Communication: Take Your Thoughts Captive

Our thoughts are a controlling power in our lives.  They can solve problems, create beautiful art, and drive us crazy.
  
As quoted previously in  Luke 6:45, "Out of the overflow of your heart the mouth speaks."  Your thoughts act as a filter between what is in your heart and what comes out of your mouth.  The overflow of your heart runs through your mind before exiting your mouth. Your thoughts are the driving force behind the words you say and the actions you take. 

“Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become your character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” (Author unknown)

Everything begins in your mind. That is why the Bible tells us to ‘take your thoughts captive.’ 

II Corinthians. 10:3-5 “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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.”

What we think will eventually become what we are. When we don’t think before we speak, harmful words flow freely, effecting our welfare and future. Careless words from damaging thoughts destroy marriages.

Unfortunately, the world encourages us to “speak our mind.” It frowns on people who don’t stand up for them SELVES, or fight back when offended. The world looks at these kinds of people as spineless and weak, the opposite of what the Bible tells us.

Many times, the thoughts bombarding our heads come from the devil himself. Our minds are Satan’s playground. That’s the only place he can influence us. His subtle accusations and sinful ideas are dangerous to our well-being if we dwell and act on them. They can change the course of our life in a matter of seconds, quickly becoming words and actions contrary to the Christian life we desire to live.

When we fail to control our thoughts and allow Satan to invade our thinking, we soon forget why we said “I do” to the person we wake up to every morning. When we let our guard down and start looking at the faults and imperfections of our spouse, the devil will seize those issues and plant them in our minds. He will magnify them to appear much worse than they really are.

The devil will play a damaging tape repeatedly in our mind that will eventually turn us away from our spouse if we don’t stop it. ALL divorce begins in someone’s mind as a simple thought. Turn off that tape or CD in your head! Change your stinkin’ thinkin’! Think positively about your spouse!

Next week:  How do you take your thoughts captive?