Do Your Thoughts Rule You?

 

“We demolish arguments and every pretention 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     

 I hear voices in my head.

I hear them often.

News flash—we ALL do!

Our minds are filled with voices–thoughts—constantly competing for attention. Thoughts bounce around in our heads, consuming our minds on a minute-to-minute basis.

“In 2005, the National Science Foundation published an article showing that the average person has between 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those thoughts, 80% are negative and 95% are the same repetitive thoughts as the day before.”[i]

Say what?? Friends, that’s a LOT of negative voices.

The loudest voice of all trying to distract us is the voice of the enemy. Satan delights in using worry, discouragement, jealousy, comparison, anger, guilt, and shame as tools of deception to keep us from being who God created us to be.

If the enemy can manipulate us to allow negative thoughts to camp out on our mental couch long enough, his lies creep in and attach themselves to our identity. Destructive thought patterns lead us astray and hold us hostage to harmful, false beliefs about ourselves. The enemy’s number one goal is to rule our thoughts so he can block our relationship with God, stunt our ability to move forward, and convince us to question our worthiness.

When we allow our negative thoughts to gain a foothold, they soon become a stronghold.

I’m a self-proclaimed control freak (to a fault), and yet I struggle to master my own thought life. I sometimes give in to those sneering voices of the enemy which wreak havoc with my emotional and physical well-being. Detrimental voices seeking only to destroy.

Do you struggle with this too?

The movie Eat, Pray, Love was released in 2010, which depicts the true biography of Elizabeth Gilbert who embarks on a year-long journey of self-discovery. While Elizabeth’s character spent some time in India attempting (struggling) to master the art of meditation, she realized she was allowing herself to be ruled by her thoughts, giving her thoughts emotional power over her. Elizabeth finally learned the following truth:

 

You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That’s the only thing you should be trying to control.

 Elizabeth Gilbert

 

The apostle Paul spoke about the same revelations that Elizabeth Gilbert later discovered. Utilizing the analogy of waging war, Paul stated we do not wage war as the world does, but that the weapons we fight with have the divine power to demolish destructive strongholds and take our thoughts captive. (See 2 Corinthians 10: 3-4)

Paul continued with our primary verse:

 

“We demolish arguments and every pretention 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

 

Here are a few ways you and I can “fight” to take our thoughts captive:

 

• Guard your heart. Be aware of what you allow your mind to dwell on. Feed your mind with positive, affirming thoughts rather than negative or sinful thoughts.

 

• Spend time in God’s Word. Recognize thoughts for what they are and where they are coming from.

 

• Seek strength through prayer. Ask God to give you increased strength in taking your thoughts captive, and . . . He will!

 

• Remove toxic thoughts by replacing them. Replace negative, sinful thoughts with positive, Godly pursuits.

 

I recently heard a pastor declare we need to interrogate our thoughts. When negative thoughts invade our mind, we should ask these three questions:

1. Who sent you?
2. Where did you come from?
3. Who are you working for?

I love these helpful questions!

Listen, we are in a constant battle for our minds. We have a choice to renew our minds according to the Word of God or be steamrolled by the enemy.

If we knew what God would say to our negative thoughts, we would no longer entertain accusing, damaging voices. And we come to understand what God would say by spending time with Him. When we recognize God’s voice, we can obliterate harmful strongholds.

We drown out the lies of the enemy when we grow to know the voice of God.

 

“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

 

Stand in your worthiness today. Think good thoughts. Take command of those voices in your head.

Are you the captor or the captive of your thoughts today?

 

Jesus, guard my mind and help me break free from patterns of negative thinking. Give me the strength and discernment to recognize and reject thoughts that do not align with your thoughts. In Jesus’ name, amen.

 

I’d love to hear what helps you take your thoughts captive. Feel free to share a comment!

 

[i] https://siobhankukolic.com/the-average-person-hgas-between-12000-and-60000-thoughts-per-day/