The Point of Purity Podcast

Captivated

August 09, 2024 • Steve Etner • Season 4 • Episode 186

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As a Christian, you should be daily undergoing a spiritual metamorphosis in your life, letting the Holy Spirit take that which is on the “inside” – your new, holy nature – and daily living it out so that others can see it.
 
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As a Christian, you should be daily undergoing a spiritual metamorphosis in your life, letting the Holy Spirit take that which is on the “inside” – your new, holy nature – and daily living it out so that others can see it. This is accomplished only as you choose daily to gut out the old way of thinking (how can I make King Me happy, happy, happy?) and replacing it with a new way of thinking (how can I live in a way that bring glory, praise, and honor to God?)

Welcome to the Point of Purity Podcast! I’m your host Steve Etner – author, National Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry and this is Episode #186. This week’s Episode is simply entitled “Captivated.”

 

Many years ago, I tried my hand at being a bank teller. Let’s just say that math and I are not good friends, and this job proved it in spades. While I was being trained for the position, my trainer slid two $5 bills across the table toward me. “One of these is a counterfeit” she told me. “You have ten seconds to tell me which one it is.” She then began her stopwatch.

Thinking I could impress her, I picked up the bills, held them up to the light, felt them, crinkled them, I even sniffed them. I did everything I could think of but to no avail. At the end of the allotted time (ten seconds goes by way too quickly) I was nowhere closer to my objective than when I had started.

“Do you want to know how to instantly identify a counterfeit?” she asked. Then, placing her index fingers on the bills, she pulled one back toward her and pushed the other one closer to me. Tapping her finger on the bill directly in front of me she said, “To immediately identify a counterfeit bill become intimately familiar with the real thing.” Talk about a great lesson – and I’m not talking about banking here. “To immediately identify a counterfeit, become intimately familiar with the real thing.”

My days as a bank teller didn’t last very long, but that lesson has stuck with me for life. To recognize whether something is a lie from Satan (a counterfeit if you will), become intimately familiar with the real thing – God’s truth found in God’s Word. There is absolutely no reason today why any person listening to this podcast should be ignorant of the Scriptures. We have been blessed to have the bible available to us in many different translations and languages. Most of us have at least one Bible in our home, and many of us have more than one. 

Furthermore, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to teach us the truth of the Word. Remember Jesus’ promise (in John 16:13) that the Holy Spirit “will guide you into all truth.” As you choose to daily open your Bible, read and study Scripture, at the moment of temptation the primary ministry of the Holy Spirit in your heart is to remind you of what you have studied and memorized; giving you the weapon (the Sword of the Spirit, Ephesians 6:17) needed to defeat the lies of the enemy. 

Jesus said, “The Holy Spirit – he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” (John 14:26 NLT)

So, when you are being exposed to one of the devil’s lies, if you’ve been faithful in reading God’s Word and memorizing Scripture – the Holy Spirit will remind you of what God’s truth says. Yet, in order for that to happen, you must choose daily to invest time in reading and studying the Bible. 

You do realize that there is a big difference between spending and investing, right? When you spend, you are giving up what you have for a perceived immediate benefit or pleasure that typically is temporary and short-lived at best. It doesn’t last. When you invest, you are choosing to give up something now so that you can get something much bigger and better in the future. This is why it is so important that you see your time in God’s Word as an investment. You are choosing to surrender your time, energy, and attention now, but the investment of “[letting] the word of Christ richly dwell within you” (Colossians 3:16 NASB’95) will reap huge benefits later when faced with those inevitable trials and temptations of life.

Let me create a word picture for you. Imagine you head over to the hardware store and spend nearly two hours looking at all the tools. You examine some really great hammers, saws, drills, tape measurers, levels, and screwdrivers. You look at them, handle them, studying their every detail. Through that experience you gain an understanding of what they do, how they work, and the benefits of using them. But you never purchase one. You leave the store, go home and begin working on a major project that you’ve been putting off. It’s time to begin, but you have no tools. They’re still at the hardware store. You chose not to invest in them to make them yours. As a result, you cannot complete the project in a timely, accurate, and proper manner simply because you don’t have the tools and equipment needed to accomplish the task.

So it is with the task of submitting to God, resisting the enemy (James 4:7). If you just go to church on Sunday and hear the message; if you just occasionally open your Bible during the week and read a verse or two, you may gain a decent head knowledge of what the text is about, but you have not adequately prepared yourself for the enemy’s attack on your mind. You have not given the Holy Spirit the proper tools required to provide you with a proper defense. 

