2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (Amplified Bible)
3For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons.
4For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,
5[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),
6Being in readiness to punish every [insubordinate for his] disobedience, when your own submission and obedience [as a church] are fully secured and complete.
Some of our greatest accomplishments start with a thought, likewise some of our greatest battles and defeats begin with a thought. When I was growing up I remember hearing the saying "you can talk yourself out of things before you get started." Of course then it was hard for me to understand who you would be talking to in that instance and how you could accomplish such a feat without looking crazy if you were actually standing there holding a conversation with yourself. As I became an adult and I began to encounter certain events that challenged what I was comfortable doing and what I had already mastered I understood, that fear, anxiety, insecurities, stresses, old mind sets to go and voices of people from days gone by could keep you from succeeding, accomplishing, trusting beyond what you could do within your own strength, abilities and knowledge or even trying to step out in faith to do something that challenges us.
Recently, I was asked to speak at a friends church, I had been out of the "pulpit" for about six years. I had walked away from ministry because of drama in my personal life and in the life of the church I was a member of at that time. I vowed within myself not to go back into something that had in my past had such a negative impact on my life. When my friend called and asked, initially fear gripped me and I wanted to say no. As I thought about my past and all I had encountered being in ministry I definitely found myself gripped with a range of emotion that all pointed to my declining the invitation to speak. You see although in that invitation God was trying to get my attention to let me know although I had walked away from my call, the call was still in me, and had not walked away from me. But although my spirit kept screaming yes, that range of emotions and thought was screaming no. I found I had to seek God with all my might to quiet all of those anxieties, fears, emotions and thoughts and reminders from the past to hear what God's truth and will was for my life in that moment. I had to allow God to sit me down so that He could be raised up.
There are so many times in this journey God is calling us to do something, or He is leading us in a way that is unfamiliar or uncomfortable for us, and our mind is telling us no way, it can not be done. Or our thoughts turn to fear, anxiety, insecurity or words that we had allowed to take root in our lives over the years that now has become apart of us. But if God is leading us, guiding us or telling us, it really is taking the guess work or thought work out it for us, we just need to move over and move out of God's way so that we can be placed in a venue for His service. So many times God is saying go and we want to have an opinion about whether this is right for us at this time. God is not asking us to think it out, He asking us to be obedient put aside our agenda, our plan, our thoughts, our emotions and allow Him to be God and allow Him to use the vessel that He created and called for His use and His Glory.
What is it that God has been calling you to do or has instructed you to get right that you have been trying to think through, rationalize or you have let your emotions have precedence in deciding? Move out of your own way, but more importantly move out of God's way and let Him do what He needs to do with you and through you. You will find that you will be much happier that way and that the journey will lead you into the places God wants you in the timing that He wants you to be in. It is time for some of us to get out of our own head so that we can receive a renewed mind, the one that is also in Christ Jesus!
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