Pay attention to the wording of this New Testament verse from the New International Version.
“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.” II Corinthians 10:5
This is warfare, Christian warfare, fought with specific weapons, spiritual weapons; we either capture or are captured. This is very important to grasp because it will control your life for good or evil.
There is an enemy, Satan, or the devil, or Lucifer.
There are weapons, words used by both sides.
There is an offensive strategy, to demolish, to take captive
As a verb, capture speaks of taking something by force. As a noun, it speaks of the action of capturing or being captured. Capture is a war word. It refers to an enemy and taking away his or her advantage over you. This portion of New Testament scripture in the Bible speaks about the tactics of the enemy, to plant thoughts, ideas, and imaginations into your mind. The idea is that these thoughts are deceptive impressions designed to make you believe they are your own thoughts—a way to deceive you—thus causing you to struggle with them. Why would you struggle with thoughts that you know are from an enemy? However, your own thoughts, that is different. After all, they are your thoughts, and you are entitled to have your own thoughts.
You are to capture these thoughts, ideas, and imaginations because they are from the enemy. They serve one purpose, to bring you into captivity through fear, worry, or anxiety that God will not honor his word or his promise over you, the Christ-follower. This is warfare, and it is very real. You either will capture, or be captured.
Herein lies the challenge. In order for you to capture these thoughts, you must know what God’s word says. Otherwise, how will you know to challenge the thought and thereby capture it?
You play a massively important part of this warfare. It is up to you to demolish the reasoning, conscience, and conceit of any and every barrier set to impose everything that God says is, and does for you, the Christ-follower.
It is an active part.
It is a choice to stand up and declare, not in this house.
It is a decision based on the belief of God’s word, and God’s son.
Consider these verses of scripture from the Bible.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds… II Cor. 10:4 NIV
Arise, Barak!
Lead your captives away, son of Abinoam! NLT
Judges 5:12
That is why the Scriptures say,
“When he ascended to the heights,
he led a crowd of captives
and gave gifts to his people. NLT
Eph. 4:8
But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. NLT
Romans 7:23
But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster.
I Kings 5:4 The words of King Solomon
What do they have in common? Each of these verses of scripture speaks of warfare. They speak of a battle that has been fought and won. It is not a child’s play, pretending you are battling some imaginary enemy. The enemy is real, and really out to capture you.
The Apostle Paul says it this way in his New Testament writings in Romans. “But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.” New Living Translation
The desire of the enemy is to capture you in order to make you a slave. He stops at nothing to bring you into captivity. The Apostle Paul calls it a war with your mind. This is why knowing the word of God is vital for your freedom. Otherwise, your mind is an easy target for the enemy to hurl any thought he desires to ensnare you, taking you captive.
How are you captured?
You are captured when you allow the thought to generate a response, which becomes a conversation, that leads you down the path to captivity. Remember the thought is an enemy thought craftily disguised so you think it is your own. Since you think it is your thought, you have no problem thinking about it, even creating a scenario that is completely false.
Now you are held captive by the enemy who hides behind the original thought. He is allowed to add other thoughts that you readily accept—because you think they are yours. If left unchecked, this will become a stronghold in your mind—the very thing you are to capture.
Before long, these thoughts begin to influence the way you see and communicate with God. This is when the enemy picks up the pace hurling angry thoughts about God being unfair. You are more likely to embrace these thoughts because you have been captured by the enemy through his subtle suggestions.
This can explain why people begin walking with God, only to turn away full of bitterness and resentment. Religion—the manmade attempt to get close to God—plays a part in this, but the enemy is the real culprit.
The apostle Paul in his New Testament writings refers to it as a war in the mind. This is important to understand for two reasons. First of all, the Apostle uses a “war” image. If you do not realize that you are in a war, you are easily captured by the enemy. Secondly, warfare requires preparation. It is foolish to think you can enter into battle, any battle, without training, and a strategy to win. The enemy is certainly trained with a battle plan to take you captive without you even realizing it.
If you are ignorant of that fact, you become easy prey.
You begin your training by studying the Bible, the word of God. Reading is not enough. You can have a prescribed plan for reading through the Bible, but without any plan to understand what you are reading, you diminish the potential to embrace the word of God as your own.
Think of it this way. The word of God—the Bible—is likened to a sword, an instrument of war. It is used in close combat. It can be a defensive weapon as well as an offensive weapon. The more you practice using the word of God, the better you become at using the sword of the spirit.
How do you capture?
You capture the thought by stopping it before it can be completed, or as soon as you realize you are responding to it.
You capture it by speaking the Word of God, which is the sword of the spirit—your only offensive weapon. It is said in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, that death, as well as life, reside in the power of the tongue. The ability to speak offers both blessings as well as cursing. The word of God spoken by the tongue of men (male/female) is life itself.
Therefore speaking the word of God to capture erroneous thoughts brings life to the Christ-follower, and death to the enemy attempting to deliver the thoughts. This is why the Bible refers to the word of God as a sword—a sharp double-edged sword.