Stress Or Refresh?

2 Corinthians 10:5 – 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. (NIV)

Working with words has always been a lot of fun and a challenge for me. I enjoy their different sounds and meanings. I love to hunt them out in word puzzles and use them to paint captivating pictures.

Words are also both spoken and unspoken. The unspoken word is what we call our thoughts. We hear them and sometimes even see their formation in the recesses of our mind. In fact, speech comes first through the words of thought, which is why taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ is so very important.

I like this word "captive". It means to take prisoner. A prisoner is someone who is under another's control. When we learn to take captive every thought within our mind, we have power not only over our thoughts but also over our behaviour, for our thoughts ultimately lead to our behaviour.

As I was thinking of these things the other day, three words slowly ambled across the screen of my mind: stress or refresh. I was intrigued. And seeing as I was feeling very stressed about a certain situation, I paid particular attention to their entrance. Stress or refresh. What does that mean? I wondered. I know that I am feeling stressed, but how can I turn this stress into being refreshed?

I pondered this throughout the day: Stress or refresh? It seemed obvious that it was a choice, but how could I simply de-stress? And then it struck me: take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Of course, words — my thought words — needed correction. Instead of thinking negatively, I needed to dwell upon the positive aspects of faith within my situation, which is what I immediately began to discipline myself to do.

And I was amazed at how quickly I felt myself beginning to de-stress as the stronghold of worry began to crumble in the face of truth. God is able; all things work for good in His hands; cast all your burden upon Him for He cares for you; He is in control, He will provide. Wonderful words of truth that have divine power to refresh our minds, our bodies, and our spirits, even amidst the most stressful of situations.

Stress or refresh? The choice is ours today.

Prayer: Father God, thank You that the truth of Your Word has divine power to demolish strongholds within our minds. Encourage each of us today to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ, that we might choose to be refreshed instead of stressed. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.