How to Tame Even the Most Rebellious Thoughts

Yesterday I took my son to see our zoo’s newly acquired lion. We watched him pace up and down the fence while growling and staring down the many onlookers. As I held up my two-year-old for a better look, I was thankful for the barriers separating us from this majestic, fierce creature.

2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to “take captive” our thoughts. Have you ever considered what this means or how to go about doin it? One definition of captive is “a person who has been taken prisoner or an animal that has been confined.” The word captive certainly carries with it a negative association.

As my son and I watched the lion shake his mane and trace his steps around the confinement, I sensed his displeasure and agitation. Just like this lion, I’m sure there’s no person who would enjoy being taken captive either.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul is effectively saying our thoughts are like living beings—a person or an animal. More than that, they are like living beings that resist and dislike their capture. Instead of captivity they desire to run about freely without interference. 

I admit used to endure my thoughts passively. I would brace for a wild pack of impressions, notions, or memories to trample through my mind kicking up dust clouds of lies or accusations. Waiting, I hoped for their soon departure.

I’m sure you have also endured unwanted thoughts. Maybe they are thoughts you know are in contradiction with God’s will and Word. Or maybe they are thoughts that distract from God’s authority over your life. 

To take captive these wild, resisting thoughts we need strategy, strength, and safe barriers.

Start With Strategy: The Choice

Acknowledging that we have choices about our thoughts is the first step to bringing them captive to obey Christ.

It sounds simple, but before we skim past this idea, it’s important to note whether we are taking a proactive posture. We are not victims of whatever pops into our heads. Just as we choose the foods we eat or the people we befriend, we are also able to choose our thoughts.

We know this to be true because we are told to “take captive” our thoughts. Taking requires action. Decisiveness. A choice to move, reach out, and grab it. When we notice an untrue or unhelpful thought has crept into our consciousness, we are presented with this choice.

My lack of confrontation in real life used to carry over into the way I engaged with my unwanted thoughts. “Oh no. That one is here again. Well I don’t want to be rude, so I’ll just stand over here while it makes itself at home.” Like a complacent hostess interacting with a pushy door-to-door salesman, I endured the unpleasantness rather than stand up and usher it straight out the door.

It’s okay for us to get bossy with our thoughts especially on matters this important to our Father God. He tells us that he has “set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20, emphasis mine). He gives us the option to choose life, to set our minds upon God, and to reject the thoughts that lead to death.

Strength to Endure: His Strength, Not Mine

Once we’ve accepted we can do something to change our thoughts, how exactly do we go about changing them?

The notions of “try harder” and “do better” have no place here. When it comes to battling our thoughts, we don’t just need God to strengthen us, we need him to be our strength.

When it comes to battling our thoughts, we don’t just need God to strengthen us, we need him to *be our strength*. #godismystrength Share on X

We do this by turning our mind from the unwanted thought on to Christ. As we speak to him (out loud if necessary), we begin to drown out the persistent language running through our heads. We ask him to change our thoughts, and then we make a choice to pivot our focus onto the person and work of Jesus. Name the characteristics of God. Recite Scripture. If your thought is a fearful one of the future, draw your thoughts back into the present moment where God’s grace can be found.

By focusing on God, we’re not just erasing an unwanted thought. A blank canvas is susceptible to the ugly marks of lies and accusations whereas one filled with the brushstrokes of God’s Word leaves no space for the enemy’s handiwork. 

Safe Barriers: Keeping Thoughts in Captivity

Something all captives have in common is the barrier surrounding them that prevents their free roam and reign.

After we’ve wrangled ourselves free of a thought’s grasp by the power of God, we have one more choice. Do we wait until the next trigger of anxiety or sinful desire to deal with the thought again? Or, do we build the barriers to keep us safe from unwanted thoughts in the future?

At the root of our unwanted thoughts is a lie—a lie that says sin brings more delight than God, convinces us we can never change, or tears down our identities.

We need time time to reflect, process, pray, and seek out the root issue motivating these thoughts.

Replace the lie with truth just as we replace our unwanted thoughts with thoughts of Christ.

Doing the digging may cause us to confront sin issues—our own or those committed against us. It may reveal our pride and arrogance. Or it may bring to light our deep brokenness.

It may not be intuitive, but all these results are ones to rejoice in because it is the work of Jesus to heal, to cause us to turn from our sin, and to walk in freedom and victory.

Start Today

This week, take note of what toxic thoughts, lies, anxieties, or sinful desires pass through your mind. Write them down. Pray over them. By the power of God, we can captivate and lock up these thoughts bringing them to obedience in Jesus and setting you free to live for him.

Father God,

I confess my thoughts don’t always line up with Your will and Your Word. Help me to notice my thoughts when they wander away from Your truth. Remind me that because of the gospel, I am no longer a slave to these thoughts. You bought my freedom. Today I “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God” (2 Cor. 10:5). Uproot these thoughts and show me whether I have accepted lies. Examine my heart and help me to follow you in all my attitudes, actions, and thoughts. Thank you for being my God who knows and loves me.

In Jesus’s name,

Amen.