LEARNING DAILY

 

2 Corinthians 10:4-5, 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. (NKJV)

 

Yesterday I used the New Living Translation for these verses. I used The New King James today because it uses the thought I want to emphasize today. Do you understand by now that you and I are involved in spiritual warfare every day? To do our part in this warfare, we must use spiritual weapons because no one is capable of using their own strength or methods in this fight. When we go into battle, we put on the armor God (Ephesians 6) has provided for us; we put on the helmet of salvation to protect our mind because that is where temptation begins. We “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”.

 

Why is this important? If we do not bring all our thoughts into alignment with the Lord’s will, it eventually leads to moral and spiritual failure. Remember what you were told as a child about playing with fire – you eventually will get burned. I have said before that all temptation begins with what we see and/or hear. The one who tempts each of us is the devil; he is relentless in doing so. In the letter that James wrote, he told us, “Temptation comes from the lure of our own desires. These evil desires lead to evil actions, and evil actions lead to death. So do not be misled (deceived) my dear brothers and sisters.”  (NLT) All of us are vulnerable to the attacks of the devil because of the sinful nature in us and because of its desire for the things opposed to God. If it is not resisted and put down or eliminated it leads to sin. Our verse above reminds us we must stop sinful desires as soon as they enter our mind. How do we do this? The notes found in the LSSB suggests four things we can do to bring our thoughts under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

 

First, we must be aware that God knows every thought and nothing is hidden from Him (Psalm 94:11; 139:2,4, 23-24).

 

Second, we must be aware that the mind is a battleground (that’s the goal of this today). Some thoughts originate with us and others originate with the enemy; to take every thought captive involves warfare against both. We must constantly resist and reject evil and wrong thoughts in the name of Jesus Christ.

 

Third, we must be firm in focusing our minds on Christ and heavenly things rather than on earthly things. It is interesting that when we do there is peace. Reread Philippians 4:8 and focus your mind on the things that are pure, noble, and excellent.

 

And last, always be careful to focus your eyes and ears on the things that are righteous and good. All of you know the difference between righteous and unrighteous things to see and hear. It is up to us to resist the evil and focus on the godly aspects of our life each day. We do it in the authority of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

In these last days evil abounds. It is our responsibility to guard our minds and hearts from the evil that is all around us. We must keep our eyes in God’s Word and our voice and ears involved in Godly conversation. We must be careful about what we watch on television and on our various devices. We must recognize any ungodly attempt to get us off the narrow way to God’s kingdom and resist it. And, we apply Philippians 4:8 as we put on God’s helmet of salvation every day!

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB.