Ryan Swanson: Hello and welcome back to the Satisfied podcast here on the Thee Generation Network. We are excited that you’ve chosen to join us again as we work our way through this Mind War series. And I think we’re going to start really hitting home today as we get to a specific discussion on the difference between sourced and unsourced temptations.

So let’s back up just a minute. Our first episode in this series, a couple months ago, we hit on the fact that the thought battle may not be your main issue. It doesn’t mean it’s not an issue for you, but sometimes it’s used as a cop-out.

If there’s other areas, especially a viewing, that we’re still allowing things to enter into our mind. We’ll actually talk more about that next week on what you can do about that, practical steps. But we spent that episode really just discussing why this may not be the main thing like it seems like it is sometimes.

But nevertheless, it is something that we should deal with. And last week, we discussed a very important part, which is don’t even think about it. Now, when it comes to a discussion of thoughts, that kind of seems like a no-duh.

It’s pretty easy just to tell somebody, well, just don’t even think about it. But what I mean by that is backing up to the very point at which that temptation starts. And there is huge freedom just by saying, I’m not even going to consider that.

And we really focused a lot on that word consider. Listen to that episode if you’ve not already. But today, we’re building, stemming off of that discussion.

And I actually realized after recording that one that this, today’s episode is going to be more related to that than I originally thought. But there’s still some key things we’ve got to get today to build off of that discussion. We talked very practically about how to respond to that first wave of temptation.

And I think that response of don’t even consider can apply to any temptation, period. So we’re going to break down and talk about different types of temptations and different responses based off of that today. But what we discussed about don’t even consider, that applies to everything.

I just think you can’t go wrong with that principle. So that principle, the turn and cleave principle, those things were foundational principles that can apply to either of these types of temptations that we’ll deal with today. But I want to break it down, and instead of focusing totally and completely on our response to all temptations, I want to turn the focus to the type of temptation that’s coming to us.

So we have this idea of sourced and unsourced temptations, and I’ll admit from the beginning that there are certain things from here, including those terms, sourced and unsourced, that I’m quite sure I am stealing from Dr. John Van Gelderen’s message. entitled The Way of Escape. And I heard that in high school.

It made enough of an impression on me that I’m taking a shot at speaking and somewhat quoting some things from it now, even though I haven’t heard it recently. But I would strongly encourage you, look up that message. It was a huge help to me in high school.

I remember hearing it several times. And again, that’s from Dr. John Van Gelderen, entitled The Way of Escape. But I’m going to give you some scenarios and see if you can come up with in your mind what you think, which of these types of temptations these scenarios would be, whether they would be sourced or unsourced.

So first off, you’re sitting in church and best you can tell, paying attention to the preacher, but all of a sudden this thought pattern comes across your mind, seemingly out of nowhere to think on wrong and moral thoughts at that point. It wasn’t intentional. It’s not even necessarily something you’ve seen before.

But all of a sudden, there’s the temptation and a very specific attack in your thoughts. What do you think? Sourced or unsourced?

Well, it would seem to be unsourced. And let’s contrast that to, let’s say you’re walking through the airport. And maybe you’re sitting there at the gate waiting for the boarding time.

And there’s people walking by. It’s in the middle of the summer. And the dress is quite a struggle there.

And in that moment of being in a compromising situation, whether you have to be there or not, you find yourself tempted to think on things that you are seeing all around you. And even though you may turn away, there’s all of a sudden a very heavy and specific desire to think on inappropriate things. Would that be sourced or unsourced?

Well, of course it would be sourced. You can see very clearly this temptation I’m facing right now is coming from my environment and those around me. Okay, how about this one?

You’re driving down the highway. Let’s say you’ve got 100 miles that you’re driving in a day and you’re halfway there at the 50-mile mark. And let’s just say you’re driving out in Kansas.

And I mean, there is nothing around. Sorry for my Kansas friends. But that’s not the only place.

But I’m telling you, Kansas can really get you. So it’s just empty. It’s flat.

and there’s nothing there to see in any direction. And then all of a sudden you are bombarded again with an inappropriate thought pattern, sourced or unsourced. Well, it would seem to be unsourced.

There’s, in fact, there’s nothing there. There is no source of anything. I remember driving through Kansas one time and just, it struck me, there is no water here anywhere.

