Captive Thoughts

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.-2 Corinthians 10:5

Thoughts, what a dangerous thing. Our own ideas flowing, without anyone to deny or affirm them. My thoughts, at one point, owned me. But they weren't mine, they were the lies of the enemy, holding onto part of me. I remember saying in my head and out loud, "I can't control my thoughts." What a statement the devil loves to hear. If we believe we have no power or authority over our thoughts, then the devil has made himself a nice little home in control of our minds. He is able to lie to us and we believe them, because we think we can't do anything about it. He speaks his lies over and over and eventually, to us, it becomes true. The whispers that fill the dark, "you're not enough," "you're worthless," "you're incapable," etc. on and on he whispers. And if we believe we have no control over our thoughts, then he gets to whisper freely, with no push back, with no fight. But 2 Corinthians 10:5 says otherwise, "WE take EVERY thought captive and MAKE it obedient to Christ." We have the ability to take every thought and make it, force it to be obedient to Him. In order to do that, we must be able to hold our thoughts up to Truth, His Word, and see it in comparison. Does it contradict His Word? In order to answer that, we must know His Word. We need to acknowledge the askew thought, call out its falsity, drag it into light, and make it obedient to Christ. Speak Truth over it. To kill a lie, it needs to be confronted with truth. Now, this is not a one and done thing. We need to continuously look at our thoughts and find where we are letting the devil take hold. Then, we need to continuously take the thought captive and force it to obey Christ. It's a discipline that requires much diligence, but it is worth it. We also cannot expect the thought to just magically be obedient to Him. We must MAKE it. If we do not become strict with our thoughts, then there are hundreds of loose lies running around acting like they are true. Waiting for our thoughts to be obedient to Christ on their own is a spiritual death wish and something the devil wants us to believe. Once he gets in our minds, its easier for him to get into our hearts. Be strict and force your thoughts to obey Him. Know the difference between truth and lies. Know the difference between thoughts that lead you to Him and the ones that lead you away. Examine your thoughts and take the ones captive that are not glorifying Him.