Spend time in prayer and silence with God, asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” when away! I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
– 2 Corinthians 10:1-5
Devotion
Here Paul points out that as Christians we are not to live our lives according to the standard of this world. In Romans chapter twelve, He states it this way, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Paul goes on to remind the Corinthians and us that we have a spiritual enemy, and to defeat this enemy we are required to use spiritual weapons. (See Ephesians 6:10-18) These spiritual weapons have the power to bring down spiritual strongholds. He closes out this section of Scripture with this thought, “We take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.” Scripture has a lot to say about our thought processes. “Fix your mind on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2). “You (God) will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are stayed on You…” (Isaiah 26:3). “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2b). “Your mind should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).
The Big Question
Do you live your life according to the standards of this world? Do you recognize the spiritual battles that are being fought in this physical realm? What do you spend your time thinking about? When you are distracted by the noise of this world, how do you redirect your thinking or take every thought captive for Christ?
Conclude your time in prayer and silence, reflecting on what God revealed to you today.