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NASB | 1 Peter 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour. |
Subject: can Satan plant thoughts into our minds? |
Bible Note: Dear sister Val, We should be careful not to make so bold an assertion that Satin can actually put thoughts in our head. Though Satin can certainly have a great influence on our thoughts; there is nothing in Scripture that say's he is omnitiant; Only God has this attribute. Satin cannot read or hear our thought's; though he is very powerful, he is still just a fallen Angel, and Angels do not have this power. So there is really no Scriptural reason to see that he can actually put thought's into our minds either. Here are some commentary that I hope will shed some light on this subject. About Acts 5:3 John Gill has this to say: "why hath Satan filled thine heart?" or emboldened thee, given thee so much spirit and courage to act in such an impudent and audacious manner; so the phrase is used in Esther 7:5 see the Septuagint there, and often in Talmudic writings. And on v 4 he writes: "Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?" for though Satan had an hand in it, and greatly solicited him to it, and spirited him up to do it, yet in conjunction with his own heart; and perhaps it began there, which Satan helped forward. It was not so of Satan as to excuse the wickedness of his heart. It was owing partly to the sin of covetousness, which reigned in him, and partly to a desire of vain glory, and being thought a very religious man, that he acted such a part, and was so notoriously guilty of lying and hypocrisy. Please note in v 4 Peter asks the question: Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." So we ca see from scripture that Ananias actually thought of it quite on his own. And also about Ananias and Sapphira's sin, Matthew Henry writes: They were covetous of the wealth of the world, and distrustful of God and his providence. They thought they might serve both God and mammon. They thought to deceive the apostles. The Spirit of God in Peter discerned the principle of unbelief reigning in the heart of Ananias. But whatever Satan might suggest, he could not have filled the heart of Ananias with this wickedness had he not been consenting. Please note too that he twice repeats the phrase, "They Thought" John |