughts and our own thoughts. If you have difficulty in controlling your thought life, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen you in your area of weakness. He will.
