Last night I was reading through Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth, and ran across these verses, which are directly related to what the Lord has been speaking in my life lately:
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV:
[3] "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. [4] The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. [5] 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."
The context of these verses, is a conversation Paul is having with the Corinthians because they are judging his ministry by outward appearances, and his unwillingness to appear to them as one of the "super-apostles". He was talking about the way we can establish in our minds and communities, strongholds of thought and ideas that are wrong. His statement about waging war not as the world wages war, appears to relate to his unwillingness to attack other ministries and ministers openly, criticizing them, their methods, or any such thing, which is so different than the norm.
That being said, what He is also talking about is the internal struggle of our thought life. Taking thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ is absolutely a critical skill we must learn, in our life with Christ. In Revelations 12:10, it speaks of the enemy as the accuser of our brothers and sisters. Jesus calls satan "a liar and the father of all lies." (John 8:44). God does not accuse us, does not condemn us, does not think negatively about us, those are all from the enemy. We all must learn to distinguish our thought origins, and identify those that are in alignment with what God says about us, and those that do not, and reject those that are not from God.
Pastor Bill Johnson says that he can't afford to have any thought in His mind that is not in God's mind first. He is expressing this idea of owning one's thoughts, discerning their origin and rejecting any that do not originate with God, or are in line with His will. This is the same thing Paul is speaking about - taking thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ.
The issue for many of us is that we have strongholds of belief and thought about ourselves, about others and about God. How we think about ourselves, others and God will significantly impact who we are and what we do with our lives. A common saying these days is that "you are what you eat", but its even more true that "we are what we think".
Here is an excerpt from a sports journal speaking about self-thought: ( http://www.theextragear.com/self-talk-and-thought-control-strategies )
What we think has an effect on how we feel, which, in turn, has an effect on what we do. In sports, negative thinking has been shown to have a negative effect on performance. When self-talk is negative, it produces both negative feelings, like anxiety, as well as physical tension, which leads to decreased motor coordination and speed. It also takes your focus away from what you should be doing, which makes it more likely that you will miss something important or make a mistake. So, when we talk negatively to ourselves, it affects other important mental skills such as intensity regulation, confidence, and concentration. When these mental skills deteriorate, performance is likely to suffer, which serves to reinforce the self-talk, (e.g., you prove to yourself that, “I really do stink at this”) creating a vicious cycle.
Many times we are unaware of our self-talk; therefore, it can sabotage our performance without our even realizing it. At its worst, our self-fulfilling prophesies of poor performances in certain situations lead us to label ourselves negatively (e.g., “loser”) which makes it even more difficult to break the negative cycle.
What I find amazing is that many of us, apply these types of techniques to other areas of our life, but not to our walk with Christ. There are many voices out there that influence what we think, and how we think. Companies spend Billions of dollars marketing, which is all about gaining mind-share, or getting people to think about their products. The media works ever day to try and influence the way we think, spinning stories to reflect their opinions, while ignoring other opinions or stories that would provide an alternative perspective. There is a stronghold of thought developing in America these days that is against Christianity, and that stronghold has been carefully nurtured and cultivated by the media over many years.
In the same way, the enemy is constantly bombarding us with thoughts and ideas that are against the will of God. They are thoughts related to temptation and sin, thoughts related to those we are in relationship with, trying to cause distrust, division and separation. The enemy is trying to undermine our identity in God, for we are God's adopted Sons and Daughters, whom He loved so much that He sent His Son to save, but the enemy wants us to think that God is angry with us, thinks we are sinners and is just waiting to punish us. The enemy has been at work in all our lives for many years trying to develop strongholds of thought about ourselves and others and especially God.
Make no mistake, there is a war being waged, and this is what Paul was speaking about in his letter. We MUST learn to hear God! We must learn to listen to our thoughts and reject those that are not from God. We must learn to hear and believe what God says about us, what He thinks about us. We must learn what God thinks about others too. As we learn to listen to God, we will find that He will destroy the strongholds of thought and ideas in our lives, that do not line up with His word and will. As we start to speak the thoughts that are from God, we will help those around us do the same, destroying the strongholds and arguments that set themselves against God. As we learn to do all this we will see a transformation of our lives. Paul speaks about this in Romans 12:2 NIV: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is---his good, pleasing and perfect will.". We must allow our minds to be renewed, and our lives transformed. This how we fight this war!
In John 10:3-4, Jesus says that we know and can follow His voice. We need to learn to hear it. For many of us that means stopping the noise around us, and learning to listen to God. That is one of the reasons I take time to sit quietly before Him in the mornings, I am actively listening. I read my Bible, listen to Christian teachers through the day, listen to Christian music, anything that helps me to sensitize myself to God's voice. I read scripture and identify areas where how I think does not line up with God's revelation in His Word, and change the way I think. I am learning to take my thoughts captive throughout the day and rejecting those that are not from Him. As I do so, I find myself thinking differently about myself and others. My heart is filled with compassion and mercy for the downtrodden and poor, rather than judgement. I find myself thinking more positively about those around me, at home and at work, seeing them as God sees them, and recognizing the gift that they are in my life.
Lord help me to continue to wage war in my mind, and see myself transformed as my mind is renewed and I listen to Your voice.
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