Jesus, empower me to cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of You my Christ (2 Cor 10:5 AKJV). Jesus, help me continue breaking down and unpacking 2 Corinthians 10:5 as I look at this last procedure with You. Let me continue seeing how resistive I get when the belt of truth tries to block off some of the things that are wrong that I watch, read, hear, feel, and want to do.

Jesus, empower me to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of You: Let this be the powerful moment when I finally lay my mind and my brain down at Your feet, Jesus. I need Your help because, for much of my life I have given my mind and my brain over to being trained by one school of thought after another.

Even though I have given some segments of my brain to store various aspects of the Bible, my respect, my allegiance, my priority, my commitment, my faith, and my dedication haven’t always been to Your Truth. Your Truth often holds a secondary position to other concepts. Help me yield to the fact that “every thought” is an all-inclusive statement. Let You and Your Truth be combined in such a way that You don’t let them take second place in my life. Teach me that, if my thoughts are contrary to Your Truth, I set myself up for failure in that area of my life. Teach me that while I am living The Truth in other areas, I will still fail in that area of erroneous thought. That keeps me from being able to use my belt of truth.

Jesus, reveal to me what compartmentalizing is and how it happens. As You see my heart having compartments in it, help me get rid of them. Rather than my will being open to You in some compartments and not others, help me give it all to You. I thank You that there are compartmental areas where my belt of truth is in a quality condition. But, I ask You to transform these other compartments where the doors are still closed, because they are areas where my belt of truth is weak or missing.

Jesus, the one thing I can count on is, You will not breach my will. If I don’t want You involved in a compartment of my thoughts, You will stay out. Bringing “every thought to the obedience of Christ,” is asking me to throw open the door to every compartment to You. I desire that You come into all these areas and heal them; bring them under Your scrutiny and influence. When You make this happen, I believe I am going to be able to use a high quality belt of truth that covers all areas of potential temptation.

Jesus, let me spend time with You and learn through the example of a man who THOUGHT he was keeping all the Biblical commandments. Help me not fail to allow You to lead me into the very area where I ask You for help. You are the answer to my questions; I am coming to the right person; and, You are giving me the right answers. Keep me from being unable to respond positively to Your wonderful help.

Help me take a hard look at this man’s situation and then spend time praying that You will help me not fail like this man did. I have never felt like I am rich; and I may not be as rich as this man was; but, when I look at all the third world countries, I AM RICH. And, You said in Matthew 19:23 (NIV) “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Help me realize that this is me; help me see that approximately 5 billion people in this world are currently living on less than $10 a week. Work a miracle in my life by empowering me to enter the kingdom of heaven through USING my belt of truth.

Jesus, when this man came up to You and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” You asked him, “Why do you ask Me about what is good?” “There is only One Who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments (Mat 19:16-17),” help me learn these truths.

Jesus, teach me what the commandments are and how they work. Let me see that they are specific ways for me to not do bad things to people and to make sure I am only doing good things to them. However, make it clear to me that I don’t determine what that good is. I admit that I have a Bible-compartment definition of good; and, a worldview-compartment definition of what good is. In my Bible compartment I know what You want. And, in my worldview compartment I do business, marriage, friendship, and deal with enemies the way of the world. I now ask You to get rid of my worldview compartment. Help me give it up and only have a Biblical view that makes my belt of truth function properly.

Jesus, when the man asked, “Which ones”, You replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself (Mat 19:18-19),’” help me accept the fact that You decide whether or not I am obeying these commands, not me. Help me come to You and find out where I am failing or succeeding at them so I can use my belt of truth effectively.

Like this man, I have not murdered anyone; but, have I hurt them through character assassination. You said in Matthew 5:21-22a (NIV) “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” Help me see that I need a lot more help from You and my belt of truth than I originally thought.

Jesus, when the young man said, “All these I have kept, what do I still lack?” You answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me (Mat 19:20-21),” help me see that in my Bible compartment, I typically think I have kept Your commandments. But, in my worldview compartment my business and financial dealings are failing massively. Empower me to allow You to train me on how to help needy people through my business dealings and my finances. Let my belt of truth guide me into true practices in life.

One of the commandments You referred to was: “love your neighbor as yourself.” It isn’t wrong, bad, or evil for me to have a lot of money; but, if I hoard it, that is wrong, bad, and evil. Keep me from being a lake that allows finances to flow in but won’t allow much to flow out. Make me a river so I can be blessed and prospered; but then, let a lot of that money be given to help people in need. Take my belt of truth and use it to guide me into this way of life.

Jesus, when the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth (Mat 19:22). Like this man, I can think I am really being good to people; but, that is because I am compartmentalizing. Set me free from having an opinion as to what being good is; let me accept Your definition of what it is. If this man had allowed You to teach him The Truth, he would have seen large areas that needed improvement. Help me continue to ask You questions so I can be teachable and open. Help me do this so I can be obedient to You and so I can learn these things. Empower me to let the belt of truth help me resist the world’s idea of what good and bad are. Teach me what they are so I will be able to use the belt of truth to help me love my neighbor as myself.

Jesus, get me ready for this next aspect of putting on, keeping on, and developing a high quality belt of truth. Open my heart and mind to this next study on the Scriptures that deal with The Truth. Train and empower me as I go through a list of Scriptures that will be helpful with identifying, putting on, keeping on, and using the belt of truth.