This is Part 5 of a 10-part series, How to Renew Your Mind: Word of God.
Thoughts will come. You can’t stop them from arriving, and God doesn’t ask you to. What He asks is that you decide which ones stay. Paul gives us a method that works in a clinic, a kitchen or a church pew.
Every Thought Means Every Thought
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 10:5).
Look at the words. Not most thoughts, every thought. And captured thoughts don’t just get locked up. They’re brought to obedience to Christ, which means they have to line up with Him. A thought that doesn’t agree with God’s Word has no right to stay.
Catch It, Check It, Change It
- Catch it. You can’t take captive what you haven’t noticed. When a heavy thought shows up, pause and name it. Say, “That’s a thought, not a fact.”
- Check it. Hold it against Scripture. Does it agree with what God has said about you, your situation and your future? If it’s accusing, hopeless or fearful, it likely didn’t come from Him.
- Change it. If the thought fails the check, replace it with a verse. Don’t leave the space empty. Put the truth where the lie was.
What to Think About Instead
Paul doesn’t only tell us what to cast down. He tells us what to take up. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Philippians 4:8).
That’s a filter you can use all day. Is it true? Is it pure? Is it lovely? Is it worth praising God for? If a thought can’t pass the filter, it doesn’t get your attention.
God’s Thoughts Toward You
When your mind is full of dark pictures about your future, remember what God says about His own thoughts. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11). His thoughts toward you are higher and kinder than yours.
Your Step Today
Pick the one thought that comes back most often. Run it through catch, check and change. Write the replacement verse on a card or in your phone and read it every time the thought returns. It may take many rounds. That’s normal, and it’s how renewing works.
A Prayer for Today
Father, give me the discipline to catch what doesn’t belong. I bring every thought to the obedience of Christ today. Fill my mind with what is true, pure and lovely, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Part 6 comes tomorrow: Replacing Lies With the Truth. Come back and keep going, and share this with someone who needs it.