Whose Voice Am I Listening To?

2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV, "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."

Whose voice do you listen to?

The verse above is one that I've been thinking about lately. This verse tells us to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. The idea of making sure my thoughts line up with what God says is something that is challenging me.

I've recently found myself with a bad case of discouragement. I've been having a lot of thoughts pop into my head that have left me feeling hopeless, sad, and ready to give up.

Memories of my past have crept into my mind, and Satan has enjoyed whispering one lie after another into my ear.

For those of you who haven't heard, I came very close to getting engaged last year. The dream I have for my life definitely includes being a wife and mom. I've hoped for that life ever since I was probably twelve years old. I won't go into all the details of why I didn't get engaged, but I'll sum it up with this: I knew God told me no. From the time God told me "no" to the time I experienced healing was quite a process. However, I truly thought that God would send the person along that He would say "yes" to shortly after things not working out in the previous relationship. Little did I know that a year and a half would go by and I would still be unmarried... not only unmarried but also with no person in mind that is even a possibility.

Through living in a small town and the lovely internet site called Facebook, I learned that the person I planned to marry is now married to someone else and has a baby on the way. He's living the life I thought I'd have, but with someone else. It's not that I want that relationship back. It's more that I feel like that was my one chance and no other opportunity will ever come again.

Over the past few weeks, I've had so many struggles with my thoughts. The whispers I've heard are things such as the following:

"No godly man will ever come your way."

"Remember the decisions you made and how you messed up? You won't have a good story now."

"No relationship ever works out for you. You'll be alone for years to come."

"Look around you... no one is coming."

One hopeless thought after another has plagued my mind, and I've been ready to give up hope entirely. What has kept me going, though, is that because of Christ I KNOW that I'm not really hopeless. Those thoughts that keep fighting to consume me are not thoughts that God has whispered into my ear. Those thoughts are from the Devil himself. They don't line up with what God says. Do you want to know what God tells me?

"No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us." Philippians 3:13-14.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'" Jeremiah 29:11.

"For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland." Isaiah 43:19.

God encourages me to forget the past. What's done is done. I didn't do everything right, but I press on. Me saying no in that relationship wasn't out of disobedience to Christ. It was quite the contrary. God knows the plans He has for me, and those plans are for good, not for evil. They are plans to give me hope and a future. Lastly, God is doing something new. It doesn't matter that I don't see it. What matters is that God said it.

What God's calling me to do in this season isn't to ignore what's going on. Rather, it is to take those thoughts captive under His authority and ask, "Whose voice am I listening to?"  Am I listening to God's voice? Am I listening to Satan's voice? Am I listening to the voice of faith or the voice of fear?

Dear Heavenly Father,

As You well know, I've been beyond discouraged lately! Instead of taking every thought captive under the authority of Christ, I've allowed thoughts of fear and lies to torment me. Please help me discern whose voice it is I'm listening to, and if it isn't Your voice speaking to me, help me stop listening. Help me only believe what You say to be true rather than buying into the lies of the enemy. In Jesus' Name.

Amen.