Take Every Thought Captive

My husband, Garrin, had this God-given ability to know if I was in another room of the house thinking a negative thought about myself. I’d make a mess while cooking dinner or drop something on the floor and break it—and, immediately, the negative thoughts arose. Garrin would yell from wherever he was in the house, “Hey! Don’t talk to my wife like that!” The Holy Spirit always let him know when my thoughts about myself were not excellent or worthy of praise.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8 NLT)

Your thought life is of great importance to the Lord. Your thoughts can affect what you speak, how you act, and what you believe. Negative thoughts only lead to more negative thoughts if you don’t take those thoughts captive. The Bible tells us to take every thought captive for a reason. 

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

The weapons that the Lord has given to us are not carnal, meaning they are not of this world, but they are mighty for pulling down strongholds and defeating false arguments and anything that tries to make itself an authority in our life over God.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons Paul tells us, in Romans 12:2, not to be conformed to this world or the way this world does things, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Our thoughts about ourselves, our circumstances, those around us, and God Himself can affect our lives in a major way.

When we allow the Lord to transform our thought life, we allow Him to equip us for battle against the lies and the schemes of the enemy. While the father of lies has no creative power, he will use our negative thoughts to try and harm us. So, it is very important that we choose to recognize an untruthful thought right away and squash it before it can affect us.

The Word of God is what we have been given to help us learn the truth about God, our circumstances, and ourselves. It helps us to see who He says we are, so we can take those negative thoughts and those lies captive and compare them to what the Word of God says.

The Bible tells us that every part of God’s armor is important. We cannot fight the lies or the tactics of the enemy on our own, let alone without the protection of the Lord and the truth found in the Bible. The weapons God has given us are not of this world, but they are powerful. The Word of God is one of those weapons. Choose to arm yourself with the truth found in the Word of God, so you can stand strong against the lies of the enemy and put on His full armor.

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. (Ephesians 6:10-13)

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Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.