And the other thing we mostly forget.
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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.” (2 Cor. 10:3-5)
I’m heading out of town today to host a marriage retreat with Cyd (my wife). Part of that time is a section on “taking every thought captive” in our relationships. And this means more than just our marriages, but all our relationships (friends, coworkers, relatives, neighbors).
So here—in brief—is what I’m going to cover.
Middle Level (the Spirits)
But before we do that I need to make one thing clear about my worldview.
When it comes to our thoughts, it isn’t just God and us. It isn’t just our thoughts and God’s thoughts (voice, or words, or whatever you want to call it).
In the West
In the West we typically have a two-storied understanding of reality. There is God’s level (transcendent and invisible). And our level (immanent and visible).
When we think about taking our thoughts captive, in this view, it is a matter of exchanging our thoughts for God’s thoughts. Then we are told to read the Bible (which of course is always good). So there are only two kinds of thoughts to deal with.
In the Rest
But in the rest of the world (and in the Bible, that thing we are supposed to be reading…), there is a three-story understanding of reality. On the top level is of course God (transcendent and invisible). On the bottom story is still us (immanent and visible). But the middle level is where the spirits dwell (the powers and principalities, the ancestors, or the angels and demons—call them what you will).
In this view, there are three kinds of thoughts in play: my thoughts, God’s thoughts through the Spirit of God, and thoughts given by some malevolent spirit. We could add a fourth in the sense of culture—the messages that comes to us from outside (not through our spirit).
4 Ways of Taking Every Thought Captive
- FLEE IT: Sometimes we are assaulted by sinful (or at least very unhelpful, unhealthy) messages (from donut shops, Facebook posts, to violence and porn). These situations require that we flee, run, change direction, and/or avert our eyes.
- FLIP IT: Sometimes (most of the time) we are filled with thoughts from within ourselves (from our past situations or present desires). When they are unhelpful or unhealthy—or sinful—we need to flip the script and replace the thought with something else. Sometimes that just means distracting ourselves with some other task. Sometime it means reaching for God’s word to remember better thoughts.
- FIGHT IT: Sometimes our thoughts are not our own (especially the crazy, violent, self-harming, or shockingly sinful). These thoughts are attacks from the devil. You can’t flee them or just flip them. You must fight them with the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God (Eph. 6:17).
- FAN IT: Speaking of the word of God, we must fan into flame the words of truth spoken about us and over us. Primarily these are words of delight and acceptance in Christ, “You are my son/daughter, and in you I am well pleased.
When we do this—and it’s hard—we will make every thought obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).