Captivate Your Thoughts

Brother Jeremy Hupp

At the Battle in the Mind

As Christians, if we bring every thought that enters our minds into captivity, we will be victorious and see great things accomplished for God. Also, we will see greater healings and greater works, and the Kingdom of God expanded. The devil will come along and say, "This is impossible; the Lord can't do it." On the contrary, the Lord can do it. Instead of thinking on bad things, you need to bring every thought into captivity.

The devil works on us in many different ways and attacks us continually. He tries to get us to fall into temptation; but there is only one way the devil can get to us, and that is through our minds. He cannot put a cigarette in your mouth, make you drink alcohol, make you commit adultery or fornication, or make you look at pornography. He would like to, but he cannot. All he can do is tempt you to do those things. If you will bring every thought into captivity and into the obedience of Christ, you can live on the high plane that Jesus Christ intends for you to live. He came and spilled His blood so that you can walk on a higher plane, free from sin. He came to give you power to live above sin.

Matthew 26:41 says, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." When you become a Christian, your spirit wants to live right, but the flesh is weak and wants to go astray. It wants to do its own thing. Therefore, you must bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. The battle is in the mind.

The flesh is weak and wants its own way, but you must resist the flesh and walk in the Spirit. The only way the devil can get to you is through your mind. When you get in hard trials, the devil will bombard you from all sides. That is how he works. The devil knows when you are in a battle and being tried, when you are being persecuted, and when you are discouraged and weak in the flesh. That is when he wants to come in and stomp you out of the battle. He can tell when you are getting weak, and he pours it on from all sides; but you must bring every thought into captivity.

When the devil says, "No one cares about you and all the horrible things that you are going through, you need to rebuke him. You need to say, "I rebuke you, devil. I know that Jesus cares about me, and I am going to bring that evil thought into captivity."

If you are not careful, evil thoughts will get into your heart. You have to be very careful when certain thoughts come in and captivate them. You need to determine what is really going on and ask the question, "Is that thought of God?" If it is not, then you need to get it out of your mind.

Think on Good Things

Sometimes the devil will say, "What you are going through is not fair. You have been treated so bad." You need to rebuke the devil. Some saints have gone through very difficult trials. Some older brethren have been through extremely trying situations. So you are not the only one who has been tried, afflicted, or persecuted.

One of the devil's favorite tactics is to say, "Just give up. It's not worth it. You are going through too many trials." Next, he will get you to look at other people's problems and faults, and say, "No one around here is right. You may as well forget it too." You have to captivate those thoughts and bring them into the obedience of Christ. The devil works in many different ways to attack you, but it all happens through the mind. If you can control what you meditate on, you will be victorious.

Often when people have hard trials, they seem to forget the promises in the Word of God. Do not forget that 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." When you are in a difficult trial or temptation, the devil never brings that to your mind, does he? He brings thoughts such as, "Why don't you just give up. What's the use? What you are going through is not fair." Christian friend, you need to captivate your thoughts. When you get really pressed down, if you are not careful, you will not even think of the Scriptures that tell you that God is not going to tempt you above what you can bear. If God is allowing it, then it is for good.

I went through an affliction on my body that was a difficult trial, but it was for my good. God was trying me. God allowed Job to be tried. My trial was small compared with what Job went through, but it was for the same purpose. It was to see how I would come out on the latter end, to see if I would still praise the Lord, preach the Gospel, teach Sunday school, and live for the Lord every day of my life. That is the reason the Lord allows trials to come into our lives.

You should not meditate on negative thoughts, but think on the good things. One song says, "I'm gonna think on the good things." Sometimes I think about how the Lord lifted me up out of sin or about when He healed me. A spiritual healing took place when the old black heart that I used to have became white as snow. When you start thinking on good things, soon all the negative thoughts that the devil is trying to put on you will be gone. When you think on good things, the temptation will end and the devil will flee.

