Take Captive Every Thought

But you, dear friends, use your most holy faith to build yourselves up even stronger. 

Pray with the help of the Holy Spirit. 

Keep yourselves safe in God’s love, as you wait for the Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy to give you eternal life. 

~Jude 1:20-21 

Prayer is not only one of our greatest spiritual blessings because it is our means of communion with our precious Creator and it unites us as believers, it is also one of our most effective weapons in our arsenal against the enemy of our souls. 

As we use prayer along with studying the Bible which St. Paul calls the sword of the Spirit, we grow strong spiritually and closer to God. We also become a source of Christ's light to those around us. 

The book of Proverbs says that the righteous is a guide to his neighbor. Our lives become a blessing as we follow Christ each day through prayer, bible study and obedience to His word.

The Lord Jesus rebuked Satan in His wilderness temptations with God's word when He said,  “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

St. Paul says we are to pray every kind of prayer and at all times.

 Pray in the Spirit at all times. Pray with all kinds of prayers, and ask for everything you need. 

To do this you must always be ready. Never give up. Always pray for all of God’s people. ~Ephesians 6:18

St Paul wrote that we must be careful how we think. 

"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..." ~2 Corinthians 10:4-5 

Often the enemy attacks us in our thought life, discouraging us, filling our minds with accusing or condemning, depressing or hopeless thoughts. But Philippians 4:4,8 exhorts us to rejoice in the Lord always, no matter what our outward circumstances are and to think about good things in ourselves and others!

Philippians 4:4, 8 

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 

God is light and God is love. He is looking at all those good things in you and me in that list in Philippians 4:4-8 or He would not have inspired Paul to have us to think about those things.  

God tells us to be like Him in His word. 

St. Paul wrote these scripture verses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit--a man who was often severely beaten for his faith, put in cold, dirty prison cells and left to languish, and persecuted mercilessly. 

I imagine that he might have often been tempted to feel sorry for himself under such conditions but his epistles are the writings of a victorious warrior for Christ! 

I too want to be a victorious warrior for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I pray the declaration prayer in the scripture picture above to take captive every thought that exalts itself against the wisdom and knowledge of God and I ask the Lord to make my will line up with His. 

I pray to be led by His Holy Spirit always for His word declares in Romans 8:14 that all who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 

Amen and amen!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; 

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. 

Test all things; hold fast what is good. 

Abstain from every form of evil. 

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, teach us to pray without ceasing, thank You, Lord, we love You, in Jesus' name, Amen.

Unto The Least Of These/ "Take Captive Every Thought" Copyright © 2015 All Rights Reserved. Scripture Quotation 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (ERV) Easy To Read Version Bible © 2006 World Bible Translation Center /NKJV ©1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc/Scripture Picture&Prayer~SD Harden 

Your Life Is A Beautiful Blessing

Prayer

Thank You, Heavenly Father, that Your love for us is as measureless as time itself. 
Teach us how to see ourselves through Your eyes and to love and to value ourselves as You love and value each one of us.
Your word says that we are "gifts and treasures that You delight in..." (Ephesians 1:11 Living Bible)
Lord, "shed abroad the love of God in our hearts today by Thy Holy Spirit..." In Jesus' name.
Thank You. We love You. Amen.

Unto The Least of These, © 2014 Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved. Photo Illustration via Google+/ Quote by Neale Donald Walsch

For My Thoughts Are Not Your Thoughts

MY THOUGHTS ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS

First of all, let me just say that I've done many wonderful things with my IPad since my husband gave it to me last Christmas; created prayer songs, composed music, created innumerable paintings and cards. But the other day my iPad and I got into an argument-- of all things!!!! 

For the life of me I don't know how it happened. They make these devices too human for our own good.

For my readers who don't know, an IPad is a mobile tablet device made by Apple. They have this application on the device known as Siri – Wikipedia defines Siri as "an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator." Apple claims that the software "adapts to the users individual preferences over time and personalizes results." 

Well, I don't think this could be true based on what happened with me the other day with Siri.

First of all I had a migraine. I should've known better than to talk to Siri with a migraine. But who could have known she would have reacted like she did it?

I said, "Siri, help me find a new keyboard."

"Okay" says Siri. "Let me see. Here's what I found." 

She brings up some geeky computer keyboard with a thousand things I don't want.

