The godly woman’s discipline of the mind is achieved through a serious and continual exposure to God’s Word.

If you are filled with God’s Word, your life can then be informed and directed by God - your relationships at home, your parenting, your career, your ethical decisions, your internal moral life. The way to a Christian mind is through God’s Word!

In what ways do you know you need a greater discipline of mind?

What are your greatest struggles in this area - unhelpful comparisons? self-pity? dwelling on past pain? pride? worry? something else?

What can you do, practically and spiritually, to experience growth toward wholeness in these areas?

Testing our thoughts and learning to take them captive is a huge part of the mental battle we have with our thoughts. So, when we can learn to do that as a regular practice, we will gain control over our thoughts.

But what if we chose to be more proactive with our thoughts in order to prevent reacting later on? There will still be thoughts that have to be tested and taken captive, of course. For we are not perfect. We can, however, choose to follow through with Paul’s exhortation in Colossians 3:2 NIV, which says, “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.” In setting our minds on “things above” we will have less thoughts that need testing and being taken captive.

When we set our minds, we are striving for something and directing our mind toward a certain thing. This verse says we shouldn’t set our minds on earthly things. Those “earthly things” usually distract us and cause our thoughts to keep us from God’s best.

Instead of focusing on and setting our sights on things that could cause toxic thoughts, let’s be proactively mindful of what we choose to put in front of us. When we choose things that honor God and keep us pure in heart, we will have less thoughts to test and take captive.

Taking our thoughts captive will be one of the toughest battles we engage in. It’s so much easier to just entertain the toxic thought. The effort comes when we engage in the battle. Even if we entertain the thought, we can still take it captive. It truly is better to do it late than never.

When the Bible says to take our thoughts captive, that means we have the power to do something about it. As Christians, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we can manage our thoughts.

Here’s an example: let’s say there’s someone in your life you need to forgive. Every day, you remember what they did to you. You can’t seem to let it go or heal from it. You might start to have thoughts like, “I don’t really need to forgive this person” or “What they did to me is unforgivable.” These are the toxic thoughts you must take captive. Recognize that it is causing you to inner turmoil. Then, choose truth from God’s Word. You might even pray, “God, I’m choosing to push this thought aside instead of entertaining it. I know you have forgiven me of so much in my life. Help me to extend the same forgiveness to this person.”

And then you do it again and again and again until it “takes.” You’ll know healing is occurring when you look back on the situation and the sting of pain isn’t as intense. You will see it as something that happened to you—past tense—not something that is happening to you—present tense.

Why is it important that we stop those thoughts?

Because they go against God’s best and prevent us from living joy-filled lives.

In order to spend our mental energy on things that build up instead of tear down.

So they won’t control our minds, which in turn control our actions.

Every day is a new day. We get a new set of hours to live the lives that will bring glory to God and joy to our souls. We just have to recognize that and wake up with a newfound determination to be the boss of our thoughts, not the other way around.

Paul knew about the importance of guarding our thought life. He knew that the substance of our thoughts would be a crucial factor in determining whether we are pressing toward “the prize for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). Our thoughts have a profound way of shaping our realities.

In this last chapter of Philippians, Paul gives us advice on how we can develop a thought life that will help us walk towards the fullness of the resurrected life. Rather than ruminating on our fears and frustrations, Paul encourages us to think about the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy things. All these things are rooted in the unequivocal goodness of God.