Biblical Thinking Taking Thoughts Captive — Biblical Counseling Resources

What does the bible say about our thoughts?

We “talk” to ourselves all day long, every day. But how many people stop and think about their thoughts? How many people assess the truth of their thoughts? Sadly, most people just listen to their thoughts as if those thoughts are truth. They base decisions and reactions on thoughts that do not reflect who God is and what He declares the purpose of life to be.

Scripture tells us to think about specific things. Scripture poses questions, such as throughout Matthew 6:25-34, to get us to stop and think about God. Job 38 and 39 are other chapters where God asks questions of Job to get him (and us) to think about who God is in light of our circumstances. Philippians 4:8 tells us to “think about such things” after listing specific qualities of thought.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 is a key passage to understanding the importance of our thoughts. We are to battle with our thoughts. Paul uses war imagery to show the intensity and intentionality needed to win the war against unbiblical or ungodly thinking. Let’s examine this passage closely.

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Waging War - Our thought life is a battle - an ongoing battle - between wrong thinking and right thinking. Our old self (the sinful desires and nature) fights against the new creation that we are in Christ. We see this battle described in Romans 7 where Paul says “the things I want to do I don’t do, and the things I hate I do” - The temptation to sin is real - we have to battle against it.

This battle happens in the mind - our thoughts! War is intense. There are many battles in a war. It is not just a one time event and then finished. We must continually wage war and battle the wrong thinking

Weapons of Our Warfare - Our weapon is divine, meaning it is from God!

Ephesians 6 and the armor of God declares God’s Word to be our offensive weapon, the sword. This passage says and take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. We are to battle wrong thinking with God’s Word, not just platitudes or witty sayings. God’s Word has power because it is the very breathed out Word of God (2 Timothy 3)

When Jesus was tempted in the garden, He used the Word of God to battle Satan and his lies. Jesus quoted Scripture to think and respond to temptation in a way that honored God.

Strongholds is another battle image. A stronghold is a place where a particular cause or belief is strongly defended or upheld. The thoughts we have are defending and upholding what we are believing at that time. The question is: Are we defending and upholding Truth? or Are we defending and thinking worldly, self-centered thoughts?

We need to use God’s Word, the divine weapon to destroy the thoughts that we have that are contrary to who God is.

One example is a thought like, “that’s not fair”, can be a stronghold that needs to be destroyed by truth. God is just. God is sovereign over what happens to us and we need to trust that for believers, He uses ALL THINGS (Romans 8:28-29) to make us more like Christ.

Another example might be a thought of “that person will never change!” That is a stronghold that needs to be destroyed. God is more powerful than any person. God is the determinative factor in changing people. He doesn’t guarantee change, but we need to rightly think about God’s power, His ability to change people. His grace and mercy can overcome a strong heart.

Thoughts of “I shouldn’t have said that” that replay for days and days on an endless loop in our minds need to be destroyed by the truth of God’s word. We may need to repent of sinful words! That is the truth. But it is also true that God is a forgiving God. We may need to repent that we care more about what others think of us than we care that we sinned against God.

More examples will be found down below.

Our thoughts are like deep ruts in the ground - we repeat them so often that they are well worn and we easily slide back into them. Our thoughts are like driving down a road where the tires keep going back into the ruts that have formed over time. When the ruts are deep, it's hard to not keep getting stuck in them. Our thoughts are like that.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 goes on to refer to arguments and lofty opinions raised against the knowledge of God. Here’s where our thinking often is off about God

Our thoughts may reflect that we are neglecting the truth of God’s attributes
We may be forgeting the gospel and don’t think on what Christ has accomplished on our behalf
We may try to reason our own way or justify what we have done rather than submit to God and repent
We may lean on our own understanding and like Eve start to think that God is withholding good from us.

More warlike language follows. We are to take every thought captive. We have responsibility here, we must take the thoughts captive. We do this through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, but we have a responsibility to put effort and planning into what our thoughts should be.

To take captive means we get it under control and take charge of our thoughts. We can choose to think differently with the power of the Holy Spirit.

The habit of how we think has formed, and the ruts may be deep, but we can change because Christ has set us free from the power of sin!

Ephesians 4:22-24 tells us that between putting off the old self and putting on the new self, we must be renewed in the spirit of our minds.

Romans 12:1-2 says that we are transformed by the renewal of our minds and we are not to conform to the way the world thinks.

Our thoughts matter, but they are just one piece of the heart puzzle. Our thoughts, emotions, and desires all work together.

We are talking about thoughts right now because we need to start somewhere and begin to understand the heart.

Our thoughts feed our desires - what I think about shapes what I want.

Thinking about God is NOT just a mental exercise!

Thinking about God SHOULD engage our emotions!

Matthew 13:44 points to the entire heart being engaged.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

When the man sees the treasure - He thinks, He has emotion, and He has desire.

Thinking - this is valuable! This is amazing!

Emotion - excitement, joy, happiness

Desire - wants the treasure

Will - moves him to purchase the field

As we think about God our emotions should be engaging with the truth of who He is.

God doesn’t just want robots who know about Him. A relationship has an emotional aspect of caring about someone, understanding how they think and feel. God wants us to “have the mind of Christ’ and become like Him. To do that we need to value what He values, think like He thinks, and feel how He feels.

The whole heart is being made new - or redeemed. Our thoughts need to be renewed, our emotions need to be renewed, and our desires need to be renewed in the truth of Christ.

Examples of taking thoughts captive

Pay attention to what you think when you are not actively engaged in conversation or activity.

Where does your mind go when you are folding laundry, taking a shower, driving in the car by yourself, washing dishes, etc.

Try to figure out what repetitive thoughts go through your head in times of difficulty.

Let’s look at what it might look like with thoughts being taken captive to the truth of God and His attributes. And I encourage you to start figuring out how you can reshape your thinking.