Scripture Gives Us the Keys

Excerpt taken from Mind Battles: Root Out Mental Triggers to Release Peace by Kathy DeGraw.

Chapter 6
Capture Every Thought

There are two Scriptures that have been pertinent in my life for capturing and casting down every thought and renewing my mind to release mind bondage. Here’s one of them:

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

The weapons we use are supernatural, not of human origin. We take the first action in the natural to acknowledge the thought, and then we cast it down. When we struggle in this area, we need to cry out to the Holy Spirit and ask Him for help. Seek conviction for when you need to cast down the thought.

We must pull down “every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.”

We are to cast down imaginations — our mind and flesh — by taking action in the natural against what is happening. We must pull down “every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.” We know this refers to demonic attacks; Satan thought so highly of himself that he fell from heaven. Any evil spirit that is penetrating your mind needs to be cast down and out.

Regarding the Scripture from 2 Corinthians, Finis Jennings Dake wrote, “Lascivious, vain and evil thoughts of all kinds are brought down and made obedient to His laws.” I like the correla­tion between vain thoughts that are human and fleshy, and evil thoughts, which are spiritually demonic. It helps us to understand how we can be attacked on both fronts. Bringing down evil thoughts is contingent on us taking authority, which is dominion. According to Strong’s Concordance, the Hebrew word for “dominion,” raga (H7287), means to tread down, subjugate, have domin­ion, prevail against, reign, and rule.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

In Hebrew, the word translated here as “subdue” is kabas (Strong’s H3533), which means to tread down, conquer, and sub­jugate. It means we get to bring the devil into bondage! I think this is glorious news, and a thought we need to keep in the fore­front of our minds. We get to take him down instead of him taking us down. We have authority over the confusion and tur­moil in our minds. I love how The Complete Jewish Bible translates 2 Corinthians 10:4-5:

Because the weapons we use to wage war are not worldly. On the contrary, they have God’s power for demolishing strongholds. We demolish arguments and every arrogance that raises itself up against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey the Messiah. (CJB)

Cast It Down and Out

 We don’t have to fight with worldly weapons. The Holy Spirit will assign spiritual weapons and divine tactics to us through the spirit of revelation. I got free by spending time in the presence of the Lord and partnering with the Holy Spirit. My book Prophetic Spiritual Warfare includes information about what the Holy Spirit taught me to conquer spiritual warfare.

When we take a thought captive, we should make it obey the Messiah. In other words, we need to examine the thoughts in our mind and make sure they obey our Lord and align with the Word of God. Any thought that doesn’t is stinking thinking, and you need to ditch it and pitch it!

Taking our thoughts captive requires some work on our part. We must make a conscious effort to stay focused, think positive, and cast down any word that does not align with Scripture. When we don’t capture our thoughts, they will capture us. It is a choice. If we entertain detrimental thoughts instead of dismissing them, they will take hold of us. We all know practice makes perfect, so how can we practice perfecting our thoughts?

If we entertain detrimental thoughts instead of dismissing them, they will take hold of us.

Get adamant and get yourself some holy, righteous anger against the devil! You have a soul, which is your mind, will, and emotions. Use your will, that strong part of you, to be downright ornery and stubborn against any counterproductive thoughts you shouldn’t be entertaining.

Discover a practical way that you can identify and cast down thoughts. I have some how-to exercises in my book Prophetic Spiritual Warfare, along with tools, visions, and prophetic exercises that brought me out of captivity. One exercise that’s helped me is to speak a positive confession out of my mouth when a nega­tive thought comes into my mind. I also lead my mind to think of the truth of what God did in the past in a similar situation. This changes my confession.

The enemy will still try to attack us. Scripture tells us that a subsequent attack will be even worse.

Then [the unclean spirit] says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” And when it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first (Matthew 12:44-45).

Our enemy will never give up because he wants to get us in bondage again. But we know that at the end of the story, he loses.

Release praise during your warfare. Glorify God with your words. Whatever is attacking, release the opposite; be happy, give thanks to God, and release joy. This may sound difficult or impos­sible, but remember, God is on your side, and nothing is impossi­ble with Him! (See Luke 1:37.) I am not saying to shout at the top of your lungs, “Thank You for this battle,” although you should do so if you think it would help. What I’m saying is, “Stay positive.” There is much power in hopeful, optimistic thoughts.

…

Order your copy of Mind Battles: Root Out Mental Triggers to Release Peace by Kathy DeGraw.