Notes of Faith August 15, 2025
Every Thought Captive
We’ve all heard the question, What would Jesus do? But in his new book + Bible study, Tame Your Thoughts, Max Lucado challenges us to go even deeper—What would Jesus think? Because our actions are born from our thoughts, real change starts in the mind.
The weapons we use in our fight are not the world’s weapons but God’s powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments; we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.
— 2 Corinthians 10:4–5 GNT
Is this a Bible verse or a paragraph from a combat manual?
The weapons we use
The world’s weapons
God’s powerful weapons
Destroy strongholds
Pull down every proud obstacle
Take every thought captive
Make it obey
This is wartime terminology! The implication is clear: The battle is on! A high-stakes contest for the health of your mind. At issue are the strongholds that have a strong hold in your life.
The Greek term for stronghold has a dual meaning. First, it refers to a prison. It carries with it the image of a citadel with tall gates and thick walls. You can’t get out. You can’t move forward. You are stuck, incarcerated in a towering jail. Held hostage.
The word can also be translated as fortress. A fortress has high, impregnable, thick walls that defy easy access. No one can enter.
You’ve likely seen (perhaps in your own mirror) the person who resists assistance. Even friends, counselors, and helpers are turned away. Such people refuse to listen to advice or learn from their mistakes. They refuse counsel. They are stuck in a stronghold.
A prison keeps people in.
A fortress keeps people out.
Strongholds (unmanaged thoughts) do both.
Wouldn’t it be great to be done with them? To, as the apostle Paul wrote, “destroy strongholds”? Such a muscular verb. The Greek word for destroy means to “pull down by force.”1
Consider another version: We [smash] warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God. — 2 Corinthians 10:5 MSG
The image is that of a warrior, a soldier, a fighter. Our enemy is the unsolicited, unhealthy, and unwelcome idea. Rather than indulge such thoughts, we take a wrecking ball to them. Once the stronghold is shattered, we “take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.”
We filter. We screen. We inspect. We monitor. We discriminate. We challenge. The literal rendering of the phrase is “to take one captive with a spear pointed into [the] back.”2 We poke a spear against the spine of toxic thoughts, march them outside, and toss them on their derrieres. We take seriously the high and holy honor of thought management.
Viktor Frankl did. In his classic book Man’s Search for Meaning, Dr. Frankl revealed what he discovered during his three years of captivity in World War II concentration camps. “We wondered,” he wrote, “...what caused some men to survive and others to perish.”3 Prisoners of a less hardy makeup endured, while more robust men did not. Why? He found the answer:
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.4
You don’t find yourself in a concentration camp. However, you likely find yourself slugging through the mud of challenges, conflicts, and fears. You aren’t surrounded by barbed wire and Nazis. But you are surrounded by aggravations, temptations, and self-doubt. Your first and highest call is to stand vigil over your mind. Discipleship, at its core, is Christlike thinking.
Some years ago, WWJD bracelets were all the rage. What would Jesus do? The acronym was a wonderful device. However, might I suggest we change one word? Rather than ask what Jesus would do, let’s ask WWJT.
What would Jesus think?
Actions are the offspring of thoughts. Behavior follows belief. So, if we want to improve our behavior, let’s go upriver and monitor our minds.
My wife’s favorite author said it this way:
You can be the air traffic controller of your mental airport. You occupy the control tower and can direct the mental traffic of your world. Thoughts circle above, coming and going. If one of them lands, it is because you gave it permission. If it leaves, it is because you directed it to do so. You can select your thought pattern.5
Satan’s strategy is simple: Poison your thinking with stinking doubts, deceit, and discouragement. If he can master your mind, he will master your life. The more minds he can control, the more portions of society he can influence. Tell him to get lost.
Discipleship, at its core, is Christlike thinking.
Do with your thoughts what I do with emails. Until a couple of years ago, I didn’t know I could block emails. Delete them? I knew that. But block them? I missed that tip.
Consequently, I couldn’t clean out my inbox. Unsolicited emails kept coming. I tried to delete them daily, but I just couldn’t keep up. They cluttered my computer.
Then I was told about the Block This Sender command. You mean I can block a sender?! I did exactly that.
Politician? Blocked.
Shoe store? Blocked.
Sales pitch? Blocked.
I spent the better part of an afternoon erecting Do Not Enter signs to turn away nuisances. It took time, but I emptied my inbox of unneeded and unsolicited emails. It’s one of the greatest achievements of my life.
These days, when one or two or ten sneak in, I stand them down. No more clutter for me. And no more clutter for you, my friend.
Anxiety? Blocked.
Regret? Blocked.
Insecurity? Blocked.
You can “take every thought captive and make it obey Christ”
(2 Corinthians 10:5 GNT).
Excerpted from Tame Your Thoughts by Max Lucado, copyright Max Lucado.
Not saying that this is easy but it is commanded in Scripture for those who follow Christ! Let us pursue choosing the path of what Jesus would think, thus taking every thought captive! May you be blessed by God today for your effort to control the air traffic in your brain.
Pastor Dale