The Renewed Mind: Becoming the Person God Wants You to Be
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About this ebook
Have you ever tried to break a bad habit? By sheer will power you set your mind to overcome it ... but suddenly, there it is again! Do you ever have thoughts rise up in your mind which would make you blush if they were suddenly broadcast over a loudspeaker? Experiences like this express the gap which exists between what we are and what we want to be. This book is all about bridging that gap!
In a vivid series of images and parables, the Christian life is depicted not as a drear duty, but as an adventure of faith--living each day by the guidance and power of Christ's indwelling presence.
The Renewed Mind touches on five major areas of the spiritual experience:Dependency on GodFacing challengesPatienceDisciplinePrayer
This expanded edition includes new selections from Larry Christenson's other memorable teachings--Back to Square One and The Notre Dame Football Talk--plus new study questions.
Larry Christenson
Larry Christenson, ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church, is the former director of the International Lutheran Renewal Center in Minneapolis. He was a popular conference speaker and wrote more than fifteen books in his lifetime, including The Christian Family, which has sold more than two million copies. He journeyed home to be with the Lord in December of 2017.
Read more from Larry Christenson
The Mantle of Esther: Discovering the Power of Intercession Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Answering Your Questions About Speaking in Tongues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for The Renewed Mind
7 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5There's a lot of good wisdom in here, but with each chapter the hyper charismatic begins to shine through more and more, leading up to a confusing, brash, and even dare I say borderline heretical last chapter, wherein it is strangely presented that we, in praying in the name of Christ, are praying on behalf of Him, making *His* requests known to the Father, like a sales pitch. The whole chapter uses a rather labyrinthine sales analogy which dances between somewhat sound wisdom and, as previously mentioned, outright bizarre theology. There is only one Mediator, just so you know. Anyways, the book has highs and lows, with whats good being particularly good, but I can't really recommend it based purely on the bizarre charismatic doctrines laced throughout in kncreasing intensity which, being hardly founded- if at all- on Scripture, might easily sway the young believer into harmful practices: for example, Martin Luther's "heroic" prayer, wherein he threatened God with apostasy if He failed to heal his friend, is not an act that should be done *regardless* of ones maturity in the faith; the young believer must find the prospect terrifying, and the aged believer *will* find it so. When the prophets speak in this manner due to lamentation and human frustration, it is not a prescriptive commandment that we ought to also. So read with the Word well studied, and discern what is good from what is not.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5y
Book preview
The Renewed Mind - Larry Christenson
The
Renewed
Mind
BOOKS BY
LARRY CHRISTENSON
The Christian Family
The Heartless Troll
The Renewed Mind
Ride the River
The Wonderful Way Babies Are Made
Welcome, Holy Spirit
The
Renewed
Mind
BECOMING the PERSON GOD
WANTS YOU TO BE
LARRY
CHRISTENSON
The Renewed Mind
Copyright © 1974, 2001
Larry Christenson
Cover design by David Carlson Design
Cover photograph from Digital Stock
Chapters 1 and 10 of the present work appeared in Back to Square One © 1979 by Larry Christenson.
Except as noted, italics in Scripture quotations and other quotations are the author’s.
Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations identified NKJV are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owners.
Published by Bethany House Publishers
A Ministry of Bethany Fellowship International
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Printed in the United States of America by
Bethany Press International, Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Christenson, Larry, 1928-
The renewed mind : becoming the person God wants you to be / by Larry
Christenson. — Updated and rev. ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7642-2391-7
1. Christian life. I. Title.
BV4501.3 .C49 2001
248.4’841—dc21 00-012134
CONTENTS
Preface
Part One
The Renewed Mind Depends on God
1. Back to Square One
2. Build the Forms of Holiness—Let God Fill Them
3. Explore the Mystery of God
4. Discover the Secret of Sanctification
Part Two
The Renewed Mind Faces Challenges With the Authority of Christ
5. The Old Landlord
6. Unilateral Forgiveness
Part Three
The Renewed Mind Is Patient
7. The Little Whiles
of Life
8. Promise and Process
9. Forgiveness and Deliverance
Part Four
The Renewed Mind Accepts Discipline
10. The Notre Dame Football Talk
11. The Tool of Trouble
12. The Fire, Lord, Not the Junk Heap!
Part Five
The Renewed Mind Prays With Confidence
13. Five Keys to Answered Prayer
14. Praying in the Name of Jesus
LARRY CHRISTENSON is an ordained Lutheran minister, best-selling author, and popular speaker. He has written numerous articles and books, including The Christian Family (two million copies sold) and Ride the River. He and his wife, Nordis, travel extensively, speaking at conferences, in colleges and seminaries, and in congregations. They make their home in northern Minnesota.
PREFACE
Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind
(Romans 12:2).
THE RENEWED MIND sees life more in terms of parables than of principles. The principles are there, of course, like an invisible foundation, supporting and undergirding. But that which the mind takes hold of, that which makes the principle operative, is often a picture, a story, a dramatic image. I have seen the most remarkable transformations take place in people’s lives when a vivid image has been used to renew their way of thinking and acting.
The chapters of this book present a series of images and parables that have to do with Christian life and growth. It is my hope that they will offer the reader not only an understanding of biblical principles, but practical handles for making the principles working realities in everyday life. For the goal of a renewed mind is not simply a collection of new ideas, but a transformed life.
