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Why Ideas Are So Powerful
Ideas have always been and continue to be our Enemy’s favorite method of undermining the work of God.
Dallas Willard comments on what happened in the garden of Eden:
“Ideas and images are … the primary focus of Satan’s efforts to defeat God’s purposes with and for humankind. When we are subject to his chosen ideas and images, he can take a nap or a holiday. Thus when he undertook to draw Eve away from God, he did not hit her with a stick, but with an idea. It was with the idea that God could not be trusted and that she must act on her own to secure her own well-being.”
Two observations. First, both Adam and Eve fell for the bad idea that God really can’t be trusted. Second, once ideas take root, they have a mind of their own and pick up speed like a snowball rolling down a hill!
That is why God’s Word reminds us:
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”–2 Cor 10:3-5
Notice that part of our warfare is destroying bad ideas that make it more difficult for people to believe in, know, love, and obey God.
The battle is for the mind. Unfortunately, many Christians have unknowingly subjected themselves to ideas that lead away from life with God they so deeply desire.
Never forget the important truth that Ideas matter. And if you’re unaware of the ideas that are guiding your life, now would be a great time to see if they are leading you toward life with God or away from life with God.