Birds for Thought

II Corinthians 10:3-5
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ..."

Thoughts... mine have a tendency to pop up, run rampant, confuse, distract, and keep me awake at night. Thoughts direct our actions and attitudes. Good thoughts can lead to great benefit but those not so good thoughts (negative, discontentment, envy, jealousy, criticism, anger, bitterness, self pity, to name a few) can lead to destruction.

Imagine that you are in a room with a large bird cage in the center of it and inside of that birdcage there are a hundred birds. If all of those birds were to get out of the cage, the room would quickly become chaotic. The birds would panic, squawk, run into things, create a mess, maybe even damage curtains and furniture as you try to capture them and put them back into the cage. The job would be quite a challenge wouldn't it? Can't you just imagine a person thinking, "Why did I let those birds out? I wouldn't have had all of this trouble if I would've left the cage door closed!"

Our minds and thoughts are just the same. How often do we let our birds (thoughts) out of the cage (mind) so that they are running rampant in our heads creating havoc, confusion, damage- among other things - just like those birds. How much better would it be if we were to take those thoughts captive by shutting the cage door?

How do we shut the cage door? By replacing unbiblical thinking with Biblical thinking - memorizing scripture and thinking on it OR opening up our Bible, finding a verse that speaks to our struggle and reading it out loud as often as we must to keep that "bird" caged! It is a conscious choice to stop the flow of thought and deliberately redirect it. It is understanding that this is a battle that can be won by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit - the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God! This verse in I Corinthians has been a great tool in my own personal battle with unbiblical thinking.

Let's carry this analogy just a little further... with all of those birds in one cage, that cage is going to need to be cleaned periodically. The birds will be healthier if they are cared for properly as well. Our minds - like the cage - can get dirty and smelly if we do not keep it clean. If we procrastinate, the job only gets harder to do and our thoughts can start to get unhealthy. Routine maintenance on our "cages" is a good habit to get into.

Philippians 4:8 is a great cage cleaner: "Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy- meditate on these things."

Dear friends, this task is not one that we can do on our own... we need the living Word of God to wash our minds and renew it. In order for that to happen we must pick up the Word daily, read it (even if it is only a few verses), think on it, pray over it, and let it cleanse our "cages" (minds) and bring health to our "birds" (thoughts).