2 Corinthians 10:3-5 New English Translation

3 For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments 5 and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.

 

Unlikely union

 

Take a thought captive and then interrogate

Judge its actual substance and file it or delete

Don’t let it hang around too long to confuse you

But glorify the Lord to keep self-complete

 

Set your mind on things above, so your will is well involved

In the choices that you make, that’s where you surely wind up

So from captivity to disposal, your will becomes the force

That represents your personality and the contents it defines

 

Self-control rests on the decisions based on values known

If choices then are made, there should be no hesitation

Temptations are presented but should not be effective

On quick and decisive action to preserve a proper position

 

Self-control interweaved in the will, and the decision is ours

Unless you regularly forfeit the responsibility of your being

Then after a particular while, you will lose the power to choose

To know the difference between good and evil, and to stay or fleeing

 

You know the Holy Spirit will not interfere with your spirit

Your will needs self-control to execute God’s revelation

The “I” who disciplines and brings me to self-preservation

As the “I,” I’m searching for a way out to my consternation

 

Take my mind and its reason, take my will, and it follows

Not all the time, I think, but when it appears convenient

Then take my feelings as they wobble perpetually up and down

And so to wind up in a total mess, so not the “I” I experience

 

Jan Wienen