There is a spiritual discipline for protecting and renewing our minds that most professing Christians have never implemented. It is spelled out in plain language in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. It is a very simple concept; however, it requires something that most Christians are not willing to do. That is to treat every thought that enters our mind as a potential enemy that must be identified, analyzed, and either authorized to stay or taken captive and forcibly cast down.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 

The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is deliberately using military language to explain this process. He speaks of warfare and weapons. He mentions pulling down strongholds and casting down arguments. He talks about bringing EVERY thought captive and making it obey. He is describing a strategy, a discipline if you will, for taking control of the activity in our minds.

Most of us have read 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 and mentally acknowledge it, but almost none of us have caught the revelation to the point of practicing what it says. That means we don’t truly understand it; therefore, we don’t really believe it.

The difference between acknowledgment, which is mere mental assent, and revelation knowledge is the difference between a mind governed by God’s Word and a mind governed by Satan’s deceptions.  

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

The mind is the primary battleground in a Christian’s life. If we are not diligent to renew our minds to God’s way of thinking, Satan will subtly deceive us into adopting his way of thinking.

Our spirit has been recreated in righteousness and holiness, and we are currently seated with Christ in heavenly places. However, if our mind is left unattended and unrenewed, it will overrule our spirit and deceive us into living as natural, carnal humans while denying our supernatural, divine nature.

Here lies the danger. If our mind is not renewed and brought under the authority of God’s Word, we will live far beneath the truth that Christ’s sacrifice paid for us to enjoy. Most believers don’t even recognize this as a problem. They think it is normal.

The world has trained us to allow our minds to operate on autopilot. When we get born again, we are suddenly thrust into the realm of spiritual warfare where we have constant resistance to truth and an aggressive enemy hell-bent on our destruction.

If we don’t immediately begin to renew our minds to the truth, we will allow the enemy’s thoughts to come in, and we will accept them without examination and without hesitation. Fear and doubt will show up at our front door, and we will let them in without a challenge. Worries and anxiety will come, and we will entertain those thoughts without any resistance.

Satan knows that most Christians will accept his lies as though they were their own thoughts, and he counts on this lack of understanding to get his lies to take root in our minds without ever being questioned.

Over time, these unexamined, unchallenged, and unresisted thoughts are used to build encampments in our minds that devils can hide behind and manipulate our lives from. Paul calls them strongholds, mental fortifications that are constructed thought by thought, lie by lie, brick by brick, and year after year, until they become the dominant framework through which we interpret life and truth.

A stronghold is not demonic possession. It is a mental construct, a habitual way of thinking that has been reinforced so many times that it feels like normal. Any Christian who has entertained thoughts like, “I am unworthy, or God is disappointed in me,” for decades does not experience that thought as a lie; they actually believe it is true.  

If we don’t recognize those thoughts as the enemy’s lies, it could even feel like conviction. The Christian who continually thinks, “I will never be free,” for most of their Christian life doesn’t recognize that thought as a stronghold. It feels more like honesty. That is just one of the things that make a stronghold so deadly.

Satan disguises lies as reality. He misrepresents deception as truth. The believer who does not know how to take their thoughts captive, cast them down, and bring them into submission to Christ will live hindered by strongholds their entire Christian life.

Satan doesn’t take control of our minds by force. He simply pours as many lies as he can into our thought life and waits for us to accept one of them. Once a lie is accepted and it takes root, a twisted belief is established; each lie he convinces us to believe becomes another brick in the stronghold he is building.

Once the stronghold is built, the enemy sets up camp inside it and strategically manipulates our beliefs through the lens of the stronghold’s deception. The limitations we feel in our spiritual life may not be real limitations. They may be strongholds, mental prisons constructed by thoughts we accepted without ever testing them against the word of God.

Ephesians 4:23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind

When we are born again, our Spirits are recreated in the image of Christ. We are a new creature according to 2 Corinthians 4:17. However, our souls (mind, will, emotions) still have the spirit of the world we were born with. This must change.

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 

Why would Peter use the word “loins”? The Greek word for loins is “osphus”. It means procreative power. It is the place where reproduction takes place. Just like a woman’s womb, our minds incubate thoughts and words. Words are seeds. God’s Word is incorruptible seed. If we are not girding up (renewing) our minds to God’s Word, we will inevitably allow Satan’s corrupt seed to be planted and reproduce in our minds.

We have been born again into an amazing and unlimited kingdom, but our minds are still trained to think and believe like the world. It is time we start learning God’s thoughts, God’s ideas, and God’s ways.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”

Every phrase in this passage is important and contains a strategic spiritual directive. Paul acknowledges that we still walk in the flesh, but we do not wage war according to the flesh. Our warfare is not physical or natural. Our warfare is spiritual and supernatural. The weapons we use are mighty through God. They are supernatural and carry divine power. They are weapons specifically and strategically designed to fight against supernatural beings and forces arrayed against us in the unseen realm.

When Paul refers to casting down imaginations. The Greek word for imagination is logismos, which means reasonings, arguments, calculations, and the logical conclusions that the natural mind produces. These are thought patterns that seem reasonable to the unrenewed mind but contradict the word of God.

For example, thoughts like, “I have prayed and prayed, and nothing has changed, so maybe it is not God’s will.” That is the very definition of logismos. It sounds logical. It is based on observable evidence, but it exalts human reasoning above the knowledge of God. The Bible says that God’s word never returns to Him void (Isaiah 55:11). It also says that the prayer of faith will save the sick (James 5:15).

Casting down is not a gentle shove to the side. The Greek word is kathaireo, and it means to tear down, to demolish, and to destroy forcibly. We do not politely decline a wrong thought. We take it captive and then cast it down with violence.

