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Authors: John Osteen
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you” (Acts 8:22).
He did not say
thoughts
but
thought.
Pray that God will forgive you for that
one thought
that leads you to wrong action.
Concerning the betrayal of Jesus, the Bible says, “The devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him” (John 13:2). Satan dropped the thought into the heart and mind of Judas.
You see, the enemy’s primary approach is to drop a thought into our minds. He wants us to accept it and act upon it. “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:18–19).
In Luke 24, Jesus appeared to His disciples after He had risen from the dead. The Bible says, “But they were terrified and frightened” (Luke 24:37). Jesus said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (v. 38).
They were terrified. Where did this terror come from? It came from thoughts they let into their hearts. These thoughts were allowed to arise and create tormenting fear.
Perhaps you are gripped by fear. That fear came from thoughts Satan put into your mind. You have accepted them and have lived in the torment they produce.
Cast down those imaginations and arguments! Pull down those strongholds! Bring every thought into the captivity of Christ!
T HOUGHTS C AN B ECOME S TRONGHOLDS
A lying thought can become a stronghold. In other words, Satan’s lying thoughts can have a strong hold on you—or hold you strongly.
After a service I had conducted in a distant city, a young man about twenty years of age came to the platform to shake my hand. As soon as I took his hand, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that a homosexual spirit had attacked him in his mind and was trying to get him to accept the thought that he was gay.
I said to him, “Young man, there is a homosexual spirit after you. He has told you that you are gay.” I looked into his eyes that were filled with the fear of this haunting thought and said, “You are not a homosexual. That thought came from Satan, and he is trying to get you to accept it and act upon it. God created you normal.”
We rebuked the evil spirit, cast out the thought, and he was free! I will never forget the vanishing of the suffering I saw in his eyes.
This precious young man had been held captive by a devilish thought. He had received a thought from the enemy, and it had become a stronghold. It held on to him with a strong hold. It produced imaginations and arguments in his mind. These imaginations produced tremendous confusion and fear. But thank God, he pulled down those strongholds and cast down those imaginations, and he was delivered from the lie of Satan.
Thoughts can hold you like a vise and keep you from the truth. One lie from Satan, placed into your mind, can hold you in a place of sickness, suffering, and torment.
You ask, “How long?”
As long as you permit it.
I have a most amazing story that illustrates this point. It concerns my precious sister, Mary Givens. At a point where the doctors had given her no hope of ever beingwell, God restored her health in a miraculous way. But there is one facet of her deliverance and healing I have never written about until now. It has to do with the message of this book.
M ARY’S B ATTLE
I remember when Mary first put her faith in Jesus. She was one of the first ones I had the privilege of winning to the Lord back in 1939. What a wonderful Christian she became. She faithfully served the Lord and was a blessing to hundreds of people in her church in Dallas.
After many years of service to the Lord, she became very sick. To briefly state it here does not adequately describe what she endured. She had violent attacks in her mind and body, suffering untold agony for years. She was in and out of hospitals and institutions. The doctors finally sent her home and said they could do no more for
He did not say
thoughts
but
thought.
Pray that God will forgive you for that
one thought
that leads you to wrong action.
Concerning the betrayal of Jesus, the Bible says, “The devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him” (John 13:2). Satan dropped the thought into the heart and mind of Judas.
You see, the enemy’s primary approach is to drop a thought into our minds. He wants us to accept it and act upon it. “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:18–19).
In Luke 24, Jesus appeared to His disciples after He had risen from the dead. The Bible says, “But they were terrified and frightened” (Luke 24:37). Jesus said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (v. 38).
They were terrified. Where did this terror come from? It came from thoughts they let into their hearts. These thoughts were allowed to arise and create tormenting fear.
Perhaps you are gripped by fear. That fear came from thoughts Satan put into your mind. You have accepted them and have lived in the torment they produce.
Cast down those imaginations and arguments! Pull down those strongholds! Bring every thought into the captivity of Christ!
T HOUGHTS C AN B ECOME S TRONGHOLDS
A lying thought can become a stronghold. In other words, Satan’s lying thoughts can have a strong hold on you—or hold you strongly.
After a service I had conducted in a distant city, a young man about twenty years of age came to the platform to shake my hand. As soon as I took his hand, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that a homosexual spirit had attacked him in his mind and was trying to get him to accept the thought that he was gay.
I said to him, “Young man, there is a homosexual spirit after you. He has told you that you are gay.” I looked into his eyes that were filled with the fear of this haunting thought and said, “You are not a homosexual. That thought came from Satan, and he is trying to get you to accept it and act upon it. God created you normal.”
We rebuked the evil spirit, cast out the thought, and he was free! I will never forget the vanishing of the suffering I saw in his eyes.
This precious young man had been held captive by a devilish thought. He had received a thought from the enemy, and it had become a stronghold. It held on to him with a strong hold. It produced imaginations and arguments in his mind. These imaginations produced tremendous confusion and fear. But thank God, he pulled down those strongholds and cast down those imaginations, and he was delivered from the lie of Satan.
Thoughts can hold you like a vise and keep you from the truth. One lie from Satan, placed into your mind, can hold you in a place of sickness, suffering, and torment.
You ask, “How long?”
As long as you permit it.
I have a most amazing story that illustrates this point. It concerns my precious sister, Mary Givens. At a point where the doctors had given her no hope of ever beingwell, God restored her health in a miraculous way. But there is one facet of her deliverance and healing I have never written about until now. It has to do with the message of this book.
M ARY’S B ATTLE
I remember when Mary first put her faith in Jesus. She was one of the first ones I had the privilege of winning to the Lord back in 1939. What a wonderful Christian she became. She faithfully served the Lord and was a blessing to hundreds of people in her church in Dallas.
After many years of service to the Lord, she became very sick. To briefly state it here does not adequately describe what she endured. She had violent attacks in her mind and body, suffering untold agony for years. She was in and out of hospitals and institutions. The doctors finally sent her home and said they could do no more for
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