Take Every Thought Captive预览

Are you in a battle? You may be waiting and, mentally, that wait is excruciating. You may be hoping that a person will change, and worry is torturing you. You may be on social media facing mounting pressure to be who the world says you should be. You may feel ridiculed by unmet expectations that seem to point a finger at God.

We are all in different types of battles. And Jesus has given us what we need to win. Supernatural victory is not achieved by human, natural means, but by God’s way and God’s power. Likewise, it is not our vast intellect, history, appearance, reputation, material goods, or good feelings about ourselves that will make us win but rather God’s way and God’s power behind us, under us, and around us.

But we must act to take thoughts captive. Who does the fighting work belong to? Us. This is not a passive fight; be prepared, my friend. It is an active one.

Many of us talk to ourselves like this: I am the least. I am not capable, not able, too poor, not smart enough. I am this. I am that. I have issues. My past proves I can’t. How many of us disqualify ourselves and run away afraid? How many of us look in the mirror and doubt what we see? How many of us believe our future is based on what we have or don’t have in the natural?

I wrote Take Every Thought Captive to help us release all the worries,burdens, and lies we keep deep within our minds. My goal is to set people free, but this is 100 percent not my work, the work of Kelly Balarie. It is the Lord’s work.

Jesus saves. And He will save you, because that is His business. He is better than any human at setting people free. You don’t have to shape up to receive from Him. He died for sinners. So go ahead and trash the self-berating and self-condemning, bullying thoughts that demand you Do better! Shape up! Get it together! The pressure and burdens don’t belong to you anymore. Let Jesus help you. He is good at carrying hard loads.

It’s okay to be clueless about how you will do it, to wonder how you will come out the other side. It’s okay to sit there with your hands up in the air saying, “I have nothing, God.” This reliance is where God advances and helps. Sometimes the best fight is to give up the fight—then God supernaturally fights on our behalf. He did that with Jesus, who gave up His life on the cross and surrendered to God’s redemptive plan—and was resurrected. Giving up is a victory strategy. When we trust God, we make way for Him to move, and He takes over.

Absolutely one of the most powerful things a person can do is to let Jesus’s thoughts become their thoughts. The mind of Christ is radically assuring. It whispers things like, The storm is conquerable, through Me.

In this, rather than believing God’s Word cerebrally, truth is owned wholeheartedly and entirely. Doubt goes and faith comes. Hopelessness vanishes and hope comes. Taking every thought captive is the avenue by which the mind of Christ fills our minds. It is where His thoughts become ours. It is where we don’t strive for faith but walk by His faith.

By taking every thought captive, we will be able to live out God’s purposes and intents for our lives—lives that are honoring to God. We can build a mental arsenal to see us through a life that is honoring to God. We can become like Christ, thinking as He thinks, acting as He acts, and loving like He loves.

There is no sinking sand when we stand with Jesus’s thoughts in us.

The mind of Christ can change everything, if you let it. Never doubt the supernatural arming power of an armed-up God. He, Himself, in all His glory, might, strength, and power—working from the inside out of you—is enough to take any beast, wall, or stronghold down. Take courage! The size of your God far outweighs any issues in your mind.

Today’s Declaration: I have the mind of Christ! I will fight the good fight of faith and carry on until I meet Jesus!