Where life’s battle is won or lost
A Book by Warren Henderson
Posted by Elfriede
This week, I started reading a book by Warren Henderson titled “Mind Frames” and even though I am only in the Introduction it has already been a great blessing to me.
The description on the back of the book reads like this:
“In MIND FRAMES the author shares six scriptural exercises to strengthen the mind’s ability to focus Godward and then presents a dozen Christlike attitudes—mind frames—to guard our thoughts in challenging circumstances. These mind frames are used by the Spirit to bring our thoughts into alignment with the ways of God.”
On page 1, Warren Henderson describes that:
man is one person with three parts (spirit, soul and body).
He goes on to write:
The body is “world-conscious,” the soul is “self-conscious,” and the spirit of man is “God-conscious.” (pg 2, 1st paragraph)
God created the soul of man to stand between and exercise power over the whole of man to discern and to determine to pursue the spiritual rather than the natural world. The soul of man includes his heart, will, and mind. The mind is the intellectual and cognitive center of the soul and, thus, ultimately discerns the direction the soul will follow. (pg 2, 2nd paragraph)
The bulk of scriptural exhortation is not focused upon the soul, or the heart, but upon the mind. Thus, the mind must be “transformed” (Rom. 12:2) in order to “form” a pure heart (Ps. 51:10). A pure heart serves to “conform” (Eph. 6:5-8) the will to God’s will. (pg 3, 2nd paragraph)
While reading, absorbing and checking out the Scripture references, Romans 12:2 stood out to me:
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (NKJV)
What does Paul mean by “this world”?
I think we can replace it with “today’s society”. Society, *a system man built*, tries to define how we should live and what we should do; and if we don’t “conform” –don’t fit into the mold— then we are not considered part of this society—this world. Satan uses this pressure—whispering into our ear: “don’t you want to belong?”— in order to draw us into this “world” and away from God. Satan uses *the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life* to draw us – to conform – us to the customs and culture of this “world”; to make us want to seek the world’s *art, music, religion, amusements, thought-patterns, and lifestyles*.
We see it with our own eyes, how big parts of this society hate followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Living in North America we only experience mild persecution, but I believe everyone has heard of Christians being murdered for their belief.
Getting back to the book “MIND FRAMES” I learned that:
If a believer truly desires the Holy Spirit to have free access through his soul window, the mind must be properly framed.
Mark 12:30
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
I am looking forward to diving deeper into this book and learning how to strengthen my mind’s ability to focus on God and not the world!
If you are interested in this book it’s available at Gospel Folio Press.
*xxx* William MacDonald – Believer’s Bible Commentary Romans 12:2 pg 1728/29
