Taking our thoughts captive

Its a terrible thing to be held captive by our own thoughts. How exhausting can it can be when we allow them to consume and overwhelm us? They can begin to eat away at us. They can even rob us of sleep and leave us tired and weary. I thank the Lord that He freed us and gave us the ability to take every thought into captivity and focus on Him. If a specific situation or trial has taken your mind captive today, know that there is a way of escape, you are no longer slaves to the flesh but bond-servants, willing servants to the Lord of power. If you have been set free by the Lord then you are free indeed. You now have the power to take those thoughts captive, they must bow to the Spirit of God in you. By an act of your will, take your eyes off of that situation today and turn them to Jesus and draw close to Him and peace will flood your soul...... bro Frank

"Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." (Matt. 11:28-30)

Elusive thoughts are better than thoughts that surround us like the bars of a prison cell. I am so glad that there is our Lord who holds the keys and has opened up the way where there seemed to be no way.

PS, brother,could those elusive thoughts be simply old age?
:) I pray things are well in the show me state :) ......bro Frank

Bro Paul writes........

" Unoccupied with heavenly pursuits, the mind will sink back down to earth, to the realm of idols, impure sexual fantasy, to making money, to carnal rapport, to religiosity and to any kind of intellectual stimulation that is ultimately designed to usurp the joy of the Holy Spirit."

Amen brother, of course what you describe in your post is a war and we do indeed dwell on the battle-field not the play-field. And Scripture teaches us that actual physical wars has there genesis in wicked hearts, so it is no surprise that on the spiritual plane this is also the case that wars begin in the hearts and minds.

The kind of war I was particularly focusing on in this post was the war that takes place when you have done nothing wrong. When you have been wronged and the flesh screams for satisfaction. It tortures you in it's demands for justice. Often times we can slack off because we feel somehow that these feelings are deserved. It starts with some comfort from them, as David gets some comfort from the cave, but then these thoughts , these Trojan horse thoughts reveal themselves as our jailers. It is helpful to recognize right up front that justice is not but is His. Our call is to love our enemies but not allow ourselves to be taken captive in our minds by them............bro Frank

Hi sis MJ, I like your thoughts. I say amen to them......bro Frank

Thank you for this post I am looking forward to the wisdom that the Lord can share through other brothers and sisters as this topic has been on my mind lately.

"When you have been wronged and the flesh screams for satisfaction. It tortures you in it's demands for justice. Often times we can slack off because we feel somehow that these feelings are deserved. It starts with some comfort from them, as David gets some comfort from the cave, but then these thoughts , these Trojan horse thoughts reveal themselves as our jailers. It is helpful to recognize right up front that justice is not but is His. Our call is to love our enemies but not allow ourselves to be taken captive in our minds by them."

I think you are speaking my language. I went to someone in church leadership recently and dealt with an area of offence and in so doing I told that person that they had sinned against me but I didn't want to have anything between us because I didn't want to be out of sorts with the Lord and have my own prayers hindered. The person admitted their sin and asked for forgiveness (which I did) and then he offered to try to make amends by trying to fix his mistakes. We hugged and I really did feel that I had moved on and that I had "forgiven him from my heart". Awesome!!! Well not so fast:)

This is quite a complicated matter and not something that I am comfortable sharing many details about but essentially what has happened since then is that nothing has changed much and the person has made no effort to follow through on his promise to "make amends". In fact they have become a somewhat deeper part of the problem (in my opinion) and that has become a big problem in my mind.

I find myself thinking thoughts of deep frustration and angst and crying out to God to deal with this man and his followers. So now my thoughts are not at peace as I watch this person continue to do (or not do) what I think is the right thing. I don't sense that I should go back yet again to rehash everything, but how do I rid my mind of these thoughts of frustration and anger and a deep, deep desire for justice?

Has anyone walked through this kind of thing to complete victory? Is there anyone here who can testify to the healing grace of Christ to completely deliver them of internal anger? Rhetorical questions of course...but I would like you all to comment please.

