DEVOTION – DAY 165

2 Corinthians 10:5 “Taking Captive Every Thought.”

 

2 Cor.10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

There are times when we face discouragement and words that others use that causes us hurt. These are words used intentionally or unintentionally. People may call us “slow,” “foolish,” “silly,” “hopeless,” “stupid,” and so on. When such words are used often enough, we start to begin to believe that what people say about us is true. We may end up losing self-esteem and our own self-worth. But we know that words of discouragement are not from God. God and His Word always build us up. He never tears us down. When we face such times of discouragement, the verse from 2 Cor.10:5 is helpful because it tells us to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” What this means is that whenever we are told something discouraging or hurting, we immediately start to think of who we are in Christ. The Bible tells us we are a child of God when we confess our sins and repent and call upon Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The Bible also tells us that God created us and we are His gift to the Lord Jesus. God loved us so much He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. We are greatly valued and loved by Him. These assurances of God remind us of who we are in Christ. They cancel out all the darkness that creeps into our lives whenever we face discouragement and lies. By taking every thought captive to Christ, we are choosing to replace negativity with His Word, promises and truth. That is why we are able to demolish worldly arguments, pretensions and discouragements.

A man suffered a lot of verbal discouragements from his overly critical father. As a result, he lacked confidence in himself and he had low self-esteem. When he became a Christian, he understood that God loved and valued him. He experienced encouragement from his fellow Church brothers and sisters. In time, he learnt to forgive his father and he came out of his shell. He discovered his self-worth is based on who he is in Christ, as a child of God. The Devil will want to put us down by whispering in our ears that we are useless. The Devil will tell us that God does not love us, that nobody would want anything to do with us. These are lies. That is why we must take every thought captive to the Lord Jesus and replace such negative thoughts with the truth.  

 

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, thank you for your abundant promises, love, grace and mercy. Thank you for the great privilege to be counted as your children. Help us to take captive every thought to the Lord Jesus so that we can banish all lies of this world that wants to bring us down. In the great name of the Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.

 

Questions

  1. How do you feel whenever you feel put down by what others say about you, or when you face discouragement?
  2. What are some practical steps you can take, to take captive your thoughts to lift up your spirits when you are down? Share.
  3. Who do you know needs encouragement and how can you help him or her?