HOW IS YOUR THOUGHT LIFE?

 

MorningStar Stories Hundreds of people at MorningStar have extraordinary experiences or receive a word from the Lord, but not all of these are shared from the stage. This is one of those words. How is Your Thought Life? “We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One. Since we are armed with such dynamic weaponry, we stand ready to punish any trace of rebellion, as soon as you choose complete obedience.”   —II Corinthians 10:5-6, The Passion Translation “How is your thought life?” A pastor friend of mine used to meet with me weekly for coffee—and every week, he asked that question. For a long time, I didn’t take it seriously. However, week after week, I began realizing my thought life was ugly. I remember being ashamed and embarrassed to discuss the things that took up so much of my thoughts. It was a lot of the world and truly little of the Lord. I had been saved for almost two years, but I was struggling with my identity as well as unhealed wounds and traumas from the past. These took up so much space in my thought life, even though I didn't realize it at the time. God gradually began to show me these things, and I pondered this challenging question more. A year later, God made two things clear to me during my first year at Morningstar University. These two things were my defense methods, yet they were harming me more than they protected me. The first defense method was stuffing my issues. I pushed my emotions, pains, and hurts down deep so I wouldn’t feel them. Like a pond that sits for too long, eventually the waters of my soul grew murky and stagnant. My first year at Morningstar University, God brought a lot of these emotions, wounds, and traumas to the surface because He wanted to help me deal with them. So many thoughts I had about myself were rooted in past experiences that were never dealt with. I struggled with the thoughts that came across my mind; I didn’t know yet how to take them captive or how to handle them. So, I lived that year isolated and locked away in my hoodie.  The second method of defense was busyness. Before MSU, I was a busybody—I worked a lot. I wouldn’t say I was productive exactly, but busyness offered a way to occupy myself so I wouldn’t have time to deal with things as they came. God dealt with this right away. As I made my move to Morningstar, my plan was to find a job so I could start making money to pay for school, bills, etc. I got a job interview soon after starting school, and when I got the call back from the employer, I went to accept the offer. However, God had other plans. It was as if the Holy Spirit grabbed my tongue and wouldn’t let me respond, and then my internal dialogue with the Lord began. "God, why can I not take this job?” He responded, “How much do you trust Me?” Very quickly I responded with, “I trust You a lot when I’m working.” And even quicker than my response, He said, “Bingo.” So I had to decline the job and not work all year. At first, I believed this was just to build my faith and trust in the Lord. Now I realize it was so much more than that. He gave me space to be still and hear Him through this process of dealing with my thought life. God was very intentional and active in uprooting and dealing with some deep emotional trauma, areas of rejection, and lies I had believed about myself. My second year at MSU, God began teaching me how to be victorious in the war over my mind. At a service in the early part of our school year, Rick Joyner spoke about taking our thoughts captive, challenging us to really think about what we think about. Let me say that one more time: Think about what you think about.  Thinking about the things we think about, just like embarking on a lifestyle change such as working out, is overwhelming. So many thoughts race through our mind every day—am supposed to think about each one? It takes practice, and repetition is key. It is taxing at first; however, the results are astounding. We’ve been given the tools of warfare, and an incredible force is within us.  The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They are spiritual. If we are to win the war over our minds, it is imperative that we shift the battlefield from our head to our spirit. Engaging with the Holy Spirit, leaning on His discernment, allows God to assist with the dealings that are taking place in our thought life. Prayer is another essential key. My spiritual mother made a statement about who in my family had been praying for our family to be where we are today. She said, “You know, your grandmother probably prays a lot more than she realizes when she’s crocheting.”  This is contemplative prayer, and it has honestly changed my prayer life. When our thoughts are flooded with prayer and intercession, we are in communion with God. This type of prayer allows us to be victorious in our thoughts while also being transformed through thinking and meditating on things above, i.e., God and His coming Kingdom. The power to demolish everything that comes against the true knowledge of God starts with a choice. In the Scripture above, verse six states that we  “stand ready to punish any trace of rebellion, as soon as you choose complete obedience.”  The choice to make here is to accept or reject the thoughts that come into our mind. Is this thought in alignment with what God says about me? Does it line up with what God says is right? When we take our thoughts captive, we hold them under the light of God and test every spirit. Doing this will increase our discernment. We will know what is of God and what is not. The battle for your mind is a battle that you surely can overcome. This discipline is developed through trial and error, but the blueprint for victory was given to us through the Word of God. The more you think about what you think about, the more natural it will become. Being transformed by Christ daily is part of working out our salvation, but I would be lying to you if I said writing this was easy. However, I believe it is so difficult because there is great truth here. May it set you free.  I challenge you to take your thoughts captive; think about what you think about. You will be a victorious overcomer, and don’t believe any thought that says otherwise. —Orlando Q.

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