Please turn over to Ephesians 2, verse 1. No wonder so many psychiatrists and their patients do not understand many of their negative moods and attitudes. Here in Ephesians 2, we are going to read verses 1 through 3.
And then in Ephesians 6, verse 12, Paul emphasizes the importance of putting on the whole armor of God in order to fight against this prince of the power of the air, the spirit.
So these evil spirits place damaging moods and feelings in vulnerable or unsuspecting human minds. And to some people, they implant impulses to want to give in to sin or give up on life.
And if negative or confusing thoughts come into our mind, we should ask God to rebuke Satan if he is influencing us on something that we do not want to believe or we do not believe. Negative thoughts ultimately originate with Satan, and he takes advantage of difficult circumstances in our lives and uses these trials in negative situations to generate feelings of dejection.
Satan, whom the apostle Paul calls the prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2:2, can also broadcast negative feelings and moods into our minds, even when there is no apparent circumstance or reason for us to feel down. Often these thoughts come subtly.
Satan influences the minds and attitudes of the world, and so it is a negative attitude that permeates society, and it affects us. We can even feel our moods change when we go out into society or into a crowd of people doing something that is against what we would normally do. For example, we start thinking about all the things we do not have but wish we could have, and but we do not have the money to buy them, or our personality or health may not be as dynamic as some of our friends, or we may feel lonely sometimes.
Please turn with me to James 4, verse 7. We allow these things to fill our minds, and before we realize it, we become depressed without understanding why. The best way to defend ourselves from this kind of attack is to stay constantly aware of the source of such discouraging thoughts and to guard against them. And when they do start to grip us, to seek God's help to counteract them.
Here is the same kind of context we find in Galatians 4. "You" in this case very, very likely means Gentiles.
I read that because we need to understand that all of us—Israelite, Gentile, it does not matter who—have been in bondage to Satan and his demons to some degree, some more than others.
In the case of the Gentiles, they were completely in bondage because there were things from their spiritual lives that were absolutely absent from them. God had made a covenant only with one people. He tells us:
The "you" were Israelites. So those people knew God. The Gentiles did not. The Israelites did know God, and some of their religion (Judaism) came from the Old Testament. Not all of it, but some of it. They were not lacking in knowledge of God. It was not right knowledge. It was very poorly interpreted. And I want to add one more thing.
Please turn over to Ephesians 2, verse 1. No wonder so many psychiatrists and their patients do not understand many of their negative moods and attitudes. Here in Ephesians 2, we are going to read verses 1 through 3.
And then in Ephesians 6, verse 12, Paul emphasizes the importance of putting on the whole armor of God in order to fight against this prince of the power of the air, the spirit.
So these evil spirits place damaging moods and feelings in vulnerable or unsuspecting human minds. And to some people, they implant impulses to want to give in to sin or give up on life.
Here is the same kind of context we find in Galatians 4. "You" in this case very, very likely means Gentiles.
I read that because we need to understand that all of us—Israelite, Gentile, it does not matter who—have been in bondage to Satan and his demons to some degree, some more than others. All slaves, but some more than others.
