Dealing With Wild Undisciplined Thoughts and Imaginations

3/12/2025

2 Corinthians 10:5

“Our battle is to bring down every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defense that men erect against the true knowledge of God. We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ. Once we are sure of your obedience we shall not shrink from dealing with those who refuse to obey.” (Phillips)

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ... (NKJV)

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)

We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, (NASB)

We tear down arguments and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ. (NET)

What exactly are these “imaginations” and “deceptive fantasies” and arguments that are erected against the true knowledge of God? How do we “tear them down”? How do we capture “every thought” to make it obedient to Christ? What does that mean practically? What “thoughts” are we talking about?

• Worldly thoughts? Yep.
• Evil, disobedient, selfish, jealous, idolatrous, loveless thoughts? Yep.
• Prideful, self-reasoning, human logic and prideful “smarts”? Yep.
• Self-thoughts? Yep.
• ANY and EVERY thought that Jesus wouldn’t allow in His head!? Absolutely!

So what about mentally escaping to “other worlds” through gaming, movies, novels, books, news, fun, role-playing, daydreaming, etc...?

Be warned that living in an alternate universe of fantasy and imagination can warp your perspectives of what Real Life is. Relationships are at the core of what Jesus is doing on the planet. He is building a People—a body of people who are like Him and are therefore of One Heart, One Mind, One Purpose.

WHY, oh, why would any serious disciple volunteer to build a world of imagination?! If you saturate yourself in imaginary worlds, the lines between Real and pretend will begin to blur. You will become distant from the non-fantasy humans around you. Why? Because the real world and real relationships will never “measure up” to your false, fake, imaginary play baby flesh-stroking worlds. Real life and relationships come at a cost and always involve a cross. So when real life isn’t measuring up to the false worlds you’ve created in your imagination, then your flesh begins to crawl or buck or whine.

Living in fantasy land through movies, novels, or through your own undealt with imaginative brain... is soooooo dangerous. Please be careful with the little ones. I started “daydreaming” about (a movie character) when I was eight or nine years old, and no one really knew because it’s easy to hide. My daydreams escalated when I was in a very depressive state of mind, and I needed a “way out.” I turned to my brain to daydream about being a famous actor or singer or about having a hero like Aragorn to save me. It escalated all the way until I was 26. YES 26!!!!, dreaming of romance and finding a perfect love. Dangerous stuff. I was able to hide by being in my room at night “thinking” for HOURS, reading a book, or writing in a journal, all the while staring off into the middle distance “dreaming.” It caused all sorts of mental issues, sleeping problems for over 15 years, etc. Not good!

Don’t underestimate the similarity between this, and what so many do with fear, depression thoughts, or jealousy, or unforgiveness, or excuses or imaginations of any kind. These are all optional and destructive. You could probably name six more.

It’s easy to see how filling up on such junk could make you or those you love mentally ill or depressed. The real-life world and relationships would never be how your little imaginary world says they “should be.” That would be depressing... or maddening.

Books and movies are FILLED with the world’s little seeds telling you how life should be and how you should feeeeeeel when this or that happens. Little seeds that tell you what a happy life is. Little seeds that tell you what a good male/female relationship is. Little seeds that tell you how you should feel if someone lets you down. Little seeds of how you should feel if someone hurts your feelings. Little seeds of how to view money....and on and on and on.

If EACH and EVERY thought that is NOT Christ is meant to be torn down or taken captive and made to bow before His throne... then when those little seeds and thoughts come up on a screen or in the workplace or the grocery store, what are we to do?

• Bring down
• Capture
• Cast down
• Take captive
• Demolish
• Destroy
• Tear down

Make those thoughts BOW before His throne by saying, “GOD, what do YOU say about how I should think or feel about this?” Period! Every thought that is not of His is to be handcuffed and made to bow. Obedient to Christ. Subject to His Authority.

That is part of the “Christ in me” work that needs to happen in my heart and head.

“Satan has desired to HAVE you and shake your mind and emotions like a shaft of wheat. But I have prayed for you that you will NOT lose focus on the Prize and allow eddy currents in your brain or emotions or imagination, even if it feeeeeeels true. Don’t do it. And when you’re Changed, help your brothers and sisters and children have a mind CONTROLLED by the SPIRIT, also.”

If you thought that it was OK to let your mind run wild, undisciplined thoughts and eyes and desires, as long as you don’t actually “do something”... You might want to reconsider in light of this:

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. (Genesis 6:5-6)

“It must have taken a lot of TIME and QUIET for David to be that man that Father held up to us as what He was looking for in a man or woman, or boy or girl. But then, David didn’t spend hours and hours playing around on the internet or with computer games, and David didn’t foul his heart and mind with “pictures” of lewdness and worldliness from movies and filth in magazines and television. David didn’t fill his mind or his limited passion with nonsense. Because he kept his way PURE, he had the TIME and the HEART for pursuing his Father and the focus necessary for risking his very life for the Lambs. In our world, we have ten thousand excuses, diversions, and temptations to steal our hearts and minds and dilute our passion and focus, don’t we? What will we do about what our hearts and minds are taken by? That is the real question.

