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In my last post, “Where Thoughts Come From,” we looked at how important it is for believers in Christ to manage their thought lives.
If we want to experience peace and contentment, then we have to remember that the thoughts we experience either come from our new heart or outside of our new heart (See Matt. 15:19; Mark 7:21; Luke 1:51.)
Ungodly thoughts cannot originate in our new heart—who we are in Christ. Ungodly thoughts cannot come from the new you (2 Cor. 5:17, 21; 1 Cor. 2:16).
And they cannot come from the old you, either, because the old you is dead and gone. The old you was crucified with Christ on the cross and the new you was born again in His resurrection (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3; Rom. 6:4; 1 Pet. 1:3).
But there are old ways of thinking—old habit patterns—that are still stored in our earthly brains that have not yet been renewed with truth. (See Rom. 12:1–2.)
This is what the Bible calls “the flesh” (See Gal. 5:13, 16–17; Phil. 3:3–4). The flesh is rooted in Satan’s deception and these patterns interfere with our dependence on Christ’s Spirit within us.
These patterns are not part of us; they exist outside the new man. We are not the flesh. The flesh can influence us, but it is not us.
In “Where Thoughts Come From,” we also talked about the fact that thoughts enter our minds through our physical senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. These thoughts reflect either truth or lies, depending on their original source.
Our responsibility as believers is to accept the truth and reject the lies. The more we keep our minds fixed on Christ in us and our brand-new, pure, righteous, and holy identity in Him, the easier it will be to discern and reject the outside garbage that enters our minds.
So, how exactly do we deal with these rogue thoughts? Why don’t you grab a cup of your favorite beverage and sit back and listen to these enlightening words from you Beloved concerning your part in the battle going on in your mind:
“My cherished one, every day there is a battle going on in your mind.”
“Your role in this battle is to accept (own and believe) thoughts based in truth and to reject (disown and disbelieve) thoughts based in lies.”
“You will enjoy great rest and peace as you reject the lies.”
“On the contrary, your days will be filled with unrest and distress when you do not reject the lies.”
“These lies are like little foxes that—though they may seem small—end up destroying entire vineyards when allowed to run wild.”
“I want you to catch the foxes that are keeping you from bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and righteousness.”
“Even though you walk in the flesh, you do not fight this battle according to the flesh.”
“Your struggle is against spiritual forces of wickedness, not flesh and blood.”
“I have given you a spiritual arsenal of truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and prayer to stand against Satan’s schemes.”
“These weapons contain My power to destroy speculations and every lofty thing that contradicts Me.”
“Your responsibility is to wield these weapons, taking every rogue thought captive to My obedience.”
“What does it mean to take rogue thoughts captive to My obedience?”
“My obedience was humbling Myself to the point of death on the cross.”
“Through Adam’s disobedience, everyone born into this world is a sinner.”
“But through My obedience, all who believe in (into) Me are made righteous through their co-crucifixion and co-resurrection with Me.”
“And because you are the righteousness of God in Me, you cannot generate unrighteous thoughts.”
“To take every thought captive to My obedience, then, means that you judge the thoughts you experience in light of the truth of your righteous identity.”
“As you become accustomed to the knowledge of your righteousness, through practice, you will train your senses to discern good (righteousness) and evil (unrighteousness).”
“Now, when you become aware of an unrighteous thought, take it captive by saying out loud, “That thought did not come from me!”
“I refuse to own it, meditate on it, or act on it!”
“I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ!”
(The above words from your Beloved and Scripture List is an excerpt from my book, Fifty Days in His Pursuing Love Devotional.)
The apostle Paul gives us specific instruction for dealing with rogue thoughts in his second letter to the church at Corinth. He writes,
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3–5 NASB).
First, I want to clarify what Paul means when he says we walk “in the flesh.” He’s talking about the fact that we still live inside these bodies of flesh on this earth. He’s not referring to “walking by the flesh,” according to those old, self-sufficient habit patterns in our brains (Gal. 5:13, 16–17).
Paul is saying in this passage that the battle going on in our minds is an unseen spiritual war where we need to wield our spiritual weapons of truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and prayer (See Ephesians 6:10–18).
What I want to focus on in this post is what Paul means by “we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
This phrase confused me until I decided to take a closer look at it, asking His Spirit to teach me (John 14:26; 1 John 2:27).
What was the obedience of Christ? Philippians 2:8 tells us that “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.” Christ’s ultimate obedience was death on the cross.
And what did the obedience of Christ accomplish? Romans 5:19 tells us that “Through the one man’s disobedience (Adam’s) the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One (Christ’s) the many will be made righteous” (I added the parenthetical emphases.)
Christ’s obedience accomplished our righteousness the moment we believed into Him (John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:17, 21).
And because we are now and forever the righteousness of God in Christ, we cannot generate unrighteous (unholy) thoughts (1 Cor. 2:16).
To take every thought captive to His obedience, then, means “to judge the thoughts we experience in light of the truth of our righteous identity in Him.”
Now, when we become aware of an unrighteous (unholy) thought in our minds, we can take it captive by saying, “That thought did not come from me! I refuse to own it, meditate on it, or act on it! I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ!”
Even though Satan has no access to us—he cannot touch us spiritually—he has limited access to our thought lives in this fallen world.
And because of his limited access, we can sometimes feel like victims of the ungodly thoughts and emotions we experience.
But I’ve got some good news for you that I will share in my next blog post, “You Are a Victor, Not a Victim.”
Watch my YouTube video where I share what’s in this post here.
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If you enjoyed this post, I invite you to check out all of my books and my video series based on my first devotional.
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