War on the Floor

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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." (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

As I get up this morning, I look outside at a cloudy day and I feel the chill that is still in the air. There is a cold wind blowing outside and I am bundled up in a warm jacket and a cozy blanket around my legs. I am doing what I need to do to stay warm and to shield myself from the cold from outside. I don’t think that it is any different in our spiritual journeys, that we are always preparing for the battles that come into our lives. We can stay protected and shielded through God’s Word and Prayer. I believe that every Christian needs to be prepared with those spiritual weapons that can fight against the war of living in this world. We live in a world that is full of daily challenges. How can we be prepared to go into battle and be well equipped to have a victory through Christ? Take this picture as an example, that we battle the war on the floor, through praying in earnest. We are not to fight our battles with weapons of the world such as arguing, justifying, condemning, judging, fighting, controlling and other demonic elements that the enemy uses to have us hold onto us as strongholds in our lives. When we use these weapons against those who we may perceive as “our enemies”, the fruit that come out of those battles are only bitterness, resentment and anger. If we look at verse 5 in this passage, it says to take your thoughts captive. There it is, the battlefield of your mind!! Joyce Meyer has written a book about this subject but the best way to reinforce this concept is to know that the enemy is prowling like a lion, and wants to get to us to entertain those thoughts that are not fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control) If things that we are thinking do not line up with the Fruits of the Spirit, then we know exactly where they are coming from. This is when we get on our knees to fight this battle in our mind and take those thoughts captive and begin to speak God’s Words (God's Word is our sword of truth). Taking those negative thoughts captive is to have control over your mind, to not play those old tapes of bitterness, resentment nor of offense. We need to let it go and put our thoughts on those things of God! It is a war – a real battle to fight in our minds, but through prayer and knowing God’s Word, we have victory in our lives!!

Question: What do you need to "war on the floor" about? Are there any thoughts you need to take captive today?