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Unhindered Abundance: Restoring Our Souls in a Fragmented World
Rewire Your Brain with Truth from Scripture
Have you ever felt stuck in your Christian life? Have you wondered if the abundant life Jesus promised is really available for you right here and right now? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then this book is for you. This book will help you identify the spiritual growth barriers that are keeping you stuck as well as show you the way to experience more of the abundant a life characterized by more love, joy, peace, and hope than you ever dreamed possible before. Ken Baugh draws us into the inner workings of the brain and the heart, which inform how we process negative and traumatic experiences, but which also can be diverted from health and wholeness by such negative experiences. How we process hard things intellectually and spiritually recalibrates us toward either health and wholeness or bitterness and defeatism. Ken helps us rewire our brains by simmering in the Scriptures that remind us whom we belong to and what God has promised us. The end result is a resilient, robust faith prepared to weather every storm and keep in step with Jesus.
Have you ever felt stuck in your Christian life? Have you wondered if the abundant life Jesus promised is really available for you right here and right now? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then this book is for you. This book will help you identify the spiritual growth barriers that are keeping you stuck as well as show you the way to experience more of the abundant a life characterized by more love, joy, peace, and hope than you ever dreamed possible before. Ken Baugh draws us into the inner workings of the brain and the heart, which inform how we process negative and traumatic experiences, but which also can be diverted from health and wholeness by such negative experiences. How we process hard things intellectually and spiritually recalibrates us toward either health and wholeness or bitterness and defeatism. Ken helps us rewire our brains by simmering in the Scriptures that remind us whom we belong to and what God has promised us. The end result is a resilient, robust faith prepared to weather every storm and keep in step with Jesus.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published February 9, 2021
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843 people want to read
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July 19, 2024
I can’t remember where I heard of this book, but I know I went into it with curiosity but also some cautions. Honestly, when I started reading it, I half-expected to put it down a short ways in because I’d find it so off-base. This expectation was based on (a)the author's assoc. with a certain mega-church pastor and (b)the book’s premise of joining our understanding of spiritual growth with neuroscience - which in my observation, tends to be a big red flag/”no-no” in the Biblical Counseling movement, although sometimes I think that concern is taken a bit too far. This book is evidence that it can be.
I was pleasantly and refreshingly surprised, and not only finished this book but eagerly returned to it until it was finished. This book ended up being immensely encouraging and one I will likely purchase a hard-copy of to reread (I read on audiobook - so as always, I leave a minor disclaimer that I may have missed something.) Also, this is a loong review (with pros and cons), in part because this is an area I’ve been processing in my own mind & spiritual life.
First of all, this book is DRIPPING with Scripture, and emphasizes (and demonstrates) right interpretation and reading in context.
The premise/thesis centers around “take every thought captive” and similar Scriptural principles (“renew your mind,” “think on these things,” etc.), and shows how active our thought-life is in our spiritual life, and therefore how we need to take an active role to consider and control our thoughts, with the TRUTH of Scripture.
He repeatedly points to Scripture as the absolute and authoritative source of truth, and that truth as the crux of the issue when it comes to change in our life.
It does start with a thorough (and orthodox) explanation of the push&pull of “work out your salvation for it is CHRIST who is at work in you.”
It addresses the active role of the Holy Spirit in any sanctification and true/lasting change, and relying on the Spirit to bear fruit.
The main means provided for retraining our minds is focusing thoughts on the nature and character of God, and on our identity in Christ. This is where the book proved particularly refreshing as it hammered out Scripture after Scripture that emphasizes who God is, who we are in Christ, and God’s immense love for us - all of those which should and will be catalysts for change.
Towards the end it focuses on “grace sustained” spiritual disciplines as means of achieving retrained thoughts & sanctification - many of those centered around deeply consuming Scripture.
He also includes sincere fellowship with others, particularly believers, as a key role in this process.
He quotes and refers to, among others, D.A. Carson, Wayne Grudem, Warren Wiersbe, and *gasp* John MacArthur. I didn't recognize other names he mentioned, which may or may not be a good sign, ha.
Despite this abundance of orthodox Biblical truth that the book unpacks, the areas that might raise red flags in some (and yet were super helpful to me) were:
--He holds to the scientific process as a part of the God-given “general revelation,” not excluding neurology and psychology/psychiatry (although he provides this brief argument as a premise and doesn’t go into specifics at all of what may/may not be included)
--He regularly applies and uses the term “brain rewiring” to describe the neurological equivalent to renewing your mind. He doesn’t at all relay that it is a merely scientific process that downplays spiritual involvement, but rather enriches the understanding of the whole being to show how God designed the brain to work in conjunction with the human spirit in incredibly complex and yet reasonable ways. Therefore, it makes absolute sense that if God provides a spiritual command (renew your mind), that the science of the body He created would support and back that up.