“Passion, courage, and love don’t come for free. They are BORN in CHOICES to be on our knees in the morning dew, and to risk to love what He loves—even if it costs us everything, and to worship throughout the day in the good things and the hard things. Will we stay Connected to the Head in all things, or drift in and out of “consciousness of God” as Peter put it. Whether we are a man or woman after God’s own heart, or not, is set up by our CHOICES. What will we do to spend our evenings and “weekends” on HIM and what’s HIS and His CHILDREN, His Lambs, whether it is received or fulfilling or appreciated, or not? Will we press on, for HIM, or will we lapse, rather, into ourselves, and entertainment, and upgrades—the selfishness of a common man, a hollow man?”

from: A Man After God's Own Heart

How does the “fantasy” pretending apply to the little children who like to role-play or pretend or whatever and how we are to help them not sow seeds of their future destruction?

Whether it is a child with their plushy or an adult with a hobby or audiobook or wanting “plans”, some of the tests are:

• Getting “lost” in the fantasy
• Long, long episodes
• Being unwilling to “drop it” ON DEMAND, immediately

Those are some tests.

Another test for me is not just if I can “drop it” or physically walk away or not... but if I find myself thinking about a book or movie or topic or whatever after walking away, then that is a clear flag to me that I crossed a threshold or got too involved in _____. Nothing can be allowed to hijack my thoughts and emotions... stealing from Jesus and taking my mind off “pure, lovely, praiseworthy...”

Hijack is a great word.

I was thinking about how my children love to read and especially one of them will want to pick up a book for any available second until it is done. I was considering the different types of books they read—some more informational, some put you more IN the story. I will be alert to what types of books they get absorbed or lost in! I’ll keep a caring watch over their EYES and HEARTS!

I’m also considering how asking and imagining for others is a similarly powerful thing and, for me, an oft-neglected Tool. We have talked about picturing ourselves in situations, and even if they haven’t happened to us (yet), I can still offer my chosen response as a gift to God. Seems like what we allow to play out in our minds is as significant as what we do for good or ill!

• “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” Proverbs 13:20 (NIV)
• “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’” 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV)
• “Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are.” – Unknown
• “A man is known by the company he keeps.” – Aesop
• “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” – John Kuebler
• “Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.” – Booker T. Washington

There were a few times when on a 10-mile run, I would listen to an audiobook in earbuds while I ran. It seemed like a good way to distract. And then I noticed the slight fringes of leanness of my soul, perhaps “opportunity cost” or perhaps pagan author empty life and misplaced priorities seeping in. I’ve had a similar experience at other times while getting ready in the morning or while driving. It is not that anything I was listening to was “wrong” or that listening was automatically “wrong” (sometimes it could’ve been described as educational or inspirational even) —but I don’t have any problem saying that if one makes a habit of that instead of listening to a Bible playlist or Christian music playlist, you are definitely deciding who you want to be when you grow up. If you don’t sense leanness of the soul from dumping that stuff into your heart and mind for long blocks of time with frequency—then you’re not listening to the Spirit, because that’s certainly not what Jesus would do. Does that make it a “law” that I’m saying this? No. Don’t play that game, not with me or anyone else. That is manipulative and dishonest. That’s not what I said. I said, “Who do you want to be when you grow up? You’re deciding every day little by little.”

I know for me, the busy anxious mind OFTEN stemmed from not bowing my knee in obedience to Jesus on certain topics, but knowing I SHOULD. Therefore THAT created anxiety, because of the war with deciding whether or not to obey instead of living in the covenant. So I made things complicated instead of just simply bowing my knee. I know there are other reasons for anxiety (chemical) for me and probably for others too. But no excuse. Hiding away and giving oneself away to fantasy novels, audiobooks and the internet (or daydreams in my case) because you don’t “feeeeeel good” is not the answer!!! Like someone said, the “complicated mind” can be a hiding place for not actually getting around to simple obedience. I’ve seen it in myself.

As an example, I noticed my anxiety rising yesterday over all the texts about audiobooks and novels and I started getting complicated in my head about “What about this and that, and can I never watch a movie ever again, and how do I KNOW when it’s okay to watch a movie or read a book?” I stopped myself and asked myself “WHY am I doing this? WHY the anxiety and the complicated busy mind.” I realized it wasn’t purely chemical or just “a complicated brain.” It was NOT innocent. I realized I was afraid that if I let go of “entertainment” that I might never have fun again and be bored all the time. YUCK and Stupid AND not Trusting Jesus’ character. I identified the SELF and LET IT GO in trust, open hands, and simple holding-Jesus’-hand obedience... And the anxiety vanished. : )

“The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:8

It seems like the only people who will make it are those who have the same mind as Jesus - “It doesn’t matter what happens to me.” 

If it matters what happens to me, that I have the relationships I want... or that I’m not bored... or have a break when I’m tired... or healthy and fit... the future I want. “It matters what happens to me that _____” those are the holes in the armor that lead to complete undoing. They are the opposite of abandoned trust and obedience.

 

•  Snip, Snip, Snip!