Tag Archives: take captive

A DISCIPLINED MIND

Christian Life, ,

2 Peter 1:10-11 NIV
[10] “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, [11] and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Some believers think that the mind is of no consequence in the outworking of our salvation. It’s the spirit that is all-important, not the mind. We can put our minds into neutral and focus instead on what our spirit is saying.

However, nothing can be farther from the truth. Our mind is an essential function of our “hearts”, that inner part of us that expresses who we are and drives our bodies to sin or righteousness. We practise sin through our bodies but sin originates in our minds through our fleshly desires. Our minds need to change gear to redirect us towards righteouess.

It’s not easy to separate and categorise the workings of our psyche since we function as a unit. However, we learn from Scripture that our minds, our thought processes, control and direct our lives.

Proverbs 23:6-7 NLT
[6] “Don’t eat with people who are stingy; don’t desire their delicacies. [7] They are always thinking about how much it costs. “Eat and drink,” they say, but they don’t mean it.”

The NKJV translates verse seven of this quote as…

Proverbs 23:6-7 NKJV
[6]”Do not eat the bread of a miser, Nor desire his delicacies; [7] For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.”

Whatever a person appears to be on the outside, what he thinks is the real person.

Our passage of Scripture for today is a clear directive to take control of our thoughts since an undisciplined mind is dangerous, and will eventually affect our destiny. Is it possible to control what we think? Yes, it is!

Random, uncontrolled thoughts are often bad thoughts. Satan’s tactic is to influence our thinking towards sinful, selfish desires which eventually translate into sinful behaviour.

James 1:14-15 NKJV
[14] “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. [15] Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

Our desires begin as thoughts which fire our emotions and drag us into actions. Therefore, to short-circuit our sinful actions, we must begin with our thoughts. Since we cannot think two thoughts at the same time, we have the choice to exchange random thoughts for disciplined thinking.

How do we acquire disciplined thinking? Our random thoughts are very often negative, and influenced by our circumstances; for example, we are insulted, belittled, or offended in some way! What are our thoughts? Attack! Defend! Avenge! Anger? Hate? Bitterness?

Forgiveness is the last thing on our minds unless we train ourselves to think God’s way.

A disciplined mind is only possible if we fill our minds with thoughts that lead to righteousness. We have been born from above by God’s Spirit. We have God’s life in us and His power to overcome sin but…this does not happen automatically. We must work, together with the Spirit, to put the process of transformation into action.

Romans 12:2 NLT
[2] “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

The only way to change our thinking is to fill our minds with God’s Word since His Word tells us what He thinks about Himself, about His children, and about what He has done and is doing for us and what is good for us and others.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NIV
[4]”The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. [5] We 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.”

This is “spiritual warfare” within ourselves, not foolishly beating the air to flush out demons but bring our thoughts into line with God’s thoughts! We must pull down the strongholds of unbelief in our own minds by taking our thoughts captive to obey Christ.

2 Peter 1:4 NLT
[4] “And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

Peter gives us a resume of thoughts that will equip us for life and guarantee a rich and joyful welcome into God’s eternal kingdom.

2 Peter 1:5-8, 10-11 NLT
[5]”In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, [6] and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, [7] and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. [8] The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ…
[10] So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. [11] Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

The Christian life, from the moment of our new birth, is not a life of meandering through the wilderness of the unknown. It is not a hit-and-miss walk through the jungle of danger and opposition. It is a disciplined walk of faith in the one who leads us, diligently and determinedly following His instructions which enable us unerringly to navigate through every storm. He will guide us past rocks and obstacles until we reach our heavenly destination.

Colossians 3:1-4 NLT
[1] “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. [2] Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. [3] For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. [4] And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.”

Without minds set on Him, we have no guarantee that we will make it.

COMPLETE IN HIM

Bible Study, ,

COMPLETE IN HIM

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority (Col. 2: 8-10).

There is a vast chasm between what Paul called ‘the elemental spiritual forces of this world’ and the Lord Jesus Christ ‘in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ (Col. 2: 3). While this may sound grand and hifalutin, in actual fact it’s very simple.

Satan has filled the minds of people with lies about God so that they are afraid of Him, suspicious of Him or they just downright hate Him because they do not know who He is and what He is like and are enslaved to the philosophies and traditions of the demonic realm.

God sent Jesus into the world to be His representative and to show the world what He is like. He was born as a human baby, grew up as a human child in a human family and for three years He lived in a fishbowl for all the world to see what God thinks and how He behaves towards people. Jesus loved them, healed them, taught them, fed them, set them free from demonic oppression, and then died for them to forgive their sin and rose again to set them free from the fear of death. What more could He have done to show them what God thought and felt about them?

What are the elemental spiritual forces in the world? There are many and varied false ideas and teachings about God, the world, mankind, who we are and why we are here and where we are going but, in the end, they all come from one source, the god of this world, the devil. Why? Because he hates God, is opposed to Him and will do everything in his power to keep people from believing in Him.

Jesus, on the other hand, is the embodiment of truth because He is God in the flesh. Through Jesus, the Son, God the Father made it possible for us to see Him.

Philip said, ‘Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.’ Jesus answered, ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?’ (John 14:8-10a).

Philosophies spawned by the demonic forces that influence the way people think and what they believe tend to drag people towards self-destruction, conflict and alienation from one another, and destruction and depletion of the resources which God placed in the world to sustain us. We make our own rules instead of following God’s ways, and the result is chaos and ruin. We only need to look at nature and society to see the result of our ‘wisdom’.

God’s wisdom is embodied in Jesus. Wherever He went, He left behind a trail of happy, healed and reconnected people. He brought joy to those who believed what He taught and followed His way. He claimed to be the embodiment of truth. When people are generous, loving and caring instead of selfish, greedy and heartless, they are at peace within themselves and at peace with one another. In other words, Jesus’s way works!

‘Wisdom and knowledge’ – what are these? Knowledge is knowing how a new gadget works and wisdom is putting it into practice. When we read the maker’s manual, we find out how the gadget works, and when we do what the manual tells us to do, the thing will work. It’s as simple as that! Jesus is God’s ‘manual’. Through His life here on earth as a human being, He showed us how God intended us to live to be safe, happy and free. Then He invited us: ‘Follow me.’

When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ (John 8: 12).

The most amazing thing of all is that those who follow Jesus are ‘in Him’, and we have the potential to be everything that He was because He is ‘in us’. Everything that God the Father is, is in Him. Everything that He is, is in us. Paul urges us, then, to become who we are, sons and daughters of the living God!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.