And I grew up on the coast of Maine And so I’m used to having water all around. By the way, we’re actually in Minnesota right now doing meetings up here. And there are lakes everywhere up here.

I mean, everywhere. I guess fishing is a huge thing here because of all the lakes. But there in Kansas, it just struck me.

There is no water here. And it almost got to me in a way. And so when we stopped at a rest stop, I thought, well, at least I’ll be able to see some water here.

and looking forward to just running cool water over my hands from the faucet of the sink. And we get into the restrooms and there were signs everywhere that was there, like claim to fame, I guess, that there were waterless toilets and waterless sinks. And I don’t even know how that works.

I don’t want to know, but that’s just, it ain’t supposed to be that way. There’s got to be water somewhere. That was a new world for me.

But anyway, you’re driving through Kansas. These thoughts come across your mind. They’re not sourced.

There’s nowhere that could have come from. It wasn’t intentional and it wasn’t from anything you can see there. It was unsourced.

But at the same time, if you were closer maybe to a city and passed a billboard while you were driving that was inappropriate, boom, now we’ve got a source. And the temptation is coming from that specific image. Lastly, here’s an interesting one.

How about in your dreams? Have you ever woken up in the morning to discover that you had a very inappropriate and immoral and provocative dream. And you may have realized this is not something I’ve seen.

It’s not something I’ve thought of before. This was very odd. It seems to have no source to it at all.

And I would agree, many dreams like that can be unsourced temptations. Whereas if you’re just laying in bed at night or in the morning, and all you can think of is the things you’ve been watching on TV and maybe some certain provocative scenes that have come up in a movie or the things that you were just sitting there scrolling through Facebook and social media, things that had come up there in the reels and the shorts on YouTube.

And maybe those things are all you can think of and they just keep coming to your mind. And maybe it was something that you just scrolled through quickly, but you saw something there that was inappropriate. Well, now that is a sourced temptation.

There’s somewhere very specific that that came from. So we’ve got to ask ourselves a couple different questions when we’re dealing with these temptations. Now, my point in this is not to say that the difference of these is so utterly different that you will never find victory unless you can identify the difference between these two.

That’s not really the point, but there is a difference. And I do think it is helpful and even dealt with differently in scripture on what our response should be in this moment. So the first question that is just simply, was there a source?

When you are facing an attack in your thoughts, ask yourself if there is a source. Is this temptation based on something that I am seeing or have seen? Or does it seem like this is completely out of the blue.

And then a second question, first off was, was there a source? But secondly, is, was there a choice? Did I choose to think this?

Because it very well could be that even though there’s not a source, you still, by whatever lust of the flesh in that moment, decided to think on inappropriate things. You can do that with a choice, even when there’s not a source. But there are times when there’s no source and there was no choice.

And this specifically is what I remember being challenged by and helped by with Dr. John’s message when I was in high school listening to him, is that we actually are not doing the right thing by confessing that temptation as failure in the moment when there is no source and there was no choice. I didn’t do this to myself. This is not something I chose.

Yes, it’s a temptation, but I don’t want it. I didn’t do this to me. I never asked for this.

And if we spend the time, even initially in that first moment, apologizing, and when that comes across our mind and we say, oh God, I’m so sorry. That’s just my wicked mind getting the best of me. Here I am sitting in church and should be focused on you.

And this thought just came out of nowhere. Well, it seems like it came out of nowhere, but it actually was from somewhere very specific. When we apologize for something that we did not choose to do, we are actually beginning to fall prey to the very purpose of that temptation.

Turn to Ephesians chapter 6, and I just want to look at one verse here. Ephesians chapter 6 is largely, especially the last part of the chapter, is focusing on the armor of God. And so we could go through and talk about the loins geared about with truth and the breastplate of righteousness and the gospel of peace and the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, and all these things that are part of the armor.

But I want to focus on the one that we are told is actually the most important. And it’s in verse number 16, Ephesians 6.16. And we’re told here, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Now, there’s several things we can learn from this verse, but one of which is in the last part of that verse, the fiery darts of the wicked. What is that? Well, evidently, it’s fair game for the devil to be taking cheap shots at us through the day.

