Choose What You Think
ICS Daily Devotions
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NKJV) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
When we are fearful, our mind is meditating on the unknown, the different possible negative scenarios that might not happen. The mind is racing and turning like a dynamo. Because our brain can only think of one thing at a time, we need to determine what the brain thinks about. As the saying goes, “Rubbish in equals rubbish out”. Therefore, we must stop the devil from inflicting fear through our thought lives. We need to guard our thoughts and close the door to the devil, by refusing to entertain those thoughts.
If we read the opening Scripture bottom up, it tells us that a stronghold always starts with a thought, which develops into an argument or imagination that goes against what God says, and finally becomes a stronghold.
Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV) You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
The secret to perfect peace is to focus on God and His Word because God and His Word are one. God’s truth does not change, whereas facts and circumstances are ever-changing. Therefore, we need to keep a soundness of mind by meditating on the Word of God instead of focusing on the circumstances, and subjecting ourselves to mood swings as things change. We choose to keep our mind on one thing—the Word and take down the stronghold in our minds. We cast down every argument and high thing that exalts itself against God’s truth, and we take every thought captive and bring it to the subjection of Christ, which means we choose to believe what the Word of God says instead of the circumstances. In other words, between uttering the “amen” in our prayers and seeing the desired answer come to pass in our lives, we choose to think in line with the Word.
God’s kind of peace is different from the peace that comes from the world because the latter is subject to circumstances. The origin of this peace is from God who dwells in our hearts. This is the kind of peace that guards our minds because the mind is the last frontier. Therefore, we need to take charge of our thought lives so that we can maintain peace in our minds. Our mind will have perfect peace when we stay focused on God by trusting Him instead of being affected by the circumstances. Worshipping Him also helps us to keep our minds on God by reminding us of His greatness.
Sermon Series: Up! Cell Group Campaign
