2 Corinthians 10:3-5 - Taking Every Thought Captive

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 strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Paul is using aspects of physical war to highlight the elements of our spiritual battle. Even though we are alive and breathing and have actual people that sometimes oppose us, our struggle is a spiritual one. 

In Ephesians 6:12, Paul states:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

We wage our war against Satan and his demons, against his influences in the world, against his lies.

These faulty ideas (imaginations, arguments, lofty things) create strongholds in our lives. In ancient times, strongholds were the fortresses created to keep the enemy out. There is also what is known as field fortification, or building up places to stand against an enemy using the natural landscape, digging trenches, etc. Since Satan's enemy is us, he makes use of our weaknesses to build up places of power for himself in the territory of our lives.

If there is even the tiniest place we are not grounded in truth or not submissive to the will of God, the enemy can and does use it to maximize his hold on us. The more undefended areas in our minds, hearts, and lives, the more places he can gain the advantage and influence us.

So what do we do with this? We're imperfect people, and life is incredibly complex. We have so many distractions and so much information coming at us that it's often difficult to discern where certain ideas or behavior patterns even came from originally.

It's easy to give in to fear or to just pretend this cosmic struggle doesn't even exist, but this passage says that the weapons of our warfare are mighty enough to cast down strongholds. We don't have to wring our hands helplessly because we are being attacked.

We attack.

Other versions talk of demolishing, destroying, pulling down these strongholds. I picture us with a crowbar tearing out drywall or US soldiers tearing down the statue of Saddam Hussein and covering his face with an American flag or bombing terrorist foxholes. This is the kind of destruction we as Christians have been called to wreak on Satan's kingdom.

What weapons are we supposed to use? This has been detailed in Ephesians 6:

• Belt of truth
• Breastplate of righteousness
• Shoes of the gospel of peace
• Shield of faith
• Helmet of salvation
• Sword of the spirit (word of God)
• Prayer

Sometimes it's hard to disengage these concepts from a flannel graph we may or may not have seen in Sunday school as a child. But the words in the Bible aren't just random scribblings: they are the knives, swords, semi-automatic weapons, rifles, grenades, missiles, and atom bombs in our arsenal. 

Satan is seriously messing with our minds, trying to destroy us using the destructive forces in his arsenal - lies, evil, anxiety, fear, doubt, condemnation, false propaganda, and hate. 

The ultimate battle has been won by Jesus Christ. Believers can have the assurance that, even when these fortresses do form in our minds, the power of Jesus can help us destroy them. 

The problem that I find with myself and other God-loving Christians that I know is that, for the most part, we leave these areas unchecked. We aren't even paying attention while certain lies and habits grow and grow. We leave our powerful weapons unused and wonder why we aren't experiencing the victorious life we have been promised.

We have to bring EVERY THOUGHT (yes, capslock means yelling here) to the obedience of Christ. There is no middle ground area for thoughts. Either they are based on truth and influenced by the Holy Spirit, or they are based on lies and influenced by the evil one. When we bring it back down to black and white level, it's a lot easier to see areas where we need to start bombing the lies we believe.

Every thought should belong to Christ.

Mark 12:30-31 - Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these.
Mark 12:30-31

These are the two greatest commandments - the things I should be dropping everything else for.

Jesus says we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The phrase is so familiar to most believers that we are in danger of just reciting it without thinking about what each area entails. We love God, of course. It's why we even bother at all. But loving in theory and loving in actuality are not the same.

God wants my heart. He doesn't want me to serve him from a motivation of guilt or a performance-based mentality. He wants me to want to serve Him. I have to check my motives carefully. Just as in any human relationship, being involved with your heart means that you care, you have feelings about what you're doing, you are enthusiastic. You can't be a passionate robot. Passion involves your emotions, not a programmed response.

God wants my soul. I had to look up exactly what is meant by soul here because the idea of "loving God with your soul" sounded very abstract to me. The soul is the very core of yourself. Who you are. Your identity. So loving with your soul involves your choices, your habits, your SELF. I would describe myself as a Christian, wife, mom, reader/writer, INFP. But somewhere in there, in fact the most crucial part, should be the fact that I love God. I need to think of myself as a God-lover before any of those other aspects.

God wants my mind. This one is the hardest one for me. My mind is all over the place, and I don't mean that as a compliment. I feel like loving God with my mind requires me to exercise self-control in a lot of my mental habits, and bring my own understanding about things into alignment with God's understanding. There are so many verses that talk about breaking down mental strongholds, thinking only on what is pure and lovely, setting one's mind on things above. I could go on and on.

God wants my strength. I usually think of myself as being pretty weak. I have emotional struggles more frequently than I would like. Sometimes my skin is too thin. But the whole point here is using my strength. Only God knows the true measure of what we are capable of. Sometimes it's strength enough just to hold on. Sometimes it's strength to grow and push through pain. The working out metaphor is used for this all the time, but it's true. You can't keep the strength you don't use. Using more than you are capable of makes you stronger. It's the tearing of muscle fibers that builds them back up. Seriously, insert the whole concept of The Biggest Loser here in a spiritual context.

I am to love my neighbor as myself. Note: this does say that I am supposed to love myself. In this passage, loving oneself is a given. A personal pet-peeve of mine is when anyone derides the concept of "self-esteem." Yes, I know it is constantly misused, but a proper, biblical understanding of it has also brought life and peace to many. 

We are broken and flawed by nature, but in Christ we are chosen, accepted, pure, righteous - with our names inscribed on God's hands. We have value because he gives us value. Loving myself doesn't mean that I love myself with my heart, soul, mind, and strength because that is reserved for God. It does mean that I agree with God about my new identity and set healthy boundaries with myself and others.

Loving others as I love myself means that I think of others and think of how to care for them spiritually, emotionally, and physically just like I do for myself. Maybe some do have to go secure their own air mask before attempting to secure the air mask of others. But reaching out and loving is good for our souls. It takes the focus off of ourselves and helps us to truly be the body of Christ.