Your greatest enemy is the belief that you just don’t have what it takes to live the Christian life. You may acknowledge that Satan is the enemy, yet quite often you don’t fully understand how often he defeats us by influencing our thoughts.
When Paul wrote to the Ephesians he talked about Satan’s schemes. He used a Greek word methodia, from which we get the English word method. Paul advises us to be on guard. We should beware of the following negative thoughts:
1. I’m not good enough, so there is no need to try! If you believe that, you are seriously wounded. The Christian life is not about your goodness, but Christ’s! When you believe in Him, God takes the righteousness of His Son and puts it in your spiritual bank account.
2. How can I make the grade spiritually when others stronger than I couldn’t make it? Someone else’s failure has nothing to do with your living the kind of life that glorifies God.
3. God expects more than I can deliver. What you have forgotten is the spiritual enabling that comes through the Holy Spirit in response to your cry, “Lord, help me. Give me the strength I need today to do what You want me to do.”
4. This one time won’t matter. Many people have been brought down by thinking that one slip into sin won’t matter. This is when you turn your back on God and what you know is right.
5. It couldn’t happen to me. The one who thinks he is impervious to temptation and is above falling is the one in greatest danger. Remember, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying.“
Thinking something doesn’t defeat you; believing it does!