Taking every thought captive

God sends me a message
For years I've heard it preached and read it in the Bible that we must "bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). But I've always struggled with actually doing this. I tried to think about different things whenever a thought would enter my mind that was a sinful thought. Many times, that was like trying not to think of a pink elephant.

Then I came across an audio lesson from Nan Missler. You may have heard of Chuck Missler; she is his wife. In this lesson, I gained an understanding of how to finally submit my thoughts to Christ. This was a little over 3 weeks ago now, and God has absolutely blessed me in so many ways through this teaching. He is using this to really work on different areas of my life in which I was not in submission to Him. The lesson can be found here. I encourage you to listen to all 5 of the lessons, in order (each one is about 27 minutes long).

What God has shown me
Over the last few weeks God has shown me so many things through this lesson and its application on making every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. God is so awesome, in that He waited until the perfect point in my life to reveal these things to me. I have been broken down over events with work and just trying to figure out what course my life is going to take, and I realize that this is God pruning away branches in my life that are unnecessary. Here's a quick summary of some of the things He has taught me. I share these with you with the hope and prayer that this message will be a blessing to you as you read it.

- Love for the "little ones." A desire to help those people who are disadvantaged, especially the children who are abused and have no one to stand up for them.
- Patience at work. God is my rock and my fortress. He is teaching me to be a faithful steward at work even when the job is not one that I enjoy. It is important to have a servant's heart with everyone, not just with people I like.
- Putting God's desires above my own. I am so selfish that God has been working on this for years now! Right now I am at a decision point about what my next job is going to be. God is revealing to me that my decision should be based on what is going to ultimately bring Him glory, not on my own desires (salary, prestige, convenience).
- How to make decisions. I heard it preached during my Monday night Bible study that there are 3 factors to consider when making a decision. External considerations (does it "make sense"), a peace from God that comes from making the right decision, and is it meeting God's will?
- Loving my girlfriend. If I try to love my girlfriend according to my own standards, that will not be the best for her. I need Christ's perfect love to abide in me and work through me in order to love her as Christ desires me to love her. I also need to be a spiritual leader and take the initiative to wash her in God's word.
- Serving. Serving is a way of life. I need to have a servant's heart at work, with my friends, and at church. I tend to have a servant's heart some of the time. God is showing me how to have a servant's heart in all my circumstances.
- Be content in God, not in my circumstances. I have allowed my circumstances to dictate whether I'm happy or sad, angry or content. This is a sin. I must be content in my relationship with God, in the fact that I have eternal life because of the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Circumstances have no effect on this, and when I allow them to affect my emotions then I am putting my circumstances above God.