Too many people give up on God. Why? Because they do not bring every thought into captivity. You need to keep your mind focused on the things of God. Philippians 4:8 reads, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

When you start to become pressed down and the devil works on you, you need to read Philippians 4:8.

Focus Your Eyes on the Goal

The Church of God is made up of good, honest, true Christians. There are no hypocrites in God's church. I am not saying there has never been any in the congregation, but I thank the Lord for the true church. Sometimes I say, "I thank the Lord that my heart is pure," and discouragement starts to flee.

If you keep your thoughts focused on good things, you will be less likely to be tripped up by the enemy. When people get into hard battles, they tend to focus on the obstacles instead of the objective. Friend, if you do that, you will lose sight of the goal. I was talking to someone once who said, "The walls are so high, and I can't see around them."

I said, "Walls are for climbing. You need to get your eyes off the walls and get your chin up above it so you can see what is beyond it." You must keep your eyes on the goal and off the obstacles. When you do that, you will be victorious.

Too many people look at the obstacles and quit praying. Next, they lay aside the Bible and quit attending Sunday school. Then they quit attending the Wednesday night prayer services. Before you know it, you do not see them in church at all. That is what the devil wants. His main objective is to get you to quit going to church. If you fail to read your Bible one day, the devil will say, "Oh, that's no big deal. It won't hurt you to skip it today." Well, no one ever backslides overnight. It starts with a little laying aside, and then when tomorrow comes, you do not think anything about it. The next thing you know, it is Wednesday and you have not read the Bible since Sunday. Finally, the day will come when you may find yourself saying, "I haven't been to church in months."

Some dear people used to be faithful to the house of God, but they got themselves in spiritual trouble. They allowed little things to creep in here and there, and they let little things slip away. Now they are a million miles away from God; that is sad. Christian friend, if you will bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, the Holy Spirit will remind you to pray, to read the Word of God, and to attend Sunday school and prayer meeting on Wednesday nights. Also, you will be less likely to lose out with God. Often the number one problem that people have is failing to read the Bible and pray.

When people start slipping spiritually, it is mainly due to their not reading the Bible and praying. Why is that? The thought enters their minds, "You have not read your Bible today," yet they do not stop and take the time to do it. You need to take the reading of God's Word and praying seriously. The Word of God is a great gift that He has given us. It is a shame that people spend so little time in reading it. God is a wonderful God. I am excited about the Word of God. When I open the Word of God and start reading, it thrills my soul. Friend, you need to open your mind and heart to the Truth. God is no respecter of persons. He wants us all to have a knowledge of His Word.

Steps That Lead to Sin

Again, you must bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. The key word is "every." You may ask, "How can I bring every thought into captivity?" If the Word of God commands it, it is possible. God has never commanded one thing that He did not give power to do. You must control every thought that enters your mind.

Thomas Hobbs was quoted as saying, "The secret thoughts of a man run over all things: holy, profane, clean, obscene, grave, light, without shame or blame." Many thoughts come into our minds every day, but what we do with those thoughts determines whether we enter into sin. Just because a thought comes into your mind does not mean that you have committed sin. Again, what you do with that thought once it enters your mind determines whether you enter into sin.

My mind goes to the story of Achan. Joshua 7:19-21 reads: "And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it."

In verse 21 Achan said, "I saw." And then he said, "I coveted, and took them." Last, he hid them. These are the basic steps to sin. He said, "When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight. . . ." There was no sin in that at all. He saw it and was tempted. Next, no doubt the thought came to his mind, "Look at that nice stuff!" It was at this point that Achan decided what he was going to do.

The thought came into his mind, "Take it." No doubt, another thought came in, "You know better than to do that. You will get in trouble." He failed to captivate the thought that came in, and he took the next step from seeing it to coveting it. Then he took it and hid it. Achan had to decide in his mind what to do, and instead of bringing those thoughts into captivity, he took the next step into sin.

