Discerning The Source of Thoughts — Keith Malcomson

Returning to the Battle for Our Minds

Is the Battle for the Nine, which we've now called Volume 1. We're about to start Volume 2 in this series here tonight. But one year ago, we began to deal with this Battle of the Nine. This series came out of me waiting upon the Lord for three weeks, seeking how he wanted to speak to us.

Little did I realize how momentous the year was going to be. No one could have comprehended what was ahead of us in the year that has just gone by. But one thing I do know, these messages about the battle for our minds, to guard our minds, to be careful of the thoughts of our minds, this was laid upon me very strongly through that three-week period.

It was confirmed again and again. And so when I began in January 2020, I knew this was the word of God for you, for me, for us as a church. I was fully convinced of it. And little did we realize in March that we would have the first lockdown and the beginning of this COVID crisis, which was going to test the minds, the thinking of everyone in our world.

It is also one year ago, almost exactly, that we got the diagnosis that Candace's condition was terminal. There's nothing the doctors could do. All of the seven messages I'm about to mention came just before that.

Do you know that God speaks to you before a crisis? Do you know he speaks to the preacher before the crisis comes? I need the word of God as much as anyone. And so last year, we preached our top seven messages on our Wednesday nights.

Number one, we dealt with the Holy War, that warfare of the spiritual mind and of the mind of the flesh that we read about in Romans chapter eight. The second message was, as a man thinketh, so is he.

The third message was the human brain, showing that the brain is different than the mind. The brain is a physical part of your body. It's a member of the body, whereas the mind is what operates through that brain.

The fourth message was the mind, the brain, and the Bible. The fifth message was, how do you renew your mind? And I wish I could preach that again. Part six was pulling down strongholds, and part seven was discerning the thoughts or the source of thoughts.

We are now returning back, and tonight, I'm gonna go back and preach the seventh message again, which is discerning the source of thoughts. We are about to go on to volume two, or part two of a series, and I wanna start here, discerning the source of thoughts.

Biblical Foundations for Discerning Thoughts

Let's go to a few scriptures here, and I'm just gonna remind you by reading a few scriptures here that we've already dealt with in these previous series, and we will come back and mention them again, but I'm just reading them, and then we're going to our message.

And so tonight, our message, discerning the source of thoughts. You can listen if you don't have time to go to the scriptures, but beginning with Proverbs 23, and verse seven, listen carefully. There's a dynamic scripture.

For as a man, or as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. In other words, this is fundamental to our teaching, how you think you are. In fact, your thinking defines who you are. You're nothing else than how you think.

And many people in the church try to say, my thought life is separate from who I am in Christ. That is not true. How you think is who you are. And so the Proverbs says that. As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.

And we see the mind does affect the heart of a man. How you think is in your heart, or a part of your heart. Then there's Romans chapter 12, verse two. And it says, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Third of all, you have 2 Corinthians 10, verse four. It says, pulling down strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity, listen to this, every thought.

Do you think every thought doesn't matter? I want to tell you, the Bible says you're to bring every thought into obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every thought does matter, because every thought undealt with affects your life somehow.

You better tonight discern where your thoughts come from. You're to take captive every thought and bring it into obedience to Christ. And then last of all, 2 Corinthians 11, verse three. These are the classic scriptures that we have already dealt with one year ago.

And please hear me, go back and listen those previous six messages. They're so important as we begin on this again. If you miss the messages, they're online, only audio messages, not video, but you can follow up here.

2 Corinthians 11 and three. But I fear, less by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted or wasted or withered from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Let's pray together here tonight. Father, I do thank you for the word of God, the truth of God, this challenge to us that you brought one year ago. Lord God, teaching us how to take every thought captive.

Lord God, showing us the importance of how we think and what we think and why we think. Father, I pray here tonight, will you grant us that anointing of the Holy Spirit to minister in the person of Christ.

We want a renewed mind. We want the mind of Christ. We want a sanctified mind. Lord God, we want that new mind. Lord God, that comes by the new birth, that spiritual mind to operate in each one of our lives.

