Wednesday June 8, 2011

Read 2 Corinthians 10:5

Let’s start with an exercise today. I bet you're thinking ‘mental exercise’. But I’m not. If you are able to (without endangering your health) get down and do as many push ups as you can. Write down how many you could do.

What would it take for you to do 300 push ups each morning? The key word is EXERCISE. What would it take for you to literally take every thought captive and to make them all obedient to Christ? Mental and Spiritual Exercise. What may seem an impossible task may just be a slower journey as we build ourselves up with mental and spiritual exercise. The trick is to start. Doing something is far better than doing nothing.

But how do I start? Start by committing yourself in prayer to the Lord to taking all your thoughts captive and making them conform to Philippians 4:8. At first you may not (or more likely, probably will not) capture all of them. You may find many ungodly thoughts still floating around your mind, sometimes popping into your mind out of nowhere! Don’t despair. The trick is to make a start. Start by taking control of one set of thoughts at a time - about your spouse, about your fantasies, about your covetings or lustings... Attack one area at a time. If you were going to commit to doing 300 push ups each morning you’d start slow and build yourself up. Then you’d attack another area of unfitness or perhaps diet. You probably won’t do it all in one go!

When you catch yourself dwelling on these sinful areas, consciously start reciting a Bible verse or singing a Bible verse. When I’m riding along on my Suzuki Boulevard it’s very easy to sing out loud. No one can hear me above the roar of the motor. Guys, what a great reason to talk to your spouse about getting a motor bike!!! Consciously choose to think of something that is positive and pleasing to God. You could start praying immediately for forgiveness for that ungodly thought and ask God to rescue you from that thought.

What you are doing is teaching yourself and effectively retraining yourself to think about godly things. Eventually, as you stick to this “capture and change” strategy, you will slowly begin to automatically think about godly things. Temptations that are flung into your mind will be easier to spot, quicker to be lassoed and quicker to be ejected.

If possible let me encourage you to do one more thing. In your battle to capture your mind and to make it obedient to Christ you need moral support. Find another person (of the same sex) who can pray with you and keep you accountable. Practically this means getting together regularly (weekly or bi weekly is good) and praying for each other and sharing your struggles and rejoicing together in your successes. You can read passages of Scripture together as well to encourage one another.

Walk victoriously my brother/sister because Christ has redeemed you with His own blood.

Prayer:-

V Praise God for His forgiveness, confess and ask God to forgive you for temptations that you have fallen into.

V Ask Him to show you a more productive God centred use of your time.