Capturing Thoughts for Christ: A Path to Mental Wellness
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Today we look at a passage calls us to wage a spiritual battle that often goes unnoticed but holds immense significance, especially in the context of our mental health. It teaches us to take every thought captive for Christ, a principle that can bring peace and healing to our minds.
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:3-6
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 10:3-6
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
The Nature of Our Battle
The Nature of Our Battle
As we read this passage we are quickly reminded that we live in a fallen, broken world. Paul in this passage is facing critics of all kinds. Speaking against the work and teaching that he has poured his life into.
But Paul knows something that even though his attackers and critics are very much human, the battle we fight are not with conventional weapons as we are tempted to do and to use. But instead they are weapons in the Spiritual Realm.
As I think of the critics in our lives the ones that affect many of us the most are not the people we can walk away from the critics that live in your own head.
Can I get an amen.
Many of you know exactly what I am talking about. Those critics that manifest as anxious thoughts, doubts, and negative self-talk.
Those voices in your head that you can’t convince to leave.
But we do have a weapon that is the truth of God’s Word. We are called to demolish arguments every proud thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.
That includes the arguments in your self. Lies you have believed and held on to. Lies you have believed from HaSatan the advisory. The Great Deceiver. Even good and loved people in our lives can sometimes be the adversary in our lives (see Peter and Jesus in Matthew 16). They probably don’t mean it that way but you held on to that moment and now the lie is in you. Those thoughts of self-doubt, fear, or hopelessness.
We must confront them with the truth of God's Word.
Taking Every Thought Captive
Taking Every Thought Captive
This is where the heart of the message lies in this passage. We are called to take every thought captive to obey Christ.
In the context of mental health, this means actively monitoring our thought patterns.
Are they in alignment with the truths of Scripture?
Are they edifying and uplifting, or do they lead us down a path of despair?
As I think of this. I am reminded of a bat.
A couple of years ago we had a bat in the church. don’t look its gone we got rid of it. Some of you may remember the bat. It perched itself high up and we couldn’t do anything about it. I was told I couldn’t shoot it with my pellet gun. But I it coming down and landing on the roof in the hallway right outside the bathrooms.
With no one there I took a broom and I smacked that bat like I was hitting a home run.
I walked across the room where it landed and I put a trash can on top of it so I could get rid of that bat.
Except what I though was dead or unconscious was just stunned and so when I went to get the bat i flew up like “a bat out of hell”. and once again out of my reach but still there.
Out thoughts can be a lot like that bat. We think we get rid of them. but they keep coming back. and can be impossible to “catch”. Our thoughts are wilder and even harder to catch that that stupid bat.
So the thought of taking our thoughts captive can seem so impossible to many in this room.
But learning to capture our thought matters.
Because how we think shapes our lives.
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We have to transform our minds to take captive those thoughts. It isn’t to say that we ignore the thought. shove it under a trash can. It will keep coming back. We acknowledge that negative thought.
Acknowledge
Maybe even say it out loud. I acknowledge that I am have “black”thought. We separate ourselves from that negative thought.
Then we have to fill that separation with the truth.
The only way we can know the truth that will set you free is through the very actions of Jesus. Luke 4:18
18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed,
Not just those who are oppressed in chains but those who are being held captive by those negative thoughts.
That truth is that you are loved. God loved you so much that he became flesh and died for you.
You are valuable.
8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”
You have been chosen. God chose you. He calls you with his own blood to be a co-ruler with him.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
You don’t have to be perfect. Press on to the prize which is Jesus Christ.
Next Steps
Next Steps
Say it out loud. When those negative thoughts those lies take captive in your heart. Take them captive, with the Truth of Jesus Christ.
Let us wage a spiritual battle by taking every thought captive for Christ. In doing so, we can find healing, peace, and a renewed sense of purpose in Him. May our minds be sanctuaries of His truth, and may we experience the fullness of His joy and peace even in the midst of life's storms. Amen.
Pray
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word that guides us in every aspect of our lives. Help us, Lord, to take every thought captive for Christ, especially in the realm of our mental health. Grant us the strength and wisdom to combat negative thoughts with the truths of Scripture. May our minds be transformed, and may we find healing and peace in you. In Jesus' name, we pray.
Amen.