As it is with sin, one step leads to another and another, until spiritual death comes. What was Achan's punishment? Death. What is the punishment to each one who steps over into sin? Spiritual death is the punishment that he or she will receive. Therefore, we must bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Your Secret Thought Life

Each of us leads a secret thought life invisible to others and known only to ourselves and God. Are you living a thought life different from the "you" known by others? Are you thinking on thoughts or meditating on things that you should not be meditating upon? God knows.

We had a lesson in Sunday school called, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." That Scripture is found in Matthew 12:34. Young people take too much freedom in their speech. It is almost shocking how liberal the talk and the thinking is in our world today. When I was a child, I remember the first time I ever heard a cuss word in a song. I was shocked. I read in a newspaper or a magazine the lyrics of a song sung by a rap group. A few years ago they would have never thought of publishing something like that. It is a shame. Many young people's thoughts are on sex. They talk too freely about it. It troubles me when I see young people making that the focal point of their conversations. Young person, if a thought comes to your mind about sex, there is no sin in that, but there is if you dwell on it and take that thought into your heart. Matthew 12:35 says, "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." You are building up a treasury in your heart. That treasury starts building, and all the lustful thoughts that are going through your mind all the time will suddenly slip out of the mouth, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Young person, you ought to guard your talk. If you find yourself wanting to talk about things you should not talk about, you need to examine your heart. If you always think about things reserved for married couples, that is not of God. You need to get your heart purified.

The Church of God has a higher standard than the world does. The world accepts lustful talk nowadays, but saints of God do not. Young person, if you think about sex all the time, you need to pray and captivate your thoughts; you are not married. If you are not careful, you will ruin the preciousness of those things reserved for married couples. There is nothing more precious than being married and having a companion, someone who is yours to love and share your feelings and emotions with. Many young people today are defiling themselves with their thoughts and actions.

The world has such a strong pull along corrupt lines. If you do not captivate and control your thoughts, you will find yourself lost in a devil's hell forever. You are going to find yourself as Achan was. Temptations are going to come, and you are going to covet something. If you do, that is sin. May God help you to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Would you be embarrassed if your friends and associates knew the thoughts that you dwell upon? Would you be embarrassed if the Lord were to reveal what you continually think on? If so, then obviously you are not captivating your thoughts to the obedience of Christ. Wife, if your thoughts were audible, would your husband be upset? Husband, if your thoughts were audible, would your wife be upset? You may fool people with your outward appearance, but the things upon which you meditate make up the real you, the one that God sees and knows. Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ is very important.

Guard Your Thoughts

Why does the devil work so hard on your mind? It is the most effective avenue he has. He knows that the only way he can get to you is through your mind, so he bombards you continually. If he can occupy your mind, he knows it will crowd out God. He is not going to share our mind with the devil; He wants it all.

You can read in Genesis, Chapter 3, about how Satan led the first man and woman into sin. When he came to Eve in the garden, in essence, he said, "Why don't you partake of that fruit? It's good for food. You will be as a god if you do." What happened? She was tempted. There was no sin in her looking at that fruit; that was a temptation. However, she failed to captivate her thought, and then she overstepped.

Many thoughts will enter your mind during the day: some holy, some profane, some clean, and perhaps some obscene. It is up to you to sort out those thoughts and cast aside those that would lead you into sin. You have to captivate every thought. If you do not, one evil thought can go from the mind to the heart and cause you to eventually end up in a devil's hell forever.

The tempter would like nothing more than to discourage you from continuing in the faith. Many people let the devil beat them down and discourage them because they have reoccurring thoughts of temptation. I looked at things when I was out in sin that I wish I had never seen, and the devil likes to bring those images to my mind. You may have reoccurring thoughts or temptations, but that is not sin. If you choose to think on wrong thoughts and accept them into your heart, then you have sinned. Do not let the devil beat you down. You need to captivate your thoughts. Remember, the thoughts are not sin, but what you do with those thoughts determines whether you enter into sin.

