2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV
5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
We find Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5 having his enemies speaking negatively about him. Their voices were whispering, but yet he heard them. How do you think he felt? What were Paul’s thoughts telling him?
All of us at certain times in our lives come up against those words that throw us into a downhill spiral. We can be walking along in joy and then all of a sudden WHAM we are knocked down hundreds of feet. These thoughts are painful and can lead us into thinking harsh thoughts. They can be filled with defeat, doubt, fear, anxiety and darkness. When we aren’t careful these thoughts can take us places where we know we shouldn’t go.
Why does this happen?
As humans we have over 70,000 thoughts that go through our minds daily. This is 1 thought per second. Can you imagine? These thoughts consist of the good, the bad and the ugly. They come from nowhere and everywhere.
Our thoughts are Godly thoughts, or our thoughts are provoked from the enemy. The forces inside and outside our body deliver clouds of thoughts. Some are really good fluffy sun shining clouds, but yet others are stromclouds. The evil forces love the storm clouds. Evil loves to produce the tornados in our mind.
How do we control our thoughts? How do we shift our thoughts?
We first have to understand our thoughts.
In 2 Corinthians 10:5 states we must take captive every thought. Wow! Every thought!
I decided to look up captive and this was the definition:
Held under control of another (God); owned or controlled by another concern and operated for its needs rather than for an open market (Satan).
Our thoughts have the appearance of being owned by us however we want and need them to be controlled by God. We do not want our thoughts to be on the open market. When we allow our thoughts to be placed where anyone can have control that is when Satan takes hold of our thoughts and takes us to places that aren’t in line with Christ.
Everyone is at battle with thoughts, no one is immune from the thought bombs that try to go off in our head.
In the book Spirit of Python Franklin discusses how the enemy can linger into our minds. Just as in the beginning with Eve. The first ? mark in the bible didn’t come from God it came from Satan. Satan asked Eve Did God really say??? Satan puts question marks in our mind now.
Therefore We have to intentionally focus on every thought. We have to pause and ask this question: who told me that thought? Did God? Or Did the enemy? In proverbs 23:7 says what a man thinks so he is. Our thoughts produce our words our words produce our actions our actions produce our habits and our habits produce our lives, so therefore our thoughts are our lives. We chose what we let in our mind. The battle is first won in the mind.
1 Peter 5:8-9 New International Version (NIV)
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings
Romans 12:2 New International Version (NIV)
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Ephesians 6:10-15 New International Version (NIV)
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
We find Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5 having his enemies speaking negatively about him. Their voices were whispering, but yet he heard them. How do you think he felt? What were Paul’s thoughts telling him?
All of us at certain times in our lives come up against those words that throw us into a downhill spiral. We can be walking along in joy and then all of a sudden WHAM we are knocked down hundreds of feet. These thoughts are painful and can lead us into thinking harsh thoughts. They can be filled with defeat, doubt and darkness. When we aren’t careful these thoughts can take us places where we know we shouldn’t go.
Why does this happen?
As humans we have over 70,000 thoughts that go through our minds daily. This is 1 thought per second. Can you imagine? These thoughts consist of the good, the bad and the ugly. They come from nowhere and everywhere.
Our thoughts are Godly thoughts, or our thoughts are provoked from the enemy. The forces inside and outside our body deliver clouds of thoughts. Some are really good fluffy sun shining clouds, but yet others are stromclouds. The evil forces love the storm clouds. Evil loves to produce the tornados in our mind.
How do we control our thoughts? How do we shift our thoughts?
We first have to understand our thoughts.
In 2 Corinthians 10:5 states we must take captive every thought. Wow! Every thought!
I decided to look up captive and this was the definition:
Held under control of another (God); owned or controlled by another concern and operated for its needs rather than for an open market (Satan).
Our thoughts have the appearance of being owned by us however we want and need them to be controlled by God. We do not want our thoughts to be on the open market. When we allow our thoughts to be placed where anyone can have control that is when Satan takes hold of our thoughts and takes us to places that aren’t in line with Christ.
We have to intentionally focus on every thought. We have to pause and ask this question: who told me that thought? Did God? Or Did the enemy? In proverbs 23:7 says what a man thinks so he is. Our thoughts produce our words our words produce our actions our actions produce our habits and our habits produce our lives, so therefore our thoughts are our lives. We chose what we let in our mind. The battle is first won in the mind.
Just like Paul we will have times in our lives when our minds become placed on the open market. We have to be able to recognize this and come back to God. 1 Peter 5:8-9 describes the evil forces. The evil forces are roaming around just waiting to grab our thoughts. Daily we must be alert and of sober mind. We have to resist those thoughts of evil and real them back from the open market and take them captive. They have to be placed under God’s control and in line with His word. We are not alone in this battle. Everyone is at war with the realm of evil, but God wants to work within us through the power of the Holy spirit and remove the evil. As in Romans He tells us to not be like the evil that lurks be transformed by RENEWING OUR MINDS. Is this mind thing serious? You bet it is. It is then when we will be able to recognize God’s ways.
Ok so we know that we have to take all 70,000 thoughts captive and that evil is lurking around all day waiting to pounce on our brains. So how do we stand strong and resist and conquer the evil that tries to twist our thoughts? How do we insure that are thoughts aren’t taken captive by Satan?
We must put on the armor of God daily as listed in Ephesians 6. When we place God’s armor on us every day we can take a stand against the devil.
Easier said than done right?
We have to take every thought and we know the thoughts that aren’t in line with Christ. It doesn’t take that long, but it takes practice and patience to t and dissect every thought.
We have to ask ourselves:
- Is this thought in line with God’s word?
- Does this thought bring peace or chaos and conflict?
- Does this thought tell me what God says I am?
- Is this thought in line with who I want to be?
CHALLENGES OF THE WEEK
*practice thinking about our thinking, be more ALERT AND AWARE OF OUR THOUGHTS
*remember that some words spoken aren’t what they seem (DON’T BE OFFENDED by words)
*keep a DAILY APPOINTMENT with God
*continue to FILL THEIR CUP
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