For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
for the weapons of our warfare are not from the flesh, but divinely
powerful for the destruction of strongholds. 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.
How do you process your thoughts? Some scientists claim that we
process between 2,500 and 3,500 thoughts each day. Other scientists
estimate that number to be much higher. Thoughts from a myriad of
sources bombard our brains every second. Society feeds us a steady
diet of junk food thoughts. In Ephesians Paul calls these negative
thoughts fiery darts intended to persuade us to use the wrong filter
so we’ll make the wrong decision and sin. We need to use an effective
filter to process all our thoughts.
The filter we use will determine our response to those thoughts.
Sometimes our filters are clouded with fear of the future, or regrets
from the past. Sometimes our filters become murky from self doubt and
regrets over bad choices we’ve made.
The only filter that will prevent us from wrong thinking is the word
of God. If we’re thinking the wrong way we’ll act the wrong way. But
if we use the filter of God’s word we will act in the right way.
Hebrews 4:12 declares, “the word of God is living and active and
sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division
of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and able to judge the
thoughts and intentions of the heart.” So if we remain in God’s word,
if we feast on it and hide it in our hearts, we will create a filter
that will shut out sin and lead us to the obedience of Christ. And if
we submit our lives in obedience to Christ we’ll live a life that
leads to victory.
On the way to victory Paul gives us some keys to winning the battles
waging in our minds. One of them is meekness. Does meekness equate
with weakness? Absolutely not. What spiritual meekness does is to
give each of us the power to stand against any negative thoughts or
situations that come our way. Meekness moves us out of the way and
allows God to fight our battles for us. As we surrender more and more
of our lives to Him, He takes up the mantle and becomes our mighty
warrior.
Another key Paul gives us to wage war against negative thinking and
obedience to Christ is courage. Paul is talking about warfare in these
verses. Engaging the enemy leads to victory. Facing our giants using
the power of God’s word as our filter enables us to win the war
against negative thoughts. Learning how to deal decisively with our
thinking is life changing.
Using God’s word as our filter enables us to destroy strongholds that
can cripple our thinking and plunge us into the quagmire of self-doubt
and self-recrimination. The strongholds can be as powerful and
damaging as addiction or as seemingly harmless as envy or gossip.
God’s word can filter those thoughts and He will destroy them.
You can destroy speculations using God’s word as a filter as well.
Speculations are thoughts and ideas outside the word of God. The
Bible calls speculations “any lofty things.” We hear and see all
manner of lofty things such as godless ideas, philosophies, religions
and cults. Some of them offer tantalizing, seductive messages that
sound lofty to us, but when we examine them through the filter of
God’s word we see them for what they are: lies from the Devil.
Remember, God’s word is “living and active and sharper than any
two-edged sword.” From Hebrews 4:12. God’s word can perform surgery on
speculations and destroy them, if you filter them through God’s word.