When a normal observation becomes an abnormal preoccupation, then you have crossed the line into sin. If you see a pretty woman walking down the street who has a split in her skirt, there is no sin in seeing her leg. On the other hand, if you drive around the block to look again, then you are preoccupying yourself with her, and you have crossed over into sin. The devil may say, "You ought to go around the block and take another look. Maybe that was not really what you thought it was." He will try to trick you. Therefore, you need to captivate that thought and bring it into captivity. You should say, "I am just going to go on my way." Then you can sing a song and think about some Scriptures. Turn your mind toward the things of God.

It is amazing how fast your mind can get away from God when something like that happens. Have you ever thought, "How did my mind get on that?" If you are not careful, you will let a normal observation become an abnormal preoccupation, and you will cross over into sin. You may drive around the block thinking about what you saw. Even if you do not see her again, if you have lusted after her in your heart, you have sinned. You need to be careful about what you let your mind think on. If you take the trip around the block, you will do as Achan did and cross over from seeing to coveting or lusting. The devil may even give you an opportunity to have whatever you see. What a shameful thing that would be! What would the end result be? You would end up just as Achan did. The sad thing is, many people are in that condition. They have things hidden and they are just as dead as Achan is in their souls.

Being Obedient to Christ

This world is so corrupt. It is so full of lust and sin that we cannot help but be tempted. However, we must recognize the temptation for what it is and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Unclean thoughts must be expelled from our minds as soon as we recognize them for what they are. Sometimes a thought may come in that you should not think about. It may wander around your mind for a few minutes before you realize that you should not be thinking on it. The very moment you realize that, you ought to cast it out. If you dwell upon that thought, you will be crossing over into sin.

What are some things that you can do to get rid of evil thoughts? If you have a temptation, you can start singing a song, and soon the thought will be gone; that works really well. Something else that you can do is quote Scripture. You ought to remember 2 Corinthians 10:5 which says, ". . . bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." When you quote Scripture at the devil, he will flee.

One of the best ways to get rid of temptation is to pray. You may be at a place where you cannot get on your knees, but you can still pray. Sometimes you will have to really get earnest in prayer. If you give up the battle and allow that thought to stay, you are going to find yourself in sin. Then you will be sorry that you let your thoughts go that way.

You need to be honest with yourself and with God. If you are meditating on ungodly things, you need to look to God for help. Do not be a hypocrite. God knows your heart. You may fool people, but you cannot fool God. Why are unclean thoughts so dangerous? Though they are unseen by others, they can lead to hypocrisy. You can have unclean thoughts going through your mind and no one can see them. You may think upon lustful things and go on with a form of religion. Some people dwell on unclean thoughts and go on as if nothing is wrong. Friend, that is hypocrisy.

Matthew 23:27-28 says: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity."

What is a "whited sepulchre"? It is a white, marble tomb. They had beautiful, marble tombs in those times that they spent much money on. They were beautiful on the outside, but on the inside they were full of rotting, decaying, dead men's bones. That is what is in a tomb. That is a true picture of a religious hypocrite. He is one who appears to be a saint of God on the outside, but on the inside is the stench of sin. Won't you be honest with yourself? What are you meditating on? If it is unholy, or ungodly, bring it into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Proverbs 28:13 says, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Psalm 139:23-24 says: "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Consider our text of bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. If the Lord is telling you, "You have been thinking on impure thoughts, you need to get straightened out," You need to captivate those thoughts and do what God is telling you to do. The devil may be telling you, "You are all right. Don't worry about that." You need to captivate your thoughts. If they are from the devil, cast them out. If they are from the Lord, then do what He tells you to do. If impure, unholy, ungodly, and unclean thoughts have entered your heart, you need to get help. People are not going to judge you. God is the One who is going to judge you. You need to get past people and get what God has for you. If you have a need in your heart, you need to talk to the Lord. You need to bring your thoughts into captivity and be obedient to Christ. He is the only hope you have.

(Cassette C-4569A)

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