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"...'take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5b
 

 

Capturing Thoughts

Christians do not wage war the way the world wages war. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.? 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 10:4-5). At times our wars come from without. Other times the wars can be within.

God has clearly made His will known. We have sought it through prayer, through His Word, and with mentors and confidants joining us in our seeking the heart and mind of God. We obey, putting His will into action. Our heart is at peace. Before long we discover that though our heart is at peace our mind is another story. We question whether it is God’s will. Doubts arise. We want it all to make sense. We would like things to fall naturally and easily in place. We reason that if it is truly God’s will everything would go smoothly and it would all be clear to us along the way. We want to see just how God’s will is going to play out, how He is going to provide for the desired outcome. When we find that we are required to walk into the unknown unknowing, we wrestle with thoughts about whether we should throw in the towel. We wonder if we misunderstood God’s guidance. We attempt to make it fall into a comfortable pattern only to become more frustrated. Heart is at peace; mind is driving us crazy.

 

War may seem a severe word to use in this case, but when we are in the middle of such a time it feels like war. Regardless of how it feels or how we describe it we need to draw upon the weapons that have divine power to demolish strongholds. Such weapons and power are necessary to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” We take the doubts, the questions, the contrary thoughts and the opposing rational arguments as prisoners, bringing them into alignment with God’s will. With divine enablement we refuse to succumb to the fear they produce. Through constant prayer, drawing upon the great and precious promises of His Word, and holding tightly to His ever present hand, we press on in obedience to God’s will. We allow God to grant us eyes to see Him at work and to recognize His provisions. We draw upon the memories of His “hesed” – His steadfast ever faithful love – in our and other’s lives. We break the strongholds and continue forward in faithful obedience.

Loving God and faithfulness to His will requires divinely empowered conscious deliberate thought and action. God provides; we draw upon the provisions to demolish the strongholds and take every thought captive pressing on obediently to the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom. We can do all things through Christ who empowers us and that includes remaining faithful to His revealed will in all circumstances; war without or war within.

 

Current devotion written by Pastor Gerry.

from: http://home.pausetoponder.org

 

 

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