Bringing Into Captivity...

Another great verse I've known all my life!
"Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and brining into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (IICorinthians 10:5)

What struck me as new with this verse was the phrase, "Casting down imaginations... that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God..."

We're supposed to bring our thought-life into captivity for God. Our imaginations, even, are supposed to bring glory to God! If they don't we must cast them where they belong, away from us.

I never thought about my imagination being a sinful tool of Satan before. Of course it makes sense, I just never thought of it in so many words.

We have knowledge of God, we know His character through His dealings with the Israelites in the Old Testament, and through Christ in the New Testament. God created us to bring glory to Him and to honor Him in all we do. If our thoughts are not honoring to Him, eventually everything we say and do will be governed by those thoughts.

I have a very active imagination. But my imagination is only that. It isn't truth or fact, it's IMAGINATIONS. If I'm imagining something that flies in the face of Godly wisdom, why should I let it become an active part of my thoughts, provoking my spirit and physical self to act in sin against Christ?

Brining my thoughts into captivity has always seemed very vague to me. How are you REALLY supposed to control every thought? Well, you can't control every thought you have. But you can shout at it and put it where it belongs. If I have a thought that is wrong, I can scream in my head at it, "YOU ARE NOT OF GOD!!" I can then replace that thought with a Bible verse that IS of God.

I think that's really the key: filling your mind and heart with things of God. If you have fifty verses of TRUTH in your heart, ready at will to quote, think of the arsenal you are carrying against thoughts that aren't of God! When what I put in my mind is mostly God's truth, I find I have fewer thoughts that need to be yelled at.

Paul's eptistle to the Philippians is a great blue-print for controlling thoughts. Paul lays out what are Godly things to think about. If that is the "screen" we use to examine every thought... well, I know I'll be casting aside a LOT of random thoughts that seem to just fly into my head.

Back to my imagination. Some thoughts are more than thoughts... the thoughts, "I am being abused, I shouldn't have to put up with this!" or "This person is a horrible person and I shouldn't have to deal with them anymore!" are more than just random thoughts that flew in unwilled. Those are my imagination telling me something that isn't true. If I act upon them, I am acting on an imagination exalting itself as higher than God.

God tells me that His creation, in it's entirety, is precious to Him. That means that the person I find intollerable is someone He loves and cherishes. If He loves and cherishes them, that means I'm supposed to as well. If I act on my imagination and treat them as contemptable, then I'm sinning. I'm allowing my thoughts to exalt themselves over the knowledge of God.

Not all imaginations are that easy to spot as being against God. That is why I must always be on my guard. If I allow even the smallest thought that isn't Godly into my imaginations, or my thought-life, eventually they will grow and produce fruit. Fruit that is not godly.

It's much easier to nip somthing in the bud rather than to let it grow into a great big bush that needs to be uprooted. The more control I give my imagination, the more likely I am to let an ungodly thought take hold of me and guide me, taking root in my mind and governing the rest of my thoughts, and eventually my words and actions.

I should govern myself not by my imagination, but by the Truth I replace my own thoughts or beliefs with.