In this day of psychobabble and “new age” easy believe-isms, there are many truths that have been tainted with just enough “lie” that we often want to steer way clear of them.
The problem is truth may be buried there — truth that God may want us to embrace. If the enemy didn’t want us to believe a truth about GOD, His character, ourselves, or about life because he knew that by doing so, we could experience being more than conquerors in Christ, the perfect way to do it would be to associate it with a train of thought repulsive to faithful Christians. That way, Satan would be sure we would throw the *truth* aside as well.
We need to be discerning. We don’t want to throw out the good and godly because Satan has associated it with something else from which we need to steer clear.
Nothing else makes this more clear than the power of our minds and what we think. What we think about will have a huge impact on what we believe. What we believe will directly affect our actions. This isn’t new age or “spooky,” this is truth! In fact, we may grit our teeth to *obey* God, but it is HARD to do so without changing our thinking–our beliefs!
If you think thoughts such as: “I will never break free from _______” (insert addiction or bad habit of choice), chances are you will remain stuck. The thought, repeated enough over time will become a belief and you will discover that you will never break free from whatever-it-was.
This doesn’t have to be!
God tells us that our thoughts are important!
Consider these verses:
God places a premium on what we think. As we choose to think thoughts that are TRUE and reject thoughts that enter our minds that are defeating and NOT true, we will begin to change the way we act. I have seen this happen in my own life.
For instance, “It has been a hard day and I deserve a milkshake at the drive-through.” This isn’t true. It may have been a hard day, sure enough, but I don’t deserve or NEED a milkshake at the drive-through. I have begun to take this thought captive and replace it with other TRUE thoughts, such as, “I don’t need a milkshake to feel better about today. I need to remember that God has called me to the things I did today and He says, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.'” “I can live without the milkshake.” “I will enjoy a hot bath at home and drive PAST the drive-through.”
Obviously, this is a rather simplistic example, but given that when I indulge myself in milkshakes when I am not hungry, I then follow that behavior with self-condemnation…it becomes a maelstrom of negativity that doesn’t honor God and isn’t best for me either!
What thoughts do you need to take captive? What truth will you replace them with?
