Take Captive Your Thoughts and Be JOYful!

Have you had your JOY JUICE today???  Make a conscious decision to drink it in and keep joyful thoughts in the forefront of your mind!

                  Paul says in 2 Cor. 10:5 that we should “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  He didn’t say, “Quit thinking;” nor did he say, “Take captive some of your thoughts.”  He said to take captive EVERY thought.

         In other words, when a thought pops into our mind, we must analyze it in a split second.  Is the thought beneficial to God’s purpose or is it a selfish thought?  Is it destructive or does it encourage and build up?   

            A good analogy might be to compare our thoughts to a caged animal. If we were to put any animal in a cage, it would be in captivity. It would be there until we set it free.  If we were to leave the animal in the cage without ever feeding it, it would soon die.  It is the same with our thoughts.  If we feed a thought, it will keep growing…sometimes out of control.   That thought can become destructive, not only to you, but also to your family, friends, acquaintances; your job may suffer.  The thought could become so uncontrolled that it creates anger, bitterness, resentment, and selfishness. 

          

           God's Word tells us to take those thoughts captive and to set our minds of things above, not on earthly things. (Col. 3:2) Let's fix our thoughts on JESUS!  He is willing to cleanse our lives and fill us with cheerful thought of JOY!