Confession … I have been “that” mom. I actually made my son take a large bell with him to camp; you know, the loud obnoxious kind that hangs on store doors during Christmas time. My instructions for his counselor were to hang the bell on his cabin door knob so that he would be woken up just in case my son walked in his sleep in the middle of the night. Granted, as crazy as this sounds, it was somewhat warranted. This was following a scary fall out of his bunk bed which had landed him in the ER a few months earlier. My fear was not totally irrational, but the way in which I allowed it to control me was. Have you ever been in a place where fear controlled your thinking?
How about worry? What are the “what ifs” that keep you awake at night? Possibilities that rob you of sleep and rest? Do you ever feel anger, resentment or disappointment well up inside of you such that it is hard to focus on the relationship or task at hand? Or maybe it’s sadness, loneliness or despair?
Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil. He then goes on to describe the spiritual armor that God has provided for every believer; armor that will protect, conquer and proclaim the victory from which we already stand.
Did you know that we can also guard our thought life? The enemy loves to wage war on our minds; to convince us that there is no hope of victory over the messages that seem to manipulate us. We feel as if we are doomed to forever be controlled by faulty thinking so we might as well give up. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” We have the weapons, the armor, and the already paid for victory, to demolish strongholds, to take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ! Yes, life is hard and real tragedy may hit, but Scripture tells us over and over again that we are more than conquerors and we do not have to be controlled by fear, worry, anger or despair.
This week, when faulty thinking starts to creep in, take it captive and then make it obedient to Christ. This can be done by focusing your mind instead on the truth of Scripture. Try meditating on one of these passages:
- Romans 8
- Romans 12
- Philippians 4:4-13
- Colossians 3:1-17
Read it slowly and allow God’s truth to conquer false thinking. The victory is already yours!
By Lynette Fuson
Director of Women’s Ministries
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