Read: 2 Corinthians 10:1-6
Memory Verse: 2 Corinthians 10:5
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
I remember one time when my wife and I were sitting in the living room together watching TV when a Boeing 747 size flying roach landed in her hair. Her reaction was funny to watch, although she didn’t see the humor in the situation. I was laughing so hard that I couldn’t do anything to help her and she was not happy about that!
When the roach landed on her head she immediately jumped up and began flailing her hands on her head while doing a dance across the living room. She was doing her best impression of Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson wrapped into one trying to cast that bug off her head! After she got it off she then chased it around the room with a rolled-up magazine intent on crushing the life out of it. Despite her best efforts, it still got away and she spent the rest of the evening watching for it to come back.
How she reacted to that roach is how we should react to the imaginations and thoughts that the devil puts into our minds. Sometimes those thoughts are sinful and evil. Other ones are thoughts of depression, anxiety, and unworthiness. None of these thoughts are from God.
Call out the devil for the liar and accuser that he is: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44) “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” (Revelation 12:9) Don’t accept or tolerate his lies. Cast them out, bring them into captivity, and destroy them before they find a stronghold in your life!
Meditation for the Day: What lies of the devil have you believed. Which ones have become “strongholds” in your life?
Assignment: How are you going to bring these lies into captivity and cast them out? How can you replace them with the truth? List the lies and next to them list God’s truths.
For Fun: Recall a time when a bug or other creature was crawling on you. What was your reaction?