Larry Christenson
Note: In this newly expanded edition of The Renewed Mind, study questions have been added to each chapter. For group study, each person may read the assigned chapter ahead of time, then the group can use the study questions to aid discussion. If a group does not anticipate regular attendance, an alternative method can be used: The leader may want to read aloud a condensed version
(ten to fifteen minutes) of each chapter at the beginning of each session. Discussion can follow. The study questions for each chapter can be printed and handed out for each session. The multiple-choice question that starts each set of questions is meant to spark discussion.
PART ONE
THE RENEWED MIND
DEPENDS ON GOD
Back to Square One
Build the Forms of Holiness—Let God Fill Them
Explore the Mystery of God
Discover the Secret of Sanctification
CHAPTER ONE
BACK TO SQUARE ONE
LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT an intriguing idea that came to me one day. I had a picture in my mind of a game, a table game something like Monopoly.
Each player had a token. Everyone started off on Square 1, but you couldn’t move off Square 1 until a little Red Bird came along and sat down on Square 1 while your token was there. Then you could go.
The game got under way. The players moved out and landed on different places at the spin of a dial. Eventually the Red Bird settled down next to me, so I got off Square l.
Going around the board, you land on some squares where you have to pick up a card from the middle of the table. Every time I picked up one of those cards it told me, Go Back to Square 1. Then I had to sit and wait for the little Red Bird to come along again. It was rather frustrating.
I thought about that a bit, musing to myself, This is a picture of the Christian life. The Holy Spirit’s purpose for me is to get me back to Square l. And that is His purpose for the church.
The key to living the Christian life is to go back to Square 1, and continually to move out only from Square 1.
What is Square 1
? That is the place where we cannot do or initiate anything by ourselves. We have to wait for the little Red Bird to come along. We can spin the dial as much as we please, but it does not produce any real progress until the little Red Bird comes along to release us.
This makes sense when you think of how the Christian life begins. It begins on Square 1. God forgives and saves us out of sheer mercy when we put our trust in Christ and His atoning death. We cannot do anything to gain salvation. God puts us on Square 1 and brings to a standstill every effort we make toward earning or achieving our own salvation. We cannot begin to move until the Holy Spirit settles down next to us and releases us into life in Christ. That is salvation; in theological terms, justification.
By grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast
(Ephesians 2:8–9).
So now you are saved.
The game of life is on! You spin the dial and take off, landing on some of those other squares out there on the playing board.
You may not realize it at first, but little by little it dawns on you that the cards seem to be stacked against you. Every time you land on one of those squares that says, Take a card,
the card tells you, Go back to Square 1. After this happens two or three times, you begin to get a little frustrated.
Look at all those big important squares down the line, Lord: insights into Scripture, charismatic gifts, holiness, Spirit-filled ministry, miracles, visions, Christian communities, winning souls for Jesus, making disciples of all nations! Why can’t I move ahead to one of those? How am I ever going to get around this board if you keep sending me back to Square 1 all the time?
When you ask these kind of questions (however you might phrase them), you are coming to grips with the real purpose of the game. There is no moving ahead in the Christian life until we realize that we cannot do it ourselves. We cannot take over and run this life that God has given us. Every step forward begins with a return to Square 1, where we receive a fresh release of the Holy Spirit.
Our imaginary game has five main features—
The Dial
The Token
The Playing Board
The Stack of Cards
The Goal
The Dial
The dial has a pointer that tells the player where to go on the next move. But it doesn’t do any good to spin the dial until the little Red Bird comes along and lights on Square 1 while the player’s token is there.
That is how progress in the Christian life gets under way. God brings to an end our ceaseless twirling of the dials of human activity— things we initiate and then piously ask God to bless. He puts us back on Square 1 where we learn to wait for the initiative of the Holy Spirit.
In my flesh nothing good dwells
(Romans 7:18 NKJV). I have no human knack, no power of my own to live the Christian life. Time and again I am brought back to the place where I realize afresh that I cannot live this life out of my own resources. I have to go back to Square 1 until it comes home to me in a new and vivid way that only the Holy Spirit can move me forward in this life.
Oh, I can spin the dial and take off on my own. But you know what that is like! How many projects have nosedived because we got nervous waiting for the Red Bird to come and started off on our own?
A woman whose husband had been converted was all fired up to tell everyone about it. We lost most of our friends that first year,
she said. When it comes to sharing a testimony of our faith, we need to train our spiritual eyes to glance sideward to see whether the Red Bird has settled down beside us. Otherwise our testimony may just turn people off.
This seems to be especially true with those closest to us, members of our own family or congregation. With them our testimony often must first be translated into the language of loving service. If a man is filled with the Spirit and the next Saturday morning his wife comes in to find him fixing the washing machine that has been on the blink for a month, or if gloomy Nellie has a deep experience with the Lord and her pastor walks by the church kitchen and sees her hanging up some bright, ruffly curtains around those dismal windows—a message about life in Christ comes across before a word is spoken.
The Holy Spirit may be quite ready to release us from Square 1 if we are pointed in the right direction physically, mentally, and spiritually. But if our mind is locked in on some particular thing that is not on the Holy Spirit’s agenda for us at this time, we may have to cool our heels until we loosen up and become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s initiatives.
Whatever the calling or ministry—be it witnessing, prayer, teaching, social action, giving—there is no fruitful work except that which is released by the Holy Spirit. The dial might point to a tremendous work that we think would build the kingdom of God. But if it is our own work done in our own way, we will be building with wood, hay, and stubble. On the other hand, even though a work may seem insignificant, if the little Red Bird comes along and releases us into it, it will be a building of gold, silver, and precious stones—something that will endure (see 1 Corinthians 3:11–15).
The Token
The token represents a player’s progress around the board. Every token is distinctive; they are not interchangeable. The moves of one