Raising the Cap 

Cap has a number of different meanings, such as a baseball cap or a pill–capsule. It can be used as a way to limit something, such as a salary cap. However, the way we are going to use it is as a limit, a hold-down, as in a bottle cap or a pipe end cap. Something that restricts or stops something from flowing.

We cannot outproduce, outlive, or outperform our self-image.  Every one of us has a self-imposed cap. There are two variations of this cap. One is that we are aware and capable of accomplishing and achieving more, and we choose not to.

For instance, you are a teacher, and you possess the ability to become a principal or an administrator, but you choose not to. You consciously decide you are happy with where you are and will not take on the advanced position. It is a well-informed, conscious decision.  What this means is you have made a decision based on other criteria other than not having the skills. Or being self-image restricted.

The other cap is that we want to achieve more and become more successful, and regardless of what we do, we can't seem to move beyond where we are. The reason this happens is because we are doing things that are self-limiting. We can try to blame others, but at the end of the day, we are taking action to move ahead or stay where we are.

Intertwined Threads

The way we think about ourselves and the way we perceive our ability is the determiner of outcomes. Not anyone else. Our production in life is irrevocably tied to what we believe. To your thoughts. Not my thoughts, not the church's thoughts, not society's thoughts, your thoughts.  Our cap is set in place as an unmovable limit. It defines everything we will become or not become. This cap is constructed of the intertwined threads of thoughts we believe about ourselves.

Since our caps are constructed of thoughts we believe about ourselves, how do we remove the cap? You cannot remove the cap. You can only move it.  We can only move the cap by changing our thoughts. As we are now aware that the choices we make impact everything we do, we must, by logic, accept that if we change our thoughts, we change the makeup of our caps and the position of the cap.

So, the logical question is, how do we change our thoughts?

2 Corinthians 10:5 says

'We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, '

We can, by sheer force, attempt to change our thoughts, and that will work for a while, but eventually, it will fail.

II Corinthians 10:5, the new King James version.

'casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, '

Casting Down

Every thought. First, we have to identify “every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.” What is every high thing? This is where the rubber meets the road. In your life, what is the high thing that is exalting itself against the knowledge of God?  Now listen, what is the knowledge of God? It is the things that God knows. The knowledge of God is what God knows about you.

-He loves me. Is there anything in your life that puts this knowledge in question?

-He wants to provide for me. Is there anything in your life that is exalting itself against this truth? 

-God will never leave me. Is there anything that is exalting itself against this permanent assurance?

-What other thought, perception, or idea in your life is setting itself in opposition to what God has said about you or spoken over you?  

As you get older, you begin to realize those things in your past that you have not placed at the feet of Jesus are going to be exalted against the knowledge of God. You begin to realize that the construction of your cap has been and always will be those things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. Unless you bring your past to the feet of Jesus and ask Him to heal you of these past injustices. You will never be able to move the cap.

The sooner you begin to bring these injustices before God, the sooner the reconstruction of your cap will begin. The makeup of your cap does not have to remain the same. This healing is not something you can do with a therapist, preacher, or teacher. They can all help you to get to a place where you can lay them down at the feet of Jesus, but in the end, it must be you. All by yourself.  Asking God, seeking His predetermined will to heal you and release you from past injustices.

 'And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. Luke 5:31

We need Jesus to heal us from the injustices we have suffered from wherever they came.  But just like in our contemporary world, we must go to the healer. The healer cannot come to us. 

2 Corinthians 5:17

'Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. '

When I first heard this, I questioned it. I looked at my life as a new Christian and thought, hm, I must be missing something. My life is pretty much the same as it was yesterday. The only difference is I get drunk on Friday and Saturday, but I go to church on Sunday.

I eventually came to the realization that the old was dead. I was living a new life, but I needed to learn how to live that new life. For indeed, all things were new, and being new, I had to learn how to operate in the newness of this life. I had to change the threads of my cap. That verse does not mean that we instantly become sinless saints of God; it means God has opened the door to a sinless life that we need to learn to live. Before he opened the door, there was no door.

Divine Providence

To move the cap, we have to learn to live according to God's will and not according to the sins of the past or the misguided ideologies of Godless leaders. It must be done intentionally and with full understanding that it is God who is doing the healing and not the ways of man. He wants us to know that it is His divine providence that heals us.

To move the cap to become closer to what God has in store for you, you must reconstruct your cap. You must discard the threads of thought that are in opposition to God's predetermined will. Understand this: God’s will, will not be obstructed. His will, will always come to pass. We may not be totally cognizant of His will, but that makes no difference to its accomplishment.  What I am saying is that if you don’t move your cap, it will not impede God. It will only deny you the best in your life.

Are you seventy years old or thirty years old, holding on to ideas and thoughts that are contrary to God's will and still wondering what went wrong? Here is a question: are the thoughts you harbor bringing you closer to your God, or are they keeping you from Him?  “Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” means every thought, not just the spiritual ones. Not just the desperate ones, not just the sinful ones, but every thought.  Old and new popular ideologies and avant-garde edge-cutting mythologies must be brought under submission to the God of creation.  

The whole purpose of your life is to know Him. Every thought that interferes with that is hampering your development. We are continually changing the composition of our cap. What we must do is consciously and intentionally choose the components of the cap. By bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, we discover who our loving Father is.