"I should be able to control my thoughts if I'm filled with the Holy Spirit"
How it sounds in your head: Intrusive thoughts about hurting myself or others keep flooding in. If the Holy Spirit really lived in me, wouldn't my mind be pure? These thoughts prove I'm either not saved or I'm losing my mind. Either way, I'm broken beyond fixing.
"For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice."
-- Romans 7:19Teaching that salvation equals instant thought-life perfection, ignoring that we live in unredeemed bodies with brains affected by the fall and spiritual warfare.
2 Corinthians 10:5 says 'take every thought captive' and he CAN'T—the thoughts attack faster than he can fight. His inability to control his mind feels like proof the Holy Spirit isn't actually in him.
Paul had a 'thorn in the flesh' (many scholars believe mental torment from a messenger of Satan) that he begged God THREE TIMES to remove. God said 'My grace is sufficient' and LEFT IT, yet called Paul chosen and used him to write most of the New Testament.
I REFUSE the lie that intrusive thoughts mean I'm not saved. IT IS WRITTEN that even Paul struggled with doing what he didn't want to do—the battle with thoughts is part of living in a fallen world. My IDENTITY is not my intrusive thoughts; my identity is HIDDEN IN CHRIST. IT IS WRITTEN that we wrestle against spiritual forces (Eph 6:12)—intrusive thoughts are ATTACKS, not evidence of who I am. I am the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God in Christ whether my thoughts cooperate or not. The BARAK blessing is mine by COVENANT—God blessed Abraham whose thoughts led him to lie TWICE, and He blesses me even when my mind is under attack.
The Father sees the thoughts that terrorize you and He's not confused about who you really are—He sees you as RIGHTEOUS, PURE, BELOVED. He's not waiting for you to fix your thought life before He embraces you; He's already holding you.