 "No Siri! I want a professional musical keyboard like Yamaha makes!"

Then Siri informs me, "You make me blush!"

"WHAT DID I SAY TO MAKE THE THING BLUSH?" 

The transcript of our conversation records that I have called her a #%€£# and now she has brought up myriad websites on "Why I Hate Siri." 

!!!!!!! NO SIRI! I DID NOT SAY THAT!! I mean – you misunderstood me!!!

What am I doing? I thought to myself. I'm arguing with my iPad! ---Defending myself...This thing isn't a person!

It falsely accused me – it said I called it a word I would never have said! Alas.

How did it think I called it that word when all I said was......

My migraine grew worse.

Later, when I told my daughter about what had happened, she pointed out that her husband "uses Siri all the time and he never has a problem with it."

!!!!

I felt grossly misunderstood and mentally inferior to my mobile device...until I remembered all those "I Hate Siri" websites that Siri herself had so graciously directed me to. 

I took great comfort in knowing that I must not be the only one who had issues with this "intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator."

Anyway Siri is not the only one who has ever misunderstood me.

I have said things to people, and they have either misheard me entirely, or totally misunderstood what I have said. Just like Siri.

It is uncanny how this can happen to people who are not the least bit deaf. 

I've been guilty of this myself.

Therapists tell us that this happens because each of us have something inside of our hearts called filters. We listen to what others say through filters so that sometimes what we hear gets distorted by things we've experienced in the past, our feelings at the moment, how we feel towards the person speaking to us, how well we are listening, how we feel about ourselves, or any number of things.

The only person who listens to us without any distortion, without any

filters is Jesus Christ.

When we pray to Jesus, He understands us completely.

He knows exactly what we mean by every word, every thought. He does not ever condemn or accuse us.

If we ever have condemning or accusing thoughts, the Bible teaches that these thoughts are coming from Satan who the bible calls "the accuser of the brethren."

"Satan...brings charges against them before our God day and night."(Revelation 12:10)

St. John goes on in the same verse to tell us how to defeat Satan's lies and poisonous accusations:

Revelation 12:11 "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony..."

We rebuke Satan's lies by pleading the blood of Jesus over our thoughts and by speaking the word of God's Truth.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. We become living epistles of God's Truth by learning the Bible and obeying it. Knowing God's truth overcomes the enemy's lies. 

God wants us to have positive thoughts about ourselves and others. 

Jesus said, "God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world." John 3:17

The Bible teaches us to think on "Whatever is true...noble..right...pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent, or praiseworthy – think about such things." Philippians 4:8

God wants us to be like himself. God is holy, he wants our thoughts to be holy. 

Satanic thoughts are condemning, accusing, and negative. They are worry thoughts, fear thoughts, rebellious and disobedient to God's revealed will & nature. 

God thoughts are positive, encouraging, peaceful, and good. They will never contradict His Word.

Isaiah 55:8 “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways,” declares the Lord.

"God is love." 1 John 4:8

What does God's love look like?

God's Love looks like Jesus, the eternal Son of God, hanging on the cross of Calvary, bloodied, beaten beyond recognition, wearing a piercing crown of thorns, suffering for sins He never committed, bearing my shame, my sicknesses, and all my sorrows. He bore the wrath of God I deserved for my sins so that I could be forgiven, so that He could wash my sins away forever with his spotless blood.  He wanted to wrap me in a robe of His own righteousness that I never earned. He did this so that I could enjoy eternal fellowship with Him in Heaven. 

It was all a free gift of His incredible love. 

God loves you and me.

God does not condemn you or me.

Our God is purest Light and purest Love. 

God Loves You This Much...

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us. You know every word before we speak it and are acquainted with all our thoughts. Help us to run to You with every need in prayer, knowing that You will always understand us perfectly and fill our hearts with Your Love, Acceptance, and Peace. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for dying for our sins so that we could live with You forever! We love You! In Jesus' name, Amen. ❤

*For the record, I do NOT hate Siri, especially since I have now discovered that I can EDIT what I say to her with the keyboard!! Oh PRAISE JESUS! But in my frustration I downloaded Google Search and so far there have been no disagreements or misunderstandings. :)

For My Thoughts Are Not Your Thoughts, © 2013 Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved.