Scripture
3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We 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 10:3-5
Observation
When Paul is talking about carnal thoughts and fleshly actions I have to keep in mind he’s talking to Christians. No one would expect any different from someone who’s mind has not been renewed by Christ. Yet, Paul is calling the Believers in Corinth to account for the fact that they have built up a case against him as their spiritual covering and have tried to tear him down along with other members in their church. Manipulation, gossip, and backbiting are ways of warfare for the world, not the Kingdom. Scholars believe the Paul may have been referring to the Roman method of removing stone upon stone to create a hole large enough in the wall around a city to capture those rebels hiding inside. This is exactly what we must do! One thought at a time we need take the walls downs that we have built against God and others.
Application
An ideology is a collection of thoughts in which we put our belief. It's a "thought wall". Every time I skip over what God says in Scripture, every time I ignore His still small voice convicting me on a point of sin, every time I try to find a loophole around obedience I’m building up something that needs to be torn down. When I’m choosing to lean on my thoughts as gospel instead of the actual gospel I’m building a thought wall against God and others. I’m captive to every thought I don’t take captive and make obedient to Christ. Here's another way to explain it. Neuroscience says that every time we revisit a thought it get’s stronger and creates a pathway that can become a superhighway when mixed with dopamine through drugs or pornography. It’s a place in my life where I’ve chosen an idea that’s turned into an ideology that has now become an idol that I must defend over and against what Jesus is trying to reveal. In his book “Live No Lies”, John Mark Comer writes, “The best definition I know of ideology is when you take part of the truth and make it the whole. In doing so, you imprison your own mind and heart in lies that drive you to anger and anxiety. It promises freedom but produces the opposite. It does not expand and liberate the soul but shrinks and enslaves it.” Just as the religious leaders with Jesus and the leaders in Corinth could be so angry to the point of murder and contradicting their own laws, so too I can end up fighting for the Devil rather than against him when I let my thoughts lead me over God’s Word. Jesus and His Word is a threat to our ideology, our pet theologies, our desire to make God’s word say something more palatable to modern day sensibilities. We take a part of the truth and make it the whole. So, if we aren’t reading God’s Word and throwing out any thoughts that don’t line up with Christ then we are building our own thought walls. This is a major point of prayer as Barna revealed in a recent survey that only eight percent of global teens believe the Bible is the word of God and read the Bible several times a week. No wonder they are so easily swayed by the perverted ideologies of our day about their identity and the value of life.
Prayer
Lord, I repent for the thoughts I’ve allowed to take up space in my brain that have built up a wall against You and others. Whenever I hear of someone who has spoken against me it’s easy to start building a wall against them. Whenever you don’t answer my prayers the way I thought You should I start to build my thought walls against You and how I can’t really trust You. One thought at a time, one person at a time, one prayer at a time, one journal at a time I’m tearing down the ideologies that have been built up in my mind that are not from You. I’m not a Victim to my thoughts. I’m victorious through You!
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