Take Captive Every Thought!
Sweet Journey Girls,
How are you doing? Are you staying with me? Are you in the Word? Are you spending time in your closets of prayer? Are you memorizing scripture? How is the journey going for you? I love y'all so very much and you continue to be in my daily prayers. Let me know how you are doing.
I have been feeling a little under the weather the past couple of days, so I am writing late today. I praise God for keeping His hand on me! God is so good. I must admit, I am missing my boy like crazy!! Some days, it is so difficult. My heart actually aches. Do you know the feeling?
I don't know about you, but when I am not feeling well physically, it seems as though the enemy comes at me full force. When we are feeling weak physically, he often tries to pull us down emotionally and spiritually as well. That is just how satan works.
I was not feeling well yesterday and I begin to think about all that has happened the last few years. I cannot hardly grasp it all. I thought about where we had been. I thought about how quickly time had passed and I thought about where I am today. Have you ever just felt like you were trapped? Like you had been taken captive and had no way out? Maybe you had regrets or maybe you were just sad that a certain time in your life was over. Have you ever felt this way? Maybe you lost your job or maybe your marriage ended in divorce. Maybe you lost a loved one. Do you ever feel as though you just want to turn back time?
Many times in life, when we find ourselves in a valley, our mind will wreak havoc with us if we allow it to. We often focus on the "what ifs," and the "if onlys," instead of focusing on God's Word. We often spend our time looking back, instead of pressing forward to see what God has for us next. Remember the passage we shared together at the beginning of our journey? (Isaiah 43:18-19) We often miss the excitement and adventure of the journey! Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 tell us, "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." We must take captive every though and not allow our thoughts to hold us captive! We must make every thought obedient to Christ!
How do we do this? We hide God's Word in our hearts. (Psalm 119:11). I can't emphasize enough the importance of scripture memorization. If you have a difficult time with this, ask God to help you. Ask Him to put His Words in your mind. Ask Him to help you to retain His Word. Ask Him to bless your memory. Write down a passage on an index card and keep it with you.When times of doubt and negative thoughts come, replace them with God's Word. I often put scriptures in my car, on my mirror, on the refridgerator, and by my bed. There are times, such as today, they are held tightly in my hands so that I can read them over and over.
We started this journey believing God for a new thing! We vowed to put the past behind and look ahead to the future. Let's help each other to continue forward. I am reminded of the story of Lot in Genesis 19. Sodom and Gomorrah was about to be destroyed because the sin in the city had been so grievous. (Genesis 18:20). The Lord spared Abraham and his family and Lot and his family. He rescued them and they were told as they left the city, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!" (Genesis 19:17). Then, we see in verse 26, that Lot's wife looked back. Because of her disobedience and hesitation, she became a pillar of salt. Why is it, that as women, we must always know what is going on? Why do we always look back instead of forward?
Beloved, let's praise God for our memories. . . the good ones and the bad ones. God has given us our life, our physical bodies and our minds. He created us so intricately and so amazing! Our memories allow us to savor sweet moments with our Lord, family and friends. Our memories also are important for learning and retaining the Word of God. Even sorrowful memories are part of our journey. We cling to the promise that "weeping will remain for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning!" (Psalm 30:5) We learn from past failures and hurts. It is vital that we take captive the negative thoughts and give them to Christ - being obedient to Him without hesitation.
Please understand when I tell you sweet ones, that I am in no way trying to minimize the hurt in your life. I know that many have endured deep heartache that I have never known. I am not saying that you will not grieve. I don't know all that you have gone through and I don't know all you are dealing with, but I do know we serve an Omniscient God. He is all knowing. He knows everything about you. His Word tell us that He has engraved you on the palms of His hands and He remembers us! Isaiah 49:15b-16 says, "I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. ." Whenever you are hurting or feeling alone, tell Jesus your worries, fears, and hurts. Allow Him to minister to your heart and mind. Ask Him to transform you and renew your mind (Romans 12:2) so that "you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will."
Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." The Hebrew word for "keep" is "nasar," meaning to guard, protect, to keep. Beloved, Christ is the watchman over your mind! He is there to guard and protect you. Allow Him to bring you peace as you lay your head down tonight. He is watching over you!
I love my Journey Girls!
Elisabeth
How are you doing? Are you staying with me? Are you in the Word? Are you spending time in your closets of prayer? Are you memorizing scripture? How is the journey going for you? I love y'all so very much and you continue to be in my daily prayers. Let me know how you are doing.
I have been feeling a little under the weather the past couple of days, so I am writing late today. I praise God for keeping His hand on me! God is so good. I must admit, I am missing my boy like crazy!! Some days, it is so difficult. My heart actually aches. Do you know the feeling?
I don't know about you, but when I am not feeling well physically, it seems as though the enemy comes at me full force. When we are feeling weak physically, he often tries to pull us down emotionally and spiritually as well. That is just how satan works.
I was not feeling well yesterday and I begin to think about all that has happened the last few years. I cannot hardly grasp it all. I thought about where we had been. I thought about how quickly time had passed and I thought about where I am today. Have you ever just felt like you were trapped? Like you had been taken captive and had no way out? Maybe you had regrets or maybe you were just sad that a certain time in your life was over. Have you ever felt this way? Maybe you lost your job or maybe your marriage ended in divorce. Maybe you lost a loved one. Do you ever feel as though you just want to turn back time?
