taking thoughts captive...again and again.....and at the end some encouraging thoughts
2 Corinthians 10:5 says "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."
I have written about this before but I am doing it again. In seasons of my life where this tool is needed, I will probably always share it again and again. I first learned this passage when I was learning about spiritual warfare. I was reading a book and the author shared this. He said, when you are feeling attacked in your thought life, take those thoughts captive in obedience to Christ. I began to use this phrase whenever thoughts popped into my head that were unwelcome and dangerous and negative. Initially it was hard to form the phrase (because the devil wants it to be hard) and so I had to write it out on paper and then read it to myself when the bad thoughts came to mind......I take these thoughts captive in obedience to Christ........and I would sometimes have to say it over and over throughout the day.....but as I pressed into the discipline of it, I found that I had to say it less and less.
It is a powerful tool, given to us by Almighty God Himself, in scripture. Take those thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. silence the demon voices that pop into our heads and intend to confuse us and to make us feel afraid or insecure........Christ Jesus, in His perfect Love, is sovereign. The devil cannot take up space that has been declared for Jesus Christ. It's true. Believe it. I've tested it and I know......so take those thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. Prepare to watch your life change and you conversations change and your heart change and your thinking....will definitely....change. Christ Jesus has the power. I promise.
Whenever my actions are going to really do good things for God, and to defeat the schemes of the devil, I have the war of the thoughts in my mind. Sometimes that war is also in my body. A few weeks ago, I had to do a really, really hard thing. I was anxious and I was stressed and I was overwhelmed. In the shower that morning, I felt a stab of pain in my neck, like something reached out and bit me. I couldn't turn my head. I couldn't get dressed without intense pain. I cried and I prayed and I came to understand it was something more....so I asked a few of my safest people to pray.....because I was going to go and do this really, really hard thing either way. They prayed. The pain slowly eased and after a couple of days I was fine.
The devil will fight us when we are working toward the things of the Lord. He will use his demons to bother us, confuse us, badger us and torment us. He can only bother. He cannot actually do anything we don't allow him to do in our lives. Just so you know. The good news is that we have tools. We have scripture and prayer and the fellowship of believers to help us fight the evil and work hard toward the good......if you don't yet have that fellowship of believers, sign me up. I'll be first on your list.
I intend to make it my mission for all the days of my life to fight the devil and work hard to give all glory and honor and praise to Jesus, the one True God. I intend to live my life, broken and sinful as I am, in such a way that at the end of my days I can here "Well done, good and faithful servant" from the Lord God Almighty Himself. I intent to fight for the widow, the orphan, the least of us every day and to do whatever I have in my power to make peoples lives better and richer and healthier.
I will take care of myself because the work is hard and the journey is long. But I will not ever decide that I have done enough until God tells me that I have done enough. I am guessing when that day comes I will breathe my last breath and move on to Heaven. In the meantime....there is much work to do, people.
We are in a hard season right now, with all the disclosure of the teacher in our school and his sexual abuse of students. Friends are praying for us and I ask you to please just keep praying that justice will happen and that the affected boys will heal. That they won't just heal but will grow to be important and Godly men who defeat the devil at every turn and have command over taking thoughts captive in obedience to Christ. Pray for us as parents, that we can be wise and strong and patient and kind and good.
I went to foster care class number 4 tonight. Roger is out of town so he will have make up work. The topic was attachment and positive parenting which are my favorite things......ever. I am thinking tonight about the ways that God himself is an attachment specialist, and has so many great ideas for positive parenting in all the ways He has built trust with me, and shown me how to be encouraged through positive and nurturing behaviors. Sigh. He is such a good God. He really is. In the middle of all of the yuck of doing life in the world, He just shines so bright. He has the answers and He has the power. He has the authority and He is sovereign over us.
Be encouraged, friends. Tonight, I am encouraged.
I have written about this before but I am doing it again. In seasons of my life where this tool is needed, I will probably always share it again and again. I first learned this passage when I was learning about spiritual warfare. I was reading a book and the author shared this. He said, when you are feeling attacked in your thought life, take those thoughts captive in obedience to Christ. I began to use this phrase whenever thoughts popped into my head that were unwelcome and dangerous and negative. Initially it was hard to form the phrase (because the devil wants it to be hard) and so I had to write it out on paper and then read it to myself when the bad thoughts came to mind......I take these thoughts captive in obedience to Christ........and I would sometimes have to say it over and over throughout the day.....but as I pressed into the discipline of it, I found that I had to say it less and less.
It is a powerful tool, given to us by Almighty God Himself, in scripture. Take those thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. silence the demon voices that pop into our heads and intend to confuse us and to make us feel afraid or insecure........Christ Jesus, in His perfect Love, is sovereign. The devil cannot take up space that has been declared for Jesus Christ. It's true. Believe it. I've tested it and I know......so take those thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. Prepare to watch your life change and you conversations change and your heart change and your thinking....will definitely....change. Christ Jesus has the power. I promise.
Whenever my actions are going to really do good things for God, and to defeat the schemes of the devil, I have the war of the thoughts in my mind. Sometimes that war is also in my body. A few weeks ago, I had to do a really, really hard thing. I was anxious and I was stressed and I was overwhelmed. In the shower that morning, I felt a stab of pain in my neck, like something reached out and bit me. I couldn't turn my head. I couldn't get dressed without intense pain. I cried and I prayed and I came to understand it was something more....so I asked a few of my safest people to pray.....because I was going to go and do this really, really hard thing either way. They prayed. The pain slowly eased and after a couple of days I was fine.
The devil will fight us when we are working toward the things of the Lord. He will use his demons to bother us, confuse us, badger us and torment us. He can only bother. He cannot actually do anything we don't allow him to do in our lives. Just so you know. The good news is that we have tools. We have scripture and prayer and the fellowship of believers to help us fight the evil and work hard toward the good......if you don't yet have that fellowship of believers, sign me up. I'll be first on your list.
I intend to make it my mission for all the days of my life to fight the devil and work hard to give all glory and honor and praise to Jesus, the one True God. I intend to live my life, broken and sinful as I am, in such a way that at the end of my days I can here "Well done, good and faithful servant" from the Lord God Almighty Himself. I intent to fight for the widow, the orphan, the least of us every day and to do whatever I have in my power to make peoples lives better and richer and healthier.
I will take care of myself because the work is hard and the journey is long. But I will not ever decide that I have done enough until God tells me that I have done enough. I am guessing when that day comes I will breathe my last breath and move on to Heaven. In the meantime....there is much work to do, people.
We are in a hard season right now, with all the disclosure of the teacher in our school and his sexual abuse of students. Friends are praying for us and I ask you to please just keep praying that justice will happen and that the affected boys will heal. That they won't just heal but will grow to be important and Godly men who defeat the devil at every turn and have command over taking thoughts captive in obedience to Christ. Pray for us as parents, that we can be wise and strong and patient and kind and good.
I went to foster care class number 4 tonight. Roger is out of town so he will have make up work. The topic was attachment and positive parenting which are my favorite things......ever. I am thinking tonight about the ways that God himself is an attachment specialist, and has so many great ideas for positive parenting in all the ways He has built trust with me, and shown me how to be encouraged through positive and nurturing behaviors. Sigh. He is such a good God. He really is. In the middle of all of the yuck of doing life in the world, He just shines so bright. He has the answers and He has the power. He has the authority and He is sovereign over us.
Be encouraged, friends. Tonight, I am encouraged.
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