Most thoughts are worthless or evil unless we talk with the Lord a lot. Discernment is one of the most important tasks as we turn to our Messiah to develop our relationship with the One who called us and loves us. The clutter of enemy activity and self-centered focus in our heathen mind obviously makes hearing clearly from the Lord more difficult. My hope is the Spirit will enable me to share practical tips that help you do this better in your own life. They are not infallible but they have worked for me for over four decades now. The problem, of course, is that we are all unique.

I do not want to get into arguments here. People get really freaked out at the suggestion that common everyday thoughts can come from demons who can speak to you in your mind. Many of these thoughts are assumed to come from ourselves. If you give place to these devilish ideas, they will speak through your mouth. Those murmurings about your place in society, either crushing or exalting, can mess you up badly. My periodic radical depression throughout my adult life was the result of thoughts I accepted as true in junior high in the mid-fifties. It was a major revelation when the demonic assault on my mind was revealed by the Lord around the turn of the new millennium. Your theology does not concern me. The reality is that it happens.

Just remember Jesus’ strong admonishment to Peter: This was just after Peter made his great statement about Jesus being the Messiah, the Son of the Living God in Matthew 16: 15-23. A short time later, in verse 23, Yeshua has to severely rebuke the demon speaking through Peter. “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Peter’s seemingly reasonable concerns came from the enemy who is a smooth liar. Jesus knew that Satan was using Peter to speak to him, trying to tempt Him.

It has been clear to me for a long time that my thoughts have three sources: the Lord, myself, and the enemy. So when I am looking to get guidance from the Lord I need to be careful. As I make my daily, moment-by-moment decisions I need to be vigilant. I must discern the source of my thoughts.

Most thoughts are worthless or evil spiritually,
the Lord normally speaks only when you ask Him to

This is something you need to seriously examine. There is little we can do without hearing from the Lord. Yes, I know that He speaks through the scriptures, through others, and through circumstances. However, the Lord is careful to make sure that you are living by faith. We are saved by faith in the One who is able—a faith He places in our spirit and soul by His Holy Spirit. It’s all by grace.

You will never hear clearly from Yeshua Messiah [Jesus Christ] unless you practice hearing His voice and learn to recognize when it is Him and when it is not. You certainly will not be able to converse with the Lord until you can do that. That means you’ll be spending a lot of time in prayer seeking help, wisdom, and answers. You’ll discover that the Lord rarely talks to you out of the blue, unannounced. The norm is that He responds to your prayers.

Prayers are supposed to be a dialog. They are the path to hearing His voice. Basic prayers are: “What do you want me to do next, Lord?” —or— “Is this what you want me to understand?” —or— “Is this the path You want me to take?” Then you listen until you hear His response. If you don’t hear anything, an appropriate prayer is, “I’m sorry, Lord. But I didn’t hear You. Will you tell me again , please?” Don’t give up. He wants to talk with you.

There are many scriptures telling us that hearing His voice is crucial—and that this is necessary for salvation. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” ROMANS 10: 17

But here the word used for “word of God” is not logos, the overall word of God. Jesus is the Logos. The Bible is the written version of logos. The word used in this verse is rhema—the targeted, inspired message from the Holy Spirit that cuts through the heathen clutter in our mind and shows us Truth. Jesus is Truth—the way, and the truth, and the life. JOHN 14:6

Jesus said in John 5: 40 “yet you refuse to come to me, that you might have life.” RSV— He is the person we need for salvation, revelation, and wisdom. This is what will transform our life, filling us with faith and power. This is why we need to hear and talk with Him.

Your own thoughts are as dangerous as the ones from the enemy

The first thing you need to understand about your thought life shocks many. When you are seeking the Lord, If the thought does not come from God, it really does not matter. Our thoughts may be entertaining, exciting, scary, or many other things. But they cannot be trusted for direction. In our unsaved state, sin controls our life.

The enemy is trying to kill you. In the Garden the serpent insinuated, “Has God really said, you shall not eat…?” He got us to bring death into the world with sin. He didn’t have the power to do it, without our help. His game has not changed. His thoughts in your mind are still trying to do the same thing—steal, kill, and destroy.

We don’t know what we should do without His rhema word (that specific word answering our question or giving us giuidance). The Holy Spirit is the one who quickens the scripture. Our own reasonings are very suspect. The enemy’s conniving is clear.

Remember that the original sin was triggered by wanting to know good from evil and be like God. We do not know enough to make that determination. God was not being mean when He told us not to eat from that tree. We must understand that in the flesh our database, our mind, contains nowhere near enough storage capacity. We don’t have enough information to handle decisions like that. Our data storage is clogged with garbage until we are reborn.

We regularly make decisions that seem good at the time based on what we know. But they prove to be bad choices in the long run. Let’s look at a few examples on the societal level:

• The Industrial Revolution is good: We had no idea about the problems of pollution when we started down the road of technology. We never expected mass production to largely eliminate quality the way that it has. We never expected the limitations to choice either.
• Cars are good: But we had no idea what they would ultimately do to the family. Who foresaw the breakup of the local community because of all the moving? We never foresaw suburbs, exurbs, or commuting. How about long commutes to church? What a good deal that is!
• Drugs are good: But who foresaw a society which turns to drugs instead of God: medically, socially, emotionally, and even spiritually. In the works of the flesh listed in Galatians 5, the Greek word pharmakeia is translated sorcery (or witchcraft in the King James Version). Vines dictionary says the word means the use of medicine, drugs, or potions for power. We can reasonably assume the modern medicinal use of drugs had its source in secular humanist sorcery. It’s getting our own healing instead of looking to the Lord for health. The side effects are devastating. Let’s not talk about recreational use.
• The Internet is good: Did anyone expect it would spring loose the spirit of lawlessness? Should we even mention the ubiquitousness of Big Brother, Big Company, and Big Government which have all been given new life by 24-hour online access to all of us? The replacement of conversation with text messaging, email, memes, and snapshots remains a major and growing problem. And I won’t even get into social media.

Inadequate wisdom is the norm

Even in an information age, we do not have the wisdom to know what to do with all of the knowledge. Your life, my life, or the life of anyone you know is littered with decisions made without adequate knowledge. We all need to be able to tap into the source of all knowledge—the One who knows everything. Our omniscient Messiah knows it all.

This is not some trite truism but at the core of our faith. We do not need an astrologer, clairvoyant, or psychiatrist who depends upon reading the creation for answers. We have direct access to the Creator himself—the one who made it all.

Most of this seeking takes place within ourself. But as believers, we are no longer limited to just our mind, because our rebirth brought our spirit to life also. Our consciousness, our soul, normally deals with thoughts—plus emotions and feelings. Seemingly, few people realize that evil spiritual powers can speak to us via thoughts, emotions, and feelings that seem to come from within. It’s nothing to be afraid of, but you do need to be aware of this reality. Jesus has total authority over all of this.

Yes, we can ask for wisdom. James tells us to do this with the assurance that it will be provided to us. Yet, the Lord provides that wisdom in ways which require faith to access. Everything in our walk on earth is by faith.