This is why David cries out, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against you.” (Psalm 11911 NASB’95) How well do you know your Bible? Notice that David did not say, “I have read your word” or even, “I have studied your word.” He said, “I have treasured your Word.” Do you see God’s Word as “treasure”?

Do you want God’s richest blessings upon your life? The blessed man is the one who chooses daily to delight “in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:2 NIV’84) God instructed Joshua (and us) to “not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:8 NIV’84)

The Psalmist declares, “I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.” (Psalm 77:12 NIV’84)

And in Psalm 119:27 he writes “Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.” (ESV)

We should declare as David did in Psalm 119:15 “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.” (ESV) And shout out, “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.” (Psalm 119:97 NIV’84)

“Yes, I have more insight than my teachers, for I am always thinking of your laws.” (Psalm 119:99)

Don’t put God’s Word in your mouth and chew on it for a moment, then spit it back out – never swallowing it (putting into practice in your life). If you ate all your meals like that, you would eventually become weak and sickly. It’s the same with your spiritual life. We are to feed upon God’s Word, chewing it and swallowing it – meditating upon it throughout the day, thinking about it and walking in obedience to it. God’s Word “is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” (Deuteronomy 30:14 compare Jeremiah 15:16)

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

Let me take a moment and repeat the verse I just quoted you. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8) Now, focus your attention on the last four words – “think about such things.” To “think about such things,” is to thoroughly occupy your mind with these six principles. We should be thinking so much about these types of things that there is no room for any King Me centered thought to find entrance or take root.

Someone may rise the question, “Are you saying that if I fill my mind with these things, I won’t ever think a sinful thought ever again?” No. What I am saying is this: When you faithfully check every thought against the grid of these six things given in Philippians 4:8, sinful thoughts have no place to take up occupancy in your mind. You will “not think about how to gratify the desires of the [flesh].” (Romans 13:14 NIV’84)

Every thought is to be filtered through the grid of Philippians 4:8. I can almost hear someone exclaiming, “Wait a minute. Every thought? C’mon, that’s impossible. I think thousands of thoughts daily – many of which I’m not even consciously aware of. And you expect me to stop and consider every one of those thoughts? Can’t be done!”

God’s command in Philippians 4:8 is quite clear. “Think on these things.” This isn’t my suggestion. Paul isn’t giving us a nice goal to strive toward. We are to choose daily to thoroughly occupy our mind with godly things so there is no room for sinful thinking to settle in and germinate. Let me encourage you with this thought: God will never command us to do something that is impossible for us to do. In fact, right after writing Philippians 4:8, Paul goes on to declare, “I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13 NLT) This is because “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.” (2 Peter 1:3 NLT)

Please don’t lose sight of the fact that God commands us to daily “Take every thought captive to obey Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV)

Note the command. “Take captive” every thought. This is written in the present tense, active voice. Let me remind you that the present tense simply means this action is something that is being done in real-time. Non-stop. Always in the present. This means we are to never stop or take a break from capturing every thought we think so that we are always walking in obedience to Christ. The active voice is telling you that you and you alone are the one responsible for this action. No one else can take captive your thoughts, no one else can choose for you to live a life of full surrender to God. If it’s going to be done, you are the one who must do it.

OK, now let’s take a moment here to consider the word “captive.” The root word means to capture as a prisoner of war at the point of a sword. Think about that. The sword God has given you to use to take captive your thoughts is describe by Paul as “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17 ESV) Why? “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” (Hebrews 4:12 NLT) The only thing that can effectively take your sinful thoughts into captivity is God’s Word

As we discovered from a previous episode where we took an in-depth look into Ephesians 6:17, this “sword of the Spirit” refers to key verses and passages of Scripture that addresses specific temptations and sin-issues in your life. According to 2 Corinthians 10:5 what is it we are to take captive? Every thought. Not just some of your thoughts, not even most of your thoughts. You are responsible to take captive every thought so that you will glorify, honor, and praise God in everything you say and do. The only way to take your thoughts captive is by filling them with the truth of God’s Word. 

 

OK. Let’s hit the pause button until next week’s episode 

If you would like to learn more about today’s study, or if you’re interested in learning more about The Pure Man Ministry, be sure to visit our website to see the multitude of resources we’ve made available to you – you can find our website at ThePurityCoach.com

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So, until next time this is Author, Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach Steve Etner reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.