timcia

The first step to taking thoughts captive is to make it a goal to do it “All the time.” There are two aspects of this. The first is to fight daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly for clean thoughts. The second is to have clean things to think about at our fingertips. Consider having a written “Top 7 things to think about.” Then add and subtract from it to keep it fresh. If we don’t have something good to replace the bad… the bad will win.

James 4:17- Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Second, always make one of your thoughts or prayers that you focus on… about purpose. Why does the verse above say that not doing good is sin? Because God knows that if we don’t do good we will “always” get into sin anyways. Consider praying twice daily:
“Father, help me to turn from drinking/drugs, and help me to care about people and souls.”

Third, pick one verse about intoxication to focus on often. If you focus on a great verse for the next few days it will be “in you.” Once it is “in you” it will add power to your prayers.

If you consistently focus on scripture and prayer, at some point, satan will start to get frustrated with tempting you.

Yesterday, I was told of a person who allowed sin to overwhelm them to the point of darkness, depression, and worse. Someone close to me was traumatized by their involvement in the situation, so I told them that sin always causes something to start to die, or partially die.

John 8:12 ESV Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Consider praying: “Father, help me flee from sin, show me how to follow You.”

Romans 8:5-8 ESV For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

James 4:7 ESV Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
We submit to God when we commit to a war against sin. There are 3 parts to the above verse. #1 submit to God, #2 resist intoxication (with scripture if overwhelmed), and #3… then, satan will flee from you.

The more intentional we are about the above process, the more foolproof it starts to be.

Second, know the results of the wages of sin (which the Bible says “Is death.” Do a partial memorization of Romans 5:5-8.

Third, if darkness is squeezing you, pound it out with daily Bible reading. Pound it out by reading the above 3 verses 3 times each. Pound it out by doing a Google search “Verses Light.” Jesus is the Light of the world. Repent, then pound some of the verses about His light into you.

I sin and sometimes am too casual with how I repent. When I do that things like anger and other emotions get out of control. Yesterday I sinned and decided that I needed to pray a lot more aggressively in that type of situation to turn from sin. I spent zero time mourning my sin, I went straight to planning how I would not do it again.
Planning how I would not do it again was the right move, it was just at the wrong time. First I needed to say how sorry I was for it. Second it would have been wise to acknowledge that once again I was underestimating the seriousness of my actions.
Then, it may have been a good time to plan how to avoid it again.
Yesterday I had a troublesome day. I thought it was because of the people around me. But it was more how I was way too casual in making things right with God.
Second, blatant sin leads to overwhelming temptation. Fighting to do things God’s way helps us regain some control so we can fight back.
When we take time to mourn our sin, we allow God time to help us understand “why” the action was such a problem in the first place. Then we make progress.

We can’t allow negatives like anxiety, anger, frustration, or any other negative emotion to rule us. If we don’t go to war with these issues or any issues like them, they will keep us flirting with darkness. When we have an issue we must attack it. For example, we are home alone, and we are frustrated, and there is nothing that we want to do. Consider praying:
“Father, teach me how to pray about this.”
Take 10 minutes to pray about how you will go to war. God may show you to pray something like:
“Father, take away this habit of drinking/drugs and help me to be content.”
Or, He may show you another prayer to focus on.
Second, if we flirt with darkness we start skiing downhill faster and faster towards total darkness. Keep in mind that Jesus is the light, but if we do nothing we activate darkness. We need to do something spiritual to activate the light. There is no middle ground. We do something to go up into the light, or we do nothing and go downhill fast.
Today, have certain verses ready to help you go up. Have specific prayers ready to fight against what is troubling you.
Finally, determine to live in peace and light. Consider praying:
“Father, help me to fight sin and fill me with Your peace.”
When we focus on peace and contentment we start going up.
Consider memorizing: 1 Timothy 6:6 But Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
When we fight the negatives while we pray about the positives, we start to make solid progress.