--He addresses the misconception that Christians are expected/called to absolutely forget offenses and how they’ve been sinned against. He doesn’t at all downplay forgiveness and the need to be intentional about your thoughts and memories (rather, emphatically supports it). But he confronts the false interpretation that Paul’s “forgetting what lies behind” was applying to sins against us, when in reality Paul was referring to his past successes he was discounting. Essentially, what the author gets at, is that attempting to suppress memories (or believing we should) would actually do much more harm than good, since the reality is that we need to actively apply truth to those memories. So therefore, an interpretation of Scripture that says we should just “forget” offenses actually misses out on the process of rightly applying truth and therefore renewing your mind in regard to those.
--He addresses “implicit memory” - i.e. the emotional baggage many of us carry, even without actively realizing it (my own words). He talks about this being areas that we need to become cognizant of, so as to stop and apply truth to those. An example given is someone who experienced a traumatic car accident as a young person, and then later in life, reacts angrily/sinfully to an instance of being endangered on the road. The author doesn’t justify a sinful reaction or even refrain from calling it wrong, but rather points to a solution of retracing where that emotional reaction came from so you can apply truth to those lies that are at the origin of the sin (the deeply rooted emotional reaction). In this case, the truth might be the sovereignty and goodness and protection of God in the midst of pain, suffering, and fear.
To me, this appears completely orthodox and Scriptural, but also goes a step beyond what I’ve heard in some settings about addressing these kinds of issues. There appears to be a tendency in some circles to get uncomfortable with addressing emotional involvement (especially “historical” emotional involvement, i.e. “trauma’), as if simply acknowledging emotional involvement gives a “way out.” Or it can swing to the other end of the spectrum, and demonize emotion since it’s the emotion that led to the sin. Rather, here the author straightforwardly makes the connection that acknowledging that *yes* there *is* an emotional root to a particular sin, enables you to go pull up that root (by confronting the lie *behind* the emotion with the truth of Scripture) instead of continually cutting down the stem by focusing on the immediate outlet/action or even the emotion itself, and then wondering why the same sin keeps cropping back up.
And precisely because the book introduces a whole-body approach, acknowledging and integrating things like the nervous system (and how that plays a role in “taking every thought captive”), I felt enabled and encouraged to apply these truths even more than after many other things I’ve read on a similar topic that inadvertently can err on the side of reducing the human experience to mental constructs and resultantly to abstractions.
The last chapter is the one I have the most reservations about, and I don’t think it’s totally wrong, as much as could be taken the wrong way. He talks about the spiritual disciplines of: solitude, silence, and listening (in prayer), specifically calling believers to listen to what Jesus/the Holy Spirit has to say to them. This isn’t immediately/directly tied to reading Scripture, although he does follow that with saying to compare anything you hear to Scripture and make sure it agrees. I don’t think he’s suggesting at all that the believer will hear audibly from God, as much as he’s encouraging the believer to meditate on truth and be open in prayer to hear what God would impress directly on their heart and to their situation. But obviously these ideas can be misapplied and taken to some dangerous/heretical lengths.
In that same chapter, he talks about confession (including to others) as a spiritual discipline, and although he acknowledges the orthodox definition of confession, he expands the definition in an iffy way to include confessing emotional pain and working through difficult experiences by telling others about it. It almost sounds for a minute like he’s making a Biblical case for talk-therapy, but I think this may be a “decent idea wrong proof text” scenario. He ties this principle in with others like “examine your heart” and principles of Biblical community and being vulnerable (even with sin & struggles) with other believers to walk through them in truth. His initial description of “confessing” seems to focus more on identifying/acknowledging the source of personal pain/hurt, instead of sin –which obviously is a big red flag. Yet the illustration of this from his own life that he gives shows him using the reflection on his emotions/experiences (even when starting from wrong thinking) as a way to “examine his heart,” to unpack the sin, and then reinforces God convicting, and a need to respond with reconciling through repenting and confessing to others. (Granted he’s light on the word “sin” but he clearly alludes to being wrong, needing to apologize, etc. - and I wonder if he’s doing so to try to be gentle to his audience, while still modeling a Biblical response to sin.)
Again, an initial reaction to this could be to discount what he’s saying because maybe he needs to be clearer or firmer on certain points – and maybe he does. But I also found his reasonable acknowledgement of how tightly emotions are tangled up with sin a helpful one, and that if we try to dogmatically isolate the “sin” without acknowledging the interwoven emotion and working through those, we may miss part of the solution.
