If you knew the enemy’s power was to control you by your thinking, if you knew he was the one causing destruction in your life you would retaliate, you would reject him. Isn’t that the way we are? If someone is mean to us, we retaliate; that is our human nature. We want nothing to do with someone who is against us, which is why he does not want to be known as the culprit. He does not want us to know he is the one invading our thought life with destructive thoughts that keep us from God’s original design for us.

His strategy is to secretively put false information in our minds because he knows that our thinking is the core of who we are. If he can go unknown and take the beauty that was intended for us, from us, he will. To control us he has to infect our minds with his plan for us which is to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10).

The enemy’s power is in words and he is subtle, so seemingly his thoughts seem natural to us. But as we look to God and take His instructions, we recognize the lies we have been believing. God teaches us that we can’t live by how we feel, or by what someone else has said to us, or about us. We live by His Word, and  think Gods' thoughts; we imitate Him so we can be in agreement with Him.

To be in agreement with God, we need to know Him. We need to have His wisdom, and to do that we need to read the Word of God. When we know God, we will recognize God speaking to us; knowing God’s character will help us to recognize the lie of the enemy.

It is one thing to be lied to, but another to not know it, which is how many live. Because many don’t know God very well, or as Jesus said, have little root, they don’t know when the enemy is lying to them. They have no idea the devil is controlling them and they end up living their whole life in that lie.

For example, if you are gifted in music but you don’t believe you can live that life because of the wrong thoughts you’re meditating, you will never flourish in your gift as God designed. As we read in Proverbs, a man's gift makes room for him, but if we never walk in that gift to the degree God intended, obviously we will not walk in that provision.

On the other hand, if you know God and have utilized your gift according to His instructions, you will flourish in your gift. You will live your life in completeness, have contentment, peace and joy because you are living the life you were created to live.

Living by the world’s standards verses God’s standards are opposed to each other. One is infected by the lies of the enemy, and the other is purified in God’s love and provision for us.

God’s standards are good; if we know that we will live the life He created for us to live. We will live happy, blessed, and prosperous. We will be able to love as He loves us; we will be able to be generous and kind. We will have patience; we will have time for others because we are not preoccupied with our own needs. We will be aware of and have compassion for the needs of others.