Last night, like in during the night at maybe 1:30 a.m., I was awake. Like many nights—see this recent blog post—thoughts in the night.

Had been up to the bathroom and back to bed. Most times, that’s a sweet snuggle time with the Lord. We pray. We melt. We ponder and plan. Many times I wake up to a pile of ripped off steno pad sheets on the floor beside the bed that are full of ideas and scribbles and tasks to remember.

This morning, I “saw” what I call a “blink” of me up, walking the house. As soon as I got out of bed again, I knew to go to my worship flag waiting in an umbrella stand. All over the house we went. Waving it. Praying in tongues. Every room, entrance doors, waving away technology wavelengths and frequencies. I was up maybe 15-20 minutes?

Worship Flag

Then back to bed.

But thoughts crept into my thinking. My mind. Thoughts of destruction against my family. Trauma. Someone getting hurt or captured. I don’t watch the news, only follow Amir Tsarfati—Behold Israel—who lives in Galilee, is a Messianic Jew, a follower of Jesus Christ, and military. I figure he should know what might be going on. And he posts some graphic stuff that is not covered in traditional media.

So maybe those thoughts were demonic. Maybe from my own fears—although from just minutes before in worship, I felt my home was cleansed.

As I lay in bed, I prayed what I always pray: American Standard Version (Affiliate Link) (ASV)  2 Corinthians 10: “3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh 4 (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds); 5 casting down [a]imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;”

And I pray it to Jesus, especially verse five like this: “In Jesus’ Name, I cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against Your knowledge, and in Jesus’ name I bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, in Jesus’ Name!” I bookend the verses with Jesus! Some people criticize and say that we don’t need to use the name of Jesus that much. Like, once is enough.

But, I say, speak the name of Jesus over everything, every minute, every family member, every situation, every plan!  Philippians 2:10 ,11: “so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

When I speak those verses, there is peace. There is sleep—most nights!

Years ago, Lord gave me a revelation about those verses. A reference, if you will, to give me greater clarity in how that verse works. A practical application of it.

He told me to envision a coffee maker (Affiliate Link). Well, I love coffee. I sat right up and said okay. He went on: you plug it into the power outlet, put in a paper filter, (this is the kind I use) (Affiliate Link), put coffee in the filter (this is the brand I love: Black Rifle Coffee Freedom Roast) (Affiliate Link), pour in the water, put the carafe in, and hit start.

What comes out is hot, strong, and stimulating, right?

So apply that to thoughts, to 2 Corinthians 10: 5.

Lord, I bring “that thought” captive (yeah, the nasty one, the fearful one, the dirty one. Come on. We all have them! Be honest with yourself and with Him!), to surrender into obedience to You, Jesus. I plug into the Power outlet!

At that point our thought goes through the Jesus filter and what comes out is also strong, but pure, and powerful!

What if my character, Katty in The Great Escapee Series, who has been abused, is abusive, addicted, and post-abortive had a thought—especially thoughts in the night? Hers could go anywhere from, “my drug dealer stole from me,” or “my evil ex-boyfriend is coming to kidnap our daughter.”

Submitting our thoughts to Jesus takes the pressure off of us and our knowledge. What do we know? What is the Truth? We can’t know everything. We have fears. We have experienced trauma.

But when we submit our thoughts to Him, through Him, He takes them and shines His Light of Truth on them, and either sends them back to us, or we never see them again.

Freedom.

***An aside, I even use this verse for when I’m chatting with someone and I forget the train of my thoughts—where I was going with my words. I submit that thought—whatever it was that I now can’t remember—to Him and say, “If I need that thought back, Lord, please bring it back, but if I don’t need it anymore, I leave it with You.”

That way, I don’t fuss about it, or fume that I can’t remember.

***There are affiliate links in this post and most of the recent posts. As an author, I need to find ways to pay for my editor, my book cover designer, etc., other than book sales. And if you purchase through my affiliate link, you don’t pay more, but they send me a small percentage for suggesting them. Fair? It’s a way that you, reader, can help me, a writer! Blessed!