If I remember correctly, for Father’s Day our church gave out books to men. One was by Patrick Morley and titled “The Four Voices: Taking Control of the Conversation in Your Head.” I will summarize what I learned, but it is an easy read, so feel encouraged to read it yourself.
The biggest take away was confirmation that people do think. One of the biggest lies the world gives us is that we are different and need to be ashamed of every way we are different. I never spoke with anyone about how I think and never knew (only assumed) that everyone else did. I had a paradigm to not talk about ways I was different. When I was younger, I thought it weird that math was not as easy for everyone as it was for me. I later learned my math skills were exceeded by many others, but this was my first encounter with “do not be different”.
Three of the voices the author says are in your head are bad ones and are from the flesh, the world, and the devil. These are things I “knew”, but had yet to see arranged clearly in the fashion in the book. The descriptions are all biblical based, but sometimes my math skills do not help with words. The point of the book is to show us how to use the fourth voice to keep these three in check.
The fourth voice is the Holy Spirit which came to dwell in us when we accepted Christ as our savior. The worse part about this is considering that non-believers only have three bad voices in their head, and it would seem they have little chance to avoid bad decisions. We probably all have a desire to help the physically or mentally impaired, but this knowledge can help us see why we need to be active in helping non-believers who cannot call on the Holy Spirit to guide them.
As a math guy, I have a soft spot in my heart for Blaise Pascal who was a great mathematician and a strong believer. The author quoted this from Pascal: “All men seek happiness. There are no exceptions… This is the motive of every action of every man, including those who go and hand themselves.” Almost 400 years ago, and it still applies.
The voice of the world tells us it can make us happy by giving us whatever seems right in our own eyes. These things include Freedom, Fame, Fortune, Feel-good Spirituality, Personal Truth, Performance, and Personal Peace. It is all lies.
To counter the world, we must live by the concept that Jesus Christ is enough for us, and all these things of the world are not. Our sources to counter the world are The Bible: what does it say, Prayer: how is God leading me, The Holy Spirit: what is He saying, Conscience: what does it say, Circumstances: what do they suggest, Counsel: what do they say, Fasting: Should we take time away to decide.
The voice of the flesh tells us to seek sin. We seek sin in three areas: The Lust of the Flesh, The Lust of the Eyes, and The Pride of Life. (Page 84 has a great summary of examples.) All are counter to the Spirit of God.
To counter the flesh, we should use the tools of habits and virtues Christ provides us. These include: Prioritize Friendship, Prioritize Small Group, Nurture Humility, Practice Repentance, Commit to Discipleship, Take Personal Responsibility, Create Accountability, and Practice Service.
The voice of Satan is real, and he lies to get us to turn from following God, to test our faith. He works on our weaknesses; He twists the truth to deceive. This is a big topic, so I will leave the details to another source.
To counter Satan, our victory is in knowing the truth by studying it in the Bible. Satan tempted Christ first through Pride to do life on His own without God. Next he tempted Christ to require a miracle from God. And finally, he tempted Christ to replace God with something else, in this case himself (Satan). He tempts us in the same ways. Christ responded to each with scripture and then used our ultimate tool for Satan by rebuking him (we do so by invoking Christ name). Christ gave us a list of tools to fight Satan: Truth, Righteousness, The Gospel of Peace, the shield of Faith, the Word of God, and Prayer.
The author sums this up: “Satan, I rebuke you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Holy Spirit is the voice we want to hear in our heads and the one we want to follow and the one we use to overcome the other three vying to keep us from doing so. The aids we have in this process are: Surrender to Jesus Christ, Actively engage in a local church, Cultivate an attitude of gratitude, Do your part by Faith, Regularly renew your faith, and ask for help.
The author quotes RC Sproul for a formula Faith = Salvation + Works. Our faith saves us, and it provides the basis for works. Christ has given us the Holy Spirit to direct our works and protect our path from the negative voices in our head.
The author wraps up the book with a hypothetical letter from God (cobbled together from scripture) that tells us how much He loves us and how generously He has provided for us to share in the work of spreading the love of Christ to the world.
I really felt strengthened from reading this book and it has really helped me put a few more pieces of the puzzle that is my path to maturity. The struggle is real, but our God is a mighty God, and His power has brought us victory for the acceptance.