Our Biggest Battlefield

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.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

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.