Mensa Otabil - Spiritual Warfare
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2 Corinthians 10:4 — 5: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Every believer, every Christian, is engaged in warfare; there’s a battle going on. Some call it a spiritual battle; others call it a mental battle. However you look at it, it’s a battle. The interesting thing about the warfare of the believer is that the believer is not seeking to gain victory in his warfare but seeking to enforce his or her victory. That means the victory has already been won for us. Jesus Christ died and rose again from the dead, and that is our victory. That is what we fight to enforce.
So what are we fighting if Jesus has already won the victory? Because we have an enemy, an adversary, who uses thoughts and ideas to counteract what Christ has done. He will throw doubts in your mind; he will make you doubt who God is. He will make you doubt what Christ has done for you and try to shift your faith into something else instead of what Christ has accomplished for us. And that is where the battle is and what we deal with. The enemy is going to throw doubts against us. The Scripture says that he comes in like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He cannot devour everybody, but there is a whom he may devour. The whom he may devour or the people the enemy can devour are those who believe his lies. He is a master of lies, and his number one lie is to undermine Christ and his power at work in us.
And that is what all the believers' battle is about; it’s a battlefield that takes place in our minds with arguments, concepts, and thoughts that we have to bring into captivity. Every thought that makes you doubt who God is, every thought that makes you doubt who Christ is and what He has done for you, every thought that makes you feel that you are nothing in this world, nobody who can achieve anything, is a negative thought that must be taken captive. You must be able to cast that thought out, and that is the warfare we are engaged in.
In every battle, enemies seek to capture spots. Sometimes they capture enemy soldiers or specific locations that are advantageous to the battle, and that’s what we do as Christians. We capture thoughts and what the enemy wants to throw against us, and we cast it down. Looking at the passage clearly, it says that there are two things we are really fighting against: imaginations and then every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.
Imaginations are projections in our minds. Many times the battles we fight are projections. We expect the worst; we see our lives going to pieces; we imagine things that are not real. Ask yourself, who is planting those imaginations in our minds about our marriage, our children, our finances, our health? We begin to feel so depressed; the thing has not happened, but we feel so down about it. It’s warfare, and you have to capture that imagination and cast it out. Who is the one throwing doubts in your mind that what God says is not true, that God doesn’t love you, that God doesn’t have a plan for you, and that nothing is working well in your life? That’s not God because He says all things are working together for your good.
So every thought that tells you nothing is working, nothing can work, and you wouldn’t amount to anything must be fought. That is the warfare we are engaging in; we are capturing thoughts, capturing imaginations that are contrary to the knowledge of God. I want you to win that battle. I want you to win that battle of the mind. I want you to be all that God wants you to be. I want you to rise up and be the head and not the tail. I want you to enjoy life and enjoy it more abundantly. That is God’s desire for you. He expects you, even in the midst of trial, to come out triumphantly with a song and a testimony. That is going to be your story; you will come out of whatever you’re going through, and your testimony will be heard, and God will be glorified. Capture every negative thought and cast it out.
Let us pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, I cast down every thought of fear and defeat. Thank you for the victory of the cross. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.