Casting Down Imaginations

Casting down imaginations can be a full time job for people with anxiety.

Those of us with anxiety have a brain that is like an author of fiction. It wakes up in the morning and writes its own novel with situations and scenarios, plots and plot twists for the reader (us) to become engrossed in. 

It imagines things that have no basis in reality. I know because this has been part of my life for some time. 

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Casting Down Imaginations – Recognizing This Tool of the Devil

I was not always a victim of anxiety, that I recognized at least. It began or emerged later in my life. It worsened over time due to PTSD.

My brain is oh so creative in its imaginings and I had virtually no knowledge of, or experience with, casting down imaginations. When this all began I was a new Christian.

So my brain went unchecked; entering a state of panic in an instant by hearing a noise that it instantly convinces me is something dreadful. If a car I didn’t recognize pulled into my driveway, it must be something devious.

This kind of worry (imaginations) is a tool of the devil that he uses to get us to step away from faith and trust, into a spiral of fear and worry with no basis in reality as we feed the scenario by getting into agreement with it, always allowing it to take root.

2 Corinthians 1:5 says:

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;

 

According to Strong’s Concordance, “imaginations” here means “a reckoning, a reasoning: such as is hostile to the Christian faith“

The definition of “reckoning” is “the action or process of calculating or estimating something.”

 

So in a nutshell, it is basically what we would expect imaginations to be, but with regards to the Christian faith (as it is used in this regard) since it makes reference to those that set themselves up against God.

But why? Why is it, if I am worrying about a situation that has nothing to do with my faith, is it against God? 

Because worry is actually faith in the wrong thing!

Casting Down Imaginations- Your Faith in God

We have faith in God!

When we put our faith and our trust in God we know that He will work things out for our good and for His glory!

He has a plan and purpose for my life and I can trust Him to bring that to pass when I get in line with His will and I allow Him to lead me.

Worry is the opposite of that!

Worry is when I have my own plan and my own desired outcome in a situation and so I experience worry because I fear God won’t align with MY will!

 

It is failing to submit my thoughts to Him and rather allow them to run amock.

It is faith in reverse.

Those little “imaginings” that creep in? Those are the enemy working in us to tell us that God can’t possibly have it under control or worse, that He is setting us up for a huge fall. He is busy writing that work of fiction for our minds to read.

Casting down imaginations and taking every thought captive takes that novel off the best sellers list!

 

 

Casting Down Imaginations – He is a Liar

The enemy likes to make me feel I have to take action on my own to fix this situation that hasn’t even happened! He is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:44:

…When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

 

So then, as a result, we don’t turn a situation over to God as we should and so we feel we have to control it ourselves.

When something happens that takes that control away from us (another person or situation is a trigger for something to happen) we start to formulate scenarios in our mind.

Proverbs 28:26 says:

Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

Worrying about something that is of our own imagining is trusting in your own mind and what it concocts, rather than having the wisdom of trusting in God.

 

Casting down imaginations and, thereby taking every thought captive, involves getting in line with what God and His Word says about us or our situation versus believing the lies the enemy wants you to believe.

 

Seeking God in Prayer

It involves seeking God in prayer! You do not have to struggle through these false worries alone. God is there to take your cares from you and give you peace!

1 Peter 5:6-7:

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

 

If we just glance away from that “novel” long enough to look at God’s book, taking captive every thought that has no place in our lives, we could escape the trappings of our mind and the enemy who seeks to control it.

Let God be the author of your story, casting down imaginations and filling you with a faith that allows you to rest in the knowledge that no matter what happens, God has you!

 

Some books by friends that you might enjoy:

        

Some other posts like Casting Down Imaginations that you might enjoy:

WHERE IS GOD IN MY TRIALS?

DROPS IN THE BUCKET – RECOGNIZING SUBTLE ATTACKS OF THE DEVIL

FEELING BROKEN – LESSONS FROM A BROKEN PLATE

THE PANIC ATTACK THAT DEFEATED THE DEVIL