ARTICLES
Take Control Of Your Thoughts!
by Jeanniene Lee
You can control what you think! If it was not possible to control your thoughts, God would not have commanded us to do so. In II Corinthians 10:5 we are commanded to cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and BRING INTO CAPTIVITY EVERY THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ.
We are not only told to control our thoughts, we are commanded to renew our mind - change our way of thinking completely.

Ephesians 4:22-23
22 That ye PUT OFF CONCERNING THE FORMER CONVERSATION the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And BE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND.

You are a tripartite being. You are a spirit, you have a soul and you live in a physical body (I Thessalonians 5:23). Your soul consists of your mind, will and emotions.

When you become a Christian, become born again, the only part of you that changes immediately is your spirit. Your body and soul are unchanged. Your body still wants to do the old things it is used to doing, and your mind still wants to think on the garbage and ugly thoughts it's used to meditating upon. Both your body and mind will continue to do what they have been doing before you got saved, IF YOU LET THEM!

From the moment you become born again, you are responsible for renewing your mind (Ephesians 4:23) and mortifying your body (Romans 8:13). The majority of Christians do absolutely nothing about both of these undisciplined areas, which eventually cause much trouble.

The trouble caused can range from stifling your walk as a Christian to completely drawing you back into your previous lifestyle. This results in broken fellowship with God and a backslidden spiritual condition. Beloved, controlling our thoughts is VITALLY IMPORTANT!

The soul of man is a very important part of our tripartite being. It is from our soul that we make our decisions, exercise our will to choose and decipher information that come into our minds in the form of thoughts.

Controlling our thoughts is our responsibility. As a Christian it is vitally important to control what we think. Why? Because if you don't control your thoughts, ultimately your uncontrolled thoughts will affect your heart and contaminate it.

Proverbs 23:7
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...

Proverbs 4:23
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
A heart contaminated with wrong thoughts will order your mouth with corrupt, death-filled words, and a mouth out of control verbalizing wrong thoughts through words will destroy you.

Matthew 12:34-35
34 . . .out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Proverbs 18:21
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Beloved, you can't always control what thoughts come into your mind, but YOU CAN CONTROL WHAT YOU ALLOW TO REMAIN! Think of it this way. You can't stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can control whether or not you allow him to build a nest in your hair. This is the same way it is with thoughts.

The devil and his demonic spirits are constantly bombarding your mind with all sorts of negative thoughts. Thoughts that are filled with fear, death and destruction. The devil's primary aim with these thoughts is to set up a stronghold in your mind. If he is allowed to do so, he will begin to control your actions.

Once a stronghold is set up, the next aim is to get those thoughts planted into your
heart and to contaminate your heart.

Mark 7:20-23
20 And he [Jesus] said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
21 For FROM WITHIN, OUT OF THE HEART of men, PROCEED EVIL THOUGHTS, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
23 AH these EVIL THINGS COME FROM WITHIN, and defile the man.

Once those thoughts are planted in your heart, the devil's next mission is to get you to speak those death-filled words. These first begin with a thought out of your mouth and when released will produce death.

Even death-filled words that are not released out of your mouth but which are played over-and-over on the tape recorder in your thoughts will ultimately lead to death. The devil's goal is to get you to destroy yourself.

This is oftentimes what happens to oppressed, depressed, individuals who become suicidal or have nervous breakdowns. Also, those who become serial killers or even mass murderers. It all began with a thought. Uncontrolled thoughts are deadly!

A serial killer, mass murderer or person who commits suicide doesn't usually act upon the first thought that comes into his mind. It's after thoughts have been allowed to run rampant and uncontrolled that action is taken.

A serial killer usually thinks of killing constantly. The thoughts of killing are on his mind morning, noon and night, day-after-day. He imagines killing. He sees the entire act played out in his mind in the form of imaginations.

Ultimately these uncontrolled thoughts, imaginations, become a stronghold; and when the stronghold is set up, he simply acts out the thoughts (images) that have dominated his mind. He becomes controlled by his thoughts. Beloved, the Bible makes it clear that uncontrolled thoughts are deadly because uncontrolled thoughts can set up a stronghold.

II Corinthians 10:3-5
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

The word "strongholds" from verse four is from a Greek word which means to fortify through the idea of holding safely, or holding. A castle, an argument a stronghold.

Webster's dictionary defines the word "stronghold" as a fortified place, a place of security or survival, a place dominated by a particular group or marked by a particular characteristic.

For example, allowing thoughts concerning you never being healed to remain in your mind (survive there) and not casting them down sets up a stronghold.

When you allow those thoughts to repeatedly flood your mind and you don't control them by taking them captive/casting them down, they become fortified (strong) until they become a stronghold. They become an argument to refute the validity or truth of God's Word concerning you being healed.

I like what the Amplified Version says in II Corinthians 10:5:
"[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."

Here are some examples of such arguments, human logic, reasonings, strongholds in thinking:

- Thinking that God works with Satan to chasten his people. The Job mentality.
- Thinking that God has a purpose for you suffering with that sickness or disease.
- Thinking that God doesn't always heal because your "Aunt Bessie" wasn't healed.
- Thinking that healing passed away with the apostles.
- Thinking that God isn't healing anymore as recorded in the Bible because of modern technology.

Beloved, this is what II Corinthians 10:5 calls imaginations. Imaginations are images. Images are thoughts. Thoughts have to do with thinking, and in this context wrong thinking.

The word "imaginations" is from the word "image." Imaginations are thoughts that create images in your mind. When negative thoughts are allowed to remain in your mind, they become strongholds.

When the stronghold of imaginations get into your heart, you will begin to speak them out of your mouth in the form of words.