For example, when he goes on to talk about forgiveness, he says “Genuine forgiveness can’t be mechanical… It’s more than an act of the will. It’s a matter of the heart.” And he goes on to explain how whole-hearted forgiveness must be (a) informed by Scripture=thought (b) motivated by gratitude=feeling (c) activated by the will=decision, and (d) empowered by grace=the work of the Holy Spirit. So even emotion has a role in forgiveness, and I would think many of us can relate to struggling with forgiveness if emotion can’t be aligned with the knowledge/will to do so. The author uses the parable of the forgiven servant to reinforce how focusing on truth (mercy we’ve received) can correct wrong emotion (ingratitude). And he proceeds to walk through each part of forgiveness (a-d), from meditating on Scripture to how unforgiveness creates a stress response in the brain, releasing adrenaline & cortisol - which can have major health implications when it goes unchecked long -term. The latter isn’t to downplay the spiritual realities, as much as to deeply reinforce how good and necessary God’s plan is.
Truly, the emphasis of this book was BY AND FAR on the truth of Scripture, the nature & character of God, and the identity of the believer in Christ, as key players in applying truth & living out obedience to God’s Word, way more than any psychological or neurological concepts. I actually expected a lot more “sciency” stuff but his references to neurology and neurological concepts truly seemed to be supporting actors to explain how brain-science upholds what Scripture already says and proclaims to be true. There was absolutely no attempt to replace Scriptural principles with science, or to undermine orthodox interpretations. On the contrary, the science provided was used to uphold and reinforce Scripture, and to give a broader understanding of the whole person, so that said person can effectively apply Scripture to their mind, heart, and actions, and live “life more abundantly” (John 10:10).
I wouldn’t necessarily hand this book off to a young/undiscerning believer, but I could see it being very helpful to someone who has solid orthodox understanding, and/or to read with someone who is looking to dig deeper on the topic of spiritual growth or just be refreshed in their spiritual walk against sin and continual struggles.
**There are also questions at the end of each chapter, both for personal reflection but also for group discussion. Many of the personal reflection questions have readers dig into and meditate on Scripture intentionally.
I was pleasantly and refreshingly surprised, and not only finished this book but eagerly returned to it until it was finished. This book ended up being immensely encouraging and one I will likely purchase a hard-copy of to reread (I read on audiobook - so as always, I leave a minor disclaimer that I may have missed something.) Also, this is a loong review (with pros and cons), in part because this is an area I’ve been processing in my own mind & spiritual life.
First of all, this book is DRIPPING with Scripture, and emphasizes (and demonstrates) right interpretation and reading in context.
The premise/thesis centers around “take every thought captive” and similar Scriptural principles (“renew your mind,” “think on these things,” etc.), and shows how active our thought-life is in our spiritual life, and therefore how we need to take an active role to consider and control our thoughts, with the TRUTH of Scripture.
He repeatedly points to Scripture as the absolute and authoritative source of truth, and that truth as the crux of the issue when it comes to change in our life.
It does start with a thorough (and orthodox) explanation of the push&pull of “work out your salvation for it is CHRIST who is at work in you.”
It addresses the active role of the Holy Spirit in any sanctification and true/lasting change, and relying on the Spirit to bear fruit.
The main means provided for retraining our minds is focusing thoughts on the nature and character of God, and on our identity in Christ. This is where the book proved particularly refreshing as it hammered out Scripture after Scripture that emphasizes who God is, who we are in Christ, and God’s immense love for us - all of those which should and will be catalysts for change.
Towards the end it focuses on “grace sustained” spiritual disciplines as means of achieving retrained thoughts & sanctification - many of those centered around deeply consuming Scripture.
He also includes sincere fellowship with others, particularly believers, as a key role in this process.
He quotes and refers to, among others, D.A. Carson, Wayne Grudem, Warren Wiersbe, and *gasp* John MacArthur. I didn't recognize other names he mentioned, which may or may not be a good sign, ha.
Despite this abundance of orthodox Biblical truth that the book unpacks, the areas that might raise red flags in some (and yet were super helpful to me) were:
--He holds to the scientific process as a part of the God-given “general revelation,” not excluding neurology and psychology/psychiatry (although he provides this brief argument as a premise and doesn’t go into specifics at all of what may/may not be included)
--He regularly applies and uses the term “brain rewiring” to describe the neurological equivalent to renewing your mind. He doesn’t at all relay that it is a merely scientific process that downplays spiritual involvement, but rather enriches the understanding of the whole being to show how God designed the brain to work in conjunction with the human spirit in incredibly complex and yet reasonable ways. Therefore, it makes absolute sense that if God provides a spiritual command (renew your mind), that the science of the body He created would support and back that up.
