NPR's popular radio show This American Life featured an episode titled "The Devil Inside Me." The show asked various people if they ever felt like they were under the spell of an "inner voice" that held them in bondage to unwanted thoughts. According to the show's host, "It was like people had been waiting all their lives for somebody to ask them this question."

Here were some of the responses from the interviews:

• A man says, "I certainly know the voice you're talking about."
• Another man says, "The voice is irresistible, always. I'm in the thrall of that voice."
• A woman says, "Totally out of control. It's got this life of its own, and I can't tame it anymore."
• A woman says, "I actually have a name for the voice. I call it Stan. Stan is the guy who tells me to have the extra glass of wine. Stan is the guy who tells me to smoke."
• A man says, "I remember somehow realizing just how finely calibrated the voice was to every nuance, every part of my feelings, including the feeling that I didn't want to smoke cigarettes. And it's like, '[You] might as well have another cigarette, because this is it.'"
• A woman who just got engaged hears her Voice say: "You better try your hardest to make sure he doesn't take [the ring] away, because he's going to find out the truth about you and how much you suck. So you better distract him with a really thin body."

At the end of the episode the host asks someone, "Do you feel like the voice is winning?" A woman replies, "Right now, yeah. I think I'm in some serious trouble, to be honest."

Possible Preaching Angles: The "Voice" could represent Satan, our own fallen or fleshly nature, our unhealed wounds, or all three. It certainly shows our need to have our mind and heart renewed by Scripture and to find our true identity in Christ.