A common mistake often made by faithful Christians is when they do not heed what St. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:5 and, "take every thought captive to obey Christ." To take a thought captive is significant. A thought has four different ways of entering our mind.
1. Through the influence of the world.This represents such things as the favor of others, friends, reputation, importance, wealth, delights, and comforts.
2. Through the impulses (or passions/concupiscence) of the flesh.The flesh is the most tenacious in this group and represents the sensory appetites (delight as brought forth by our senses) and natural affections that war against the spirit.
3. Through the influence of the devil. Since the devil is a spiritual being his affects are more cunning and deceitful. He works hand-in-hand with the world and the flesh in order to bring about sin.
4. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This involves anything in union with divine truth as revealed to us by God through His Church. Inspiration of the Holy Spirit can take many different forms. Through natural or supernatural means, sensory or spiritual.
Since, therefore, as St. Paul tells us our everyday battles are fought against, "the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness and with the evil spirits in the heavens," (Ephesians 6:12) we must understand that all of our thoughts, large and small, stem from one of these areas; the world, the flesh and the devil. The world to use us to loose focus on hope, the flesh to lose focus on love and the devil to lose focus on faith. All three of these virtues are mandatory in our own spiritual development. If we lose one of them we essentially lose them all.
What the devil does here is very tricky. Not only is he knowledgeable when it comes to our weaknesses but his intellect far surpasses ours that when he decides to engage us in seemingly reasonable dialog (usually without our even knowing it is him) we are easily led astray because we cannot differentiate between the will of God and our own inclinations; in which we may even be deceived into thinking is the very will of God. Allow us to give you an example. We know that it is the will of God that we receive the Holy Eucharist in a state of grace or else we will commit sacrilege. If Sunday comes along and we consciously know we've committed a mortal sin and a thought comes to mind such as, "Well, God understands my situation" or "God is merciful; He won't mind" we can rest assured that, even though these thoughts may appear reasonable and actual do represent a true characteristic of God (for He does understand our situation and He is merciful), we know that it really is not the particular will of God. Revealed truth shows us that this tenant of our faith is how Christ established it from the very beginning.
If we do not take every thought captive, as St. Paul says, we are liable to be led away from Christ without our even knowing it. What Satan does is distract our attention away from the things of God in order to create situations where we end up having to rely on our own knowledge (our own will). These things Satan uses, at first, seem harmless or innocent. To the untrained mind they appear reasonable and perhaps just. However, little-by-little like a bucket with a small leak in it, the water (the grace we need from God) slowly trickles out. More times then not by the time we realize it the damage has been done and the means to repair it will cost us a great deal.Take, for example, the episode in the Holy Gospel where Pilates wife had a dream about not condemning Christ. (Matthew 27:19) This, at face value, seems right and reasonable. It seems like a just thing to do. And rightfully so, Christ actually was innocent. The problem, however, was that Satan was using something seemingly good to create an evil. What was the evil? To try to get Pilates wife to convince Pilate not to condemn Christ. It was God the Fathers will that His Son be condemned and put to death. That's the way in which He saw fit to bring about the redemption of humanity. Satan knew this but Pilates wife did not. Satan is very creative and deceitful, make no mistake. Unless we are in tune with the will of the Father, as Christ was, we would be more apt to fall into his deceitful suggestions.
The Burning Process begins with a suggestion or thought. We must always learn to bring these thoughts and suggestions captive to the will of God as St. Paul tells us to. He tells us not "some" thoughts or "bad" thoughts alone but every thought. Sometimes the "right" thing to do isn't really the right thing to do. As odd as that sounds it is true that God is specific when it comes to His holy will. Yes, sometimes we have to suffer because of it but at the same time God rewards us with an even greater gift if we patiently endure. This is where authentic freedom is found. It's liberating knowing that not only are you being pleasing to God but He paves the way for you and therefore we not worry. All we have to do is simply love Him in simplicity and keep our hearts in tune with His. The victory over Satan has already been won but the battle is still raging.
"Brethren, be sober, be watchful. For our adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goers about seeking someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith!" (1 Peter 5:8-9)
Copyright 2012 A New Voice for Broken Souls
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