Quite frankly I am tired of this in my heart and mind. I think this scripture might apply here, "But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice(enmity of heart)against him shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court;" Matt 5:22 (AMP)

But on the other hand I think of Elijah who continued to be "angry" until there was repentance and true justice in Israel.

Paul was righteously "angry" (upset at the very least) when he called for the young man to be put out of the church in Corinth for his sexual sin. If that had not happened, if the elders of the church had not followed through, would Paul have had to deal with the same feelings and thoughts of anger and frustration towards those church members? How are we meant to juxtapose walking in love and peace but at the same time calling for sin to be dealt with as Paul was doing? Because I don't know how to do both!!! I don't know how to be at peace, to be at rest until there is justice and repentance and reconciliation. Does anyone here have an answer to this?

Finally, if we have truly forgiven someone from our heart - is it true that we NEVER talk about their offence again and NEVER bring up our frustration again? Is that true...what do you all think about that? If that is the case then quite simply there is no way that I have truly forgiven that man from my heart...yet I went to him and it at least looked that way at first. What do I have to do then to truly forgive him from my heart? Bake him some cookies? I am not joking actually, I was thinking last night that perhaps one can only REALLY forgive someone from their heart WHEN they are actually praying for them, greeting them, blessing them and doing good for them. Do you think that is true? Or can we forgive someone from our heart and not have any further contact with them? I think as I write this I am getting my own answers (thank you for putting up with me) and feel that I must not have forgiven them from my heart because I cannot be rid of these thoughts of frustration, anger and a desire to see justice fall from the skies:)

Please feel free to rebuke, admonish, correct, exhort and encourage...I welcome it dear brothers and sisters:)

Brother,

It is good that you have reached this point. In fact it is a blessing or rather it can lead to blessing.

You see, you have been finding out that trying to improve the flesh does not work. It does not work to slowly crucify it or mortify it. There is only one answer for it and you have proven your lack in wanting justice for the wrongs done to you yet God has been merciful towards you in not seeking justice for the wrongs you have committed against Him and against others.

You can go two ways with this. One is to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying, and accept the death to the flesh or continue in working in it which will allow you to escape death but will result in a deadening of your conscience.

It is a waste of time to work on the flesh but this is what most brethren will encourage you to do. It is what they are doing. If you want to die to the works of the flesh, you must get very serious with God and change direction.

Your need is for a Holy baptism whether you think you have had it yet or not, to deliver you from the works of the flash and bring you to Romans 8.

God bless.

Excellent post " awakened." Excellent because it peels back the layers that every Christian who desires to be like His Lord, goes through. You have raised the questions and the answers in your post. First and foremost, you identified that you did not want your prayers or your relationship to be hindered. Therin lies the key. We do what we do because we want to walk in the Lord and follow His commands, we are lovers of the truth. The word spoke to your heart and told you what you must do, and despite the difficulty of it, you obeyed. Your relationship, your daily walk with the Lord was restored because of your obedience and desire. Then, you took your eyes off the Lord and put them on the man. He did not follow through, he did not change, in fact he may ultimately become worse, but what is that to you? Is he not the Lords servant? Are you not the Lords servant? You do what you are told to do and that is your responsibility , for you will give an account for your won actions one day to the Lord.

Now, if the man is in specific sin and you have went to him ultimately to no avail, then Scripturally you must take another and then take it to the elders.

I think what you are discovering sister is that your forgiveness of him was not as unconditional as you may have thought. You see, for most of us, we are front and center of our own lives and we take these things more personally than we should. If Jesus has His rightful place of preminence in our lives, then we are less apt to take up the offense in the first place. If you have still have ill feelings towards this man, after having spoken to him, then you must pray for him and love him, perhaps, but not neccecarily, heaping coals of fire upon his head.

