Whatever is……
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8
After God showed me the plan He has to help me take control of my thought life, He gave me plenty of opportunities to practice. With the three bible passages in mind, I had everything I needed to experience victory.
- 2 Corinthians 10: 5 – 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.
- Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
- 1 Corinthians 10:13 – No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Here’s how it works. When a questionable thought comes to mind I say to myself, “take it captive.” This causes me to stop and think about what I’m thinking about. Sounds strange, but I sometimes find myself mindlessly thinking about things and then an hour later wonder why I spent so much time on a useless or even damaging thought.
Once I have the thought held captive, I sift it through Philippians 4:8. If that thought does not receive a “yes” response from at least 2 of the items listed, it’s not worth keeping and I let it go. For example; if I start thinking of a “what if” scenario, I often can have a whole imagined conversation in my head that never happened and most likely never will.
So I take that thought and ask?
- Is this true?
- Is this noble?
- Is this right?
- Is this pure?
- Is this lovely?
- Is this admireable?
- Is this excellent?
- Is this praisworthy?
If the answer is not yes, it needs to be demolished. While a thought may be true, it may not always be lovely. For example a past hurt. Yes, it happened. But dwelling on the event and replaying it my mind only builds the walls of unforgiveness and resentment. Rather than dwelling on the hurt of that thought, I can take it captive and speak God’s truth back to it. That will turn a potential brick wall into a path of freedom and victory.
That’s where the third passage comes into play. Our thoughts are not sinful in and of themselves. They become sinful when we dwell on them and allow them to take over our minds and hearts which then leads to actions. God has promised to provide a way of escape in 1 Corinthians 10:13. We have the freedom to take that way of escape or continue to dwell on something that is not beneficial. His Word, prayer and worship are all ways of escape when we are faced with temptations and wrong thoughts.
God’s further encouragement was not to let the enemy have any more territory in our minds. Take back what he has stolen and take a stand. Remember, we are Daughters of The King! We will have victory in and through Him.
