Learning How to Take All Your Bad Thoughts Captive

Photo: ©MangoStar_Studio from Getty Images Pro via Canva.com

Have you ever accused yourself of something that was not true? It’s when you gaslight yourself, telling yourself something that is false. Any false argument launched against yourself can quickly turn into a mental stronghold that could debilitate you spiritually. We are susceptible to false arguments that can take control of our minds. These recurring thought patterns, when left unchecked, will become the dominating arguments of our minds, even to the point where they become our new truth—our new way of thinking. A stronghold is the instrument that shapes how we interpret and respond to life.

You may want to read:

• Your Thoughts Reveal Your Functional Identity
• Mind Mapping Stinking Thinking: How to Change Your Mind
• Eight Practical and Transforming Ways to Think about Your Past

Those Old Thoughts

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We 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 
(2 Corinthians 10:3-6).

Mable was such a person. Fear bound her. Some call it insecurity, which is an appropriate term. She was a young, insecure woman who was preoccupied with the arguments that swirled in her head. The controlling opinion of others was a stronghold that Mable seemingly could not break. Even though she knew God’s opinion of her was perfect because of Christ, she was not able to live in the freedom of His empowering favor. Early in life, Mable figured out how performing for others was the way to be accepted. Her daddy taught through his passive parenting style, and in the brief moments when he did say something, it was not encouraging. Her childhood experiences shaped her as a people-pleaser. She was motivated not to disappoint others so she would not incur their displeasure.

She became all things to all people with the hope that they would accept her, and though she was excited during her early years with Christ, the old paths of disapproving arguments eventually came back. Mable was never able to break this stronghold successfully. She never learned how to take every thought captive. She knew how to be saved, but she did not mature in her sanctification the way she had hoped. Her former manner of life, which was corrupt through deceptive desires, tempted her to continue to work for acceptance, approval, love, and respect from others. The dominance of these strongholds led her to despair.

Spiritual Warfare

To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).

Losing hope, Mable continued to live the way she always lived. She had not learned how to successfully renew her mind according to true right living and true holiness. She was an unbelieving believer—a Christian continuing to live according to an un-Christian quality of life (Mark 9:24). Mable was in warfare with her mind. She was under attack. According to Paul, this was more than just a human living as a human while being in conflict with humans. Mable also lives in a spiritual world where there are real demonic forces who are out to destroy the knowledge of Christ that is resident in her. The evil spiritual world cannot utterly destroy any Christian because Satan is not God’s evil equal. Still, there are active, demonic forces that would enjoy nothing more than to derail a child of God from making His name great.

• Plan A for the devil is to keep all people from believing in Christ.
• Plan B for the devil is to keep all Christians from maturing in Christ.

Believing the Lie

Paul called what I am describing spiritual warfare in 
2 Corinthians 10:3-6. He viewed his Christian life in warfare terms. He knew where the primary battle came from, and this knowledge served him well in his unceasing fight for his sanctification.

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh (2 Corinthians 10:3).

• Do you know you are in spiritual warfare?
• Do you know that a constant spiritual battle is taking place in this world and that you are part of it?
• Do you know that you are not a sideline reporter but an active participant?

And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord (Job 1:12).

What Paul is teaching us is not new. Spiritual warfare has been going on since Adam and Eve took their first bite of disobedience. The devil tried to knock them off, succeeding to a degree, and he and his minions seek to circumvent the work of God in your life, too.

• Do you know you have weapons to fight these spiritual battles—weapons that are divinely empowered?
• Do you know God designed these weapons with the power to destroy the strongholds in your mind?

Mable did not know this. One of the tricks of the evil one is to disorient and deceive. Deception is what Satan did to Eve, which is what was happening to Mable. Like her fallen predecessors, she had bought the lie. She had learned to believe there was something wrong with her—and God.

What Is a Stronghold?

Owning her faith and living as a new creation in Christ were encouraging theological ideas that had a limited effect on her. She was so wrapped up in her fear that she did not know how to live in the freedom and power that God’s gospel provides. The forces that are against you in the spirit world are no different from the forces that are against you in the physical world in that they both desire the same thing: to take your mind captive. The real question is how are you going to respond and fight against the forces that are against you, regardless of what constitutes these forces. You have the power resident within you to fight against the strongholds that seek to take your mind captive. These weapons of warfare are the divinely empowered truths of the gospel.

The real question is whether you will use these weapons to destroy the strongholds—the arguments and arrogant opinions that are raised against God’s revealed truth. A stronghold is a mental argument that stands in opposition to God. We believe it, and it contradicts the person and power of Christ. A stronghold is a thought fortress of arguments designed to take our minds captive and hold us as prisoners. These fortresses are intended to negate the person of Christ and His power (the gospel) in our lives.

Strongholds in the Head

Mable had bought the lie of the fear of others (Proverbs 29:25). Her fear ensnared her to a life of mental bondage, as manifested through people-pleasing, peer pressure,  worry, and anxiety. She was overly concerned about what others thought about her. She was hyper-focused on virtually everything about herself. She second-guessed her thoughts, questions, and concerns. She doubted her choices and actions. She anxiously controlled how she looked in public and what she wore. Satanic forces could not destroy her soul (Plan A), but they could influence her mind until her usefulness in making God’s name great was marginalized (Plan B). Taking every evil argument captive and making it bow to the name of Jesus was an illusionary, theological pipe dream. God is the truth, and His purpose for coming to this world was to transform you so you could walk in His truth. The devil’s job is to disrupt the truth God provides by motivating you to believe a lie. He hopes to set up deceitful strongholds—mental arguments—in your mind.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth (3 John 1:4).

