Captive Plus

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds,  throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

I woke up this morning mad at my husband. I had a dream that he lied to me about smoking. Then I woke up. It was sill for me to be mad because I was very aware it was dream. Then I went into the bathroom and was already taking care of business when I realized he had used all the toilet paper and there was none in the bathroom I was in. I was ready to wage war. I had to pause and remind myself that there was likely a good reason he hadn’t replaced it. When I told him about it, he told me he had used the last bit after I went to bed and didn’t want to wake me looking for where I put the extra rolls.

It is a silly example, but I can promise that I have at least once if not more over one or both the above scenarios in the life of our relationship. So often we are quick to want to retaliate in the flesh. Very seldom though, is there a physical enemy for us to try to war against. My husband was not, is not, and never will be my enemy – we are one in Christ; waging war against him is like waging war against myself. I could have let my emotions take root; instead; I gave them to God. I don’t need to try to imagine the worst about that man that loves me. I certainly don’t need to exalt the situation to more than it was.

I had to stop and take the thoughts captive that came flooding to my mind as I went to rectify the situation. I know that taking the thoughts captive is not enough though. Prisoners are captive, but those for walls don’t change the prisoner’s thoughts or actions. Wild horses can also be taken captive, but that doesn’t immediately change them.

We have to take our thoughts captive plus replace our flesh response with the knowledge of Christ, the truth in His Word, so that we know the thought we should obey. That is why prisoners now have programs to help rehabilitate their minds in hope to change their actions. It’s why wild horses have to be broken and then trained before they are safe to ride. And sometimes those lessons don’t take the first time.

Our minds are the same way. We have to take the thought captive plus learn a new way of thinking before our behavior will change. It does not always happen over night. We have to start with realizing the person in front of us is not our enemy. They are not even the true object of our emotion, but a pawn of the true enemy being used to manipulate us from God’s will for our life. We have to learn to wage war in the spiritual with the same fervency and passion that we want to react to in the flesh.

Prayer – Lord, thank You that Your Word brings knowledge, so that I can see when something is trying to allow the enemy a foothold in my life. Help to to take every thought captive and wage war where it should be and not against a person. Help me also, to help others do the same. Amen.