Guard your thoughts

The devils, being spiritual beings, direct most of their attacks against us at our minds, where our spirits are lodged. There they plant thoughts (λογισμοι in Greek) which are all but indistinguishable from our own thoughts, except for their objects.

Our spirits being regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit present thoughts consistent with our new spiritual natures. They are good and pure, rational and just. They lead us from one good to another, if we follow them. But the thoughts planted by the evil one and his angels are the opposite. They add drag to our spiritual natures, try to bring us down, and lead us from one evil to another, sometimes by trickery, sometimes by flattery.

Here is our problem in these last times…

We have been taught (by the world) to believe that all our thoughts reflect who we are and what we ourselves desire, and that to follow them is not only natural but commendable. So, whatever thought comes to mind, whatever the devils plant there, be it an apparent good, some transitory pleasure or speculation, or something pitted against the truth of God’s revealed Word and which we know to be wrong (but only there, so the devils lisp in our mental ear), we think it right to follow, to try out, to experiment with, to experience.

In former days, for most Christian souls, thoughts were not accepted inwardly nor acted upon if they went against what the conscience knew was right. Whether traced back to the devils or merely to fleshly weakness, bad thoughts, imaginations and fantasies were rejected, boldly and as a matter of course. Now, however, with the lie that whatever we think is possible (and therefore, permissible), even souls that acknowledge Christ can justify themselves in following every and any whim.
“Go where no one has ever gone before, do what no one has ever done. Follow your dream, your vision. Life is a journey.”

Yes, my brothers. Life is at least a journey.
But it’s more than that.
It’s a pilgrimage from the “City of Destruction”
to the “Celestial City.”
John Bunyan was right.
Brethren, guard your thoughts!

Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’” Luke 13:23-27 NKJV