Captive?
Do you struggle with the reality of your situation when measured against the truth of God's Word and wonder why your circumstances differ so greatly from what God has promised?
Do you ever think that God is good and He wants to bless His kids...except for you in a particular situation?
If we're honest, most of us would answer "yes" to those questions at some point in our lives.
I know I would.
The world has a few different options for us when our reality is less than ideal:
Complain.
Argue.
Run away.
Crawl into bed and pull the covers up over your head.
Immerse yourself in something that will distract you from the circumstances. (You know what I'm talking about...excess of...crafts, exercise, television, just about anything that can become out of balance.)
Listen to someone "motivational." (And by that, I mean someone who's just trying to stir up emotions with no solid foundation.)
However...
Knowing the human condition as well as He does, God provided a strategy for us to walk in victory!
So, instead of doing what the world suggests, I grab hold of God's plan to combat those challenges and I begin to think and say what He says.
Here's part of that plan:
"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."
Wow! Those verses are jam-packed with God's provision for us!
Weapons with divine power to destroy strongholds. Those sound formidable! {I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those!}
Arguments and opinions against the knowledge of God: destroyed. Doesn't get any better than that.
Every thought taken captive so that they obey Christ.
Inherent in all of this, however, is the understanding that we have a part to play.
We wage war.
We have weapons.
We destroy the arguments and opinions.
We take thoughts captive.
We punish every disobedience.
I don't say that with pride or with the thought that we can do it in our own strength.
Far from it.
I say that with the humility that comes from mistakes made, knowing that I have tried to sit back and wait for God to come in and do it all for me.
One day I finally "got it:" that I had to do something.
I had to pick up the weapons God had provided for me. I had to do the work that He required of me.
No matter what I felt like.
No matter what it looked like.
I had to obey my King, my Commander-in-Chief.
And I did.
Here's the best part:
I get to keep at it until God's purposes and will for my life are manifest in those challenging circumstances.
And His grace and mercy have been showered on me during the time between the moment I picked up my weapons and the glorious moment when I experience the manifestation of God's promises in my life.
It's a win-win for me.
And for you.
Pick up your weapons.
Tap into His divine power.
It's there.
It's already "on." {It's always on.}
And one more thing:
I have found it's important to start at the end of this passage when I'm walking it out.
The first thing I've got to do is take every thought captive to obey Christ.
Once I do that, the rest of it is easier.
And I'm no longer the captive, but the captor.
It's a good thing.
