Unashamed Reading Plan

Prayer

Pray and ask God for the courage to be honest with yourself and Him in this time of devotion. Ask Him to show you your heart in a clear way, and that you can stay focused on your relationship with Him throughout this time with Him.

Bible Reading: 2 Corinthians 10:5

Read these verses three times slowly.

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.

Reflection & Questions

By Preston Kulesha

Remember when you were a kid, and you would get into arguments about the most insane things on the playground? It could be about anything – which superhero would win in a fight, who’s better at a certain sport, MY dad told me that the moon is REALLY made of cheese, and all sorts of wild things.

I don’t know about you, but I would linger on those thoughts for the rest of the day, and think about all of the different ways that I could’ve settled the argument better. Or worse, I would think of all of the things that I WISHED I would have said… because don’t the best comebacks always come to you 24 hours later?

All that to say, I would find myself getting stuck on the thoughts, and distracting me from the rest of the day. What thoughts get stuck in your mind? Do you ever find yourself getting caught up in thoughts that you just can’t shake? One’s that distract you from your day, your family, or even from God? When our minds lock onto a certain view, or different thoughts, it can really impact our connection with God, and how our day plays out.

In this verse, Paul is urging the church in Corinth to take our thoughts that lead us astray from God, and focus them back towards Him. It seems like an easier said than done proposition, but the focus here is on our intentionality with our thoughts. Rather than posturing our thoughts in a manner that makes us stew and doubt, as Christians we must dedicate ourselves to fighting back against thoughts that pull us from God. In moments of doubt and uneasiness, we must make the conscious decision to run towards God – dive into scripture, pause for some prayer time, reach out to someone in our small group. Negative thoughts can be powerful, but our God is so much stronger.

1. When do you find yourself doubting God & His plans the most? When do you find yourself the most confident in Him?
2. Identify some ways that you can intentionally turn to God in the times where your thoughts are seeming to pull you from Him. Pray that God reminds you of these strategies in your day today.

Prayer

Talk to God in response to today’s reading.

Worship Song

You might use this song today to worship Jesus today: