Defeat Lust & Pornography
Defeat Lust & Pornography 8 minute read

How to Take Every Thought Captive: The Battle for Your Mind

Last Updated: March 19, 2018

Have you ever had someone accuse you of something that was not true? Have you ever accused yourself of something that was not true?

Either way, whether from you or another, any false argument launched against you can turn into a stronghold in your mind that will spiritually debilitate you.

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. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

How to take every thought captive

We all are susceptible to false arguments that control our minds.

There are recurring thought patterns, if left unchecked, will become the dominating argument of a person’s mind, to the point where they become what the argument says they are.

An Example: Madison

Madison was such a person. She was bound by fear. Some call it insecurity, which is a fair term. She was an insecure young woman who was preoccupied by the arguments that swirled around in her head.

The controlling opinion of man was a stronghold that seemingly could not be broken. Even though she knew God’s opinion of her, as understood through the Gospel, should be the dominating opinion of her mind, it was not.

She had learned early in life that performing for others was the way to be accepted. Her daddy taught her this by his passive parenting model and in the brief moments when he did say something, it was generally discouraging.

This helped to shape her as a people-pleaser. She was motivated to not disappoint others and incur their displeasure. She became all things to all people with the hope of being accepted.

In time, she became what others expected her to be. Though her early years with Christ were met with excitement, eventually the old argument came back. The stronghold was never broken.

She never learned how to take every thought captive. She learned how to be saved, which she was, but she never learned how to grow into a new creation. Her former manner of life, which was corrupt through her deceptive desires to be liked, still had control of her mind.

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. (Ephesians 4:22-23)

She was still living the way she always lived and had not learned how to renew her mind according to true right living and true holiness. She was what I call an unbelieving believer–a Christian who still lives according to an un-Christian quality of life.

And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)

It’s a spiritual warfare.

Madison was in a warfare of the mind. It was her mind that was under attack. According to Paul, this was more than just a human, living in a human body, being attacked by the negativity of other humans.

Though that was true, it was more than that. We live in a spiritual world where there are real demonic forces who are out to destroy the knowledge of Christ that resides in us.

The evil spiritual world cannot utterly destroy us because Satan is not God’s evil equal. But there are demonic forces who would enjoy nothing more than to derail a child of God from making God’s name great in this world.

Paul called this a spiritual warfare in this passage. He tended to view his Christian life as a life of spiritual warfare. Knowing where the main battle comes from is huge when you go to war.

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 there is a relentless spiritual battle happening in this world and you’re part of it? You’re 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 teaches us in 1 Corinthians 10 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 and he succeeded to a degree. He and his are trying 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 these weapons are designed with the power to destroy the strongholds in your mind?

Madison did not know this. One of the tricks of the evil ones is to disorient and deceive you. This is what Satan did to Eve. This is what was happening to Madison. She had bought the lie.

She believed there was something wrong with her. Owning her faith and living as a new creation in Christ were nice theological words that had no effect on her life. She was so wrapped up in her own fear, she did not know how to live in the freedom and good of God’s Gospel.

What is a stronghold?

The forces that are against you in the spirit world are no different than 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 the forces are. 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 deal for you is whether you will use these weapons to destroy the strongholds—arguments and arrogant opinions raised up against God as revealed in Christ.

A stronghold is an argument you believe that contradicts the person and power of Christ. A stronghold is a thought fortress of arguments that take you captive and hold you as a prisoner. These fortresses are designed to negate the person of Christ and His power (the Gospel) in your life.

Madison had bought the lie of insecurity or fear of man (Proverbs 29:25). Her fear ensnared her to a life of bondage, as manifested through people-pleasing, peer-pressure, and worry and anxiety about what others thought about her.

She was overly focused about nearly everything regarding herself. She second-guessed her thoughts, questions, and comments. 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, but they could influence her mind until her usefulness in making God’s name great was marginalized. Taking every evil argument captive and making it bow to the name of Jesus was an illusionary theological pipe dream.

Your Brain on Porn

What sinful thought fortresses are in your head?

God is truth and His purpose for coming to this world was to transform us so we could walk in His truth. The Devil’s job is to disrupt the truth God provides and motivate us to believe a lie. He hopes to set up deceitful strongholds in our minds.

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

What lies keep the Gospel from dominating your thought life? What strongholds have been setup 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. I need people to agree with me. I can’t shake my past. I deserve better than this.
  2. Lies the world tells you: You must be true to yourself. You are number one. I’m only human; everybody does this.
  3. Lies you say in your marriage: It’s your fault. If I had not married you… You make me so mad. Why can’t you be like so and so? I wish I was like so and so.
  4. Lies that distort the Gospel: I must earn God’s love. God won’t protect me. God does not love me. I can do what I want and God will forgive me. If I were more spiritual I would not struggle like this. God will only 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 your head, they will take your mind captive and will move you out of line with the Gospel. This will ultimately reduce Jesus to become less than what He should be and the Spirit’s power in your life will be reduced to less than what it can be.

Fighting the fight with God’s truth

It is essential you arm yourself with God’s truth to overcome. You cannot arm yourself with fleshly weapons. If you do, you may feel as though you have won the battle, but you have not. Or, you will win a particular battle, but lose the ultimate war for your mind.

[Tweet “A Gospel-informed mind can easily take renegade thoughts captive to obey Christ.”]

Fleshly weapons come from your own strength. Here are a few that are commonly used to fight some of the lies listed above: adultery, porn, alcohol, anger, medication, compulsive shopping, unforgiveness, bitterness, and gossip.

There are plenty more. Anything that is sinful is a fleshly weapon enlisted to fight a spiritual battle. None of them will work. They will further enslave you while creating more dysfunction in your relationships.

Spiritual warfare looks different. Spiritual warfare is contextualized in the Gospel. The Gospel is the person and the work of Jesus Christ on your behalf. He is the one you need for this battle.

I’m going to take each lie noted above and run it through a Gospel filter. I’m going to lay the Gospel hammer on it, to crush its head (Genesis 3:15).

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 are rejecting the righteousness of Christ, choosing to hold up your own righteousness as the answer. Not accepting Christ’s righteousness is another Gospel—your own 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 true 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 and fully trust another who knows better than you do.

3. Lies you say in your marriage–It’s your fault/I deserve better.

You will never be happy if things always go your way. You will implode through your continual imbibing of self-centeredness. You’re called to be content as you learn how to be sufficient through Christ rather than your fleshly 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. (Read Philippians 2:5-11; Romans 5:6-9; John 15:13)

5. Lies from the questions we ask–Does God really hear me?

The answer is similar to what you just read in #4, plus a true understanding of a theology of suffering. We are called to suffer, but if you equate suffering to God distancing Himself from you, then you don’t understand God the way you should (1 Peter 2:18-25).

Madison’s battles were not primarily against the people in her world. Sure, her daddy did her a raw deal. She’s had some other bad things happen to her–caused by others.

Her battles go much deeper than what has been done to her by other humans. She is in a spiritual battle with the evil influences in this evil world. When Satan tempted Christ there would not have been a temptation if Satan could not have come through with what he was offering.

The way we are tempted is when our desires are influenced by Satan and the temptation is real because he can give us our evil desires. This is John’s definition of worldliness in 1 John 2:15-16. It’s our desires that are influenced by evil forces to love things in this world.

When your desires cooperate with evil influences, you can rest assured a stronghold will be setup in your mind. When those lies take your brain captive, then your body will follow suit.

When most of your life is immersed in the things of this world and its influences, then you will be influenced, controlled, and captured by the things of this world–and that warfare will be in your mind.

A Gospel-informed mind can easily take renegade thoughts captive to obey Christ. Take the battle in you seriously because your enemy takes it seriously. We should be influenced by the Spirit to desire the things of God. (These are my sermon notes, put in narrative format. You can listen to my pastor’s sermon here, preached 06.03.12. It’s a good one.)

Photo credit: jetheriot

This article also appears on RickThomas.net: “How to take every thought captive.”

  1. John

    I am very grateful for this article…I appear strong spiritually but I know that there’s a sin in me of pornography and masturbation I know the scriptures,In church even they know that I am spiritually well.Yes covenant eyes has been helping but after a few days I return back to the sin so help please I beg despite I just want to work for Christ I’ve discovered that I am a good preacher and I desires to speak in tongues but the sin is holding on to me..please please I beg reply ,,and you can reply please on this Email *johnnmwangi.john@gmail.com*

    • Moriah Dufrin

      Hi John,

      Thank you for being open and sharing your struggles. We are all in this fight against sin together! Porn wants you to feel powerless. You can beat this, but it won’t be easy, and it will probably get worse before it gets better. So, you’ll need friends who can pick you up and offer encouragement and accountability. I wish you the best. Please have hope. Others have come through this. The path to freedom is strewn with casualties, but there are those who stand at the end, and all along the path, rooting for you.

      Blessings,
      Moriah

  2. Gary Hagan

    The Spirit was given to us as a a protector of our souls, but so many Christians try to do it on their own volition, to many setbacks. People pleasing is an insurmountable task that one can never achieve. I struggled too with waging war on spiritual demons. The key is to stay in the Word and keep your vision on Jesus. My pastor told me that too many times I would concentrate on how I perceive myself or how others see me. We need to look at ourselves through God’s eyes and let the Holy Spirit, who is all powerful to protect us guide our lives. It is also important to know that is what the body of Christ is for, to help gird us up and remind us we are not alone in this fight. We can all be accountable to one another and just knowing you’re not a “lone ranger” out there let’s us know that God can work through other believers to help us through the hard times. Thank you for so many good spiritual warfare tactics in this Covenant Eyes Program. It has been and will always be another stronghold in upholding my walk with the Lord. PTL!

  3. Chuck Harkes

    I have to say this was a bit disappointing. The title was “how to take every thought captive, the battle for your mind’. Instead it should have been titled “the spiritual battle for your mind”. Where is the meat? What scriptures do you recommend for the battle?

  4. Eloho

    I am very grateful for this article…. Because I am a survivor of incest which led me to falling into other sins like masturbation lust and porn that has held me bound for so long …and since then I have been men pleaser even if I lie to myself about this…. I appear strong but deep down I am weak, struggling and I’m lost… I’ve been trying to get my identity in Christ… I know the Scripture but I’ve not truly experienced it and I’m longing for it… I am now hard hearted, no love and I’m struggling to go by each day… Please pray for me… I really need to experience divine manifestation in my life

    • Kay Bruner

      Hi there. I am so, so sorry for the pain you’ve been through. I hope you’ve got a good counselor to help you heal from the abuse. I would suggest finding a counselor who has experience helping incest survivors. I think you’re right that the experience of what you know to be true is exactly the next step for healing,and so many many times this is exactly what an experienced counselor can help you work toward. Peace to you, Kay

  5. John

    Good stuff. Would love to read more about the “how” as opposed to the “why.” In Buddhism, they have meditation as a way to gain control of runaway, unwanted thoughts. An increase in awareness and mindfulness help this process. Is such a process conducive to a Christian?

  6. Thomas

    As we are working through this as a couple, a question came up…..is it possible that once one has seen victory in porn addiction (with God’s help) that the brain “wiring” has led that person to another addiction such as alcohol, food, etc. Can you address this?

    • I’m not sure what you mean by the brain wiring leading that person in another direction. Brain wiring is shaped by behavior and beliefs, so if a person starts to replace the buzz he/she gets from porn with another buzz, there most certainly can be a new addiction that crops up.

  7. Stacey

    Thanks so much for this write up. It is a blessing to me. I had the characteristics of Madison but since I’ve repented and left myself for Christ to take control, I have been a changed person with different reasoning. This time around, whenever an evil thought or desire comes to my mind or wants to evade my mind. I remind myself that that my body is the temple of God and then I say “the Lord rebuke you evil thought” then I start forcing myself to think of good and positive things and after that I say a prayer I was taught in Elementary school back home in my country in Africa. The prayer goes….. God be in my head and in my understanding, God be in my eyes and in my looking, God be in my mouth and in my speaking, God be in my heart and in my thinking, God be at my end and at my departing. Thanks again for this amazing post. I bookmarked it. God bless you Rick!

    • Carlynn

      Thanks I will pray this prayer I love it.

