2 Cor. 10:5 – Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Someone said, “An empty mind is the devil’s playground.” How true that is. In fact, Satan works non-stop trying to build up strongholds in our mind. He does this through imaginations.
FIRST—IMAGINATIONS must be CAST DOWN. He said, “Casting down imaginations.” Why? Because an imagination isn’t true; it is simply…imagined. When I was a child, lying in my bed in the dark I “imagined” there might be a Boogeyman under my bed. Now, there was no such thing. In fact, with all the toys I had under my bed, there was no room for a Boogeyman under there! It was all an imagination.
Likewise, Satan specializes in creating false imaginations in our minds that can lead us into sinful actions. For example, the false imagination that someone is mad at you, or that no one loves you or that you are worthless to God. None of these are true, but if Satan can get you to “imagine” them, they will become reality in your mind.
SECOND—our THOUGHTS must be taken CAPTIVE. “and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” The only way police officers can stay safe when arresting someone is by keeping the criminal under control. Likewise, the only way we can keep our mind safe from Satan’s attacks is to keep our thoughts under control. We do this by submitting them “to the obedience of Christ.”
“bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” simply means choosing to obey God when a thought comes into our mind that runs contrary to what God has clearly said in His Word.
For example: someone does something wrong toward us and our first thought is to get even with them. Then we remember Jesus said in Matt. 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;”
So, we choose to obey what Jesus said, rather than the false imagination Satan tried to put into our thoughts. By doing this, we block Satan from building a stronghold of imaginations in our mind.
Examine your thoughts, today, and see if there are any strongholds Satan may be trying to build up.
