Whose Thoughts?

I was praying with someone recently and invited them to sit silently and receive what Jesus had for them. A few minutes later, as I always do, I asked them if they had any impressions or what came to them.  The person I was praying with said, “I didn’t have anything”.  I said, “That’s okay, sometimes people don’t get any particular thing”.  At that point, the person said, “But, I did have a thought come to me.”  It was very interesting, because the actual thought the person shared was basically a reminder of something shared in scripture.  It was, in essence, a thought from Jesus.  The person did not initially connect that this thought coming to them in a time they were waiting for something from Jesus could actually possibly be from Jesus at all. When I pointed out to them that God knows them very well and understands their personal make-up even better than they do and would know exactly how to connect with them in a way that makes sense to them, the person actually connected the dots.  It was an, “AH HA!” moment.  They noted how they’d had thoughts come to them at times and never equated that it could be God speaking to them.

People ask me all the time, “How do you know when you are maybe hearing something God is saying to you in a thought and how do you know if it’s not just your own thoughts?”  It’s a good question and worthy of asking.  I’ve touched on it previously, but, discerning between your thoughts, God’s thoughts and the enemy’s thoughts is usually pretty straight forward, though there can be lots of mixing.  Human thoughts can be fairly self focused – typically.  We are focused on our immediate needs a lot of the time – or whatever task or decision is at hand.  These are sort of everyday, automatic type thoughts – I’m hungry – what sounds good,  She’s cute – wowee,  I need to get gas in the car, need to call mom today, that deadline for my report is Tuesday…and so on.  Whereas God thoughts and/or enemy thoughts are a little different – I’m not saying we can’t have thoughts ourselves that are thoughts God has had or thoughts the enemy has had,  I’m just saying it is a moot point that we worry about whether those thoughts are our thoughts or not.  We ultimately did not have those specific thoughts first – is the point I’m making.  They are not original to us.  They originate in God or the enemy.   We just get to line up with one or the other in our mind.  I’m not saying the enemy controls us or God controls us – but, I am saying we can knowingly or unknowingly align/submit ourselves at any given time with the thoughts of either of them.   That is part of what “taking every thought captive to Christ Jesus” is about, awareness.  We have to notice -  have some notion of where a prompt is coming from.  And this awareness comes by our spirit.  Our spirit connects with God’s Spirit when we’ve trusted in Christ to bring us back into relationship with God.  Where we're operating from God's likeness in Christ.

The enemy of our soul knows our history better than we do – he understands our weaknesses and failings well – he knows the self-doubts and outright lies we hold and nurture (many times very unconsciously).  It is his goal to destroy us or put us out of action in our share of Kingdom life – so the thoughts he continually throws into our minds are typically self-hate, contemptuous, hopeless, condemning, vicious, mean spirited, doubting, suspicious, and negative.  Whereas God is always for us – He sees us as the champions He made us to be in Christ and growing up all the time into all the things in Jesus that we truly are!  He has no illusions about where we are at, but, His thoughts are never vicious or condemning, but kind, gentle, caring, energetically joyful, hopeful, delighted and powerfully victorious!   I’m not saying God is never intense or convicting – He can be like a Father who pulls a small child back quickly and strongly from running into a street full of traffic.  That quick powerful conviction at times is not the same thing as condemnation and contempt.  The difference is easily discernible – God’s love is full of care for our very best and our heart knows the difference.

In my recent prayer time with the friend I met up with – I noticed something very interesting, people, many times are very worried when they cannot understand which thoughts may be God’s thoughts and which thoughts are theirs.  It’s vitally important to them to be able to know.  They don’t want to be deceived, which I can perfectly understand.  When this usually comes up is when a fantastic thought that is really so good comes that a person doesn’t really think about themselves – for instance, “You make my heart glad”.    When that or something like that comes some people think – wow, am I being conceited or too overly hopeful or self-deceived – is that just my inner “pie in the sky” wish or longing?  When, what they should really ask is, does it line up with God’s word and heart about them or if it's about someone else - does it line up with God's word and heart for them too?  That is the perfect measurement.  I am not saying that we should not regularly examine ourselves before God – being truthful with Him about our shortcoming and need for Him and to be honest about where we can continue to grow.  But, what I am saying is that when a word of that type comes to our mind – if it lines up with God’s word and heart – then we can trust that whether it’s our own thought or God’s thought that it was God’s thought first and it is trustworthy.   At that point, we do not need to worry if it was our thought or not.  We must also remember transforming is continually growing more and more like Christ - His character and way of living.  It stands to reason that our thoughts will become more and more His thoughts when we are growing up in Him through His Spirit.  And, we have lots of grace for practice in this process. 

There are also thoughts that come that are difficult to tell whether or not they line up with God’s word or are from the enemy.  They may be action promptings that sort of give you a nudge to do or say something.  You can see if they line up with God’s word and heart at the time you have them, but, there are times there is no telling because the action being prompted does not necessarily fall into categories noted in scripture.  You can check in with your spirit and see – "do I feel peaceful about this", as a way.   But, even then there are times you may feel a little awkward or silly about it.  Say for instance, you see someone you don’t know and you have a sudden urging that you should go up to them and give them money or do something for them or there are words you’re hearing as thoughts that come to you that don’t seem to make much sense to you, but you’re being sort of prompted to go say them to the person.  Unless they are violent or morally questionable (which typically points right away to their origin), they may be things to try to walk out.  These are personal examples for me – I’ve actually had them happen.  For me, in those instances – I call them, "promptings" – I usually follow through on them, even if I'm tentative about it. I will go up and give the words and ask if they mean anything to the person, or I’ll do or offer to someone what I’m prompted for.  Sometimes they know exactly what I’m talking about – it’s meaningful or something comes at just the right time in the right way and sometimes not.  Whenever something I’m prompted for does not seem to be a fit or work out or they say no, I don’t know what you’re talking about.  I just usually apologize or say – all’s good and smile.  It’s not for me to determine in advance if it will work out or not, just to try to be faithful to follow through.

We do not have to be perfect, just teachable and willing – we can believe for things not yet apparent to us – promises of God.  We can make mistakes and learn and grow and remain humble.  Though our thoughts are not God’s thoughts and our ways are not His ways (as God’s word clearly states), I love what God’s word also says through Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 -

1 Corinthians 2:6-16 The Message (MSG)

^6-10 We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass on to you once you get your feet on firm spiritual ground, but it’s not popular wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date in a year or so. God’s wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep into the interior of his purposes. You don’t find it lying around on the surface. It’s not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived on the scene. The experts of our day haven’t a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn’t have killed the Master of the God-designed life on a cross. That’s why we have this Scripture text:

No one’s ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him.

But you’ve seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.

^10-13 The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along. Who ever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us. We don’t have to rely on the world’s guesses and opinions. We didn’t learn this by reading books or going to school; we learned it from God, who taught us person-to-person through Jesus, and we’re passing it on to you in the same firsthand, personal way.

^14-16 The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.

As we continue to grow into the likeness of Christ – we will think His thoughts more; pray His prayers more; do what we see Him doing more; His Kingdom will be present on earth as it is in heaven more – despite sometimes our bumbling or the enemy’s interference. On earth as it is in heaven, just my thoughts or are they? J