Control Your Thoughts
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
Romans 8:5
Christians learn to control their thoughts through the power of Christ. 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. (2 Corinthians 10:5) The Holy Spirit will enable us to capture any thought not pleasing to God, and we can change that though to another thought that is obedient to Christ. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. It is critical that we immediately capture the thought otherwise conviction is gone and the brain will conceive it, and gives birth to sin.
Satan knows that we need to capture every thought before the brain conceives it; that is why he normally attacks us through our emotions. To capture an emotional attack requires action, prayer and a plan of escape. The more we have power over our emotions the more we can capture the thought to the obedience of Christ, and control our thinking.
God listens to our hearts and our heart is revealed by our thoughts. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. (Genesis 6:5) Since the Lord listens to our thoughts, it is critical that we learn to control our thoughts to the obedience of Christ.
We can control our thoughts through the power of Christ when our hearts have changed and filled with God’s love. A heart filled with God’s love places our focus of God and others, and off of self. Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me”. (Luke 9:23) We develop self control through the power of God’s love in our hearts to deny self, which includes any sinful thoughts.
It may sound difficult to control our thoughts with the activity of the world all around us, but we strive to control our thoughts and we pray for Christ’s divine power to make it possible. Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26) Many of God’s commandments are impossible for us, but since we have the Holy Spirit we can ask for the power of God to change our hearts to fulfill the command. It is important that rely on Christ in all situations and not depend on ourselves alone.
Today depend on the Lord to control your thinking and your actions. There is power in having the ability to control our thoughts and emotions. Let your thoughts be controlled by the Spirit and not by the world.
Prayer: Lord, help me to control my thoughts and my emotions. I cannot make my thoughts obedient to Christ without your divine power through the Spirit. Thank you Lord! In Jesus name, Amen.