Will you help us tonight? In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Our message, discerning the source of thoughts. And I wanna exhort you tonight, as we begin again looking at the mind, are your thoughts, the thoughts that go on in your mind, I wanna challenge you that we are to discern the source of thoughts.

We are actually to test where our thoughts come from. All thoughts do not have the same origin. And we're gonna see it tonight. I'm dealing with four different places that thoughts come from that affects your life.

And I want you here tonight to discern where your thoughts come from. Do they come from God? Do they come from Satan? Do they come from others? Or do they arise from yourself? I want you to discern tonight.

It actually says in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 21, prove all things, hold fast that which is good. Do you know what that means? It means to test, examine, to discern all things. You are to test the thoughts of your mind.

You're not to be an open sewer. You're not just to be an open highway for every thought, every imagination, every idea to drop into. You're actually to judge. You're to discern. If you don't do that, you're still a babe in Christ.

At best, at best you are. If you just allow your mind, everything to flood into it, you haven't grown, you haven't matured. You're not going on in perfection in Christ. Because I tell you, a part of maturing is to take thoughts captive.

That's what makes you grow in Jesus Christ. So we see that we're to discern the source, the origin, where thoughts arise, where they come from. You are to test your own thoughts and say, is this from God, the devil?

Is it from others? Is it from me? Where does it come from? You see, our minds that we've read about in these scriptures, that's taught about all through the Bible, the mind is that realm of thoughts, imaginations, of dreams, where you consider the word of God or the things of life.

This is the mind. And you're to discern the thoughts that pass through it. Do you remember when we taught on this, we defined what the word thoughts, individual thoughts, or your thought life. What does the Hebrew word actually mean?

Sorry, let me take that word. The word thinketh in the Hebrew. Do you remember what it means? It means to be a split door, to be a door that opens to let something through. That's what your thoughts are.

That's what your mind is. You know, if you want to understand your mind and your thought life, it is like a door. Either you shut it to keep certain things out or it is open to let everything in. That's what your thought life is.

And do you know what? Your thought life protects your heart or it actually opens up your heart to attack. You see, everything that gets into your heart first comes through your thought life. What is allowed in your thought life becomes your heart and flows down into your heart.

It's a vital part. And so this process of thinketh in the Hebrew means a door that opens and shuts. It can be shut hard or it can be left wide open. But it also means the doorman, the man who stands on the door and he says, no, I'm gonna close the door or no, I'm gonna open the door.

So it means both of these things. It means the door and it means the doorman, the guard on the door. Can I ask you here tonight, how is your thought life operating? Are you discerning it? Are you guarding it?

Are you watching over it? Do you know where the thoughts are affecting the decisions of your life, the direction of your life, the actions of your life? Are you watching over your thought life? Do you realize you don't say anything without thoughts passing through your mind?

Do you realize you don't do anything in your entire life without thought process? This is a dynamic part. Do you realize this is fundamental to sanctification, to becoming more like Christ Jesus? If you don't understand this, how are you gonna grow in Christ?

How are you actually gonna grow in your relationship with others if you don't understand this? It is utterly vital for what does it say in Proverbs? For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. So we see that the thoughts, the individual thoughts, the thought patterns, the ideas, the suggestions, the guidance, the direction, the theory, the revelations that come to you all come by thoughts and you need to test them because they'll become a part of your life.

They're gonna mold your life to be what it is. There is a vital connection between the process of thinking and the condition of your heart. Your condition of your heart is molded by your thought life, by that whole realm of the mind and the mind falls within the realm of what is taught in the Bible of the heart, the mind is part of the heart and yet it's separate from the heart.

It's different and yet it's a part of your heart. What your mind is, your heart is. So you are nothing more than your thought life. It is a vital part of who you are. When we taught about this one year ago, we actually told you and I'm not sure if you've tested it over this past year, but every single day, unconsciously, they estimate that every person thinks between 30 ,000 and 180 ,000 thoughts a day.

The average person thinks about 50 ,000 unconscious thoughts. I mean their unconscious mind. You don't think about breathing. You don't think about walking. I rarely think about driving. It's an automatic thing.