Many times in life, when we find ourselves in a valley, our mind will wreak havoc with us if we allow it to. We often focus on the "what ifs," and the "if onlys," instead of focusing on God's Word. We often spend our time looking back, instead of pressing forward to see what God has for us next. Remember the passage we shared together at the beginning of our journey? (Isaiah 43:18-19) We often miss the excitement and adventure of the journey! Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 tell us, "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." We must take captive every though and not allow our thoughts to hold us captive! We must make every thought obedient to Christ!
How do we do this? We hide God's Word in our hearts. (Psalm 119:11). I can't emphasize enough the importance of scripture memorization. If you have a difficult time with this, ask God to help you. Ask Him to put His Words in your mind. Ask Him to help you to retain His Word. Ask Him to bless your memory. Write down a passage on an index card and keep it with you.When times of doubt and negative thoughts come, replace them with God's Word. I often put scriptures in my car, on my mirror, on the refridgerator, and by my bed. There are times, such as today, they are held tightly in my hands so that I can read them over and over.
We started this journey believing God for a new thing! We vowed to put the past behind and look ahead to the future. Let's help each other to continue forward. I am reminded of the story of Lot in Genesis 19. Sodom and Gomorrah was about to be destroyed because the sin in the city had been so grievous. (Genesis 18:20). The Lord spared Abraham and his family and Lot and his family. He rescued them and they were told as they left the city, "Flee for your lives! Don't look back, and don't stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!" (Genesis 19:17). Then, we see in verse 26, that Lot's wife looked back. Because of her disobedience and hesitation, she became a pillar of salt. Why is it, that as women, we must always know what is going on? Why do we always look back instead of forward?
Beloved, let's praise God for our memories. . . the good ones and the bad ones. God has given us our life, our physical bodies and our minds. He created us so intricately and so amazing! Our memories allow us to savor sweet moments with our Lord, family and friends. Our memories also are important for learning and retaining the Word of God. Even sorrowful memories are part of our journey. We cling to the promise that "weeping will remain for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning!" (Psalm 30:5) We learn from past failures and hurts. It is vital that we take captive the negative thoughts and give them to Christ - being obedient to Him without hesitation.
Please understand when I tell you sweet ones, that I am in no way trying to minimize the hurt in your life. I know that many have endured deep heartache that I have never known. I am not saying that you will not grieve. I don't know all that you have gone through and I don't know all you are dealing with, but I do know we serve an Omniscient God. He is all knowing. He knows everything about you. His Word tell us that He has engraved you on the palms of His hands and He remembers us! Isaiah 49:15b-16 says, "I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. ." Whenever you are hurting or feeling alone, tell Jesus your worries, fears, and hurts. Allow Him to minister to your heart and mind. Ask Him to transform you and renew your mind (Romans 12:2) so that "you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will."
Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." The Hebrew word for "keep" is "nasar," meaning to guard, protect, to keep. Beloved, Christ is the watchman over your mind! He is there to guard and protect you. Allow Him to bring you peace as you lay your head down tonight. He is watching over you!
I love my Journey Girls!
Elisabeth
4 Response to Take Captive Every Thought!
I'm here and staying with you. Thankful for your encouraging words. God is faithful. I have been taking captive my thoughts (obsessing) with Phil 4:6-8..prayer and petition with thanksgiving (praise too). I'm sure not all of you, but isn't it something most women do, obsess about an issue? it can make me crazy. I love Eph 6:10-17 where it describes the one offensive weapon we have, His sword, Gods word. Thank you for reminding me of Gods promises through His word and how much He loves me.
In for the long haul
Maggie
Elisabeth, I look forward to reading your posts every day! Thank you !! I got up this morning with the song,'Great is Thy Faithfulness', ringing through my heart and soul. New mercies I see every morning!! I praise Him!.... I love Isaiah 26:3. When I am 'down',it reminds me where I need to keep my focus, 'steadfast on Him.' The enemy loves for us to focus on the problem and not The Problem Solver....,and he wants us to "drive through life, looking in the rear view mirror", wondering what would have been. Our past is gone, and the future is His.'This is the(new)day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it',Psalm 118:24.
Patsy Calairmont, who is one of my favorites with Women of Faith, wrote these words in her book 'Dancing Bones', stating that we were meant to be "valley girls", because most of our life in spent in valleys. We all have troubles and heattaches. And after being in the Rocky Mountains, I can understand her point. There is NO growth above 12,000 feet! She writes, "From the mountain top, I can see an eagle soar, but in the valley, I can hear a sparrow sing. On the mountain, I can see trees like canopies, but in the valley, I can sit in their shade, and eat of their fruit. On the mountain, I see lakes like small mirrors, but in the valley, I can touch the reflections and laddle the water to my parched lips. On the summit, I see people walking like sticks, but in the valley I can trace a child's face and dab away tears.".... Not a one of us enjoys trials and heartaches, but now I try to understand that by going through these difficult times, my faith will grow stronger as I depend on His leading me through my valley, and my faith becomes stronger as I depend on His Word. Hang on discouraged journey girls, His answer is on the way. He is our Jehovah Jireh, our Provider.
Maggie,
Thank you SO much for hanging in there with me! And, yes, women do obsess! LOL!! :) I love you and appreciate you so very much! We will continue to Philippians 4:8 our thoughts together! I am praying for you and miss you! Have a blessed weekend!
Becky,
THANK YOU so much for your encouragement!! I love what you wrote about Patsy Clairemont! She is one of my favorites too! :) I love the illustration about the valley of dry bones! That is awesome! Thank you for your continued prayers. I know His answer is coming soon!! I love and miss you! Praising GOD for answered prayer in your sweet grandson's life this week.
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