“Nourish the mind as you would your body. The mind can’t survive on junk food.” —Jim Rohn
Imagine Eve back in the garden. She’s sitting there talking to the snake and she’s a little confused. The Father of Lies is creating doubt, he’s contradicted what the Father said to her, and yet, she reaches for the apple. Now, imagine what would have happened if she had pulled back her hand and said, “OK, you stay right there. I’ll be right back.” What if she had called out, “Daddy! Abba! Heavenly Father!” and sat down with Him to have a chat about what the snake had said. “You see that little snake over there? Here’s what he told me. What is truth and what is a lie?” If she had done that, do you think the story would have looked differently?
If we're going to recognize the lure of temptation and avoid the three hooks of sin, we have to know the truth so that the truth can set us free. This takes place through a dynamic relationship with Jesus, by His Spirit living in us, and knowing the Truth. Paul said it this way:
For 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 (emphasis mine).
What does that mean? It means that we grab a suspicious thought and we say, “You’re coming with me.” We take it captive and we present it in front of Jesus and we say, “Jesus, I just had this thought. Is this a lie or is this Your truth?” And we pray, “Lord Jesus, open my eyes to Your Truth.” By His Spirit, He will start to reveal His truth to us as we also compare the thought to what we know from the written Truth of God in the Bible.
Today, when a thought enters your mind, and as soon as you recognize that it might be a lie, take it captive to Jesus and say, “Jesus, what do You think about this?” and then test it with what the Bible says is Truth.
Consider a thought you are wrestling with right now. Take it to Jesus now.
Jesus, You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. You know all things and Your Word is the test of all things. Search this thought I am bringing to You. Test it and show me if there is evil and lies within it. And then lead me in Your eternal, truthful way. I trust only in Your presence within me and Your Word to live out the truth and reject the lies today. Amen.