When you begin to speak words out of your mouth, they will either produce the fruit of life or death (Proverbs 18:21). Imaginations that are not in agreement with God's Word will produce negative words and those negative words spoken out of your mouth will produce death.

Proverbs further confirms the danger of not controlling your imaginations and casting down evil thoughts:

Proverbs 15:15 (The Amplified Version)
15 All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil [by anxious thoughts and forebodings], but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of circumstances].

The word "forebodings" implies to anticipate evil in your mind and thoughts. The Bible says that all the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil by doing this - by anxious thoughts and anticipating or imagining in your mind evil happening to you.
It is here that most battles are won or lost. It is in your mind, in your thoughts. Many Christians are all cleaned up on the outside but their minds are filthy. Their thoughts are absolutely disgusting.

If you want to live a victorious life, you must renew your mind. Your thoughts must agree with God and thus with the Word of God.

You can't afford to allow your thoughts to be uncontrolled. Uncontrolled thoughts will ultimately affect your faith.

For example, if you have been diagnosed with an incurable disease, you must not continue to allow the thoughts of you never being healed to flood your mind. You must renew your mind. You must make your thoughts agree with the Word of God.

You must get into the Word of God and find scriptures that promise you healing. You must constantly meditate upon those scriptures day and night (Joshua 1:8) until your thoughts are flooded with images of you being completely healed. Then you must couple your thoughts with verbal confessions out of your mouth that "you are healed by the stripes of Jesus" (I Peter 2:24). Beloved, you must begin to see yourself healed, and the way you see yourself healed is through images which are created through thoughts.

As Philippians 4:8 exhorts us, we must think on what is true. God's Word is true. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy WORD IS TRUTH" (John 17:17). Beloved, God's Word boldly declares that by the stripes of Jesus you were healed (I Peter 2:24).

You must control your thoughts and force your mind to think on what's true. Do not constantly meditate upon the report the doctor gave you that you have an incurable disease, that there is no hope for you and you have only six months to live. You will, in your thoughts, see yourself never getting better. Ultimately you will die with that disease. Many have even played out their own death, funeral and burial in their thoughts.

Take control of your thoughts! They will rob you of your peace if you don't make them agree with God's Word. Paul in his letter to the church at Philippi in Philippians 4:6-8 exhorted them to be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God (verse 6). Then after they had done that, the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, would keep their hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (verse 7).

The secret however to the peace of God was found in verse 8. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK ON THESE THINGS."

Paul was saying that the secret to God's peace is connected to taking control of your thoughts. Isaiah understood this, for he recorded in Isaiah 26:3 that it was through controlling our thoughts that we are kept not only in peace but "perfect peace."

Isaiah 26:3
3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Although it is our responsibility to control our thinking, God does not leave us without help in this challenging area. The person of the Holy Spirit is ever present in the life of the Christian to come to our aid and to bear us up in our weaknesses.

As we call upon the help of the Holy-Spirit. He will help us to cast down imaginations. He will help us to renew our mind and to change our thinking. The way our thinking is changed is by putting new information into our mind. We must meditate upon the Word of God. As we feed the Word of God into our minds and into our spirit man, the Holy Spirit takes the Word of God and begins to change our minds and thus renew them.

Hebrews 4:12
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the THOUGHTS and intents of the heart.

Beloved, the Word of God is the key ingredient to renewing your mind and controlling your thoughts. You must not only feed it into your mind and heart, you must speak it audibly out of your mouth. You combat negative thoughts, by thinking other thoughts and these thoughts must agree with God's Word. You further combat negative thoughts by taking the thoughts that agree with God and His Word and making them your own. You make them your own, or possess the thought, by saying them out of your mouth.

For instance, when negative thoughts begin to flood your mind that are contrary to the Word of God, stop them immediately! Then, open your mouth and audibly confess the exact opposite of that contrary thought. Confess what the Word of God has to say about that situation. Agree with God's Word. Think on what's true (Philippians 4:8).

For example, a thought comes into your mind that you are sick and will never get healed. Capture that thought immediately and cast it down. Then, open your mouth and boldly declare "Devil, you're a liar! I'm not sick! I'm healed by the stripes of Jesus! No sickness or disease can dwell in or upon my body! My body belongs to God!" Then, after you've spoken to the devil, which is the one feeding you that lie, open your mouth and speak to your body. Speak to the mountain.

Mark 11:23-24
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall SAY UNTO THIS MOUNTAIN, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Boldly speak to your body and to the symptoms that are trying to come upon you. Say, "symptoms you have no right or authority over me or my body. My body belongs to God. I belong to God. I am redeemed from the curse of the law of sin and death (Galatians 3:13). I am redeemed from sickness. Body, you are the temple of the Holy Ghost. You are the temple of God (I Corinthians 6:19). In Jesus name body resist those symptoms. You are redeemed from the curse of the law body, and by the stripes of Jesus you were healed (I Peter 2:24)."

Take control of your thoughts TODAY! Renew your mind. Deposit new information! Deposit new data! Deposit the data of God's Word into the computer of your mind. Your mind is like a computer. If you put garbage in. you will only get garbage out.

If you want life to come out in the form of right thinking and right speaking, it is vitally important what you put in. If you put garbage in, only garbage will come out. But, if you put God's Word in, life will come out. God's Word will produce perfect peace in your mind and in your heart and will contribute to prosperity and success in every area of life including health in your physical body.

Joshua 1:8
8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth [never stop saying what it says, always agree with God's Word and speak it]; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night [keep your mind and thoughts constantly on the Word of God, think God's thoughts which are in the Word of God], that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

3 John, verse 2
2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul [your mind (which consists of your thoughts and thought process), will and emotions] prospereth.

Take control of your thoughts and begin to live a victorious life spirit, soul and body!

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