We are going to take a look at one of my favorite passages written by the Apostle Paul. He's already made it clear to us that we are not of this world. Because we are not of this world, the weapons we fight with are not worldly but spiritual. In Christ we can experience victories that we could never have without Him.
You will recall that there are some citizens of Corinth who don't like Paul because of personal and petty reasons. That city is so sophisticated and so educated and so used to having illustrious philosophers visit them that there are those who turn up their noses at the very plain and down-to-earth apostle. He didn't come into town wearing the fine robes of a famous teacher, though he could have if he had not given up his high social standing and high income in order to become a traveling preacher (Philippians 3:8). He didn't enter Corinth and start bragging about his expensive education, though he could have because he spoke several languages and was educated by the well-respected Gamaliel. He didn't charge a fee for anyone to come and hear him preach the gospel, though he could have because the citizens of Corinth were used to buying tickets to attend appearances by philosophers and poets. Instead he worked at the tentmaking trade in order to supply his own needs and make the gospel free to everyone.
Paul has already warned us not to judge people by their outward appearance because it's what in the heart that counts. Paul belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and that it what matters now and that is what's going to matter a million years from now. He is not of this world and should not be judged by worldly standards. We should not judge each other by outward appearance. We are the children of the living God; our worth and our status comes from who we are in Christ, not from our bank accounts or our wardrobes or our education. We are not of this world and must not judge or be judged by worldly standards. In addition, we don't wage war against sin or against spiritual attacks or against worldly opposition with weapons of the world but with spiritual weapons.
"By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you---I, Paul, who am 'timid' when face to face with you but 'bold' toward you when away! I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world." (2 Corinthians 10:1-2) We learned earlier in our study of these two letters to Corinth that some scoffed at the scolding they received from Paul for their worldly behavior. They said things like, "He doesn't have the nerve to come here and scold us to our faces. He talks big in his letters but we haven't seen him in a year now. He's afraid to come here in person and tell us. He's all talk and no action."
But Paul says in reply, "Didn't Christ come into the world with an attitude of humility and gentleness? Of course He did, and that's how I came into your city. Christ didn't stand on the street corner and scream at people about their sins and neither did I. Instead the Lord taught the truth in love, as I also did. But remember that Christ will return to the world someday and judge those who have heard the truth and have not taken it to heart. In the same way, do I not have the right to take you to task for hearing the truth and not living by it? I hope when I return to Corinth I will not have to say in person the things I have had to say in my letters, but I fear I will. I taught you the truth of the gospel and I taught you how to live as Christians. When I come I will be bold in correcting anything that remains to be corrected."
Now we arrive at one of my favorite passages. "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." (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) We face many obstacles in this world. Sometimes those obstacles take the form of opposition from our fellow man because they feel scornful toward us because of what we stand for. Sometimes obstacles are thrown into our path by Satan himself in an attempt to weaken our faith or turn us away from God's purpose for our life. At other times we place obstacles in our own path by negative thinking. But we don't overcome obstacles by waging war in the way the world wages it. We can read all the self-help books we want to read, but unless these materials are founded on the word of God they will have little impact on our success. We can attend seminars on positive thinking or go to mental health counseling or try to pull ourselves up out of despair by our own bootstraps, but unless the methods used are based on God's truth they are very likely to fail.
So what is the secret of our success and the reason we are able to keep getting up in the morning to face the world and to leap over the obstacles in our path? The Apostle John explains it better than I ever could, "You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." (1 John 4:4)
Through Christ we have become the children God and have received the Holy Spirit who lives within us. Satan cannot overcome us because Christ has already overcome the world (John 16:33) and we belong to Him. Our own fearful minds don't even have the power to overcome us because we have the right as children of God to take captive every thought to Christ, as Paul says. We have the right to renounce negative and unholy thinking in the name of Christ our Savior. Sometimes we may catch ourselves thinking things like, "This is never going to work out. Things are never going to get any better. I must have heard God wrong about His plans for my life. I am not going to be able to do the things He has called me to do." But Paul says we don't have to tell ourselves such nonsense. Whenever we catch ourselves thinking such things, we need to renounce these thoughts and confess them to the Lord. Instead of focusing on negative things we ought to start praising the Lord for all the great things He's already done for us and for all the great things He's going to do for us. Like Jesus did when He was tempted by Satan, we should know and be able to quote Scriptures that refute the lies of our enemy. This will redirect our thoughts, just as Paul promises in the following verse: "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)
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