Issue 2 | 2023

TRANSFORMED LIVES
TAKE
CONTROL OF
YOUR
Thought Life
“WE TAKE CAPTIVE EVERY THOUGHT
to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians
10:5 NIV).
Life transformation lies in the thought
life. I know that now, but for a long time, my
mind was filled with loud, toxic thoughts
that taunted me daily. They told me I was
a hopeless loser, a failure, and unwanted.
And I believed them.
For years those thoughts ran wild and
demanded my attention. I’m telling you,
between my ears was one scary place. Sadly,
I thought the noise was normal. No one
had ever taught me about my true identity
in Christ.
I tried to drown out the voices and the
shame with drugs and other things. I was
so desperate to silence the madness that I
attempted suicide several times. Each time
I failed, the chaos in my mind grew louder.
For three decades, I wrestled with anxiety
and depression. I was a miserable
person with a bipolar diagnosis and on a
frustrating journey of psych prescriptions.
But then I encountered Jesus, and He
set me free from my mental and emotional
chaos.
I still remember the sudden calm in
my mind as I bowed my heart to Him. It
was how I’d imagine the stillness of the
first morning after a long, violent war. For
years, I’d been surrounded by chaos and
fear and ruled by an evil enemy—and then,
suddenly, I had peace and freedom. I could
breathe in the fresh air and take in the
beauty of the sunrise, the dew adorning
the fields, the light fog hanging in the air.
Jesus had silenced the tormenting voices
that spoke endless, demeaning words
of hate and destruction. He had muzzled
those mocking voices that called me
names and outright lied to me about who
I was. And in the stillness, I could hear the
tender voice of my heavenly Father, telling
me He loved me, approved of me, and
wanted me. In the light of His truth, I knew
I wasn’t a failure or a waste—I was enough.
Ironically, I found this freedom while
I was locked up in jail. Jesus brought His
light of truth and hope to that hopeless,
terrifying place and shined it into the
darkness of my mind. Who knew Jesus
would hang out in places like that, ready
and willing to free people?
That was six years ago, and I’m still
being transformed into His image. It’s a
journey that will continue until I meet my
Savior face to face. It’s not an easy road. In
fact, it often feels like a battle.
Satan knows he’s lost me for eternity,
but he still attacks my mind by reminding
me of my past and telling me what a failure
I am. He seeks to destroy the image of God
within me. But God’s Word and His Holy
Spirit have taught me how to fight the war
over toxic thoughts.
BY SHERIDAN CORREA
Romans 12:2 says we are transformed
into new people by renewing our minds.
Where we focus our thought life is critical
for spiritual, emotional, and mental
health. Scripture is saturated with this
truth. It’s where we find what renews us.
There’s no way to get around it—if we
want a new life, we have to change our
thinking. The battle is won or lost in our
minds.
We need a special weapon to win the
battle—and that’s God’s truth. When we
expose our thoughts to God’s truth, strongholds
are blown up by His divine power.
It’s like spiritual TNT.
Second Corinthians 10:3–5 tells us how
we can have victory: “For though we live
in the world, we do not wage war as the
world does. The weapons we fight with
are not the weapons of the world. On the
contrary, they have divine power to demolish
strongholds. 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).
Let’s look closer at this passage. A
stronghold is a fortress that holds something.
It can protect us, or it can imprison
us. Our thoughts can function as a prison,
holding us captive, or they can be the place
where we know we are safe and loved.
That’s why Satan does his best to distort
our thinking through the negative
comments of others and difficult circumstances.
He brings whispers of shame and
guilt. He wants words, experiences, and
feelings to impact our inner dialogue,
so we don’t realize our true identities as
victors in Christ (Romans 8:37).
Paul teaches that if we take our thoughts
captive and make them obedient to God’s
truth, then Satan loses the battle. I envision
it as a game of Capture the Flag—we
chase down our thoughts, capture them,
and bring them to God’s territory.
Let me give you an example. Recently,
someone shared how my past choices had
deeply hurt them and the lingering pain
that still impacted other areas of their life.
Knowing that I had hurt someone I love,
that I had caused them problems, made
me lose sight of God’s truth. Satan began
telling his lies. “You’re a failure, Sheridan.
All you do is hurt people. No one wants you
in their life. You’ll never be good enough.”
For a day, I let those lies swirl around
28 Issue 02 / 2023 VICTORIOUSLIVINGMAGAZINE.COM