Those things that seem like unsourced temptation, well, they actually did have a source. We just can’t see it. The source was the devil himself.

And he’s throwing those throughout the day at different moments. Maybe in a moment he’s trying to distract you, like in church, from gaining something you’re supposed to. Maybe it’s to get you to fall, prey to thinking on those things.

but maybe it’s just for the matter of discouragement. You see, I’m trusting a vast majority of the audience listening to this have put your trust in Christ for salvation and are thereby a son of God, an heir to his righteousness. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new.

And if that is the case, that we have accepted Christ and are now called no more servants but sons and are a part of the family of God and an heir to his righteousness through Jesus Christ, then you are on a journey of sanctification that the devil wants you to deny.

When you face an unsourced temptation, something comes out of nowhere while you’re sitting in church or driving or whatever it is, and you wake up from that dream that seemed like completely out of nowhere and just say, oh God, forgive me, forgive me. I don’t know how I could be so wicked as to think those things again and to come up with those imaginations again.

The devil wants you to think that those came from you so that you deny that any growth has happened in Christ, so that you’re not a saint, so that there’s not sanctification going on. He wants you to deny those things and make it seem like nothing has happened. It’s very discouraging if that’s your perspective.

Man, I thought I was actually growing and doing better here and I was seeing victory. And now just all these thoughts, where did that even come from? I must be utterly wicked.

No, you are utterly righteous in Christ. Those did not come from you. And you better not confess them in the moment.

Because if you confess something that did not come from you, now I’m not talking about confessing. If you actually fell to that temptation and you spent time pondering and dwelling on those things, well, then that’s different. You took action that you shouldn’t have and you fell prey and you chose.

But again, we’re not talking about chosen temptation. We’re talking about things that were unsourced and unchosen. I didn’t choose this.

There’s no reason to feel guilty. If you confess those in the moment, you are accepting that fiery dart as your own. And that is exactly what the devil wants you to do.

So then what is this supposed to look like? When that fiery dart comes out of nowhere, it’s unsourced and it’s unchosen. We didn’t choose to be there.

You didn’t want that. You weren’t looking for it. Don’t know where it came from.

Well, just know you do know where it came from. It came straight from the devil himself. And here’s how you respond to it.

The same thing we talked about last week, turning and cleaving. In that moment, you say, nah, that’s not me. That’s not me.

The devil can throw as many of those as he wants, but he’s not getting me because that is not me anymore. Uh-uh, no way. I ain’t going there.

I’m a child of God. and that’s not me anymore. Turn from it.

Don’t accept it. Don’t dwell on it. Turn from it.

And the same principles, again, from last week. Turn and cleave. Turn to Jesus.

Speak to him in that moment. Not just about that. Do that.

Turn to Jesus and say, I’m claiming your righteousness, Christ, in this moment. But move on and start praying for unbelievers that you know. Start asking for help and direction through the day.

Just spend time in Christ reminding yourself and the devil who you really are. Instead of shaming yourself and feeling all sorry about a temptation that you didn’t choose. The temptation itself, of course we know, is not a sin.

Jesus was tempted himself, yet without sin. It is not sin, so don’t start confessing it as sin. If it’s unsourced and unchosen, then just run from it and claim Christ’s righteousness.

It’s not you. But the other thing we learn from this verse, what is it that we’re told is going to quench those fiery darts? well, it’s above all taking the shield of faith.

Now, why would the shield be the most important part of the armor? You’ve got all these things. I mean, a helmet, that’s protecting your head.

That’s a pretty big deal. You’ve got a breastplate protecting your heart and other vitals. That’s, man, wouldn’t that be the most important thing?

Well, if you happened to turn and see a fiery dart screaming through the air at you, what would you hold up? What piece of the armor would you hold to stop it? Would you adjust and put your helmet out there to try to catch it with your helmet?

Would you puff out your chest and try to catch it right over your heart, hoping that that breastplate and trusting the breastplate would stop it? I don’t think so. I think every one of us would use the same piece of armor.

We would hold up the shield. Now, why is that? Because the shield is the only defensive tool that can stop the projectile before it gets to your body.

You see, it’s preventative. And another important note is that the Greek word here used for shield, there are other words that could have been used. But the word that Paul chose here in the Greek is a derivative of the word for door.

