Taking Every Thought Captive

The Bible teaches us to take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ”.  What does this mean, and how do we do this effectively each day?    What did Jesus teach us about how we do this?  Taking “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” may be one of the most important things we do as Christians. It may mean the difference between us having a successful Christian life or failing to follow Jesus.

“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, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.” (emphasis added)

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

In this verse we are commanded to take control of our thoughts, to not let them run rampant in our minds.  Paul tells us to take control of “every” thought.  He says that we are to “destroy speculations” and thoughts that oppose God and godliness (“raised up against the knowledge of God”).  Paul also mentions that if these thoughts are left to run rampant, they can become fortresses in our mind, our life, even in our society, becoming more difficult to deal with.  He also mentions that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against our own thoughts, and that we have “divinely powerful” weapons at our disposal to deal with this situation.

The mind has been said to be the battleground of the spiritual life.  When we fail to realize the main battle we face is for our mind, often we end up focusing on our external behavior instead, becoming ascetic or stoic in our behavior.  We try to be good on the outside rather than focusing our efforts on the inside.  Jesus had some serious things to say about this approach when He was here:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.”  (Matthew 23:25)

“You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.”  (Matthew 12:34)

“And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.””  (Mark 7:18-23)

Jesus made it clear when He was here that He wants us to work on our inner person, and that if we will just do that, the outer person will reflect the goodness and godliness that we have cultivated on the inside.

By focusing on external behavior, most man-made religions fail on this point, adding rule after rule to try to force people to behave a certain way, with little regard to the inner person and what is going on inside of us.  In the Beatitudes Jesus said that if we just look at someone and lust after them, we have committed adultery as far as God is concerned (Matthew 5:27-28).  Holiness and godliness begin on the inside, in our hearts and minds, and until we have a change of heart regarding sin, we strive in vain.  Romans 12:1-2 speaks directly to this:

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”   (Romans 12:1-2)

We are transformed “by the renewing of our mind”.  This transformation begins when we are born again, and it is one of the evidences that we have indeed been born again.  When we are born again and become a “new creation”, our inner person is transformed and our desires, values, thoughts, etc. change dramatically.  We see the world in a completely different way.  This brings us to our first “divinely powerful” weapon that we have regarding taking our thoughts captive – we must be born again.

Without being born again, we live in defeat on the inside. This is the first step, and the most important one.  If we are not born again, nothing else really matters, and we are on the wrong side of the battle for the mind.  Eventually we will deliver Jesus up to be crucified just as the Pharisees did.  We must be born again.

Once we have been born again, the next most important “divinely powerful” weapon that we have is the Word of God.  The Bible is our source code for life.  It is the gold standard for wisdom, goodness, holiness, godliness, etc.  The being who created us, God Himself, has given us the Bible to help us navigate the choppy waters of this life, and anyone who neglects knowing the Bible is being foolish.  Not only is the information incredibly amazing, it actually has power to accomplish godliness and holiness in our lives.  I do not understand how it works, but if you put the Bible into your heart and mind, you will get better.  If you don’t, you won’t.  It is that simple.  Jesus explained it in the parable of the sower and the soils.

“And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.””   (Matthew 13:3-9)

Jesus tells us that the word of God is like seed being planted in the ground.  The word of God springs to life all on its own, just like a seed does, and it will grow in us and become a mature plant if we will let it.  We can kill the plant, by having the wrong friends and habits (birds), being hard hearted (rocky soil) or having our priorities wrong (thorns and weeds).  But if we just let the word of God grow in the good soil of our life, it will grow in us and bear fruit.  It is as amazing as watching a garden grow from the tiny little seeds that we plant in the spring.  The word of God will grow in us if we will let it.  It has the power to do this all on its own.  But we have to plant the word of God in our life in order for this to happen.  So another of the “divinely powerful” weapons we have in the battle for our mind is to put the word of God into our life.  Simply put, “Read the Bible”.

Once the word of God is in us, we will still have renegade thoughts that must be dealt with.  They do not magically go away, and in some cases they actually may get worse once we have been born again and put God’s word into our hearts and minds.  Another step is to use the word of God to take the thoughts captive.  When Jesus was here, at one point He was tempted by the devil, and He shows us His technique for taking thoughts captive:

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”  Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.”  (Matthew 4:1-11)

We see in each of Jesus’ temptations that Jesus used the word of God to defeat Satan’s attempts to get Jesus to sin.  Satan at one point even used scripture to tempt Jesus, just as we sometimes use scripture to try to justify sin in our own lives (ie.  “I know I am having an affair, but doesn’t the Bible say that God wants me to be happy?”).  Each time Jesus faces a renegade thought He counters it with the word of God.  This is how it is done.  This is how we take thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ.  We counter it with God’s word.

We can apply this in every situation we might encounter.  If it is negative self-talk, we find a verse (or verses) in the bible that counters the negative self-talk, and every time we catch ourselves falling into the negative self-talk we stop, and recite the countering Bible verse to ourselves.  We can repeat the verse as many times as is necessary, until the negative self-talk goes away.  The same is true of renegade daydreams, lust, bad thoughts in general, our thoughts before we go to sleep, our thoughts when a pretty girl runs by on the bike trail, etc. 

