When you believed that, how did you imagine Satan influenced your thoughts? Did you imagine that he planted wicked thoughts in your head? Or that he twisted good thoughts into bad ones? Or that he did something else?
We were taught through sermons, Sunday School lessons or just everyday conversation that Satan was an actual created being who had access to your thoughts and could influence your decisions. We were told he has access to every person's mind on planet earth.....he's nearly as powerful as God himself I suppose! We were taught Satan can influence events in your life as well.
Consider the conversation between God and Satan about Job, God's faithful servant in regard to Satan's power...
Job's First Test
6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
Of course we all probably remember that Job persevered until the end without blaming God for his travails. This passage is to show that God
does allow Satan to influence our world, Job just so happened to be an extremely rare person who rose above it all.
Jesus himself said this in regard to Satan (or the Devil) John 8:42-44
The Children of the Devil
42Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. 43Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
We also read that Satan tempted even Jesus.....Matthew 4:1-4
The Temptation of Jesus
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." 4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Here's a verse spoken by Jesus that clearly shows Satan is a tempter of our thoughts.....Mark 4:13-17
13Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14The farmer sows the word. 15Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
As you can see from just a small sampling of bible verses, we were taught that Satan is a sentient, powerful being who can definitely influence, tempt, or discourage a person during our lifetime on earth.