This ain’t no pie plate shield that we’re going to hold up here like from VBS, right? and hopefully with some skill we can hold that just right to stop that dart before it gets to us. No, no, no.

This thing is massive. This is like what you’d see in the old medieval times when people are literally crouched down and hiding behind their shield. It’s bigger than they are.

Friends, you know you can approach the beginning of every day hiding behind the shield of faith, Coming to Jesus and saying, Jesus, I crave protection today. I know there’s going to be things the devil’s going to throw my way. And instead of just waiting for that to come and hoping I can combat it in the moment, I want to preemptively pray against those things right now by faith before I can see them.

Before I can see them, I’m trusting you that you are going to give victory in those moments. You are going to protect me. You are going to intervene and stop that fiery dart.

And by faith, I’m claiming that you are going to do that. What if you started your day hiding behind that shield of faith? Those unsourced and unchosen temptations would have no power.

What if when you’re going into a compromising situation, whether it’s the airport or a long period of driving where you may have more of an idle mind, What if in those moments you took time to stop and pray, but not just pray, to claim by faith the righteousness that’s promised to you, to claim by faith the protection that has been offered to you with that shield of faith?

Because we’re told it’s not going to just quench some of the darts, but all the fiery darts of the wicked. Now, I want to end here with one illustration that I hesitate to give and honestly I have hardly ever referenced this because it is personal and it could be read into as sensational and that is certainly not the purpose or point of this at all.

So please try to go out the right window as I explain this but I think in context here it’s going to make sense. I remember in college being overwhelmed by the amount of dreams that I would have that were just inappropriate, just out of nowhere. And one time in particular, I woke up from a dream that it was just dirty.

And I remember thinking, this is not something I’ve seen before. This is not something I’ve thought of before. Where did this come from?

I would wake up from these dreams and feel like I already lost the battle, like the day was just lost, even though there was no source and no choice. I knelt at my bed that night and I prayed something very, very specific. It struck me that what was happening in my dreams is that Satan was literally teaching me things.

In that, I mean, I was seeing things I had never seen before. And so on my face before the Lord, I said, God, if Satan can teach me things in my dream, then why can’t you? Why can’t you?

If he can control my dreams, then why can’t you? And so tonight I am praying preemptively, and I claimed this verse, that by faith, not only would God take control of my dreams, but why not? Why not teach me something?

And friends, again, I have not talked about this moment, and I will not, even though I’m sure you’re very curious to hear what I dreamt about that night. I’m not going to share that for two reasons. One, because it’s very personal and sacred to me, and two, because I’m not a prophet, and that means that that dream was for me and not for you.

In fact, it was for no one else but for me. But I can tell you this. I woke up that next morning and had so clearly and evidently heard from God that night that all I can say is I was just in awe of God’s power.

And I’ll tell you this, he did everything I asked him to. Friends, just because there’s no source and just because there’s no choice doesn’t mean that there’s no hope. Because we are given this tool, this incredible tool of the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

In whatever way you are facing, unsourced, unchosen temptations in your thought life, would you go out on a limb and ask Christ to very, very specifically protect you from those things? Now, it’s also very likely that there are decisions we could make, that even though we didn’t choose necessarily those temptations, there are decisions we can make to not put us in the same position, to somehow avoid those and not make provision for the flesh.

That’s what we’ll discuss next time in the episode on sourced temptations. So this isn’t to say that in the moment you ask God just by faith to take everything away, he won’t say, well, why don’t you change this and make this decision better and maybe don’t go to that website or don’t use this or lock this down. There are things that he still could give as application.

But many of us need to start that conversation and ask Christ by faith, preemptively, for protection from the enemy that we cannot see. Well, I hope this has been a help to you. If you have any questions or further thoughts on this or comments, please feel free to email me at ryanatsatisfied.org.

ryanatsatisfied.org. If you have something to add, I’d love to hear from you. But until next time, be sure to utilize this tool that we’ve been given as we continue to seek the Lord to be less gratified and more satisfied with Jesus Christ.

Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Thee Generation Podcast. If you’ve been blessed or helped in any way by this episode or any other episodes, please consider sharing what God has done in your life. Your testimony could be exactly what someone else needs to take their own step out of the boat.