Have you ever wondered why when you are praying, terrible, sinful thoughts come out of nowhere into your mind? Have you ever experienced a flurry of thoughts about what a failure you are as a Christian or, for some, what a great Christian you are compared to others? When we have these sinful thoughts, many of us beat ourselves up. But should we really be beating ourselves up for these very common experiences? Absolutely not!
Here's why. These sinful thoughts are not coming from you. In fact, you do not even have the ability to generate sinful thoughts. You may be thinking in your mind, "You must not know me very well, Mark, because if you did, you would realize that I can come up with all kinds of sinful thoughts!" Actually, you don't, and as I said earlier, you can't. Why? It's because as a new creation in Christ, the real you, the true identity can only think and produce loving, righteous thoughts.
1 John 3:6 tells us this: No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (NASB) The new you cannot sin because you are 100% righteous in your identity in Christ, that is, in your spirit. As a righteous person, you do not have the desire nor the ability to produce sinful or tempting thoughts.
Since that is true, where do they originate from? Sinful thoughts originate from one of two places. 1. Indwelling sin or 2. Satan.
In Romans 7:15-17, the Apostle Paul shares his own struggle with temptation, how he failed to overcome them and where the temptations were originating. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. What does this teach us?
Our deepest desire is to live righteously not sinfully!
There is zero power in the law or in will-power to defeat temptation in our lives!
Sinful thoughts originate from sin, which lives in our bodies, not from the real us!
A Christian does not have two natures warring against each other - a sinful one and a righteous one. The sinful one was crucified on the cross with Jesus according to Romans 6:6. Yet we do have an unholy force or power in our bodies that is the source of our temptation called indwelling sin. It's just that this source is not who we are.
It's like having a splinter in your finger. It hurts like crazy! It's something in you, but it's not you. Indwelling sin is in us, but it's not the real us. Just read the remainder of Romans 7 and you will see this clearly.
Yet, here is where it's tricky. This "splinter" in us called indwelling sin puts sinful thoughts in our mind which sound just like us talking. They have our same gender, cadence and accent. So, it certainly sounds like us, but because they are sinful thoughts instead of righteous ones, they are not from us. Let me put it this way.
Every temptation we have is coming from indwelling sin or Satan not us!
If you will begin to believe this, you can not only stop beating yourself up, but you can ask the Holy Spirit to help you recognize these sinful thoughts.
I remember after having a powerful session in counseling one time, I ran a quick errand to the local Walmart. As I was walking in, I began to be bombarded by these dark sinful thoughts. Knowing the truth, I simply said, "These thoughts aren't coming from me. I died to you sin. I am a righteous child of God." They stopped immediately.
We all need to know this truth and to be reminded of it often. I certainly do in my own life, for sure. Ask God to remind you of this liberating truth, and watch what He does in your life. You will be amazed and encouraged!
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2016 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!
