When Intrusive Thoughts Keep Intruding
March 17th, 2022 • by Erin Davis
It was one of those times where the online photos didn’t quite match reality. I was traveling with a friend, and we’d booked a hotel room in a town we weren’t familiar with. The descriptors in the listing like “clean” and “friendly” had turned out to be grossly exaggerated. So as soon as we dragged our wheeled suitcases over the threshold and onto the dated shag carpet, we slid the little gold chain into the door lock for extra measure. Looking back, I shudder to think what might have happened if we hadn’t. Sometime in the night we were awakened to the sound of someone repeatedly attempting to jam open our door. But that little chain did its job. The would-be intruder never made it inside.
It’s a sobering story and a vivid picture of what often happens inside our minds. Because we all live with a nature warped by sin, we all fight intrusive thoughts—involuntary and unwanted images or ideas that seem to burst into our minds like whoever stood on the other side of that hotel room door. From aggressive insecurities to catastrophic fears to disturbing mental images, intrusive thoughts can take many forms. Sometimes we can banish them as easily as swatting flies. But there are other times, perhaps more frequently, when the door to our mind keeps banging open. As followers of Jesus, endowed with the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16) what can we do when intrusive thoughts keep intruding?
This is Not Mind Over Matter
One Scripture we’re prone to think of when our thoughts go rogue is 2 Corinthians 10:5: “Take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
It’s a good verse. A Holy Spirit-inspired, useful-for-our-instruction verse (2 Cor. 3:16), but for me, when my mind is a battlefield, that verse alone can seem a little trite. Taking my thoughts captive can feel like trying to catch a wild tiger! Just as soon as I think I’ve got them in the cage, they burst out and bare their teeth again. Since every text is a part of a context, if we look at the whole picture we can find what we need to push back against intrusive thoughts.
“Taking my thoughts captive can feel like trying to catch a wild tiger.”
Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 10 were written as a personal defense. Look closely at verse 2: “. . . Some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.”
Someone (or someones) had made accusations against Paul. Those are the facts we see in his letter. But read between the lines. Overlay your own experiences and try to imagine what was going on in Paul’s mind. What happens when someone accuses you of something? I can picture thought intruders like:
Everyone hates me!
What is wrong with me?
Maybe they’re right! Am I even a follower of Jesus?
I am a total fraud.
Against his accusers, Paul fought back with the mighty pen, but what weapons did he use to fight the war in his mind? Keep reading.
“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (vv. 3–6).
Paul made one thing clear, taking every thought captive is not synonymous with a mind-over-matter mantra. This isn’t about chanting good thoughts to push out the bad ones. This is a divine exercise requiring divine help. In other words, we cannot take our own thoughts captive. We can only surrender to Christ’s work.
Surrendering to Christ’s Work
I hope you don’t mind, but I need to repeat a paragraph. This time when you read it, pay attention to how many times I say “I” and “me.” (Ick!)
But for me, when my mind is a battlefield, that verse alone can feel a little trite.Taking my thoughts captive can feel like trying to catch a tiger. Just as soon as I think I’ve got them in the cage, they burst out and bare their teeth again.
This exposes a mindset I didn’t even recognize in myself until I further meditated on 2 Corinthians 10. For so long I’ve read “take every thought captive” and I’ve heard “try harder.” You too? Paul’s accusers were right and could level the same claim at us. He was, in fact, a man of flesh. And our fleshly “try harder” efforts can never lead to real, lasting change.
“Taking our thoughts captive does not require elbow grease and effort: it requires surrender. ”
So Paul leaned into the divine. It was Christ in him that would free his mind. It wasn’t Paul giving his thoughts over to Jesus, it was Jesus aligning Paul’s thoughts with his own that led to victory.
Friends, taking our thoughts captive does not require elbow grease and effort: it requires surrender.
Smashed Pickles and the Source of Our Thoughts
One time I was walking through the grocery store and came to a display full of giant jars of pickles. For a fleeting moment, I had a nearly uncontrollable urge to knock the whole shelf over and watch the pickle jars break on the floor. Weird, I know. But I tell you that story to bust a myth about intrusive thoughts. We often think dark ideas must have come from somewhere—something we saw, or read, or heard, but I assure you I’ve never seen or heard of anyone knocking over an entire shelf of pickles in the middle of a grocery store. That thought came out of nowhere, and that matters because keeping intrusive thoughts at bay requires more than bolting the door and shielding ourselves from negativity.
Consider the Psalmist’s words.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Ps. 139:23–24).
What the Psalmist modeled was inviting the Lord into our thought life. This doesn’t mean simply pushing bad thoughts out; rather it’s asking the Lord to poke around and see if there are dark corners of our mind where our thinking does not line up with his. It’s a step of obedience based in the acknowledgement that we cannot control our thoughts on our own. We need the divine power Paul promised. It’s a shift from ‘I must take my thoughts captive’ to ‘I cannot control my mind. I need Jesus’ help!’
Weak Mind, Strong God
Weak-mindedness is part and parcel of being women of the flesh, but those old Sunday School lyrics are still true, “We are weak, but he is strong.” To win any mental war we must make a habit of crying out to God. That can take many forms including:
Praying out loud for Jesus to align your thoughts with his.
Reading from the book of Psalms when you find your thoughts stuck in a destructive loop.
Calling a wise friend as soon as you recognize unwelcome thoughts and asking to pray together.
Writing out a verse that is a counterpoint to what you are thinking.
Blasting worship music to take your focus off yourself.
The point is, we must run to Jesus, knowing that only he can take our every thought captive.
Imagine that hotel room scene again. If the intruder would have gotten through, my friend and I would have been pretty helpless. We needed someone bigger and stronger to fight that battle. The metaphor still holds. It is Jesus who pushes back against mind intruders. When unwanted thoughts invade—and they will—we can collapse into Jesus’ divine power over and over again, trusting him to transform our every thought.
A note from team Journeywomen: While Scripture clearly calls us to lean on the Spirit’s strength as we take every thought captive, we also acknowledge the reality of mental health struggles and the need in many situations to look to a trusted counselor, doctor, or medication for additional help. We pray that even in the midst of continued struggle or lack of healing on this side of heaven, that the words here would remind you to continue to look to Jesus to be your strength.
Erin Davis is a writer and teacher passionately committed to getting women of all ages to the deep well of God's Word. She is the author of more than a dozen books and Bible studies, including Connected, Beyond Bath Time, and 7 Feasts and the host of The Deep Well podcast and Grounded videocast. When she’s not writing, you can find Erin chasing chickens and children on her small farm in the Midwest.
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