Take every thought captive...

I was recently sharing some of my struggles with a godly woman in my life. After listening to me go on and on…and on…she wisely advised me that I needed to take my thoughts captive. Her advice is based off of 2 Corinthians 10:5: “…and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

That stopped me dead in my negative tracks. “How exactly do I do that?” I questioned.

She suggested that I could either pray for the people/situations/issues I was having negative thoughts about or quote scripture out loud to push those thoughts away.

Genius. And yet so obvious. How did I miss that?

Paul writes in Philippians 2:5 that our “attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” I’m positive that Jesus did not allow such negative thoughts into his mind.

Armed with these verses, I immediately jumped into my Bible to find scripture that I could use to block the negativity that is so persistent in my life lately. Now, when I am tempted by these pesky thoughts, I am whole-heartedly clinging to scripture to block this toxicity from my mind.

These are some of the verses I have been reciting to deflect negativity into glorifying God’s name. (If you see me mumbling to myself, you’ll know what I’m saying! )

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” -Philippians 4:13

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” -Ephesians 4:31-32

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” -Psalm 139:14

What verses do you cling to in order to take your thoughts captive?