I had to train that mind. I had to train that brain and now it becomes automatic. It's in that subconscious mind. And so I'm not sure if you've counted your thoughts in the past year, but this is what they say.

Every single second, you have about 40 unconscious thoughts, but we're not talking about that realm. We're talking about the conscious thought life. And when we come to the conscious thought life, the experts, the professionals, they say that we have a thought every 10 seconds.

We have a thought that we're deciding, that we're putting into operation in our life. Every 10 seconds, that means every minute you make six decisions about something. It is conscious. You know what you're doing.

You're aware of it and you're responsible for that. I feed into my unconscious mind what is there operating. Don't think you get out of this by saying, oh, I'm not responsible for my unconscious mind.

Like a computer, you program that as you walk with Jesus Christ. What you make conscious in your mind flows over to become a natural part of who you are. And it is who you are in your heart. Saints, I'm already showing you, as we return to this series, the importance of your thought life.

God’s Thoughts and the Mind of Christ

Here tonight, discerning the source of every thought that comes to your mind. We're gonna look at four points here. First of all, God's thoughts. Discerning the source of your thoughts as God's thoughts.

It says in Isaiah chapter 55 and verse eight, listen carefully, we're dealing with God's thoughts. Thoughts that come into your mind that are a part of your thought life and they come from God. God wants certain thoughts in your mind.

It says in Isaiah 55, verse eight, for my thoughts, notice here, God has thoughts. He has actual thoughts. God thinks thoughts just like you do. God actually has thoughts. He has a thought life just like you do.

I know it's different, but it is the same principle. He says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. And this is the first thing I want you to see. Your thoughts, how you think is different than how God thinks.

They're not the same. They're different. They're distinct. They're radically separate. But God has thoughts and you have thoughts. What I want you to see or discern tonight is, are you living by your own thoughts or the thoughts of God?

Do the thoughts of God actually operate in your mind, in your heart and in your life? God says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, not naturally. Apart from God working in your life, you do not think like God.

I'm shocked by how many people in the church, they think they think like God. They don't, when I go to the Bible, when I go to this book, I find out they think very radically different than God. They say, oh, God's thought.

I believe God is saying to me. I believe God wants me to do this. And I say, but the Bible says, and this is where we separate. You see, you have man's thoughts and you have God's thoughts. God says, we don't think the same.

Neither are your ways, my ways. Notice that your ways, what's that? Your actions, your life, who you are, how you operate, come from thoughts. Your ways are not the same as God's ways. Neither are your thoughts the same as his thoughts.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts and your thoughts. Do you see how the heavens are so far away from the earth? That's how far God's thoughts.

Do you know what? They're spiritual. Your, our thoughts naturally aren't. His are heavenly. Ours are earthly. Ours are natural. His are remarkable. Since there is a separation between God's thoughts and our thoughts, and there is a great divergence, we've got to realize this.

Do you know how to discern if you're thinking the thoughts of God are your own thoughts? Can you tell the difference? Are you able to stop a thought and say, that's from God or that is from me? This is basic to the Christian life.

If you do not know how to discern that a thought, an actual thought is from God, or if it's from you, you're in a very dangerous place. And I want to tell you, I've met thousands in the church that cannot tell the difference.

That's a dangerous place. You'll never grow. You'll never go anywhere with God because you can't even tell the difference of the most obvious things possible. And he says, listen carefully. He's explaining about these thoughts.

How do these thoughts come down into man? He says, for as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not hither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth the bud, and giveth seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth.

Do you see how God's thoughts come to his church and to his people? It comes down like the rain. It comes down like the snow. It begins to water the ground. He's talking about how he gets his thoughts into our minds, into our hearts.

How does he do it? It comes down like the rain. It comes down like the snow. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. Do you know if God's going to get his word or his thought into your mind?

Do you know how he does that? Do you know how you begin to think the thought of God or think like God because there's a radical difference? How do you begin to think the thoughts of God or to have the mind of God or to know what he is thinking?

How do you get those thoughts into you? We are meant to have the mind of God. We are to think the thoughts of God. Do you know how it happens? By God speaking his word. He speaks his word. That's where you get his thoughts.

If you try to say you've got God's thoughts, but yet it's contrary to this book, you do not know the thoughts of God. You see, God's thoughts come into your life, his thoughts on every aspect of life.

I mean, every single aspect about your family, about your workplace, about your money, about every decision of life. How do you get the thought of God? How do you think like God? How do you get it that your mind isn't of this world and carnal or worldly or of the devil?

How do you have a mind that actually is filled with the thought of God? It comes through the spoken word of God. God speaks his word. It comes like rain. It comes like snow. It is watering. And do you know what happens?

A harvest comes out of that. Do you realize that if you have your mind watered with the word of God, I mean, soaked with the word of God, if it comes down like snow and rain upon your mind, do you realize there's gonna be a harvest in your mind?

If you allow your mind to be washed in the word of God, renewed by the word of God, sanctified by the word of God, you are gonna have the thoughts of God springing up. You're literally gonna have a mind that operates.

Go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter two. And we see this further concerning God's thoughts. 1 Corinthians chapter two and verse 11. And it says, for what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him?

Even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God. How can you know anything of God, the thoughts of God? How can you know his desire, his burdens, his thoughts, his wishes for your life?

How do you get those thoughts operating in your life? How do you go, I know the mind of God. I know what God would do in this situation. How do you get that? Well, we're told only the spirit of God can know the mind of God.

Only the spirit of God really knows the heart of God. And it says there in verse 12, now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the spirit which is of God. So look at it. Only the spirit knows the mind of God.

We, if we're born again, have received the Holy Spirit of God, but the spirit which is of God that we might know. Do you know no one is of the mind? If you know the things which are given by God, that's your mind.

You have understanding. You have intelligence. You perceive. How do you know what God has given you? By the Holy Spirit sent down. Only the Holy Spirit knows the things of God. And it's not of this world.

That's why when the church operates according to this world, they know nothing about the spirit of God. They don't know the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They don't know what it means to be led of the Holy Spirit.

You see them saying, I'm led of the Holy Spirit. And they act like an idiot in the church or in life. They're not a member of a church. They don't give to God. They have no desire to walk right. They don't separate from sin, but they say I'm being led of the spirit of God.

I have the mind of God. No, they don't. They absolutely do not. It says, verse 13, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth. Now notice carefully, he's gonna compare something here.

Man's wisdom being taught to you. He's gonna compare man's wisdom with the teaching of the Holy Ghost. Can I ask you here, you want the mind of God, the thoughts of God, how God thinks. Have you been taught by man's wisdom or by the spirit of God?

Do you know? Do you actually know if you've been taught by man? And believe me, if I've misled you, you're in trouble if you think this is God. See, if I'm not speaking from God and if the Holy Spirit isn't using me to teach, but you think it's God, you're deceived.

You're walking down a blind alley. You're the blind being led by the blind. What a deception. You better make sure the Holy Spirit is teaching you that you're taught of the Holy Spirit of God. It's vital that you understand this.

So how do you know that you're taught by the Holy Spirit, that you have the thoughts of God operating in your life? Listen, it says, not on the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches.

How does the Holy Ghost teach you? How do you get the thoughts of God? You get it through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. But how does the Holy Spirit teach you? Well, it tells you here. It says, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.

You compare the spiritual with spiritual. So you have the Holy Spirit comparing spiritual with spiritual to teach you. This is how you get taught. Do you know what it means to the Holy Spirit to teach you?

This is compared with man's wisdom in the church trying to teach you what he knows. There is a big difference here. How does the Holy Spirit teach you? He compares spiritual with spiritual. Now, that word compare is the Greek word, subkrino, subkrino.

The word krino is to judge, use your mind. You're to lay things out and you judge, you compare, you make a decision. Well, the word subkrino here means you gather everything. You know what the spiritual things are that you're to judge is the word of God.

How does the Holy Spirit teach you? Scripture with scripture. He teaches you from Genesis and Revelation and Daniel and from Matthew. That's how the Holy Spirit teaches you. And you are actually to be taught.

How do you get taught by the Holy Spirit? You're comparing spiritual things, Bible truth with Bible truth, fact with fact, here a little, there a little, a little, you know, line upon line, doctrine upon doctrine.

This is how the Holy Spirit teaches you. Do you know what? That's how you become filled with the mind of God and the thoughts of God. Some people say I'm being led of God, but they don't have the word of God.

They don't have the mind of God. They don't have the thoughts of God. We looked at this in one message. We're in Ephesians chapter four and Colossians chapter three. It talks about put on Christ. You as a believer, you're to put on Christ.

How are you to put on Christ? I mean, do you wanna put on Christ? I mean, all this provision, all this provision, how do you put on the Lord Jesus? Listen, in Ephesians four and Colossians three, it says by renewing your mind.

That's how you renew. So as the word of God renews your mind, you are putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. You can only be Christ-centered if you're Bible-based. If you set aside the word of God, you're not Christ-centered.

You're not putting on Christ. You're not thinking the thoughts of Christ. You don't have the thoughts of God. If you neglect the Bible, you're neglecting being taught of the Holy Spirit. If you keep your Bible closed, you're saying don't teach me.

If you don't come and listen to preaching, you're saying don't teach me. You see, I do believe if a preacher is faithful, he submits himself to God. The Holy Spirit teaches through him. There's no doubt that that actually happens.

Paul goes on further. He says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Notice again, spiritually discerned.

That means that you individually test thoughts. You have to test things or else you cannot discern the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Listen to the last verse here. But he that is spiritual judges all things.

We're talking about being taught of the Holy Spirit. How do you know the Holy Spirit's bringing a thought to you that's gonna impact your life? You're gonna have to judge. You're gonna have to discern.

You're gonna have to test. You're gonna have to use your mind. What, I thought I could be taught of the Holy Spirit, but set my mind aside, close it down. Oh God, just lead me. No, I'm sorry. I know this means work, but you're gonna have to study the word.

You're gonna have to pray. You're gonna have to search. You're gonna have to say guide me. You're gonna have to test your actions, your words, your thoughts with the written scripture. That's how the Holy Spirit actually teaches you.

And then listen to what he says. He says that he himself is judged of no man for who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. That's what I'm talking about, thinking the thoughts of God.

How do you get it? You're taught of the Holy Spirit. Do you wanna think the thoughts of God? Do you want God's thoughts becoming your thoughts? This is how it happens, through the word of God, being taught by the Holy Spirit, comparing scripture with scripture.

You see, what is God's thoughts about your family life, about your personal life, how you speak, how you think, your attitudes, your heart, how you use money, what you do in the workplace, with your time, your holiness of life, each one of your relationships.

How do you get the mind of God? Through the word of God. God conveys his thoughts by his spoken word, by his written word, by his testable word, by the written scriptures inspired of the Holy Spirit. This book is given by the Holy Spirit.

He has given it so he can teach you. Can you imagine someone giving you all of their thoughts, all of their teachings, and say, here, you will know me if you read this book. You see, if you listen to all the sermons I've preached for this seven years, you know what I believe, isn't that true?

How much more then, do you not know the mind of Christ and the teaching of the Holy Spirit? It is all here. He has given this book. You can test any thought, any manifestation, any preacher, any church, any manifestation, any prophecy.

You can actually teach it all. When I was 21 years old, a crisis came in my life, and I done something that was radical. I soaked myself in biblical doctrine. I mean, I gave myself to read this book, to submit myself, to let the Holy Spirit teach me.

I was saved at four and a half. I loved Jesus Christ before that, but it was a major change in point in my life, a radical change in my entire walk with God. You see, there are times where thoughts come.

I can tell you at the time, one Monday morning, I woke up, it was my day off. We'd had church all day on Sunday. Many years ago, I was 21 years old, or maybe just a bit more, and as I sat there reading the word of God, God spoke to me.

