What we think is what we are. Our actions and our words all flow from the thoughts that we have. There have been many times where people say something, and then say, “I should not have said that, I did not mean it,” when they realize they have been mean. The problem is not in what they said. It is in what they thought. The words could not have come out if they did not originate in the mind. Our mind is the starting point, so it is important to control what we think. With that in mind, the question that we need to ask ourselves is this: what am I thinking?

Satan is trying win the war against us by subterfuge. He tries to infiltrate our mind by getting us to think on unholy things. Television shows, songs on the radio, billboards, books, and even the news are full of thoughts and ideas that are unrighteous and false. If we are not careful, we can find ourselves spending quite a bit of time thinking about all these impure ideas. We start dwelling on them. For example, after hearing specific innuendos repeatedly on television program, the same thoughts might jump to our mind in similar situations. We may take other people’s completely innocent phrases and turn them into innuendo ourselves. This is what Satan wants. He wants us to follow that path, and to enjoy the journey. And this is only one example of many. 

This is why it is so important to spend time in God’s word. God’s word is full of truth and righteousness. We must be sure not to just skim the word of God though, or even to only study for intellectual purposes. We need to meditate on it. We need to consider what it is saying, why it is saying it, and how we can apply that to our lives today. What does it mean to love? How in the world am I supposed to consider trials all joy (James 1:2)? What does God desire of me? The more we spend time thinking on those things, the more we find ourselves living out those thoughts. We may ask ourselves how we can be loving to such and such at the work place. After thinking about that, we will find ourselves looking for ways to carry that out. The same power Satan tries to use to work against us, we can use to overcome him.