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth (John 16:13).

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth (John 17:17).

Our Common Lies

What lies keep the gospel from dominating your thought life? What strongholds have been set up in your mind that hinder the sanctifying work of God in your life? What sinful thought fortresses reside in your head?

1. Lies You Tell Yourself: I have to be perfect, I must be happy, and I need people to agree with me. I cannot shake my past, and I deserve better than this.
2. Lies the World Tells You: I must be true to myself. I am number one. I am only human; everybody makes mistakes.
3. Lies You Say in Your Marriage: It is your fault. If only I had not married you. You make me so mad. Why can’t you be like so and so? I wish I were like so and so.
4. Lies That Distort the Gospel: I must earn God’s love. God will not protect me. God does not love me. I can do what I want; God will forgive me. If I were more spiritual, I would not struggle like this. God will bless me if I obey.
5. Lies from the Questions We Ask: Does God really hear me? Does God really love me? Has God abandoned me? Why does God not stop the pain?

When these types of thought-fortress lies continue to roll around in our heads, they will take our minds into captivity and move us out of line with the gospel (Galatians 2:14). Outside gospel lines will ultimately reduce Jesus to become less than what He should be, and the Spirit’s power in our lives will be reduced to less than what it can be.

Fighting with God’s Truth

It is essential that you arm yourself with God’s truth to overcome these strongholds—these thought fortresses. You cannot arm yourself with fleshly weapons. If you do, you may feel as though you have won the battle, but there will be more lies heaped upon the original lies. Fleshly weapons come from our human strength. Here are a few human weapons that are commonly used to fight the lies listed:

There are plenty more. You will notice how not all of these things are necessarily bad. It is bad when you use them as a means to feel better about yourself or to pull yourself out of the dumps while not living in the freedom and power the gospel provides. Ultimately, these things will not work. They will further enslave you while creating more ongoing dysfunction in your relationships. Spiritual warfare looks different. It contextualizes itself in the gospel—the person and work of Jesus Christ—on your behalf. He is the one you need to cooperate with regarding the battle for your mind. I am going to take each lie noted and pull it through a gospel filter. I am going to lay the gospel hammer on it, to crush its head (Genesis 3:15), which I hope will be the beginning of your journey to take your thoughts captive.

Defeating the Lie

1. Lies You Tell Yourself: I have to be perfect. You do not have to be perfect. In fact, if you try to be perfect, you will be rejecting the righteousness of Christ, while choosing to hold up your righteousness as the answer. Not accepting Christ’s righteousness is another gospel—the gospel of self-atonement. Not admitting the truth of your imperfection makes you a liar (1 John 1:8).
2. Lies the World Tells You: You must be true to yourself. You must be faithful to Christ. He is the one you live for, not for yourself. Living for yourself is the lie of the world—a self-centered, anti-Christ way of thinking. You are to die to yourself while fully trusting Christ, who knows better than you do.
3. Lies You Say in Your Marriage: It is your fault/I deserve better. You will never be happy if things always go your way. You will implode through your insatiable imbibing of self-centeredness. You are called to be content as you learn how to be sufficient through Christ rather than your personal preferences or what may even be good desires (Philippians 4:11-13).
4. Lies That Distort the Gospel: I must earn God’s love/God won’t protect me. Jesus Christ died for you on the cross. He, who was in the form of God, took on the form of a servant to rescue you. There is no greater love than a man who will lay down his life for another person. (Read Philippians 2:5-11, Romans 5:6-9, and John 15:13.)
5. Lies from the Questions We Ask: Does God really hear me? The answer is similar to number four, except we want to add a proper theology of suffering. We are called to suffer, but if we equate suffering to God distancing Himself, we will not be able to understand God the way we should (1 Peter 2:18-25).

Time to Fight

Mable’s battles were not primarily against the people in her world. Sure—her daddy did give her a raw deal. She also had bad things happen to her from others. Her battles go much deeper than the things done to her. Mable is in a spiritual battle with the evil influences of this evil world. When Satan tempted Christ, there would not have been a temptation if Satan could not deliver on what he was offering. Your temptations come when evil demonic forces influence your desires, and the temptation is real because they can give you your evil desires. When your desires cooperate with evil influences, you can rest assured that a stronghold will develop in your mind. When those lies take your mind captive, your body will follow suit. When you immerse your life mainly in the things of this world and its influences, you will be coerced, controlled, and captured by the things of this world—and that warfare will situate itself in your mind.

A gospel-informed mental warrior can quickly take renegade thoughts captive to obey Christ. But you must take the battle in you seriously because your enemy most certainly takes it seriously. You must be influenced more by the Spirit to desire the things of God. It is also essential that you surround yourself with people who can help you in this battle for your mind.

Call to Action

1. What lies do you believe?
2. Have your beliefs developed into strongholds?
3. What has been the fallout from such strongholds?
4. What is one thing you know you can change right now?
5. Who will you enlist to help destroy these strongholds?

Need More Help?

1. If you want to learn more from us, you may search this site for thousands of resources—articles, podcasts, videos, graphics, and more. Please spend time studying the ones that interest you. They are free.
2. If you want to talk to us, we have private forums for those who support this ministry financially. Please support us here if you want to help us keep our resources free.

Rick Thomas

Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.

In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).