Who Am I? Part 4

Who Am I? Part 4
Friday, October 25, 2024 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual deception / Spiritual warfare / Thought for Today

Who do we listen to? Who or what influences us?

As we’ve seen, we battle with spiritual forces, forces that seek to sidetrack us from God’s purpose, forces that want us to believe the lies they are telling us. Those lies range from about who we are, lies about capabilities that God has given us, lies about our future, and even lies—for believers—about our salvation. “If you were really a Christian you would not have…”

Someone once said (don’t remember who): “Christians aren’t usually devoured by lions, we get nibbled to death by ducks.” What we’ve been talking about is an ongoing battle that can become quite wearing.

Perhaps the biggest key for us as Christians, is to remember who we are in Christ, that we listen to, and take our identity from, what God has to say about us. Among other things: we are secure in Christ; we are deeply loved by God the Father; we are part of God’s family; Christ is our Savior, friend, and older brother; the Holy Spirit resides in us; the Holy Spirit will guide and direct us; Christ came to free us and give us abundant life; we will be with Jesus for all eternity; nothing can separate us from the love of God; greater is He that is within us than he who is within the world; I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Satan’s accusations do have a ring of truth to them, even if they are lies. It may be that a person once was a lazy slob, extremely angry with a hair-trigger temper, verbally abusive, a liar and a cheat, or whatever other accusation is sent our way. Jesus did say that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. We shouldn’t be surprised when we are confronted with his accusations. He is behaving as he actually is. Jesus also called him a liar, that when he lies, he speaks his native language.

As Christians, those accusations don’t define us. We are new creatures in Christ. The old has passed away and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). What we once were is not who we are now. As Romans 6 tells us, we’ve died and risen with Christ.

Rather than listening to those accusations, we need to take those thoughts captive. 2 Corinthians 10:5: “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” It is safe to say that those accusatory thoughts are not thoughts that are in obedience to Christ.

Doing so is hard. I’ll admit to not being as consistent as I need to be with taking all thoughts captive. There are times I’m fairly good at doing so, but at other times I’m nowhere near where I need to be. Failing to take those thoughts captive leads to trouble. Once we stop taking them captive, it becomes much easier to dwell on them. Once we start dwelling on them, we’re more likely to succumb to those lying thoughts and to believe them and possibly even act on them. The downward spiral follows.

Rather, let us take our identity from Scripture, from what God says, and who we are in Christ. Let’s reject the satanic lies that come our way, the lies Satan wants us to believe. Let us take all those thoughts captive.

Christ has set us free, and in Christ, we are free indeed.

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