21 Days of Prayer and Fasting
Day 17
“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
This morning as I was walking the dog, one of the lenses in my glasses fell out. It is a plastic lens so it did not break. I picked it up and walked home with it in my pocket. But the world looked so different with one lens in and one lens out. My glasses correct how I see the world and without the lenses they are not worth much to me.
So much of the inner spiritual battle is waged in the mind. The spiritual battle is not an external battle of strength or force. It is a spiritual battle that can rage within an individual. Where I set my mind determines how I perceive all the things that go on around me and within me. Setting my mind on the things of Christ becomes the lenses I can see the world through.
I was in the 5th or 6th grade when I got my first set of glasses. I did not even know I had a vision problem prior to this. I remember sitting in the gym on the top of the bleachers and looking at the scoreboard. I was able to read it and it was clear. I recall the thought that went through my head. “So this is how the world looks to everyone else!?!”
Without the right mind set, I do not even realize I am seeing the world wrongly. I go through life with a hindered spiritual vision and missing what God is doing around me. Maybe it is my pride that blinds me, or I am completely unaware that I am in the wrong. The enemy uses these spiritual weaknesses to place arguments and opinions that corrupt and distort my mind.
I must focus on the knowledge of God. I must spend time in His Word, trying to understand the mind and will of God. I must spend time in His presence, learning how to see Him, myself, and the world around me. Like the chart that defines what 20/20 vision is, I need an accurate base to define a spiritual mind set on God. Without that, how can I take a thought captive? How could I know what is wrong with my mindset.
The weapons of this spiritual war are not physical. They are spiritual. A mind set in the wrong place accepts the things that are wrong and rejects what is right. A mind set on the knowledge of God can see to accept the things that are right and reject what is wrong.
Prayer: Father God, I feast on Your Word and linger in Your presence. Renew my mind so that I can begin to see all things, through the glasses of Your Truth. Help me see clearly, so I can know what is of You and what is not. Teach me the wrong ways I have learned to think and develop a worldview for my benefit. Change my mental sight and allow me to begin to take a thought captive because I can recognize, it is not from You.