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; 2 Corinthians 10:5

We demolish every deceptive thought that opposes Who we know God to be. And we break through every arrogant and self-important attitude that is raised up in defiance of truly knowing Him. We take prison every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to Jesus.

Today’s verse is set in the middle of one long, complicated Greek sentence that begins in verse 3 and ends in verse 6. Paul describes some areas where not only knowing, but declaring, the Word prevails for us:
– We are empowered to declare the Word to dismantle strongholds.
– We demolish beliefs, opinions, theories, and philosophies, not by argument but by declaring the truth.
– We allow our thought-life no wiggle room but declare it captive to what lines up with the mind of Christ.

Last time we talked about Understanding God’s Word. Today we’re looking at Declaring it. In reality, we don’t really understand God’s Word if we don’t declare it… because declaring it is how it’s intended to be used. “Knowledge puffs up while love builds up” (1 Cor 8:1)

So we don’t just use the Word for mental exercise; we use it to speak forth present-day realities. By speaking things that are true, we demolish all arguments and pretentions with the weapons of our warfare that are mighty to the pulling down of strongholds – God’s Word, when we declare it, has the power to effectively dismantle the falseness and lies that people hide behind or use as a defense. It has the power to overcome puffed up feelings that knowledge alone can bring.

Using it, we harness the power to speak so that when temptation comes we can answer like Jesus did (Matt 4:1-11). We can answer with the Word of the Lord. We can speak the Word and cut through the lies of the enemy.

So when the temptation comes, we don’t just identify it as a lie…instead of stepping around it or ignoring it, or wishing it would go away, we demolish the lie. And we do that by declaring the truth; by speaking forth the truth. So instead of feeling guilty about the thing that tempts us we speak the Word of God to our temptations. (Jesus was tempted in the same way we are (Heb 4:15) so don’t take on the guilt that the enemy wants to dump on us that we are tempted).

We tell our weaknesses and infirmities to line up with the Word of God by declaring that Word. Often Christians are taught to stuff down our temptations, when God has given us a real weapon, the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Eph 6:17).

The Bible tells us that the tongue has the power of life and death (Prov 18:21). What we speak, whether positive or negative, will have consequences. What we declare WILL bear fruit. Speaking out God’s Word is a powerful way to: Strengthen our faith (Rom 10:17); Be a weapon in times of spiritual warfare (Eph 6:17); Position us for the fulfillment of God’s purposes in our lives (Jer 29:13).