Taking Thoughts Captive

I script delicious fantasies.

Growing up, my sisters and I went to the movies almost every weekend. Television was my close friend, as were books, especially Harlequin romance novels, and magazines like Tiger Beat and Rona Barrett’s Hollywood. Was it any wonder I was not a good candidate for reality living? When life was disappointing, mundane (a grossly unfair synonym in my mind for normal), or boring, I turned to fantasizing stories about romance and celebrity starring…me.

God has done, and is doing, a glorious and thorough transforming of my mind and thoughts. It began with humbly surrendering myself to Him, and continues with a moment by moment embracing of The Greatest Commandment: loving God with every part of me – mind, soul, heart and body.

But still, every once in a while, to my chagrin, sadness and even surprise, I default to the comfort of fantasy. Why? On Thursday’s Mid-Morning addressing sexual addictions, Dr. Mark Laaser brought the answer into focus: I have a legitimate, unmet desire, demanding...even begging to be truly satisfied. Fantasies, says Dr. Laaser, are messages from your soul, revealing a deep longing.

Thank you, Dr. Laaser!

While my fantasies weren’t and aren’t sexual, the same truth Dr. Laaser applies to determining an unmet desire that finds its false answer in sex, is for me, and you, too. When we begin to understand our fantasies (and the desires they are unsuccessfully trying to meet), then we can find whole and healthy ways to satiate the desires, which, by the way, are God-given and ultimately fulfilled by Him.

By now you probably have a growing list of questions:

1.      How do I figure out what desire my fantasy is trying to fulfill?

2.      What are the God-given desires we try to satisfy with fantasies or sinful behaviors?

3.      How do I get rid of fantasies?

I’m not in the book-selling business (though I’d be a gazillionaire by now because of Mid-Morning books I’ve recommended over the years!), but I truly believe God is using Dr. Mark Laaser to set His people free from sexual sin and all addictive, life-stealing thoughts. Dr. Laaser himself – who spent 25 years living a duplicitous life…a pastor, husband, father, counselor, Bible college professor and pornography viewer who also solicited prostitutes – a talking testimony to the emancipating power of God. Begin with Becoming a Man of Valor (Beacon Hill), which is definitely for women too, and then read The Seven Desires of Every Heart (Zondervan).

And get ready to be transformed!