Re: Attacks Of Doubt. This question and your answer was very timely and helped me a great deal since I struggle with this as well. However, as is often the case, your answer leads me to explore another question. I have been wondering about Satan’s ability to cause these doubts. Can Satan or his fallen angels actually impress thoughts on our minds? How do they cause these doubts to enter our thoughts? Satan I know is not omnipresent so therefore cannot be everywhere at once, so he must rely on his fallen angels.
I believe Satan can plant any kind of sinful thoughts at the threshold of our minds. He frequently does this through an unknowing friend or associate of ours, or any of the numerous devices that are used in our world to broadcast thoughts and ideas. Radio, TV, music, movies, internet, etc are his favorites.
As long as we don’t give these thoughts any consideration they can’t cross the threshold and enter our mind so there’s no problem. The trouble begins the minute we begin giving them consideration, because at that point he has gained a foothold and can start working to turn his foothold into a stronghold. He can turn doubt into despair, attraction into obsession, uncertainty into fear, and so on. One of the most difficult things to understand is that we bring this on our selves by giving him a place in our mind. James 1:14 says we can only be tempted when by our own evil desire we’re dragged away and enticed.
Paul spoke repeatedly about the need to defend ourselves against this ongoing attack. For further study, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:20-32, 5:3-4, 6:10-18 all deal with this. In 2 Cor. 10:3-5 he told us how to demolish strongholds we’ve allowed to grow, and in Phil 4:4-9 he said to thank God for everything and to fill our minds with good thoughts. Doing so denies Satan any place there.