This works for every kind of situation we will ever found ourselves in, as far as I can tell.  All we have to do is remember to counter with a Bible verse.  In some cases it can be any Bible verse.  It can be a verse we are studying that day or that week.  It can be a verse we are working on memorizing.  It can be a random verse.  Other times it is better to counter with a verse that directly addresses the renegade thought.  We just need to get our mind off of the renegade thought and onto a ‘God thought’, so to speak.  Trust me, this really works.  One of the keys to this step is remembering to do it, rather than being carried away by our renegade thoughts.  We do not want to let our renegade thoughts own us, but rather we want to take them captive to the obedience of Christ.

It is particularly important that we do this for repeating thoughts – thoughts that we have regularly.  When we ruminate on something, thinking it over and over again, it can become a fortress in our life.  If it is a renegade thought we are ruminating on, we soon find that we have a renegade fortress in our life that can fire cannon shots into our life any time it wants to.  These renegade thought fortresses must be torn down.

One way to tear down these fortresses in our mind is every time the fortress fires a shot into our mind, we begin to meditate on God’s word.  Just pick a verse, meditate on it, recite it to ourself, think about what it means, say it with emphasis on different words, stop at the end of each phrase and think about that particular phrase and its ramifications, ask yourself what it means, etc.  We ruminate on God’s word in lieu of the renegade thought.  Eventually this will become a habit, and pretty soon the fortress is gone.  The key here is to remember to do this.

Another step we can take in the battle for our minds is prayer. Personal prayer, and soliciting the prayers of others on our behalf.  Prayer is also a “divinely powerful” weapon, and can accomplish much.  When we find ourselves stuck in a rut, under attack by the CEO of evil, trapped in a bad habit, under attack by a renegade thought fortress in our mind, etc., we can turn to God in prayer and ask for His help.  Many times it is also very helpful to ask others to pray for us as well, sharing our struggle with them so they can effectively pray for us.  The Bible is very clear on the power of prayer to accomplish good.

“Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”  (James 5:13-18)

When we find ourselves up against a renegade thought fortress in our mind or heart that we cannot overcome, it may be time to bring out the big guns of prayer and simply obliterate it.  Having others pray for us, and having them pray with us, seems to have more of an impact than simply praying by ourselves only.  We are told to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and to bring everything to God in prayer (Philippians 4:6-9). 

There is much more that could be said on “taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ”, and there are many excellent books on the battle for our mind and how to win this battle.  Some of the key things to winning this battle and bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ include:

• Being born again
• Putting God’s word into our hearts and minds
• Meditating on God’s word when renegade thoughts show up
• Praying for God’s help in defeating fortresses of renegade thought

When we practice these things regularly, before long they become habit, and before we know it the renegade thoughts are gone, fortresses are destroyed, and we are doing much better on the inside where Jesus says it counts.  Our outward behavior naturally follows what is going on inside, just as Jesus taught.  There are other approaches we can take, such as fasting, worship, fellowship, accountability, etc.  But the above four steps can provide an enormous amount of victory in our lives and enable us to take most of the renegade thoughts we deal with captive to the obedience of Christ.  I encourage you to give it a try.

So what are some of the thoughts you struggle with?  What are some of the things that create renegade thoughts in your mind?  What do you think about at night while lying in bed trying to fall asleep?  Where does your mind go when you daydream?  What do you dwell on when you have nothing else to think about?  What is some of the negative self-talk that you experience?  What are some verses that you could use to counter the renegade thoughts in your life?  What are some of your favorite verses?  Write these verses down.  Memorize them.  What are some reminders you could put out to help you remember to counter the renegade thoughts in your life with God’s word?  Who could you pray with regarding the battle for your mind?

Our thoughts really do matter.  Jesus went so far as to say that our thoughts and the attitudes of our hearts are actually more important than our actions, and that our actions grow out of what is inside of us (Mark 7:18-23).  He taught that true holiness and godliness is on the inside of our life, in our hearts and our minds, not on the outside of our life.  God’s word clearly teaches that true change, true transformation, starts on the inside of our lives, not on the outside.  We are to work from the inside out, not the outside in, when seeking life transformation, holiness, and godliness. (Romans 12:1-2).

The thoughts of our mind and the attitudes of our heart can be thought of as the source of life for everything else about us.  Who we are starts on the inside, and works its way out in our daily life.  “Taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” may be one of the most important things we do as Christians. It may mean the difference between us having a successful Christian life or failing to follow Jesus – it could be that important.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”  (Proverbs 4:23)

Lord God Almighty, I come before you in Jesus name, and confess that I often struggle with renegade thoughts.  I allow them to linger, and sometimes even dig them up and dwell on them all on my own.  Forgive me for this.  I repent of this, and commit today to battle these renegade thoughts in my life.  I will no longer let them freely live in my heart or my mind.  Help me to clean up my thought life and to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.  Transform me by the renewing of my mind by the power of your Holy Spirit.  Bring Your word to my remembrance when I am faced with negative or renegade thoughts.  Help me to destroy the renegade thought fortresses in my life. Deliver me from the attacks of the evil one, protecting me from his schemes and efforts to destroy me.  Plant you word in my heart, and let Your Spirit guide me into all truth and righteousness, for Your names sake.  Make Your word grow in my heart and my mind, that it may bear much fruit.  Make me holy and godly on the inside.  Let me grow as a Christian from the inside out.  I pray these things in Jesus name, amen.

(For more on taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, check our Craig Groeschel’s new book, Winning the War in Your Mind. I just learned about this new book this morning, and have not read it yet, but knowing Craig it is probably really great.)