The Phenomena of a Passive Mind 523
Some who deliver messages for the Lord are often governed by
these bursting thoughts. They preach what has been revealed to them
suddenly. They construe their sudden thoughts to be from God and
so accept them passively. They do not understand that God neither
gives sudden revelation nor imparts it to the mind. Despite the fact
such words are sometimes seemingly full of meaning, they
nevertheless come from the powers of darkness. Furthermore,
occasionally as a believer is preaching, many Scripture verses
abruptly swarm into his brain and his thinking; the audience appears
to be touched; yet following the meeting no practical help in life is
experienced by those who have heard. It is like a dream. This too can
be the action of the powers of darkness.
Having yielded territory in his mind to evil spirits, the child of
God will realize that they are able to provoke any thought in him.
Among fellow-workers, evil spirits often sow a groundless doubt or
divisive thought in the mind of one worker so as to separate him
from the others. Upon their wicked instigation the worker concludes
without foundation that so-and-so thinks such-and-such of him, and
so comes the separation. Actually there is no basis for such a
thought. If the child of God only knew how to examine the source of
such imaginings and how to resist them, there would be no
separation. How sad that he regards it as his own thought, not
recognizing that the evil spirits have planted it in him.
PicturesThe adversary also can project pictures onto the screen of a
believer’s mind. Some are clear and good and are welcomed by him;
others are impure and sinful, much detested by his conscience.
Whether good or bad, liked or disliked, the sad fact is that he has no
strength to prohibit these pictures from entering his head. Against the
opposition of his will, there lingers before his eyes past experiences,
predictions of future events, and many other matters. This is because