Weeds in Your Thought Life

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; 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 10:4-5 (KJV)

Taking thoughts captive is like pulling weeds out of a garden. Our mind is the garden and the bad thoughts would be equivalent to the weeds. Sometimes things grow in our garden that we didn’t plant—weeds, volunteer plants, etc. Some are in direct competition with the good plants there. If they are not removed, they can crowd out, suffocate, leach nutrients, and eventually destroy the garden and become stronger which will then be much more difficult to remove and can cause much more damage.

Much the same, we have thoughts that enter our mind that we didn’t put there. If those thoughts are not removed, they can take over and crowd out positive thinking and eventually destroy a positive mindset and can wreak havoc in our lives and relationships. The negative thoughts, like weeds, will grow stronger and spread and form a stronghold in our mind which is much more difficult to remove and much more damaging than just a passing negative thought. 

Weeds can damage an entire garden, wrong thoughts can damage our soul

In my gardens and flowerbeds, if I allow the weeds to stay, they soak up all of the nutrients, they grow larger and spread out, and they strangle the good plants. This may eventually kill the good plants. If not pulled, the weeds can multiply and take over the garden. I have to get them and keep them under control, and it’s MUCH easier when they’re small—both in size and in number. It’s much more difficult and a lot more work to clean weeds out if I’ve waited until they’ve taken over. It can still be done—it’s just more exhausting and it takes more effort than if I had done it sooner.

Thoughts are much like these weeds. Some thoughts get planted in our minds that aren’t supposed to be there. They’re not supposed to be there because they are in direct conflict with God’s Word. These thoughts may be thoughts of temptation, lust, insecurity, fear, worry, malice, doubt, pride, negative self-talk of any kind, and so on. If these thoughts are not removed, regardless of how small or seemingly insignificant, they could multiply and grow stronger and crowd out the good and godly thoughts in our minds. If these negative thoughts grow in size and in number, they could cause damage—emotionally, mentally, and relationally.

Thoughts lead to action

Some thoughts may even eventually lead to action. Temptation could turn into stronger temptation and become harder to resist. Lust could turn into stronger thoughts of lust, which in turn could turn into fornication or adultery (sex outside of marriage). Insecurity could breed deeper insecurity, feelings of inadequacy, depression, or sometimes even manifest itself as pride. Fear and worry will produce deeper fear, anxiety, paranoia, and a lack of peace. Thoughts of malice often manifest themselves in lashing out in anger and/or revenge.

Jesus made it very clear that the thoughts that we harbor and dwell on are just as important as our actions.

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.” Matthew 5:21-22 (NLT)

“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  Matthew 5:27-28 (NLT)

Distinguishing the weeds from the plants

In order to effectively remove the weeds, we first have to be able to distinguish the “weeds” from the “good plants” or the “bad thoughts” from the “good thoughts” or “God’s thoughts”. While weeding my garden, I have inadvertently pulled one of the good plants thinking it was a weed, and I have also mistakenly left a weed to grow thinking it was a flower or vegetable. I wasn’t educated enough at the time to be able to tell the two apart (especially if they were about the same size). I had to learn what a weed looked like and what my seedling plants that I had planted were supposed to look like.

Similarly, sometimes at first, it may be difficult to determine which thoughts we should allow. The devil will plant all kinds of weeds in our minds. We have to be able to discern God’s voice (or words) from the devil’s. God’s voice is typically a still, small voice (see 1 Kings 19:12). It is calm and doesn’t invoke worry, fear, or confusion. It will also never disagree or conflict with His Word. Satan will come at us with loud, demanding, nagging thoughts. He plants fears and worries and makes us confused. His thoughts will not align with God’s Word. He will lie to us. *Read more in this post about God’s voice vs. the Devil’s Voice. 

Anytime we’re unsure, we should ask ourselves a few questions:

1. Does this thought agree with or contradict God’s Word? (look it up if you have to—I had to look up what my plants should look like)
2. Does this thought invoke peace or fear/worry/anxiety/confusion?
3. Would God want me to continue thinking about this?

Soon we will easily be able to recognize God’s voice or godly thoughts, much the same as when we start to become more familiar with and recognize a new friend’s voice the more we get to know him/her.

“My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 (MSG)

Weeding is an ongoing chore

To keep our minds healthy, productive, and growing strong, we need to constantly monitor them and remove the weeds. This is an ongoing process—we won’t have to do it just once. Just because I remove all the weeds from my garden once doesn’t mean they won’t come back. I have to consistently remain vigilant, watch over my garden, and tend to the weeds if I see any shooting up. Likewise, negative thoughts will continue to come back too, and we have to be diligent to watch for them.

The good news is, the more we maintain a healthy and weed-free garden, the harder it will be for weeds to grow there and the easier they’ll continue to be removed. Our “good plants” will become big and strong, and it will be very easy to distinguish the plants from the weeds.

This is how we should treat our thought life. We have to get the bad thoughts out—just like the weeds. This is one way we can cultivate the garden of our mind.

Take Some Practical Steps to Remove the Weeds in Your Thought Life:

• First, determine which thoughts to remove (i.e. Which ones are the weeds?).

Ask yourself these questions:

• 1. 1. Does this thought agree with or contradict God’s Word?
     2. Does this thought invoke peace or fear/worry/anxiety/confusion?
     3. Would God want me to continue thinking about this?

• Then, purposefully “take the thought captive”.

Stop it. Capture it. Grab it like a week and pull it out. Then, think on it no longer.

• Next, replace the weeds–Start thinking about good things.

Meditate on what God says–read scripture. Praise God. Listen to and sing praise and worship.

“but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.” Psalm 1:2 (NIV)

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

• Finally, speak God’s Word—It’s like a spiritual weed killer!

Speak verses out loud that contradict your negative thoughts.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8 (ESV)

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)

How do you remove the “weeds” from your mind? Tell us about it by leaving a comment below.

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If you know anyone who could benefit from this, please pay it forward!  Share this post via the sharing links below.  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV) 

*Updated: Originally posted 3/20/2018