"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought
to the obedience of Christ."
                                                       - 2 Corinthians 10:5

 

     In the New Testament, there are five words that describe life. They are Bios, Psyche, Agoge, Anastrophe, and Zoe. Zoe, as we know, is the life of God. Of these other four, which has to do with our natural life, we discover the part of our being that is defined by our upbringing, our mannerisms, our conduct, and our livelihood. Psyche life is predominantly the life of our soul, encapsulated by our thoughts, our will, and our emotions.  That is where we get our English word Psychology from, which has to do with the study of the mind and our behavior.

     When we came to know Christ as our Savior there was a work done on the inside of us that changed our nature. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, but when we became born again God put in us a new spirit. Ezekiel thirty-six says, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you..." (Ezek. 36:26). God took away our stony heart and gave us a heart of flesh, a heart purged from dead works so that we could serve the living God (Heb. 9:14). As great a work as this was, our receiving a new heart was contained within the sphere of our spirit. Nothing was done to give us a new soul or a new body. What that tells us is that we are to do something with our thoughts so that they now become conformed to this new spiritual nature and not confined by our old soulish nature. That is why Paul said, "...bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). When we begin renewing our minds to the Word of God we initiate a process which is able to save our souls (James 1:21; Romans 12:2).

     The very fact that our minds were not changed in the new birth requires of us to saturate our thinking with the Word so that we are able to purge our minds from all the old mindsets of lack, want, weakness, and depravity.  In Second Corinthians chapter two, Paul states: "Lest Satan should get an advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his devices" (2 Cor. 2:11). The Greek word for "devices" is NOEMA. It means a mental perception. The root word NOEO, is to think, ponder, consider, or to perceive with the mind. When we talk about the tactical side of Satan seeking to get advantage over us we must realize it has everything to do with our mind. In fact, over in the fourth chapter, it tells us, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (2 Cor. 4:4). The word "mind" is the same word for "device," NOEMA. It is also the same word used in chapter ten where Paul mentions "...bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). This word "thought" is NOEMA. Are you beginning to see how important it is that we become careful with how we think?

     According to First Corinthians chapter fifteen, Paul makes a very interesting point. He says: "For as it is written, the first man Adam was a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45). In other words, before Adam fell his soul (his mind, will, and emotions) were completely under the power of Zoe, God's life. That is why he was able to take on such a tremendous feat as in naming all the animals. His mental capabilities were functioning at full capacity.

     In searching to know more about the mental capacity of man, scientists have discovered that the average person accesses a mere 8 or 10 % of their mental abilities. Why is this so? It is because man's psyche life has not become influence more aggressively with the Zoe life of God. Everything about our being, all that we can be in Christ, stems from how successful we are in giving Zoe full sway in our thinking. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. That means the Zoe life of God is a spiritual life that can make alive our soul. The more this life penetrates our thinking the less advantage the enemy holds over our lives.

     If you find yourself struggling with your thought life then realize your psyche life is under the attack of the enemy and the only cure is to think Zoe thoughts. Everything that speaks to your mind concerning your need whether it be your inabilities, your impotence, things that produce fear, doubt, or insufficiency are all part of the devices of the enemy to weakness your resolve, to burden you with unnecessary cares, and to harness the capabilities that reside in your new nature.

     One of the most powerful statements the Holy Spirit ever spoke to me was when he asked me, "If you have the life of God living in you, then what is keeping you from living the life that God lives?" From that moment on, I made up my mind that this Zoe life would take center stage in how I approach every situation, and that it would be the one thing that I sought to dominate my thinking (Rom. 8:4-5).*