Day 20

When we take every thought captive, we disarm the enemy (satan) because our thoughts are the gateway for satan to attack us..
Our strength in spiritual warfare is no greater than our ability to control our thoughts..!
It is important to understand that when a thought enters our mind, we examine it based upon God’s Word and determine if we should continue down that path or reject the thought and replace it with another thought..
Here are some biblical suggestions for taking control of our thoughts and getting rid of wrong thoughts:
1. Be in God’s Word so that when a sinful thought enters our mind (a temptation), we will be able to recognize it for what it is and know what course to take. Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4) responded to each of satan’s temptations with Scripture that applied to the direction He knew His mind should take instead of beginning down the path of the sinful thought..
2. Live in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, chiefly through seeking His strength through prayer (Matthew 26:41). If we rely upon our own strength, we will fail..
3. We are not to feed our minds with that which will promote sinful thoughts. This is the idea of Proverbs 4:23. We are to guard our hearts—what we allow into them and what we allow them to dwell on..
4. We are to pursue hard after God, replacing sinful thoughts with godly pursuits and mindsets. This is the principle of replacement. When tempted to hate someone, we replace those hateful thoughts with godly actions: we do good to them, speak well of them, and pray for them..
5. We can use fellowship with other Christians the way God intended. Fellow Christians who will encourage us in the changes we desire, who will pray for and with us, who will ask us in love how we are doing, and who will hold us accountable in avoiding the old ways, are valuable friends indeed. Hebrews 10:24-25
“Of course we are human, but we don’t fight like humans. The weapons we use in our fight are not made by humans. Rather, they are powerful weapons from God. With them we destroy people’s defenses, that is, their arguments and all their intellectual arrogance that oppose the knowledge of God. We take every thought captive so that it is obedient to Christ.….”(2 Corinthians 10:3-5)