We must have discernment to realize when the devil is talking to us.

I want to look at the second half of 2 Corinthians 10:5. It says, “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” I used to think this just meant that my thoughts needed to line up with or agree with the Word of God. But I now know it has a much broader application. I’ll give an example.

A while back I was reading my Bible and I began hearing the words, I don’t believe that and That’s not true . I assumed these thoughts were mine and was afraid I was losing my faith in God’s Word. Then I noticed that when I looked at certain symbols of my faith, like pictures of Jesus or my cross necklace, I heard bad thoughts about Jesus or God. And during my pastor’s sermons, I heard thoughts of disbelief about what he was saying. Sometimes these thoughts were louder than the pastor’s words! I also heard things such as, You should leave the church and never come back. Every time I tried to read God’s Word or focus on God, I was blasted with negative thoughts.

The thoughts began to overwhelm me, so much so that I had to stop reading my Bible and going to church. That didn’t help. The thoughts intensified by encompassing even non-spiritual activities and it became a full-time job trying to shut them out of my mind. I was exhausted by the mental exertion and started getting headaches. I wanted to stab my head with an ice pick, just to get the thoughts out. I repeatedly asked myself, What is wrong with me?

I didn’t know what to do so I asked my pastor friend, Ed, to pray with me. As we prayed, revelation knowledge came to Ed. He said, “You should change your question from ‘What is wrong with me?’ to ‘What is happening to me?’ because those thoughts aren’t yours. Satan has assigned a harassing spirit to you.”

Ed crossed the room and stood in front of me. I told him to do whatever he had to do, just get it off me.

He boldly commanded, “In the name of Jesus Christ whose I am and whom I serve, you harassing spirit depart from her now! Go!”

I looked at my picture of Jesus. Silence. The spirit was gone! I was relieved, but Ed didn’t feel like we were done with this battle quite yet.

Ed declared, “In the name of Jesus, I break any demonic assignments against you, and they cannot come on you anymore.” Then Ed proclaimed scriptures over me such as “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4) and “No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling” (Ps. 91:10).

Ed felt led by the Holy Spirit to wipe anointing oil on the doors and windows of my house. I’d never heard of doing that before, but as he pulled a small bottle of oil from his pocket I followed him into every room, making sure he didn’t miss a single entry point, including the garage door.

The first issue is that when voices or thoughts come to us, we can’t automatically allow them in, we have to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ by pushing it through the filter that is Christ, and if it doesn’t fit through the filter, it can’t come in. The second problem is discerning if the thought is ours or if it’s coming from an outside source.

Since my encounter with the harassing spirit, I try to make a deliberate effort to listen to the thoughts that come to me. Of course I’m not perfect, and at times I allow the enemy’s thoughts to penetrate my mind. When I recognize that has happened I proclaim that I reject the specific thought, and then in Jesus’s name I command the evil spirit who spoke it to me to flee!

I want to point out that just because someone hears thoughts now and then it doesn’t mean they have a harassing spirit assigned to them. If the thoughts are almost continual and interfere with daily living, then a harassing spirit might be involved. If you suspect a harassing spirit, then address it as a harassing spirit when you command it to go, otherwise you can just call it an evil spirit or lying spirit.

Peace and rest to you,

Denise

Part of this teaching was taken from Original Design: Set Free to be Who God Created.