Captive Thoughts Part One

The human mind is a marvelous thing. It holds memories, captures images, works numbers, learns new languages, forms sentences, and recalls how to place the words in the right order. Yet even with its many beautiful functions, it may feel like a curse at times. The mind and heart are the two things from which our whole being and conduct flow. They are both very dangerous things, which is why it is so important to guard your heart and mind from wickedness, for they can recall things and control you like very few other things can. Many sins come from the mind and heart— anxiety, depression, lust, love of money, and so on---- most of them starting with a thought, which is why I am going to be listing a couple thoughts that I find to be most common struggles in a girls mind and heart, and how to fight them.

A month or so ago, one of my elders, Scott Brown, said something in one of his sermons that stuck out to me, and I haven’t been able to forget.

“Take your thoughts captive. Bind them up and bring them chained before the Lord to judge.” *See note

Our thoughts are not something to hold lightly, or just brush off lightly, or ignore all together, for they are dangerous and beautiful, a curse and a blessing within yourself. Internal thoughts are hidden from the outward eye, giving you the false security that you are the only one who knows what goes through your mind. If you believe this to be true, then you are trusting in a lie, my dear “Lilies”. There is One who knows your every thought— good or bad.

Has a thought ever come upon you as suddenly as a leaf falls to the ground, proving to be sinful, yet for how quick it shrouded your mind in darkness, it seems you cannot rid yourself of it? Perhaps it is how you think of a certain guy or maybe worrying over something rather than trusting God. It is easy to let our thoughts control us, dismissing the sin of them as inescapable. My dear “Lilies”, sinful thoughts are escapable, for if you are saved by Christ, you are given a new mind and new heart, in which you have the Holy Spirit, who is stronger than your thoughts.

In medieval days, those who committed treason or some other act against the king or his family, would be brought into captivity and tried in the King's Court. If found guilty, it was likely they would be executed in some form or fashion for going against their ruler, if not already killed during the various trials they would undergo in the King's Court. Our evil thoughts are in need of this exact treatment. Captivity, trial, and execution.

'We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. ' 2 Corinthians 10:5-6

Are your thoughts against God or for Him? Are they giving Him all the glory or are they giving something else the glory? Whatever thought that enters your mind, take it captive and bring it before the Word of Lord. Test it against what God commands, and if you find that it does not glorify the Lord or pass His standards, execute it with the Sword of the Spirit, which is Scripture. You can overcome every sinful thought you have by filling your mind with pure, and holy thoughts from the Word of God, which is the Sword with which we fight our battles.

'And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ' Ephesians 6:7

Thought One: A common struggle that girls of our era must fight more often than may be known is the thoughts of anxiety. Anxiety is a dangerous thing to mess with, and should never be taken lightly or brushed off, but rather we should fight it and ultimately starve it by turning to Christ and what He says instead and lean fully on Him. It is hard to fully overcome anxiety--- on our own, that is. You are most likely familiar with Philippians 4:13 which says,

'I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. '

Recently I have noticed a spike in how much I am consumed by worry of what is to come, and it has led to some worse things than just feeling anxious over something, which leads me to my next point. Anxiety most often starts in the mind with a single thought of worry, and it can lead to panic attacks, health issues, and more. Sin starts in the heart and leaks to the mind, where a small thought is seeded, which then spreads to every other inch of you and leaks out into the life all around. Our minds are a spiritual battle ground, and if you do not fight it, it will consume you and overcome you. If we take a look at different verses in scripture talking in regard to worrying and anxiety, we can clearly see the command to not be anxious, as one of my favorite verses says,

'Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.' Philippians 4:6-7

So, if anxiety is one of the enemies in your mental battlefield, take up your Sword, and fight your anxious thoughts with thoughts from Scripture, which are stronger than any thought of your own. Do not let yourself be consumed in your own thoughts but rather be consumed with the Words of the Lord. Tuck His Word in your heart, meditate on it, memorize it, take it up every day, for blessed is he who does this. Without the Word on your mind daily, the easier you are making it for the devil to tempt you. And 'pray without ceasing' as Paul tells us to do in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, for the Lord does answer prayer and as it says in Philippians 4:6-7 above, 'in everything' we are to 'by prayer and supplication... let our requests be made known to God' for then 'the peace of God... will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus.' Peace comes from the Prince of Peace, and we are so blessed to be able to read His Word daily and to be able to call out to Him whenever. It can be easy to neglect our Bible time or time talking with God, but we should regard our ability to be able to call on God with reverence and thanksgiving, for to be able to speak to the Creator of all and the King of Kings is not a light matter. Treat His Word better and in higher honor than you would with all the gold of the world, for '[the Words of the Lord] are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold.' If God's Word is this beautiful, desirable, and perfect, then be filled with it and fight your anxious thoughts with the Scripture that you should hide in your heart.

'Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. ' Psalm 119:11

Thought Two: Oh boy, is this next thought going to take you for a spin, my dear 'Lilies'. Have you ever had a crush on a specific guy in your life and gave that person a large portion of your mental space? Now, answer truthfully, because if you are anything like me (or just a girl), then I'm quite sure your answer to my question would be yes. Which, mind you, is nothing to be ashamed of. Looking throughout all of Scripture, we can see a common theme with the women of the Bible... most of what they did revolved around men. It is no surprise to see this, for if we look at the end of Genesis 3:16 we can see the first instance in the Bible where God puts a desire for man into the heart of a woman.

'To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” ' Genesis 3:16

Although it is a natural thing for us to desire the affection, attention, and approval of men, that does not mean we should dismiss our crushes as 'doing what God made me to do'. No, my dear, that is not what you were made to do. In fact, we have been commanded to do the exact opposite, which is to 'Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.' (Proverbs 4:23). As I stated in the beginning of this article, 'The mind and heart are the two things from which our whole being and conduct flow.' which is why we should guard the two with all diligence. The word 'diligence' is described as 'steady, earnest, and energetic effort: devoted and painstaking work and application to accomplish an undertaking' in the Merrium Webster Dictionary. So, the Proverb above tells us to 'watch over' our hearts, or in some other translations the words, 'keep' or 'guard' are used instead, but they all mean the same thing; protect. We are to guard our hearts from thoughts and emotions that only lead to temptation, we are to keep our hearts from falling into temptation, and we are to watch over our hearts to make sure that we stop the temptation before it comes. Matthew Henry once wrote,

"We must maintain a holy jealousy of ourselves, and set a strict guard, accordingly, upon all the avenues of the soul; keep our hearts from doing hurt and getting hurt, from being defiled by sin and disturbed by trouble; keep them as our jewel, as our vineyard; keep a conscience void of offense; keep out bad thoughts; keep up good thoughts; keep the affections upon right objects and in due bounds."

"Keep our hearts from doing hurt and from getting hurt." How are we to protect our hearts from getting hurt if we are letting ourselves have a crush on someone who may or may not be our husband someday? If that guy started a serious relationship with a girl who was not you, how would you feel? It can be easy to let our thoughts and emotions get ahead of reality, and start dreaming of what could be someday, but your dreams may not be God's plan for your life. And the guy you may have a crush on, well, perhaps the Lord has already put another girl into his life who shall someday become his wife, and you are planned to marry someone else. '[Keep your hearts] from being defiled by sin' which could come in the form of dreaming in your mind and heart about some other girl's (future) husband. 'Keep the affections upon right objects and in due bounds.' What is the right object that you should be focusing on rather than a guy who you have set apart a portion of your heart for? If you struggle with being consumed with thoughts (along with emotions) towards a specific young man, focus your thoughts somewhere else. Focus them on Jesus Christ and on how you can better serve Him. Focus on how to bless your siblings (if you have any) and honoring your parents, and do not waste a minute of your time with them thinking about the guy you like.

Well, it seems that I have written quite the long article today! I hope that this article has encouraged and challenged you in taking your thoughts captive unto the Lord!

With much love and prayer,

~Jaycee ♡

*This is a rough paraphrase of what was said, as I cannot remember the exact words, but it does display the thought and general idea of what was said.