Take Captive Every Thought

A lesson on taking out the trash

There is a singular thought that turns around in my head on days when I wonder where God might be. No matter what I feel, He is still here. Some days are distinctly difficult as despair threatens to overtake the place of joy and that nagging voice, no doubt belonging to the devil, prodding, “Where is your God?” When these thoughts come, and they do come.. I whip out my homemade deck of “Bible Verses for Emergencies.” The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) and spiritually speaking, my sword is not decorative.

“..take captive every thought to obey Christ.”

-2 Corinthians 10:5

To have a thought does not mean we need to accept the thought as our own. We are under no obligation to own it, ruminate over it, reproduce it, or bring it life. We have the power to choose which thoughts are allowed to live in our minds and the authority to grab the mean ones by the collar and show them the door. Let me be clear. There is a war going on in the spiritual realm for our minds and hearts. The phrase, “spiritual warfare,” may be a new term for some, but it is a reality as old as creation. It is the primordial battle between good and evil.

(A page from my sketchbook.)

When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them authority and dominion over the earth. Their motives were pure and untainted. Greed did not exist in their hearts, only love, until one day the serpent approached Eve.

Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made.

-Genesis 3:1

Before we can continue to the second part of verse 1, we need to take stock quickly of who and what Eve is confronted with. The beginning of her fall was not dramatic. It wasn’t loud, demonstrative, or flashy. Her fall began with the introduction of a subtle thought.

He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”

-Genesis 3:1

The serpent knew very well the boundaries of God. The serpent was Lucifer, the devil, who was, and is, a fallen angel. Angels have perfect intelligence. They have an ability to see things as they are, unlike humans who have limited sight and understanding, spiritually speaking. He phrased the sentence like this in order to confuse her and cause her to question the goodness of God. The connotation in his tone was, “God’s holding back from you.. maybe he doesn’t love you after all.”

Eve attempts to defend her position. What she didn’t realize was the snake was beneath a response. She did not need to defend herself.

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ ”

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

-Genesis 3:2-7

Eve’s fatal mistake was engaging in conversation with the deceiver. She did what so many of us do. She engaged with a destructive thought, chewed on it, gave it a room in her house, and ended up feeling confused, vulnerable, exposed, and separated from the protection of God. For us, in one sense, it’s not our fault. When we are tired, we are more easily influenced and distracted. As we grow in maturity and learn to call on the Holy Spirit to be with us, it becomes easier to discern which thoughts are of God and which thoughts are not. When we are in the Scriptures, we learn to recognize the voice of God, who loves us, and builds us up. If we have a thought that makes us feel shame or we feel we don’t measure up, 10/10 this is not the voice of God.

Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.

- 1 Peter 5:8

There is a hazardous temptation to question the presence, or even the existence, of God when we face hardships. Life’s circumstances can crush us. Sometimes, we make a series of decisions that lead to natural consequences and then blame God for our misfortune. Thoughts of unworthiness, anger, and desperation break through the doors of peace and take root, if we let them. An intrusive thought does not belong to us anymore than an intruder belongs in our house. If a thief breaks in, we don’t ask him to take off his shoes and settle in. We kick him out!

We need God’s protection and intervention, and if we call on Him humbly, He will help us. That prayer looks less like, “Hey God, where are you!?” and more like, “Lord, I need you, please help me.” It’s easy to assume that God is whatever version we’ve made Him to be, and to experience disappointment when He doesn’t meet our expectations. It’s an explosion of the senses when we seek Him as He truly is and He reveals Himself as present, powerful, and patient.

When fear and doubt creep in, having a deep well of scriptures from which to draw is crucial. Sometimes we feel God’s presence. Other times we must rely on what we know to be true from the Scriptures.

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

-Hebrews 13:5

This is how we take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. Do my thoughts agree with what God says? That’s the discernment tool. You might say, “Yeah, but I don’t know enough scripture to know what God says.” Not a problem! Use your device and search.

• What does the Bible say about God’s love for me?

• Bible verses to combat anxiety.

• What does the Bible say about forgiveness?

It takes some effort to become Scripture-soaked but the rewards are substantial. In Spanish, “it’s worth it,” translates as “vale la pena,” or literally.. It’s worth the pain.

God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the land and over themselves. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, we are restored, which means, we have authority and dominion over the thoughts that enter our minds. In the name of Jesus, take captive every thought, and walk in the freedom He died to give us.

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