Thursday, July 21, 2011

Book review: Enemies of the heart

I recently read the book Enemies of the heart by Andy Stanley. In this book he uses the life example of something coming out of our mouths and us wondering 'where in the world did that come from?' as well as our constant internal battles in attempting to improve our behaviors without much luck. The key Bible verse that is used as the launch pad into the discussion is Matthew 15: 18, when Jesus says "But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart, and these defile them."


The problem is much deeper then just our behaviors and actions, but as Andy reiterates throughout the book it is really a 'heart' problem. These heart issues tend to be reflected in four specific areas, Guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy. In walking through each of these, you are encouraged to really probe your heart and dig to find areas where these have taken hold. Through each section you are given straightforward advice and suggestions on how to get to the root of these issues. 


While the book is written in a really easy to digest, conversational manner it is not an easy book to read. The reason for that is that this really peels back layers and if you take the advice seriously really requires work and examining things that are in your heart that I at least would rather not address. This also holds true to the advice and questions - while they are simple - they are not easy to do. It takes courage and work. 


With that stated, this is a great book to really try and figure out where those strange outbursts come from as well as learning the basics about 'guarding your heart'.


If you would like to check this out for yourself, you can access a free chapter:


Enemies of the Heart by Andy Stanley (Chapter 1 Excerpt)




For full disclosure: I did receive this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. If you are interested in getting free copies to read and submit reviews on check it out here: Blogging for books

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