Take Every
Thought Captive
In my last post we looked at girding up the loins of our minds. One of
the main things we must do in order to accomplish this is to take our thoughts
captive and bring them in line with God’s Word.
Today I’m sharing an article on this topic which I believe does a great
job of giving us practical, biblical ways to accomplish this challenging
assignment.
6 Ways to Take Your Thoughts Captive by Richard L. Ganz, Ph.D.
What you put in your mind has an effect on what you think. Remember those scary movies you watched as a kid, then had nightmares? It didn't take long to realize that the way to avoid the nightmares was to stop watching that kind of movie. God has provided a way to overcome unhealthy thoughts and behaviors, and gain the self-control you seek. It's a matter of taking charge of your life - His way.
2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us that we are to "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."
Here are 6 ways to take your thoughts captive:
Here are 6 ways to take your thoughts captive:
- Accept responsibility for your thoughts. You have the ability to exercise control over your
thoughts. God warned Cain to focus his mind on the right
things, but Cain chose to think about the wrong things - anger and
jealousy - which led to his murderous actions. Are you willing to admit
that you can, with God's help, regain control of your thoughts - and think
enabling thoughts instead of disabling ones?
- Your mind - not just your behavior - must change. God calls us to change sinful behavior that does not honor
and please Him. Instead of focusing on your outward behavior, work on
disciplining your mind - from which the behaviors stem. Allow God to
transform you by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:2).
- Think through your problems rather than just react to
them. When you experience difficult
challenges, you can react to them and think yourself into despair every
time. Or you can look forward to the next opportunity and ask yourself
what you learned from this failure. Is your first thought I'll never do
anything right? You don't have to get trapped by disabling thoughts.
You are capable of getting out of your shame, despair, hopelessness, and
anger - by taking control of your thoughts.
- Take your disabling thoughts captive through
confession. Paul urges us to "take
captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (Rom. 12:21).
Confront your disabling thoughts. Turn them over to God and become who He
sees you can be. It will take work to take your thoughts captive each
time they pop into your mind. But it is possible with the help of the
Holy Spirit.
- Choose to focus your thoughts on the right things. We are to think about those things that are
"true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable" (Phil. 4:8).
When we think on those things, God promises to give us His peace. What a
contrast that is to the thoughts of millions of people today. Don't look
to a movie, TV show, or how-to formula to accomplish this for you. It
takes personal discipline and commitment.
- It is possible. It is not easy to retrain your thoughts or to respond in new Christ-like ways. Take heart: as God empowers you to focus your mind on the right things, it will become easier. You can develop a new frame of reference, based on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.
It is possible to live a life aware
of our thoughts and take them captive! God gave us the Holy Spirit to empower
us. Start following these steps today to gain power over your mind and
thoughts.
Richard L. Ganz, Ph.D., clinical psychology, previously served on the clinical
psychiatry faculty at Upstate Medial Center in Syracuse, N.Y., and is an
adjunct faculty member at Syracuse University. He also spent five years working
with Dr. Jay Adams at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation in
Philadelphia. He is now a pastor in the Ottawa Reformed Presbyterian Church and
president of Ottawa Theological Hall in Canada. http://richardganz.com/
©Copyright
2017 Connie Wohlford
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