--He addresses the misconception that Christians are expected/called to absolutely forget offenses and how they’ve been sinned against. He doesn’t at all downplay forgiveness and the need to be intentional about your thoughts and memories (rather, emphatically supports it). But he confronts the false interpretation that Paul’s “forgetting what lies behind” was applying to sins against us, when in reality Paul was referring to his past successes he was discounting. Essentially, what the author gets at, is that attempting to suppress memories (or believing we should) would actually do much more harm than good, since the reality is that we need to actively apply truth to those memories. So therefore, an interpretation of Scripture that says we should just “forget” offenses actually misses out on the process of rightly applying truth and therefore renewing your mind in regard to those.
--He addresses “implicit memory” - i.e. the emotional baggage many of us carry, even without actively realizing it (my own words). He talks about this being areas that we need to become cognizant of, so as to stop and apply truth to those. An example given is someone who experienced a traumatic car accident as a young person, and then later in life, reacts angrily/sinfully to an instance of being endangered on the road. The author doesn’t justify a sinful reaction or even refrain from calling it wrong, but rather points to a solution of retracing where that emotional reaction came from so you can apply truth to those lies that are at the origin of the sin (the deeply rooted emotional reaction). In this case, the truth might be the sovereignty and goodness and protection of God in the midst of pain, suffering, and fear.
To me, this appears completely orthodox and Scriptural, but also goes a step beyond what I’ve heard in some settings about addressing these kinds of issues. There appears to be a tendency in some circles to get uncomfortable with addressing emotional involvement (especially “historical” emotional involvement, i.e. “trauma’), as if simply acknowledging emotional involvement gives a “way out.” Or it can swing to the other end of the spectrum, and demonize emotion since it’s the emotion that led to the sin. Rather, here the author straightforwardly makes the connection that acknowledging that *yes* there *is* an emotional root to a particular sin, enables you to go pull up that root (by confronting the lie *behind* the emotion with the truth of Scripture) instead of continually cutting down the stem by focusing on the immediate outlet/action or even the emotion itself, and then wondering why the same sin keeps cropping back up.
And precisely because the book introduces a whole-body approach, acknowledging and integrating things like the nervous system (and how that plays a role in “taking every thought captive”), I felt enabled and encouraged to apply these truths even more than after many other things I’ve read on a similar topic that inadvertently can err on the side of reducing the human experience to mental constructs and resultantly to abstractions.
The last chapter is the one I have the most reservations about, and I don’t think it’s totally wrong, as much as could be taken the wrong way. He talks about the spiritual disciplines of: solitude, silence, and listening (in prayer), specifically calling believers to listen to what Jesus/the Holy Spirit has to say to them. This isn’t immediately/directly tied to reading Scripture, although he does follow that with saying to compare anything you hear to Scripture and make sure it agrees. I don’t think he’s suggesting at all that the believer will hear audibly from God, as much as he’s encouraging the believer to meditate on truth and be open in prayer to hear what God would impress directly on their heart and to their situation. But obviously these ideas can be misapplied and taken to some dangerous/heretical lengths.
In that same chapter, he talks about confession (including to others) as a spiritual discipline, and although he acknowledges the orthodox definition of confession, he expands the definition in an iffy way to include confessing emotional pain and working through difficult experiences by telling others about it. It almost sounds for a minute like he’s making a Biblical case for talk-therapy, but I think this may be a “decent idea wrong proof text” scenario. He ties this principle in with others like “examine your heart” and principles of Biblical community and being vulnerable (even with sin & struggles) with other believers to walk through them in truth. His initial description of “confessing” seems to focus more on identifying/acknowledging the source of personal pain/hurt, instead of sin –which obviously is a big red flag. Yet the illustration of this from his own life that he gives shows him using the reflection on his emotions/experiences (even when starting from wrong thinking) as a way to “examine his heart,” to unpack the sin, and then reinforces God convicting, and a need to respond with reconciling through repenting and confessing to others. (Granted he’s light on the word “sin” but he clearly alludes to being wrong, needing to apologize, etc. - and I wonder if he’s doing so to try to be gentle to his audience, while still modeling a Biblical response to sin.)
Again, an initial reaction to this could be to discount what he’s saying because maybe he needs to be clearer or firmer on certain points – and maybe he does. But I also found his reasonable acknowledgement of how tightly emotions are tangled up with sin a helpful one, and that if we try to dogmatically isolate the “sin” without acknowledging the interwoven emotion and working through those, we may miss part of the solution.
