Whose thoughts are they? Part 1

I have been listening to an audio book called Spiritual Wars by Kris Vallotton and something he said caught my attention. In his lectures, he presented his audiences with the following scenario...

You are driving down a highway and you suddenly have an instant thought to run your car off the road and kill yourself.  He asked his audience how many have had this experience before?

Almost 2/3 of those in attendance raised their hands. In my life I would have raised my hand as well.  This is something I had never shared with anyone before as they would probably think I was crazy for even entertaining these thoughts. How can this be so common?

Mr Vallotton explains that some of these thoughts we have are not are own. Well, who's are they? He quotes Ephesions 6:16 "In all circumstances, have faith as a shield to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one." Those thoughts are from the devil. I believe we are constantly bombarded by thoughts or flaming arrows of the devil. The question is how often do we act on these thoughts, aka sin!   I believe we are all in spiritual warfare, a game of good vs evil. But is it really a game at all? This is life and the stakes are your soul. Saint Paul talks about this battle against evil and Ephesians 6: 10-11. "Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil."

I keep thinking back to the recent suicide and death of Robin Williams who had struggled with depression and addictions.  I was shocked when I heard the news and could not believe that he could have hanged himself. Did he loose that spiritual battle? Was the devil whispering in his ear? We may never know. His story seemed to have resonated strongly through social media circles during the week that followed. How many of us have had that pull of depression where we think there is no hope? Maybe there is more people out there than we realize and many were wondering if this could happen to me?  Certainly we have all been depressed from time to time but hopefully our friends, family, and faith are enough to pull us out. Some are not so lucky. In the United States alone, according to the CDC, almost 40,000 people committed suicide in 2011.   According to a recent article by Kristin Jones with Rocky Mountain PBS, Colorado and many western states have a much higher than average suicide rate than other parts of the country. She mentions, "Here there are large stretches of unpopulated land where geography can isolate neighbors and social ties."  It appears we can't do this alone, as much as we try, and feel we can handle a life crisis on our own. If we can't we feel it makes us weak.

Every day we are bombarded with thousands of thoughts that go through our mind through our daily lives while driving, working, or with family and friends. Some of these thoughts could be our own, some from God or from the devil. How can we discern?

I will have more thoughts on these flaming arrows in another upcoming blog.