07/02/2020
Taking your thoughts captive simply means gaining control over the thoughts that cross your mind. It is mostly what you put in your mind that has an effect on what you think.
2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us that we are to "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." You have the ability to exercise control over your thoughts.
It's your mind and not just your behavior that must change. Instead of always focusing on your outward behavior we should begin to first work on disciplining our mind from which the behaviors stem. Allow Christ to transform you by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:2). We have the mind of Christ because He lives in us in every believer. Think through your problems rather than just react to them. When you experience difficult challenges stress and anxiety anger, you can react to them and think yourself into despair and depression every time these thoughts come. Or you can take control because there is another way. You can look forward to the next opportunity and ask yourself what you learned from this situation that you found yourself in. Is your first thought I'll never do anything right? You are capable of getting out of your shame, despair, hopelessness, and anger by taking control of your thoughts. Take the negative and the positive thoughts captive. Paul urges us to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (Rom. 12:21). Confront your negative thoughts. Tell them to get out of your mind they dont belong there. It will take work to take your thoughts captive each time they pop into your mind. But it is possible with the help of the Holy Spirit. You can choose to focus your thoughts on the right things. We are to think about those things that are "true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable" (Phil. 4:8). When we think about those things, God promises to give us His peace. Dont try to do this the easy way like the "how to formula" from books to accomplish this for you. It takes personal discipline and commitment. Keep in mind and I say this again we as believers have the mind of Christ and He lives in us.
Blessings
Anni.
