By Lisa S. Tarno

“We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.” ~2 Corinthians 10:5 TPT 

Thoughts create feelings which affect our actions leading to either a good or bad outcome. That’s the condensed version of seeing the progression of a thought to an action. I asked ChatGPT how many thoughts the average person thinks per day and it’s safe to say that we think several thousand distinct thoughts per day! The original consensus was in the tens of thousands but that wasn’t supported by scientific evidence. Regardless, several thousand thoughts is a lot!

It’s also safe to assume that within those thoughts are a mixture of truth and lies, good and bad, productive and destructive thoughts. The original psychology book, a.k.a. The Bible, has a lot to say about winning the war on the mind. I led off with a classic verse in 2 Corinthians 10:5 in a poetic translation called The Passion Translation. Other versions speak of “taking captive every thought and bringing it to the obedience of Christ”. Simply said, arrest the destructive thoughts and analyze them under the microscope of what we should be thinking about. Guidance is found in Philippians 4:8: Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy thoughts should be thought about. That’s the divine filter for better living.

I came across a thought-control-exercise that is used in psychology that I found beneficial. I wanted to share it and give credit to the source. (~Dr. Amen, Psychiatrist) There are five questions to work through in arresting a thought.

“1. Is it true?

2. Is it absolutely true? 100%

3. How does this thought make you FEEL?

How does this thought make you ACT?

What is the OUTCOME of this thought?

4. What would you FEEL WITHOUT this thought?

How would you ACT WITHOUT this thought?

What would the OUTCOME be WITHOUT this thought?

5. Flip it! Think the opposite thought: (This is how you stop a thought from attaching to you)”

The advice is to not believe every thought we have. This is practical advice for hungry students of wanting to think more productively and winning the battlefield of the mind. I’m not a psychologist but as a mother, I wore many hats and as a mentor and teacher I would apply the little bit of psychology I knew along with God’s Word to help my kids and others. My version of minding the mind was to first look at the emotion being felt. Then I would ask what they had been thinking about that brought about this emotion. Looking then at the thoughts I would lead them to the authorship of such thoughts: good- from God, bad- not from God. Chuck the bad thoughts! It was a little more simplified but achieved the same end result: policing our thoughts!

If every person is bathed in thousands of thoughts each day, I would think this would be a healthy discipline to apply! Thoughts precede feelings which give birth to actions and outcomes…how much more does it need to be emphasized to direct and control our thoughts? Just type the word “thoughts” into the YouBible app and see all the scriptures that pertain to the thought life of humans versus God’s thoughts. Another fun search is typing the word, “mind” into the YouBible app and check out all those references as well. 

At this stage of life, I am still disciplining myself with this application. It’s something that needs to be done daily. I actually “pray on” my armor (Ephesians 6:10-18) starting with the “helmet of salvation” each day. 

“Lord, place on my helmet of salvation today and help me mind my mind. Help me to take every thought captive and bring it to obedience in Christ (2 Cor 10:5). May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart please you (Ps. 19:14). Your word says that you have given us the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16), help me to operate in it today. Help me to think on what is good, positive, excellent and worthy of praise things (Phil 4:8). Help me to think thoughts of life and speak words of life for the power or life and death are in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21).”~ Lisa’s prayer

Policing our thoughts is an effort worth undertaking. It affects the quality of our relationships and life. Isn’t it freeing to know that you don’t have to believe every thought that you think? We should be filtering it just as much as we do our drinking water. Wrong thoughts are destructive and we have the complete ability to disarm them from becoming undesirable outcomes and attaching to our identities in our lives. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he…” Proverbs 23:6 KJV