post-captivity

"I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— ²I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. ³For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. ⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. ⁵We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete." II Corinthians 10:1-6

If you know Jesus, chances are you have come across this exhortation by Paul, the great exhortist (or maybe it's exhorter, yes, exhorter).

Take note of how Paul so purposefully presents the reality of how we battle each day with our flesh and this world! He reminds us of the power that we (as Christians and friends of Jesus) hold to destroy those strongholds. We destroy them, with whatever of our armor (Eph. 6) we see fit best for the fight.

He makes a special point to remind us that our THOUGHTS can be some of our more sensitive places. He exhorts us to "take captive every thought." Sure, we've all heard that, known it and probably we've take captive a few thoughts. But, um, then what? What do you do post-captivity? I never took the the time or care to finish the scripture, which so very clearly tells us what to do with that thought.

take every thought captive to obey Christ -- to obey Christ.

If you are convicted by the Spirit to have the NEED to take captive a thought, chances are that you know what to do to obey Christ. The trick: walking into that obedience! Yup, that's where we fail. We are able to take a thought and capture it and not let it go, but how often do we follow that captivity with obedience?