How did he speak to you, Keith? A thought. How do you know it was God? Well, I'll tell you. I was sitting there, and all of a sudden, a thought dropped into my mind. You've got guest speakers coming next Sunday, a week away on Sunday night, a whole team and a guest speaker, and this thought came, they're not coming.

I want you to preach this message. Just a thought, come. They're not coming. They won't be here, and you need to be ready to preach. Well, I only half believed it. It was a thought. But you see, if I wasn't soaked in the word of God, why would God drop a thought like that very specifically to guide me?

Well, it got to 45 minutes before the meeting on Sunday. I'd checked earlier. Yes, we're coming. Yes, we're on our way. Yes, we'll be there. 45 minutes before the meeting begins, we get a phone call. We've broken down.

We won't be there. We'll come to you next week, and my heart sank. I only had prepared. I did believe, but I didn't believe. I said, I'm sure they're gonna be there. I think this is just my thoughts, but do you know what?

It was God's thoughts. I could give you many examples of how God's thoughts, just a thought. You say, how does God speak to you? I wish I could get him to speak to me as much as I want to, but I tell you, the times a thought has come, and I went, I know that's God, have affected my entire life dramatically.

Satan’s Thoughts and Spiritual Deception

That's one source of thoughts is God's thoughts. Second of all, Satan's thoughts, Satan's thoughts. You see, there's not only thoughts that come from God to guide your life. There's thoughts that come from Satan to destroy your life.

All of you have experienced it. I'm sure if I asked you, I'd say, has the devil ever dropped thoughts in your mind? You go, oh yes, he sure has. If I say, has God dropped thoughts in your mind? You go, hmm, I wonder.

Do you know what? You've got more confidence the devil speaks to you than God speaks to you. You have more confidence. You go, I know the devil speaks to me. Does God speak to you? Well, I don't know.

Sometimes, maybe. Do you realize thoughts are used of God and of the devil? This is the second realm. You need to discern the source. You need to know thoughts that come from the devil. You've gotta have the ability to discern them, to stop them, to close the door, to stop them before they get into your heart or affect your life.

Since I watched it in the church too often, a thought comes and it leads someone in a direction to marry someone they should never marry, to move to a city they should never have moved to, to go into a job they shouldn't be a part of.

I could tell you so much of this, and I believe those thoughts. You see, they thought it was their thinking. Oh, I've made a decision. Have you? Did you really make that decision? Or is there someone else dropping thoughts in?

Do you understand what I'm saying here tonight? 2 Corinthians 2, verse 11. It says, He's speaking to a church. He's just told them to forgive someone in the church. He doesn't want unforgiveness in the church.

And he says, lest Satan should get advantage. Unforgiveness. You refuse to forgive someone. Do you realize who is behind that? When you go, I won't forgive. Oh, you think it's your thoughts. No, it's not.

Do you realize Paul is saying here, lest Satan should get advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. Now, we know this statement, not being ignorant, untaught, undiscerning about Satan's devices.

Notice that word devices, Satan's devices. The Greek word is the same as thought in 2 Corinthians 10 and five. Bringing into captivity every thought. It's the same word for devices, the exact same word.

So to take every thought captive in a subjection to God. It's the same word used for, do not be ignorant of Satan's devices. In fact, before the King James Version, Wycliffe and Tyndale, in the first English translations of the Bible, in their translation of this, they spoke about, do not be ignorant of Satan's thoughts.

That's how they translated it. So they said there's a way Satan thinks, it's the thought life of Satan. You're not to be ignorant of, you should be able to discern the thoughts of the devil. You should be able to test it, how?

With the word of God and say, this is a thought. This is a strategy. This is a plan from the devil and that you can discern it for yourself. You see, what is this device? It is the mind, the perception.

It is when the mind is exerted, it is its final output. It is the result of much thinking, the product of the mind, of intelligence. Are you able to judge, discern the thinking of Satan in your life? The thoughts that come floating down from heaven.

So you think it's like the birds that fly over your head. They're indifferent. Are they? Don't you know the devil fires his arrows? Do you know he's got a thought art, intelligent plan for your life and he drops thoughts.