February 25, 2016 EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE
2 Corinthians 10:3-5: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”
If you think that the Christian life is passive, without battles to fight-think again! Even though salvation is free to us, and God offers abundant life to His followers, being an overcomer in life is not automatic. Paul makes it clear that even though we live in flesh and bones, we do not war, or fight, according to the flesh. The weapons that the believer has at his disposal are for more powerful than flesh and bones; in fact, with the weapons we have, we can destroy fortresses. In the passage above, Paul is emphasizing the fact that the thought life of the believer is the battle ground. Daily we are confronted with information that comes through conversations, media, ideas, and philosophies that are contrary to the knowledge of God. If we are not engaged in the battle; if we are not filtering what we see and hear through “the knowledge of God,” we will find ourselves buying into the philosophy of the culture. When we hear the lies that are of this world, we must be aggressive in recognizing the lie and aggressive in rejecting the lie and speaking the truth of God. Often, the lie we hear may not come from the outside, but may be a thought that just seems to appear out of the blue. When this happens, we must be quick to dismiss the lie and replace it with truth. I’ve heard it said that we should picture wrong thoughts as an airplane circling above, asking permission to land in our mind-but we must not give it permission to land. (That speaks volumes). As an example, I may have a thought that says: “I’m not valuable;” but I must replace that thought with: “I’m valuable because God created me and He loves me.” If we want to win the battles, if we want to experience victory in this life, then we must begin to take every thought captive just as Paul did. I think it was Peter Parris that said: “We should talk to ourselves more than we listen to ourselves,”-how true! We live in a day when lies and bad news are the norm, but as believers, we do not have to succumb to the lies; we have the power to replace the lies with the truth. Simply put, we will either be defeated by the lies we entertain, or we will be victorious by establishing our thoughts on the truth that comes from God.
Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.”
Blessings,
Buddy
2 Corinthians 10:3-5: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”
If you think that the Christian life is passive, without battles to fight-think again! Even though salvation is free to us, and God offers abundant life to His followers, being an overcomer in life is not automatic. Paul makes it clear that even though we live in flesh and bones, we do not war, or fight, according to the flesh. The weapons that the believer has at his disposal are for more powerful than flesh and bones; in fact, with the weapons we have, we can destroy fortresses. In the passage above, Paul is emphasizing the fact that the thought life of the believer is the battle ground. Daily we are confronted with information that comes through conversations, media, ideas, and philosophies that are contrary to the knowledge of God. If we are not engaged in the battle; if we are not filtering what we see and hear through “the knowledge of God,” we will find ourselves buying into the philosophy of the culture. When we hear the lies that are of this world, we must be aggressive in recognizing the lie and aggressive in rejecting the lie and speaking the truth of God. Often, the lie we hear may not come from the outside, but may be a thought that just seems to appear out of the blue. When this happens, we must be quick to dismiss the lie and replace it with truth. I’ve heard it said that we should picture wrong thoughts as an airplane circling above, asking permission to land in our mind-but we must not give it permission to land. (That speaks volumes). As an example, I may have a thought that says: “I’m not valuable;” but I must replace that thought with: “I’m valuable because God created me and He loves me.” If we want to win the battles, if we want to experience victory in this life, then we must begin to take every thought captive just as Paul did. I think it was Peter Parris that said: “We should talk to ourselves more than we listen to ourselves,”-how true! We live in a day when lies and bad news are the norm, but as believers, we do not have to succumb to the lies; we have the power to replace the lies with the truth. Simply put, we will either be defeated by the lies we entertain, or we will be victorious by establishing our thoughts on the truth that comes from God.
Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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