by Ronnie Hewitt
2Corinthians 10:3-5 “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.”
Christian warfare involves bringing all our thoughts into alignment with Christ’s will; failure to do so will lead to immorality and spiritual death (Rom 6:16, 23; 8:13). I believe that we can use the following steps to bring our thought life under Christ’s lordship.
1) Be aware that God knows every thought and that nothing is hidden from Him (Ps 94:11; 139:2, 4, 23-24). Therefore, we will have to give an account to God for our thoughts as well as for our words and actions (2Cor 5:10; Matt 12:35-37; Rom 14:12).
2) Be aware that the mind is a battleground. Some thoughts originate with us, while others come directly from the enemy. To take captive every thought requires warfare against both our sinful nature and satanic forces (Eph 6:12-13; Matt 4:3-11). We must resist and reject evil and any unwholesome thought. Remember that we as believers overcome our adversary by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony, and by persistently saying “No!” to our adversary, temptation and sin (Tit 2:11-12; Jas 4:7; Rev 12:11; Matt 4:3-11).
3) Be resolute in focusing your mind on Christ and heavenly things rather than on earthly things (Phil 3:19; Col 3:2), for the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace (Rom 8:6-7). To do this, we must fill our minds with God’s Word and those things are noble, excellent, and praiseworthy (Phil 4:8).
4) Always be careful what your eyes see and your ears hear.
This reminds me of the song we used to sing to our children: “Be careful little eyes what you see…” I bet you’re singing that song now, aren’t you? We must refuse to let our eyes be instruments for lust, or set any worthless evil thing before them, whether its books, magazines, pictures, movies, or real life. We need to protect our bodies as they are the temple of our Lord.
May you be blessed as you seek to align your mind and life under the Lordship of Christ. I understand this is a battle; but it is a battle worth raging.