"perhaps one can only REALLY forgive someone from their heart WHEN they are actually praying for them, greeting them, blessing them and doing good for them. Do you think that is true? Or can we forgive someone from our heart and not have any further contact with them?

I do think that is true and also the second point possibly true as well. As much as it depends upon you, the first point may work out or we may find ourselves in the second point because there is always a possibility, when dealing with a hardened heart, that we can simply be casting our pearl before swine. How do we know? This is where it is vital to know that small voice that leads and guides us.............bro Frank

"you have proven your lack in wanting justice for the wrongs done to you yet God has been merciful towards you in not seeking justice for the wrongs you have committed against Him and against others."

Dear krautfrau, thank you for your reply, this was very helpful. A couple of points about the above quote...first, I think you are right in suggesting that I am wanting justice for myself, but the situation is not just about myself but involves another person, thus the analogy I used about the young man sinning with his step-mother. Nobody continues to sin against me, what is happening is that sin in the church is NOT being dealt with. This injustice is what burns my biscuits!!! Imagine what the ex-husband of the step-mother and others were battling with? Their sense of anger and injustice over the young man being allowed to remain in fellowship in the church while remaining unrepentant?

So this is a similar context to what I am speaking of. All that being said, I know I am still not right in my heart towards the people in the wrong and that is where I am at and seeking the Lords help in all this. Thank you so much again!

"Then, you took your eyes off the Lord and put them on the man. He did not follow through, he did not change, in fact he may ultimately become worse, but what is that to you? Is he not the Lords servant? Are you not the Lords servant? You do what you are told to do and that is your responsibility , for you will give an account for your won actions one day to the Lord."

Brother Frank...I am a "brother" btw...at least I was last time I checked...do I really I really sound that much like a woman? jk.

Thank you so much for this response, it is helping me work through issues of my heart. In my reply to krautfrau I gave a few more details that hopefully clarify the situation a little more.

Nothing is being done towards me per se, but there is a very difficult situation that is ongoing and there is no justice forthcoming and it is very painful. Thus the questions in my post, how does one overcome these matters of the heart and thoughts that you brought up in the OP?

"I think what you are discovering is that your forgiveness of him was not as unconditional as you may have thought."

I agree, and admit as much in my post. Your advice to pray for him and love him is good, thank you...but what could "love him" and "bless him", look like practically in a situation like this?

Hi bro awakened :) I think I saw you were gonna make him cookies and assumed , wrongly as it turns out, assumptions are dangerous :) What does ' love him" and " bless him," look like practically ? Differs from situation to situation but there are some fundamentals I have found, some basics that must be there. 1. Your own heart must be right and warm to this brother. 2. You must be able to look him in the eye ( which ties into point #1.If you can do both of these things, the second one putting flesh on the first one, I believe you are in a good place. We must also be able to speak the truth in love. Covering things up only comes back to haunt us, an agree to disagree is better than unspoken hurts and thoughts............bro Frank

"...agree to disagree is better than unspoken hurts and thoughts."

Very true, thank you for that reminder and the other admonitions. In the end if we really want to have things made right in our heart we have to seek God for His help in getting our heart right and keeping it right, because for all we know even our best "cookie baking" efforts might blow up in our face or even backfire and make things worse:)

Dear brother, l am a sister ....do l really sound like a brother :)?

You are responsible only for your own feelings if not in leadership, but you might not like to continue in a situation where there is no Biblical discipline. Anger can easily called righteous anger when it is not. We must love the brethren to show no partiality. Only love shed abroad in our hearts through the baptism of the Holy Spirit fits the bill.

krautfrau...you sound like a child of God:) I don't think I called you brother did I? I suppose the only way to tell is to click on a persons profile and their real name comes up. So anyway dear sister Brenda thank you for the continued, helpful feedback:) You are right...I did not continue in fellowship there, however I am continually bringing my feelings of anger before the Lord...I am thoroughly convinced that eventually He will give me rest:)