By: Susan Skomesa
The Women’s Bible Study, one of the ministries under the umbrella of Sara’s Tent, is drilling deep on winning the battlefield of the mind. As we look at all aspects of taking our thoughts captive (II Corinthians 10:4-5) we are experiencing astounding victories. Since there are women who cannot attend for various and important reasons, I’d like to start sharing nuggets that come out of our study.
The Women’s Bible Study, one of the ministries under the umbrella of Sara’s Tent, is drilling deep on winning the battlefield of the mind. As we look at all aspects of taking our thoughts captive (II Corinthians 10:4-5) we are experiencing astounding victories. Since there are women who cannot attend for various and important reasons, I’d like to start sharing nuggets that come out of our study.
To
set the stage, let me give you a peek into a typical gathering of the Women’s Bible Study. We meet Wednesday mornings from 10 am to about 1pm. We socialize and eat for about 30 minutes and then Pastor Kathleen opens our time with awesome worship on her guitar. (Yes, she plays, sings, and is truly amazing.) We often have a time of brief testimony and sharing before we dive in to the study. During the teaching time, Pastor Kathleen draws from Joyce Meyer’s book Battle Field of The Mind, as well as from
her own wealth of wisdom and pastoral care experience. She leaves plenty of opportunity
for us to add our insights, making the sharing and study very rich. We close
our time in prayer for one another and for those of you ladies whose needs we
are aware of. See, you are with us even when you are at work.
I am amazed and blessed by the work
of the Ruacḥ Haqodesh in and amongst us. The level of growth, mutual respect, support,
love, and encouragement is warm, unifying, and increasing.
Time for a gold nugget
from our first study.
Our mind is the starting place for all our
actions. Proverbs 23:7(NAS)
says: “For as he thinks within himself, so he is”.
Romans 8:5(NAS) echoes
this passage: “For those who are according to the
flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh, but those who are
according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” So as our
mind goes, so goes our actions and our emotions. Have you ever had a
conversation in your head with someone, and found yourself angry and all worked
up? Have you ever fought depression with scripture and worship, and found
peace?
This is why Paul challenges us to
take every thought captive. “Because the weapons we use to wage war are not worldly. On the contrary, they
have God's power for demolishing strongholds. We demolish arguments and every
arrogance that raises itself up against the knowledge of God; we take every
thought captive and make it obey the Messiah.” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5;
CJB) Notice that
the thought must be taken captive before we can make it obey Messiah. To what
do we take our thoughts captive? How do we know when our thoughts are in
obedience to Messiah? According to this scripture, if we can answer these 2
questions, if we can take our thoughts captive and make them obey Messiah, we
have in our possession God's power for demolishing
strongholds… and who doesn’t want to destroy a stronghold that is
strangling the life out of their heart or their relationships?
So, again, to what do we
take our thoughts captive, and how do we know when our thoughts are in
obedience to Messiah? We take our thoughts captive by noticing them. So many
thoughts slip by unnoticed. But just because a thought goes unnoticed, doesn’t
mean that that thought doesn’t have an impact, either positive or negative. We take
the step to notice our thoughts and make it [our
thoughts] obey the Messiah by discerning whether the thought is true or
false, uplifting or destructive, consistent with the fruits of the Spirit or
pure flesh. We can train our mind to be a holy place by setting “our mind on the things above, not
on the things that are on earth” (2
Corinthians 10:4-5; NAS), and by allowing our thoughts to focused on “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise”. (Philippians
4:8)
As these scriptures make clear, the
only way to discern if our thoughts and actions are obedient to Messiah, is to
know Him. He revels Himself in His Word, and has revealed to us everything we
need to know about Him and how to obey Him. For he says in John 15:14-15 “You are my friends, if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a
slave doesn't know what his master is about; but I have called you friends,
because everything I have heard from my Father I have made known to
you.”
I challenge us to think about what we are thinking about (the topic of
another post to come) and examine if what we believe, what we think, and what
we do, lines up with scripture. Let’s not be convinced that we know the
scriptures so well that we no longer need to be challenged by them, no longer
need to meditate on them, that they have nothing more to teach us. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching
the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living; thus anyone who belongs to God may be fully
equipped for every good work.” (II Timothy 3:16-17; CJB)
Taking every thought captive is not easy and is a challenging discipline
to develop, but it is well worth doing as it is a vital step to Shalom –
Nothing missing, nothing broken.
