Battle Ready Book Review - Train Your Mind

It's a silent epidemic: we fail to mind our mind. Our thoughts are usually spam with no filter. It doesn't have to be this way. ~Kelly Balarie, Battle Ready

Battle Ready Book Review – Train Your Mind

July 5

~ Today’s Scripture Art and “Battle Ready” book review are designed to help you write God’s Word on your heart. ~

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“This is a silent epidemic: we fail to mind our mind. Our thoughts are usually spam. Seriously. We have no filter. It doesn’t have to be this way.” ~Kelly Balarie

It doesn’t have to be this way!

Not any more.

I am honored to be on Kelly Balarie’s launch team for her new book Battle Ready and I was given a free book in exchange for my book review. But I’ll tell ya what – this book is deserving of way more than a plain ‘ol good review! Maybe balloons or sparklers – something to get your attention! {grin}

I really liked Kelly’s last book, so I assumed I would like this one too. Well, I was wrong. I didn’t just like this one, I was flat out wowed by it!

It was my kind of book (or maybe I should say manual) – the kind that gives lists and exact how-to’s. Do-able ones. And practical examples. Gotta have practical examples.

Get this – Kelly has learned how to train her mind!

Need any help with that?

She says, “We don’t have to live reactively with all our wide array of emotions. We can respond proactively, getting ahead of the trials that want to bring us down.”

How does that sound?

Kelly observes, “Ever noticed? Our mind subtly and unnoticeably shifts away from truth little by little. One day we’re on fire for Jesus, the next we can’t pick up our Bible. Today we’re encouraging someone in Christ, a week later we’re hiding from them in shame. One day we rise up strong in prayer, a month later we’re frozen in chill-out mode. Or destroyed by doubt. Wrecked by uncertainty. Or shifted by circumstances. Our mind tracks subtly; we hardly notice its descent. We didn’t reach this place because of one thing or another but because of many unnoticeable, un-paid-attention-to things that added up over time. Small, negative mind shifts construct ruts – then you fall into them.”

We can learn how to avoid those stinkin’ ruts.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (ESV): We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

We can take every thought captive to obey Christ.

How?

Short answer: Through Him.

Romans 8:37 (ESV): No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

But I have a feeling you’re like me and you’d like a long answer – with details and examples.

Enter Battle Ready.

Kelly has rounded up loads of Scripture to help us form a personal battle plan.

1 Corinthians 2:12 (Amp): Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the [Holy] Spirit who is from God, so that we may know and understand the [wonderful] things freely given to us by God.

By the way, I got all of today’s Scripture references straight out of Kelly’s book. I love the fact that she included tons of Bible verses!

So now the question is: Do you believe you can change?

Kelly has been there. She says, “We one-third believe God’s truth is meant for us and two-thirds believe we aren’t good enough, valuable enough, holy enough, wise enough, churchy enough, strong enough, or fill-in-the-blank enough to receive it. So we don’t. We act all strong and speak all strong … all the while subtly shrinking back just enough to watch it drop dead, right before us.”

We need to learn to think like a beloved daughter would.

1 Peter 1:13 (NASB): Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Or maybe a better question is …

“Do you really want to get well? Do you really want to be healed of your fear, your complacency, your bad attitudes, or your worry to find a free-flying, abounding life? Or are you used to things as they are? Are you accustomed to the sympathies, the comforts, the leniencies, the excuses, and the status of poor old me?”

John 5:6 (Amp): When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

Once we decide we really want to get well and we believe we can change, then we can take Kelly’s 12 Warrior Mind-Sets and leverage our emotions to our advantage.

How? “By exchanging our ‘always have’ responses for ‘now can’ redirects.”

Don’t worry. Kelly gives us daily keys to hold and leverage, plus pages and pages of examples.

She realizes, “I was holding the key I needed all along. So often we are too. Available to us is the mind of Christ. A mind of truth.”

1 Corinthians 2:10 (NLT): But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.

One key that I know you already know (because we talk about it here all the time) is to let God’s truth dwell in our minds.

Let His promises live in our hearts.

Kelly says, “We want to not only read God’s Word but allow it to drive our fruit-producing life. We want the words to come off the pages so they settle into our hearts … then our thoughts … then our actions … then our future.”

See what I mean? She would be right at home writing for Write Them On My Heart!

Oh – there’s one more thing you have to know.

One thing I know you’ll like. Kelly gives so much grace all throughout her book. She doesn’t preach perfection.

“A transformed mind doesn’t look like perfection. A transformed mind is one that finds itself under the cross of Jesus Christ time and time again. It is one that is washed, renewed, conformed, and transformed because of His great love. It is one that submits not to feelings but to truth.”

If you have ever tried and failed to corral your negative thought-life, I think it’s time for a breakthrough.

Read Battle Ready nice and slow.

Hone in on a chapter, select a few points, and give it time to settle in – to change your thoughts.

Romans 12:1-2 (MSG): So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go read the book again (and again) and write down my personal battle plan. Let me know when you finish yours and we’ll compare!

See the list of ALL my Book Reviews