Take Captive Every Thought

October 21, 2015

Take Captive Every Thought

“. . . and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

Often, people tell me they have difficulty praying and being still for meditation because their brain never slows down. They tell of a constant parade of thoughts, many of which are not at all consistent with what they are trying to do. How do we make our every thought obedient to Christ?

The Apostle Paul helps us answer this question: “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8). The key to making this direction from Paul your own is to realize that all of the spiritual leaders who have gone before us recognized that prayer was something you practiced. Just as practice makes perfect, or at least practice leads you toward perfection in any endeavor, so also practice helps us learn how we can truly take our mind captive to our desire to be obedient to Christ.

Another suggestion is to begin a spiritual journal of GRATITUDE. Become intentional in taking the time, at least one day per week, to reflect on all the many ways you have encountered God and experienced His grace. Once you begin this endeavor, you will be surprised at how quickly you become more attentive to the presence of God in your life each moment of every day.

Finally, I encourage you to investigate how learning the discipline of contemplative prayer practices will help you become quiet before the Lord as you take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. A good place to begin your investigation is at Gravity – a Center for Contemplative Activism. Here is a link, go and check them out!

https://gravitycenter.com/practice/

  

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.