Thought I'm Thinking Part 1

(image from shondaland .com)

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” – 2 Corinthians 10:3-6

That’s power packed scripture!

In a nutshell, this describes how we’re to fight our battles. A lot of information is packed into those verses, and it would take quite the study to unfold it all and understand what Paul is saying to us, so we’ll just break off a baby bite today.

Given that our fleshly bodies abide in a spiritual realm that many haven’t even taken the time to ponder, it makes sense that though we walk among men, our primary enemy is not a man, to be defeated with guns or bombs or the like. Our weapons are mightier than that because we’re warring in the heavenlies, amid spiritual battles.

We can pull down strongholds. We can bring down wicked imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. And – we can take our thoughts captive so that every vain thought that enters our mind doesn’t set up camp there.

Strongholds and wicked ideas that exalt themselves against God abound around us, and they’re a bigger bite than I want to chew on today. But, as long as we tread upon the earth, we will deal with our thoughts, both good and bad. People who act upon their bad thoughts wind up embodying the evil among us. But the good news is, we have control over our thoughts.

God would not have commanded us to take our thoughts captive and take account of them if He hadn’t already equipped us to carry it out.

Many of us have been taught that the biggest war we wage is between our ears; that the mind is a battlefield. Many of us have not. It may cause some to worry, and prepare others.

On any given day, we all have more thoughts that we realize we process, thoughts cause our bodies to function, yet muscle memory can kick in before we recognize the thoughts behind the actions. When I’m thirsty, I don’t have to will my hands to pick up my water bottle, yet the thought is there to invoke that movement. Some thoughts are subtle, some are profound. Some bother us, some amuse us. Some disgust us, others arouse us. Some are simply there, for reasons we may not even understand.

(image from WARM 1069.com)

Thoughts like “I wonder why the awnings outside the Panera Bread window are at that angle?” Or “Why do they have a gas fireplace in here if they never turn it on anymore?” Or “Hmm, that’s a new sign.” Or “What’s that design on the cup? Oh, it’s a lemon!” Those random thoughts that never really amount to anything, they’re actually gathering intel on my environment. How much of it I’ll retain is a totally different topic.

Then there are thoughts that explore things, like “Why was I so snippy with Dave this morning?” Or “Is that new soap the reason my skin is so dry lately?” Those kinds of thoughts can help me fix a problem.

I have odd thoughts, random thoughts, hysterical thoughts, critical thoughts, unnecessary thoughts, inappropriate thoughts, curious thoughts, thoughts that are actually set to music, thoughts that are quite rude, because I'm thinking them when I'm supposed to be listening to someone else. I have ugly thoughts, and thoughts of beautiful imagery. Too many thoughts! Do I think more (not better) than the average person? Or do I just notice my thoughts more than most? I tend to question everything, so yeah, there are those thoughts, too. We have helpful thoughts and hurtful thoughts, prideful thoughts, and self-deprecating thoughts. Good thoughts and bad thoughts.  And we have authority over all of them!

My favorite kind of thoughts take place in my conversations with God. Because, with Him, I can be frank. Let’s face it, He already knows my thoughts anyway, why not openly share them with Him and let Him weigh in on the matter?

Philippians 4:8 tells us to “…Fix [y]our thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

Whether culture and society are pouring images into our minds or we’re hiking alone in the mountains, we’ll have all sorts of thoughts to deal with.

This blog post is too long already, but I’m not willing to cut words for the sake of being pithy. So, while you’re pondering YOUR thoughts, I’ll be putting together part two of MY thoughts and I’ll share it soon!