Believing A Fly By

How many of you have those occasional bizarre thoughts go through your brain? Every person I have ever asked has that happen. Even so, we tend to believe what is going on in our heads. A healthy person will quickly identify the bizarre thoughts and cast them aside. But how do we handle the more normal thoughts that still are not healthy?

Ephesians 4:17 tells us not to walk in the “futility” of our minds. As human beings, we are primarily spiritual. When fear (or any other negative spirit) gets triggered, demonic spirits get a foothold and can then provoke negative thoughts. As long as we recognize that these “thoughts” are bizarre, they are easily cast aside. The longer we meditate on them, the more power we give them because we are giving ongoing access to the demonic. Over time, a high level of access given to the demonic develops into a stronghold—an area where we believe the demonic lies to be true and thus remain under its control.

Once a spirit of fear (or hatred or bitterness) is triggered, bad thoughts will multiply. Imagination operates out of our spirit. Where would your thoughts end up if the demonic could unleash all of your creative imagination towards its own end? Many of you know the answer to that question, because when the demonic shows up, you take that carnival ride. It feels so strong and so real that it is all but impossible to “believe” that it is wrong.

Proverbs 16:2 and many other verses recite that it is our natural tendency to believe what is going on in our own heads. The demonic realm is going to continually probe us in the hope of getting our attention. If the demonic can get us to first focus on and then believe a fly by thought, it has a foothold. When that happens, the games of the futility of the mind have begun.

There are two tests for thoughts. The first is common. Test the content of the thought. Most people are good at recognizing thoughts like, “You should kill that person” as unhealthy. Unfortunately, with some of the music that is common today, thoughts of murder has become normalized and no longer seems to be bizarre. Sick thoughts can start to feel right if they are repeated often enough that they completely take over a person.

What has been the most consistently repeated pattern of thinking is what will feel right to us. That is why it is so important to be continually studying the Word of God. How else can we develop a healthy foundation for what is right? The Bible is our test to help us identify content that is right. Otherwise, we live in the futility of measuring against the moving standard of what we have experienced in life. Trying to sort right and wrong on the basis of experience is true futility.

The second test is the quality of the voice. The demonic realm can provoke thoughts that use accurate content (2 Cor. 11:14). But every “thought” has a voice. It has a spiritual quality. God never uses condemnation when He speaks. A thought that comes in a way that provokes self hatred does not have the quality of the voice of God. It should be easily identified as not from God. Fear thoughts should be easily identified as not reliable. They are not from God. Hateful and bitter thoughts are not from God. Thoughts have a spiritual tag and the quality of that tag is often much more easily identified than the content.

An important key to being healthy spiritually is knowing the difference between God thoughts and futile thoughts. If something is a fly by, provoked by the demonic, why should we even give it a second thought? There are times when a thought is not just a fly by, but is a consistent pattern. When something has become a consistent pattern, it is ours. We need to own it as sin. Confess it and then cast it aside. But if it is a fly by, we need to tell it to get lost. It is bizarre. It is sick. It is wrong. It must leave.

The more we rest in God thoughts, the healthier we become. By the way, the Holy Spirit is also able to connect with our spirits and trigger thoughts. When we give God access, He is able to spark our creativity in a good way. The key is at the spirit level. What is the current quality of your spirit? That will generally tell you more about your current state than your fly by thoughts.

Stop living in the futility of your mind. Take every thought captive (2 Cor. 10:5). Kick out the unhealthy fly bys. Meditate on the Word of God daily. Start enjoying life in Christ as it was meant to be.