We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Up until recently I have been having the hardest time with what I allowed to take up space in my head and thought life. It would seem lately that I threw open the barn door to my thought life and allowed every possible negative thought that either I myself carried around with me or permitted in (fiery darts) to take up space and as a result create serious chaos within me and I am certain only hurt my family and in the end only reinforcing some of the false thought patterns that arise. It has not been until this past week that God really impressed upon me that I just can't afford to let my guard down when it comes to thoughts and negative attitudes within me. It is hard enough for Christian men to walk in the Lord and in His word that don't have a propensity towards depression.

Here are just a few examples of the negative thoughts and attitudes that were almost 24/7 for a while.

You are a failure.

You will never amount to anything.

You are not a good Dad in fact you are a terrible father.

You have no idea how to be a Dad.

You are going to lose your job or get fired.

People don't like me at work, church, etc.

Who do you think you are leading a ministry, what makes you think that you can do that with all of the problems you have.

HYPOCRITE!

Look what you did do you think God is going to help you now.

God does not want to hear from you until you get your act together.

These are just some of the things that I remember and believe me they still find there way to the surface at times but here is what I am learning, that first and foremost I need to make God a priority every single morning even if it is only for a few minutes talking and listening to Him and I also need to be able to stay in the Word. The statement above "God does not want to hear from you until you get your act together" comes at me and bang it will hit me and then I end up not coming to the Lord when it is most likely the time I need to come to Him the most.

When I look at the some of the crazy thought patterns I realize that most of them come from the pit and that although I may see partial truths at times in the thought patterns, I need to take a step back and realize this is one of the ways that the enemy worked on Adam and Eve. He took the truth and twisted it to make it a partial truth and a partial falsehood. I am certain that since Adam and Eve he has had plenty of time to perfect this devious skill on many of us.

I always need to realize too that no Christian man no matter what, goes throughout the day for that long without failing God in one way or another. It is too easy for me to go negative on myself when I fail God and it is an area that I need to resist buying into.

I thank God that I have a couple of friends in my life that I shared recently how I have been struggling with negative thoughts and attitudes and they both shared how they have met with similar struggles at times. I guess it should not be that surprising to me because God knows me better than I do and He knew that this time would come when I would have to approach this area in my life if I was to grow in my walk with the Lord. He knew I would need those Godly men in my life to help me along this journey and it humbles me to know that they are here walking with me not only as friends but also in ministry and I could not ask for better men to walk alongside with.

There have been times in the past where I found my mind wandering or my guard dropped and not really connecting with God so I would feel discouraged and disconnected but the stuff I have been dealing with the past few months has been a completely different intensity. I think the intensity could be because I am more involved in ministry at this time in my life than I have ever been and have taken on a leadership role and when ever we step out in faith to do something for the Lord the attacks step up significantly. The last thing the enemy wants is to see people walking by faith and making strides to bring Christ to a lost world in whatever role they may be in.

Paul mentions that we are in a war with things that are not seen in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 and not that we simply defeat the arguments but that we have the power available to us to "DEMOLISH" the arguments.

Check out the definition of "DEMOLISH" - destroy completely; "the wrecking ball demolished the building"; "demolish your enemies"; "pulverize the rebellion before it gets out of hand"

3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.5 We 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.

Here in Ephesians 6:10-17 is how we go about demolishing the arguments.

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

If we fail to renew our minds through the Word of God our enemy will take us right out of the game and render us useless in the faith.

God has made it clear that we must stay in His Word if we are to finish the race.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. ~ Psalm 1:2-3