"EVERY" Thought?????

Surely the Lord didn't "really" mean that I should take EVERY single thought in my head captive....did He??? Could He have really meant that??? I mean come on, EVERY thought????? Oh Lord, EVERY thought is a lot of thoughts in a days time.

But....that's what He said through Paul in II Corinthians 10:3-6. Ok...let me think about that for a minute....God wants me to take EVERY single solitary thought captive. CAPTIVE means that I grab on to it and STOP it before it becomes something I should NOT be thinking about. Now, that's hard, I have to admit it. But i also know that it's possible.

How do I know it's possible? Well, let's take a look at Phillippians 4:4-8 and we can see how it was done and by who. As we read Phillippians 4, Paul, the writer was imprisoned. He shares with us in this part of chapter 4 on how to have peace with God. Here is what he says...

"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (NOW LISTEN TO THE FOLLOWING VERSES BECAUSE THESE ARE WHERE PAUL TELLS US HOW TO KEEP EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE BY CONTROLLING YOUR THOUGHTS< CONTROLLING YOUR EMOTIONS AND CONTROLLING YOUR FOCUS!!!) Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble (or honest), whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on THESE things.

There should be NO room in our thought world for imaginings. Why??? Because once we start imagining things, we get off the track of thinking on those things which are honest, lovely, pure and of good report. Our minds wander and before we know it, we're thinking nothing but negative and we've forgotten to FOCUS on the positive. IF Paul could focus on the positive in prison, and he did, then shouldn't we be able to? I would say the answer to this is a big resounding YES!

Brother Johnny said tonight..."That which we focus on is that which we become." Man, that's one powerful statement. Don't you agree? We must set our minds on heaven....on the things above....not the things that beset us. The temptation is strong and we definitely face situations daily where we can imagine all the things that could happen....might happen....what IF they happen....and then get a negative outlook on life in general.

Paul recognized the importance of focusing on JOY and a positive thought life and he was in the darkness and dampness of a prison cell! YIKES...what excuse do we have that we cannot do the same as Paul?

EVERY THOUGHT....EVERY SINGLE THOUGHT....take it captive! Set your heart on those things that are heavenly, that are praiseworthy. Stop imagining all the many things that "could" go wrong, might go wrong, probably will go wrong, won't work right, won't happen, will happen, etc. etc. etc. etc. STOP IT! It will take us all some practice, but in time, we CAN learn to take EVERY THOUGHT captive. When we hear ourselves thinking negatively, we have the power within our own thought world to take it captive, lock it up, throw away the key and be done with the negative thought.

Those hurtful things that happened today? Well, I'm going to choose to take those thoughts captive and forget them. I'm going to choose to think on those things which are praiseworthy. I'm not going to focus on the "what if's"....I'm going to focus on what I know to be true.

Thanks God for Brother Johnny's message tonight on taking EVERY THOUGHT captive. It's helped to change my thought world and remind me once again of the millions of true and wonderful things of God that I CAN think about instead. How about you?