taking every thought captive

 "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

A good friend of mine shared this verse with me when I was going through an incredibly difficult time and struggling with a lot of anger and hurt. At the time it felt like that verse was written for me and that particular situation because it was exactly what I needed to do; what I HAD to do. I was paying so much attention to my thoughts. I had never realized the power our thoughts had on our lives until I was overwhelmed by my own. I became so sensitive to the Spirit of this verse and fully recognized my deep need to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. At that time it was more than an encouragement, it was an element of spiritual survival.

As time passed, the urgency of the situation slowed, my anger and hurt gently lifted, and because my circumstances changed the verse unfortunately seemed less relevant and I took thoughts captive less and less. Now months later, it seems I've forgotten how to do this all together. What a shame, what a tragedy for me to think that I don't need this, that I somehow could handle my thoughts on my own, that I didn't need to make them obedient to Christ...as if I had trained my brain to be on autopilot and do it on it's own without any intention or effort on my part. You know what the result of that is...a confused mind and spirit, anger seeping out of the cracks I've allowed, a perfect habitat for Satan to come on in and make a nest of lies. All because I stopped, I got lazy, I got busy, I forgot....whatever excuse I want to put there.

This verse came up yesterday as I was reading My Utmost for His Highest (the Lord sure knows how to use Oswald to get my attention). We all have to take each thought captive and MAKE it obedient to Christ. He won't do it for us, it is our task to do. We have to CHOOSE to abide in Him. We have to CHOOSE to fill our minds with truth, to weed out lies. If we don't, they creep in. They make a home. The lies take over and they convince us THEY are truth. They become what guides us, motivates us, where we speak from. I don't know about you, but that terrifies me. I don't want to live in anything but PURE TRUTH. I have seen the damage lies can do and I refuse to risk letting them rule. So today I choose truth. I choose to abide in Jesus. I choose to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."  Philippians 4:8