Take Every Thought Captive

     I'm sure you've heard the verse: "we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5b, NASB), but how exactly do we take every thought captive? And what happens if we don't?

     First one must understand this principle:

Our THOUGHTS trigger our Emotions.
Our EMOTIONS trigger our Desires.
Our DESIRES trigger our ACTIONS.

     Our hearts and minds operate in this order: Thoughts > Emotions > Desires > Actions. By stopping our temptations at the thought no sin occurs (it is not a sin to be tempted), but as soon as we let it stir our emotions we have given-in, we are now guilty.

     Will we be able to do this 100% perfect, all of the time -- of course not! But, as Christians, we are called to a higher standard. In our pursuit of righteousness, we must not be willing to settle for anything less than God's best.

     So, how do we stop our thoughts in their tracks? The answer is surprisingly simple: if an unwanted thought pops into your mind immediately meditate on scripture and the character of God. Simple, but not always easy.

     If a thought flies into your head and emotions are triggered, then what? Once this has happened, sin has occurred (no matter how justified your feelings may be) and must be dealt with in private. When emotions are high this is NOT the time to go to your friends and "blow off" steam. Venting only causes your mind to dwell and re-dwell on your emotions and personal hurt -- increasing the amount of time spent in disobedience to God's command of taking every thought captive.

1) Go someplace quite and lone. This is a time between you and God ONLY. Experience your emotions with God. Tell Him what you're feeling. Put names on your emotions and the situation. Do you feel angry? Tell God, and tell God why you feel angry. Are you lonely? Sad? Frustrated? Experience your emotions -- vent -- with God.

2a) Confess your ownership of the feelings to God. Don't attempt to justify or qualify your emotions. Confess that you are the owner and these are YOUR feelings.

2b) Repent. Since you did not take your thoughts captive, your emotions have been triggered (eventually your desires and actions will follow if you continue down this path). Reveling in your feelings (whether they feel good -- vengeance -- or bad -- depression) is a sin because you are not allowing God's character to flow into your life.

     The whole verse of 2 Corinthians 10:5 states: "We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ" (NLT). Emotions caused by hurt or frustration are actually prideful emotions. We believe we have a right to feel this way; we are justified. But this is not true; recall the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Of all human beings to ever walk the earth, none had greater justification for anger towards another. Christ was perfectly sinless, yet He was cursed, beaten and killed for sins that were not His. Even through all this, His heart was compassionate towards humanity. If Jesus Christ did not justify Himself what right do we have to justify ourselves?

     Understanding this, we must repent -- turn away from our feelings -- and ask forgiveness from God.

2c) Unconditionally forgive whoever caused the hurt and anyone else involved. Christ forgave us; therefore, we must forgive others.

3) Give everything back to God: your emotions, the situation, the people involved -- EVERYTHING. By giving it to God, you're allowing Him to take control and to fill you with His supernatural peace and strength.

4) Replace the Lies with the Truth. Dive into the Bible. Read and meditate on some scriptures pertinent to you. Fill your mind with the mind of Christ. Let the Holy Spirit fill you up and take over your mind and heart.

     Utilizing these principles will enable you operate under the supernatural love of Christ. Jesus has the ability to work through us in ways we cannot imagine! By setting ourselves aside -- our feelings, our desires, our wants -- we make room for Jesus to work amazing things in our lives. Will it always be easy? No. Will it always make sense? No. Will we always want to lay ourselves aside? No. BUT if we choose to act against our natural, sinful selves, Christ is glorified -- and that is the purpose of Christianity.

This was taken from a brilliant study by Nancy Missler called: Be Ye Transformed.

The Victory of Defeat

     Sounds like a contradiction in terms, yes? No. Let me explain...

     I've bee taking chess lessons from some of my schoolmates. For some inexplicable reason, I've felt the push to learn some new things, and strategy has been at the top of my list for quite some time. One of my friends gave me a bit of advice to help take the sting out of (what felt like) and endless cycle of agonizing losses. He said, "Just accept the fact that you are going to lose for a while. The goal right now is to learn, not to win -- that will come later. Just focus on lasting for as long as you can."

