What can be done to deal with the lies that dominate our thinking?  Can we be set free from long-time captivity?   The Apostle Paul weighs in. 

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

He refers to weapons that are at our disposal.  They are not weapons the world uses ~ physical things we can hold in our hands.  They are spiritual weapons, invisible yet effective, because they demolish thoughts that run contrary to the knowledge of God.  ‘Demolish’ is not a lightweight concept either.  It means to bring something down with violence.  It’s what happens to a tall skyscraper when a demolition experts strategically places dynamite in just the right places and then pushes a button.  The entire structure implodes to dust.  

It’s important for me to understand what, exactly, implodes. Paul uses the words ‘arguments and pretensions.’ These come from the root word for logic, or mindsets.  A mindset is the way each of us processes information. It’s the way we think, reason, and make conclusions. Mindsets are formed over a lifetime, over decades of experiences in a fallen world.  We didn’t set out to think like Christ.

Have you come up against a person with a depressing mindset, a negative mindset, a paranoid mindset?  You know that it is ironclad.  Get in an argument with them and they can’t see the truth.  They won’t budge no matter how many hours and days you try to reason with them.  The only cure for a broken mindset is an application of the Word of God.  It is sharp and powerful for exposure, conviction, and then demolition.

Oh, that I would always be willing to have my mind washed by the water of the Word, to be humble and realize that my ‘mindset’ needs to be offered to God as a clean slate.  Jesus modeled this way of life.  Though He was God and His thoughts were perfect, He still did not exercise equality with His Father, but sought God’s mindset in all things. 

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.  Philippians 2:5-6 

Am I willing to lay down my points of view, my opinions, and my beliefs at the foot of the cross?  Fragile egos should not get in the way of what needs demolishing in order to be re-fashioned God’s way.