Paul goes on to say, “We cast down every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.” That phrase, “the knowledge of God,” is a vital key to this entire strategy of thought management. The knowledge of God is the standard by which we judge all thoughts. Knowledge of God comes from His Word and our personal, intimate relationship with Him. Every thought must be measured against this standard. If the thought aligns with our knowledge of God, it is authorized to stay. If it contradicts the knowledge of God, it must be cast down. It must be dealt with. There is no middle ground here. No thought should be allowed to exist in a “neutral zone” in our heads.

Every thought is either in agreement with God or exalting itself above Him. Exalted thoughts must be forcibly removed.

2 Corinthians 10:5 is our military marching orders. Paul is telling us to treat every thought as a potential enemy, to examine it under the light of the scripture, and to take it captive and cast it down if it contradicts anything God has said. The practice of taking thoughts captive is not optional if we are to live a victorious life. If we are to receive all of the promises that Christ paid for. This is not for the “super Christians” or the spiritually mature. It is for every believer who wants to walk in the freedom that Christ’s sacrifice has paid for.

“We bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” Captive is a strong word, just like a prisoner of war. We capture the thought. We do not let it roam free in our minds, gathering strength and momentum. We capture it, identify it, bind it, and cast it down, bringing it under subjection to the authority of Christ. The way we bring it under subjection is by overriding the thought with the SPOKEN word of God. That is the practical application of spiritual warfare. We see this modeled in the life of Jesus when He was tempted in the wilderness. He captured the thoughts. He identified their contradiction to the truth, then He cast those thoughts down by speaking the corresponding truth from the word.

Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

What a beautiful demonstration of how thoughts are taken captive.

When a thought comes and says, “you are condemned”, you capture it and cast it down by speaking Romans 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

When a thought says, “You are sick and getting worse,” you capture it and cast it down by speaking 1 Peter 2:24 “…by whose stripes I am healed.”

When a thought comes that says, “you are not going to have enough,” You capture it and cast it down by speaking Philippians 4:19 And my God shall supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

“Thoughts are cast down by speaking the word, not by thinking other thoughts.” This is where most believers have trouble. They don’t understand that spoken words are far more powerful than thoughts.

Satan understands this thoroughly. He pours his lies into our heads in volume and waits for us to speak words that put us in agreement with his lies. When we verbalize these ungodly thoughts, we take ownership of them and reveal to the enemy where the weakness in our armor is located.

Every lie has a truth to counter it. And the strategy is simple: Capture the thought, identify the source, and cast down if it doesn’t align with truth. Capture, identify, and cast down.

The enemy is relentless with his poisoning thoughts. We will have to practice this over and over, thought by thought, day by day, week by week, until every lie and every demonic stronghold crumbles.

Everyone faces the same challenge when they begin to implement this spiritual discipline. They must learn to deal with the sheer volume of ungodly thoughts that the enemy can bring against us. We don’t have just a few enemy thoughts a day; we have dozens, maybe hundreds. The enemy is broadcasting his poison into our minds constantly. He does it by whispering thoughts, bringing up failures of the past. He also uses the news, social media, television, and the list is endless.

At first, this process can feel overwhelming. But we don’t have to capture every single thought from day one. We can start with the loudest, most obnoxious ones first, the ones the devil keeps repeating, the ones that cause the most damage.  

On the first day, the lies won’t stop. On the second day, they don’t stop either. This can go on for days, but rest assured, something is happening. Cracks are forming in the walls. The stronghold is weakened at its foundation. Eventually, the thoughts arrive with less force and less distraction. Then they begin to arrive less frequently. By the end of the first month, when an ungodly thought arrives, it is immediately recognized, analyzed, and euthanized.   

The thoughts may still knock on our door occasionally, but they are no longer met with agreement. They are met with a sword, the spoken word of God. The word destroys the thoughts before they can cause any damage. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal like Satan’s weapons. They are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. God’s weapons do not fail. EVER! They may take time, but they NEVER fail.

A Christian with a renewed mind is the most feared person on Earth to Satan and his kingdom. When a believer thinks what God thinks, speaks what God speaks, and believes what God says, it is very easy to identify and cast down every deceptive thought the enemy attacks us with.  

Philippians 2:13 says, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

God is working in us right now. He is giving us the desire and the power to execute His plan for our lives.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

The amazing thing about renewing our minds is that we don’t have to do it alone. Our job is not to transform ourselves with sheer willpower and discipline. Our job is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit by deliberately, consistently, and aggressively applying the word to every thought that contradicts the knowledge of God. We are not renewing our minds by ourselves. We have supernatural help. The word of God is our blueprint; the Holy Spirit is the renovator, the transformer. And our faith-filled words are the tools, the demolition crew, and the construction crew.

The renewed mind is the believer’s greatest asset after the new birth. Our spirit is free, and when our mind is renewed, we possess a combination that the enemy cannot defeat. When we consistently capture every thought, identify every lie, and cast them down with the spoken word, our minds will be renewed, our lives will be transformed.

We need to declare war against every lie the enemy attempts to plant in our minds.

As we begin to implement this strategy, as the strongholds start to crumble and our minds begin to align with the word of God, there is a revelation of our identity in Christ that will become increasingly clear, an understanding that the enemy has worked tirelessly to keep hidden from us. When he sees us getting close to this understanding, he will turn up the heat, increase the volume of ungodly thoughts, and try his best to keep us from this revelation. We shouldn’t get discouraged when this happens. It just means that we are close. We must remain diligent.

Once our mind begins this beautiful renewing process, Satan’s lies lose power, and the truth of God’s word begins to govern our thinking and believing. We begin to see ourselves the way God sees us. At this point, something changes in the way the spiritual realm responds to our presence. We activate a divine protection that operates not because of our performance, but because of our position in Christ.  

JESUS IS COMING!

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