     That may sound fine and dandy, but when you're in the thralls of a game -- bear in mind that I'm extremely high strung during games. I stutter and sweat; my heart races, and my hands shake even long after the game is over -- it is hard to remember that the goal is NOT to win. I can't win a game of chess -- not against the people who are teaching me. Yet, even with that advice it can be very demoralizing to suffer loss after loss with little to no improvement.

     The question that follows would be, "Why continue playing? If it gives you that much stress, why continue putting yourself in that position?" The answer is that if I don't, I KNOW I will never improve -- emotionally or

tactically. By exercising my mind and emotions, I have the hope of growth.

     Don't think that I'm looking at the situation with rose-colored glasses. It sucks -- royally sucks -- to have your tail repeatedly handed to you after a six minute round of chess. But through the effort I put forth and with much help from my patient teachers I will get better. I have yet to win a chess mach, but my first game lasted 6 minutes and 14 seconds; my latest game lasted 15 minutes 57 seconds.

     Our walk in Christianity is just like this. We humans are battling our sin nature with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, but sometimes it feels as though no matter how many times we fight, sin right-hooks us in the jaw. There are times we want to scream, "I give up!" and cave into temptation. But, God is faithful to His children. He provides teachers to help us grow stronger, friends to help us carry the burdens that are too big to be handled alone, and the Holy Spirit to supernaturally help us when there seems to hope at all.

     If ever you're feeling like a spiritual failure, it may be helpful to have a friend point out the ways you have grown over the years. Have you become more patient? More caring of others? Have you learned to lie less -- or better yet, to not lie at all? Have you grown wiser in how you spend your time or money? Each improvement is a victory! The point is not to be perfect, but to always be better. We are no longer doomed to be defeated by sin, but with Jesus Christ we are promised victory!

Battling Temptation

I got this brilliant idea from (you guessed it!) Leslie Ludy (Answering the Guy Questions)!

I tried this out, and it really works!

How often are you faced with the temptation, "Wow. Check him out! I wonder what it would be like to date him..." rapidly it escalates into a dreamworld about this person when you're not even sure if he's a Christan. I get hammered with that one ALL THE TIME! Sometimes I just want to say, "Satan, can't you come up with any new tricks?" I can picture him saying back, "But you fall for this one every time!"

There's the rob. As a girl not only trying to save her physical purity for marriage, I'm also trying to save my emotions and heart for my husband. When traps like this pop up, it's SO SO SOOOOO tempting to sit and dream away when what we're really doing is staining our hearts.

I know the above is a problem with which girls struggle; guys on the other hand, I know struggle with physical fantasies more than the emotional. Wanting to look and lust is an extreme battle (as is girl's emotions.)

But... BUT! There is a remedy! It's brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Doing this will take effort and concentrations, but the rewards are

#1 A closer relationship with God
#2 Stronger, more PURE purity for your spouse
#3 A beautifully threatening weapon against evil

Ready? (It's so simple, I don't know why I never thought about it before!) When you are faced with a temptation with someone of the opposite gender, PRAY. I know it sounds trivial, but trust me when I say IT WORKS!!! Don't pray for the person causing the temptation (that only causes your thoughts to linger and makes the temptation stronger -- I know this from experience!) but instead INTENSIVELY pray for someone you know is having a tough time.

What do I mean when I say pray insensitively? Pray specifically. If you know a family that is having some financial trouble, don't just pray, "Lord, help them, Amen." Pray like, "Lord, this family is having trouble. Help them to earn more money if they need it. Help them to learn to rely more on You if that is your reason for allowing this to happen to them. Please, make sure they have enough food to go around. Let them be able to pay all their bills," etc. Praying out loud helps too.

If you pray like this every time you are faced with a temptation of the mind, you will find yourself so wrapped up in your prayer that the temptation is no longer a temptation AND to be sure, Satan will not be happy to know that his attempts to make you fall turn you into a prayer warrior for Jesus Christ!