For example, when he goes on to talk about forgiveness, he says “Genuine forgiveness can’t be mechanical… It’s more than an act of the will. It’s a matter of the heart.” And he goes on to explain how whole-hearted forgiveness must be (a) informed by Scripture=thought (b) motivated by gratitude=feeling (c) activated by the will=decision, and (d) empowered by grace=the work of the Holy Spirit. So even emotion has a role in forgiveness, and I would think many of us can relate to struggling with forgiveness if emotion can’t be aligned with the knowledge/will to do so. The author uses the parable of the forgiven servant to reinforce how focusing on truth (mercy we’ve received) can correct wrong emotion (ingratitude). And he proceeds to walk through each part of forgiveness (a-d), from meditating on Scripture to how unforgiveness creates a stress response in the brain, releasing adrenaline & cortisol - which can have major health implications when it goes unchecked long -term. The latter isn’t to downplay the spiritual realities, as much as to deeply reinforce how good and necessary God’s plan is.
Truly, the emphasis of this book was BY AND FAR on the truth of Scripture, the nature & character of God, and the identity of the believer in Christ, as key players in applying truth & living out obedience to God’s Word, way more than any psychological or neurological concepts. I actually expected a lot more “sciency” stuff but his references to neurology and neurological concepts truly seemed to be supporting actors to explain how brain-science upholds what Scripture already says and proclaims to be true. There was absolutely no attempt to replace Scriptural principles with science, or to undermine orthodox interpretations. On the contrary, the science provided was used to uphold and reinforce Scripture, and to give a broader understanding of the whole person, so that said person can effectively apply Scripture to their mind, heart, and actions, and live “life more abundantly” (John 10:10).
I wouldn’t necessarily hand this book off to a young/undiscerning believer, but I could see it being very helpful to someone who has solid orthodox understanding, and/or to read with someone who is looking to dig deeper on the topic of spiritual growth or just be refreshed in their spiritual walk against sin and continual struggles.
**There are also questions at the end of each chapter, both for personal reflection but also for group discussion. Many of the personal reflection questions have readers dig into and meditate on Scripture intentionally.
February 3, 2021
Biblical. That is the word to describe this work by Ken Baugh. Ken has spent a lifetime of study around and has personally lived the question, "Why is there a gap between where I am and where I think I should be in Christ?" Ken spends the next 15 chapters helping us understand the power of thinking healthy Biblical truths as a means of turning the "gears" of our thoughts, emotions, and will as lived out in our day-t0-day lives.
There are many new books being published that come out of spiritual formation through the lens of neurology and brain science. Ken leads us to the space place through careful use of scientific research and findings from brain science, but he does so through the Bible first. His starting point is what does the Bible says and teaches us about our thoughts, emotions, will, and identity, and then he shows how brain science supports these very truths.
Each chapter has helpful exercises for both individuals and groups to practice and wrestle with. This is more like a manual to be engaged with, than just a paradigm or approach alone. Ken helps you work into these ideas. And through it all, Ken is incredibly vulnerable as he shares stories from his own life, making you appreciate his journey as he helps you on your own. Don't miss it.
There are many new books being published that come out of spiritual formation through the lens of neurology and brain science. Ken leads us to the space place through careful use of scientific research and findings from brain science, but he does so through the Bible first. His starting point is what does the Bible says and teaches us about our thoughts, emotions, will, and identity, and then he shows how brain science supports these very truths.
Each chapter has helpful exercises for both individuals and groups to practice and wrestle with. This is more like a manual to be engaged with, than just a paradigm or approach alone. Ken helps you work into these ideas. And through it all, Ken is incredibly vulnerable as he shares stories from his own life, making you appreciate his journey as he helps you on your own. Don't miss it.
January 18, 2025
A gem for anyone who hopes to work through difficult past experiences and emotions in order to have a more full, free, life in Christ. Great book to be read with a community or close friends, and work through questions and practices together. High focus on thought life, and how remembering and believing Gods thoughts about you, and your thoughts about yourself and God deeply influence how your emotions and actions will follow. Your thoughts are the one thing you can control, and it is essential to be able to redirect your thoughts to lead to an abundant life that the Lord intends for each of us!
August 8, 2025
Among many other great strengths, not the least of which is a great primer on how to "be" with Jesus and not work and live for him, the study questions at the end of each chapter are pieces of art that will push your soul into deeper understanding. The best of any book I've ever been a part of or read. The model for every time I will write discussion questions moving forward.
November 27, 2020
This was an excellent and informative book on spiritual barriers to growth. I'm already planning a second read through! It was a God send at the right moment. Highly recommend.
March 25, 2025
One of the best books on spiritual formation I have ever ready. Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews