Take Captive Your Thoughts

As I write these words, my thoughts dance from the keyboard to the television, to what I did today, to what I plan to do tomorrow.  It is hard to keep my focus on one thing.  No matter what I’m doing, there is always something else popping into my mind.  It absolutely amazes me when I ask my husband what he’s thinking and he says, “Nothing.”  How can one not think?  I can’t stop my thinking lest I sleep and even then my pre-bedtime thinking bleeds over into dreams. 

James writes, “…no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” (3:8-9.)

Thoughts are equally, if not more, difficult to corral.  For instance, we can see people and think they are hateful, yet we would rarely, if ever, go up and tell them they are hateful.  We may think people we talk to are jealous, but we wouldn’t say it to their faces.  A boss, a co-worker, a sales-clerk, a customer, a waitress, a husband, a teacher, a student.  When we interact with people we all face situations in which our emotions can rule our thinking.  To me, it seems harder to tame one’s thoughts than one’s tongue.  What must we do to tame our tongue?  Consider our own condition, our own sin, our own weaknesses.

“I said, “I will guard my ways, Lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, While the wicked are before me.  I was mute with silence, I held my peace even from good;  And my sorrow was stirred up.  My heart was hot within me; While I was musing, the fire burned.  Then I spoke with my tongue: LORD, make me to know my end.  And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am.”  Psalm 39:1-5 NKJ

“We guard our ways”…we consider what we do, we pause, we contemplate and weigh the consequences of our words.  We recognize our own flaws and weaknesses and do not think ourselves greater than another.  When we do this, we refrain from speaking rashly, or impulsively. We control our emotions.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.”  2 Corinthians 10:3-6

We have the power.  In Christ we have power through His Holy Spirit.  It’s “divine power” to destroy strongholds–things that wrestle with our thoughts and devotion.  We cannot know what we really will say and do in a particular situation.  We may know what we’d like to say, what we’d prefer to do–yet, still fail to control ourselves.  We need to yield our pride and emotions, and self-sufficiency into the hands of God.  We need to keep our minds on Jesus and His presence in our lives.  We need to obey our Lord and “fret not” for He is with us.

^“The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are a mere breath. {11)…When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.{16). Psalm 94

PRAYER:  Delight our souls, O Lord.  Fill our hearts with your consolations.  Help us recognize our constant need of Thee, dear Father.  Take captive our thoughts and replace them with thoughts of You alone, so we do not sin against You.

© Hariette Petersen, SelahV Today, 2011