  8. Mike

    Awesome article!! There is a book out by Joyce Meyers called “Battlefield of the Mind”. It goes into detail on how to take thoughts captive and pull down strongholds by the Power of Jesus Christ and his spirit living within you. I can tell you I like so many others have been dealing with strongholds and Lies that had me thinking I’m going crazy or that God had abandoned me, and that I was just messed up misfit etc. I had severe anxiety that hit me and felt hopeless. I can tell you that if you are in that situation you can be set free immediately but in my case it has been a progressive process of taking thoughts captive and measuring them against the TRUTH of Gods word. He has set me free of PORN and immoral thoughts, restored my marriage, and is continuing to bring me out of all sorts of mental strongholds that have tried to bind me and keep me from living in freedom and Victory. Be encouraged that God Loves you even when you don’t feel it or think he used to but not anymore. I am still a work in progress but I rejoice when I think of what he has done for me and that he will NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU!!
    Love always
    Mike.

  9. Dee

    I’m in tears right now, this is something I started meditating about my life and this post has blessed me so much! I’ve been bombarded by insecurities In my marriage! But I’m so grateful I found this. Thank you so much..

  10. Suzie Demo

    Absolutely amazing. Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou. I am that madison in your story. Thankyou for opening my eyes and helping to now take God’s truths as weapons. God bless. Very much needed when waring against legalistic/law following rules.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related in Defeat Lust & Pornography

Editor's Picks

A teenage girl standing apart from a group of friends.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

I Was a 12-Year-Old Girl Addicted To Porn

All the assumptions that pornography was a boy’s struggle completely dismissed me,…

2 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

Woman habitually looking at her phone.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

Porn Habit vs. Porn Addiction: Is There a Difference?

What’s the difference between being addicted to porn and merely having a…

6 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

A teenage girl using a computer.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

Is Something Wrong With Me?: A Woman’s Struggle With Porn

Sin has taken the form of nude images, explicit magazines, TV shows,…

4 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

Woman reading the Bible with her cup of coffee.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

How to Overcome Porn Addiction According to the Bible

The Bible clearly tells us what we should and shouldn’t do. It…

5 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

A young woman singing with a microphone in church.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

I Was the “Perfect” Christian Girl and Addicted to Porn

I was introduced to pornography toward the end of elementary school. As…

3 minute read

Read Post

Editor's Picks

A teenage girl alone at night with her phone.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

I Thought I Was the Only Girl to Ever Struggle With This

The struggles I have had with pornography have been long and hard.…

3 minute read

Read Post

Related in Defeat Lust & Pornography

A teenage girl standing apart from a group of friends.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

I Was a 12-Year-Old Girl Addicted To Porn

All the assumptions that pornography was a boy’s struggle completely dismissed me,…

All the assumptions that pornography was a boy’s struggle completely dismissed me, a twelve-year-old girl addicted to porn. I was part of a large percentage of teens using pornography, and while so many of us…

2 minute read

0 comments

Woman habitually looking at her phone.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

Porn Habit vs. Porn Addiction: Is There a Difference?

What’s the difference between being addicted to porn and merely having a…

What’s the difference between being addicted to porn and merely having a porn habit? Habits are behaviors that have become automatic over time. Addiction involves a deeper change in your neurochemistry. Habits might be changed…

6 minute read

0 comments

A teenage girl using a computer.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

Is Something Wrong With Me?: A Woman’s Struggle With Porn

Sin has taken the form of nude images, explicit magazines, TV shows,…

Sin has taken the form of nude images, explicit magazines, TV shows, R-rated movies, sexual assault, and little minds being exposed to perversion at a young age. Whether the calendar reads 1932 or 2024, both…

4 minute read

0 comments

Woman reading the Bible with her cup of coffee.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

How to Overcome Porn Addiction According to the Bible

The Bible clearly tells us what we should and shouldn’t do. It…

The Bible clearly tells us what we should and shouldn’t do. It tells us that watching pornography is a sin and something Christians should strive to avoid.  But what if you are addicted to pornography? Suppose…

5 minute read

0 comments

A young woman singing with a microphone in church.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

I Was the “Perfect” Christian Girl and Addicted to Porn

I was introduced to pornography toward the end of elementary school. As…

I was introduced to pornography toward the end of elementary school. As a young Christian girl who had never imagined, seen or heard about such things, this exposure planted a seed in my mind that…

3 minute read

0 comments

A teenage girl alone at night with her phone.

Defeat Lust & Pornography

I Thought I Was the Only Girl to Ever Struggle With This

The struggles I have had with pornography have been long and hard.…

The struggles I have had with pornography have been long and hard. It is a road that I have traveled since I was a young girl and something that has filled my life with so…

3 minute read

0 comments