Numbers 22:41
“And it came to pass in the morning, that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of Baal: and he saw from thence the utmost part of the people.”
Unbeknownst to them, Israel is being watched with evil intent. Balak took Balaam there to curse the people. Balak felt threatened by this large group of people traveling through. He had heard stories of their battles. He is seeking to defeat them by way of a curse.
We also have enemies, the devil and his demons. I almost feel silly writing this. Our culture mocks this aspect of faith. The “church lady” in Saturday Night Live focused on that. Academics also mock this. They see it as primitive.
The devil hates us because we are important to God. He is at war with Him. The devil hurts God by hurting us. We are almost like potential hostages. Just like Israel was looked on from above by enemies, so we are also.
How does he attack us? He uses many means. We have our own struggle with sin. This isn’t the devil. However, he can use it. He can foster temptations. We also have depression, fear, anger and so on. This also isn’t the devil. Yet he uses that, as well.
He works in our thoughts. He can give us a negative thought. It can be doubt in God. He said to Eve in the Garden, —“Has God not said”— Genesis___. This caused Eve to doubt God’s goodness. It caused the to eventually sin.
How do we battle against this? ____ says, “take every thought captive___.” Don’t allow these thoughts to remain in us. Whenever Jesus was confronted by the devil, he responded with scripture. _________ “I will give this all to you if you bow down to me. “+++ Replacing the “wrong thought” with scripture is helpful.
One such thought was mentioned. SNL attempted to shame us for even believing in the devil. Replace that with stories with how respectfully scripture sees him and his power. He wrecks lives. He is probably partially for driving many to suicide. Their despair is so great that death appears to be a relief. Those are the words he whispers.
Another “wrong thought” is how academia belittles faith. If it be in the science lab, the humanism spread through many of the english texts or the multiculturalism spread in the social sciences. Many of the academics see faith as being an obstacle. They espouse John Lennon’s words in Imagine. “Imagine there’s no religion. It isn’t hard to do.” Students get embarrassed by their faith and begin to be quiet about it. The devil uses all of this to shame us.
We can’t say which thoughts and temptations are from the evil one. The best we can do is to recognize harmful thoughts and replace them. We can also pray. The Lord’s Prayer models “keep us from evil”.
Lord, thank You that You are for us. You want us to be capable and aware of the battle and the devil’s methods. Help us to avoid them.