Every Thought Captive

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

After I (Josh) came back to my family and I began to grow closer to God, one thing I had to learn was to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.  Now remember, I had been living a life contrary to God and His ways.  I had put a whole lot of evil in my mind so that I could feed on them whenever I wanted.  This was an extremely hard lesson to learn but by bring all the evil and wicked thoughts to Jesus, I began to overcome the battle being waged in my mind.

But this passage above does not say for us to bring the evil thoughts.  It says EVERY thought!!  Not just the wicked or evil thoughts but every thought, which means the good and holy ones, too.  For some, this may prove to be a harder battle to fight than overcoming the evil thoughts.  It has been for me (Josh).

Our thoughts can bring us hope, joy, and cheer or they can bring us defeat, depression, and dismay.  When they are brought before Christ, our thoughts are able to be judged by an always holy and always righteous Judge.  Those which He deems to be fruitful for us He allows us to dwell on; the ones that will be unfruitful, He passes judgment on and discards...for us.

Our problem often lies in the retrieval of those thoughts from the garbage heap.  Jesus has discarded them and we dig them out and continue to meditate on them.  We think that Jesus will only discard the thoughts that are evil.  Many times He will discard some very nice and good thoughts because their time has not come or because He has something different in mind for us.

While standing for your marriage your thoughts may go to places that will not help you stand.  Thinking about what your spouse is doing while they are away from you or the other person that has tried to take your place will not help you stand in the gap for your spouse.  Nor will dreaming about the day that they return and thinking that everything will be peaches and cream once they come home.  You may setting yourself for some severe disappointments if you let your thought life get out of control.

This is why Paul tells us to cast down imaginations (thoughts of grandeur that are unrealistic) and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (thinking about an outcome to your situation that does not align itself with God's plans) and to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (thoughts that will attach your hope to someone or something other than Jesus).

Don't think that we have this idea completely under control.  I (Josh) still wrestle with keeping my "good" thoughts in line with His plans for me.  As recently as yesterday, I let thoughts about what I believed Jesus was doing in me and through me to trip me up.  What He has planned He has not allowed me to fully see or understand....and I have to be OK with that.  Because when I start thinking ahead of the Almighty, my feelings get hurt and I become wounded....not by God but by my own ignorance of the holiness and righteousness that He desires to work out in me.  Just keeping it real, folks...

Josh and Serena