Feeling Like Your Held Captive

Why do we sometimes feel as if we are held captive and do things we don’t want to do? The reason is we still have the flesh, which has lust and sin. This will not change until we get our glorious new bodies. Satan is temporarily the god of this world (II Cor 4:4), but we are Christ’s ambassadors: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:” (Eph. 2:1-2)

We may feel we are held captive, but it is our flesh battling Christ within us: “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:23-24) Christ has already delivered us!

This will be a daily challenge as God’s representatives on earth: “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”  (Gal.5:17)

Sometimes we may wonder, who is really controlling our thoughts and actions, but we are responsible and need a renewed mind, with His wisdom/power to make wise choices. Daily bombardments from our flesh, the world, and past habits affect our thinking and behavior.

So, when assessing your personal study-prayer time, plan ahead to reduce interruptions i.e. When your mind races with random thoughts that interrupt time with the Father, don’t just accept it. Practice getting off this road of thinking to refocus on the Word: “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;”  (II Corinthians 10:5) In Christ we can do it!