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Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church

Michael, Horton

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Horton Dismantles the Alternative Gospel 5 out of 5 stars.
24 of 26 people found this review helpful.

It is no small thing to take upon oneself the name Christian. Though it was first used as a form of derision when unbelievers mocked the "little Christs," the name was embraced by the earliest believers. The term, even when used mockingly, nicely encapsulated what they sought to do, namely, to imitate their Lord and Savior. Sadly, in the centuries since then, the word has become far too ambiguous and now refers to any number of faiths that, in one way or another, honor or respect Christ or that have some historical connection to his teachings. Amazingly, some of those called by the name of Christ actually deny him--perhaps not his existence but at least his uniqueness and his divinity. In Christless Christianity Michael Horton argues that such denial of Christ may not be too far from home. More and more evangelical churches, he says, are now essentially Christless. "Aside from the packaging, there is nothing that cannot be found in most churches today that could not be satisfied by any number of secular programs and self-help groups." Many churches have tossed out Christ and continue on without him, sometimes not even realizing that he has been lost along the way.

This is not to say that American evangelicalism has already reached a point of no return or that every church has rejected Christ. "I am not arguing in this book that we have arrived at Christless Christianity," says Horton, "but that we are well on our way. ... My concern is that we are getting dangerously close to the place in everyday American church life where the Bible is mined for `relevant' quotes but is largely irrelevant on its own terms; God is used as a personal resource rather than known, worshiped and trusted; Jesus Christ is a coach with a good game plan for our victory rather than a Savior who has already achieved it for us; salvation is more a matter of having our best life now than being saved from God's judgment by God himself; and the Holy Spirit is an electrical outlet we can plug into for the power we need to be all that we can be." Jesus has become supplemental instead of instrumental to the church. As the church has focused on "deeds, not creeds" she has become increasingly irrelevant and unfaithful. Church has become just another area in which Americans can live out the American dream. "In my view, we are living out our creed, but that creed is closer to the American Dream than it is to the Christian faith. The claim I am laying out in this book is that the most dominant form of Christianity today reflects `a zeal for God' that is nevertheless without knowledge--particularly, as Paul himself specifies, the knowledge of God's justification of the wicked by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, apart from works."

Amazingly, it is not theological liberalism that has drawn the church away from her creed, away from her biblical foundation. Instead, it is a kind of unbearable lightness--a faith that eschews biblical theology in favor of whatever happens to be the flavor of the day. Says Horton, "My argument in this book is not that evangelicalism is becoming theologically liberal but that it is becoming theologically vacuous. ... We come to church, it seems, less to be transformed by the Good News than to celebrate our own transformation and to receive fresh marching orders for transforming ourselves and our world. ... Just as you don't really need Jesus Christ in order to have T-shirts and coffee mugs, it is unclear to me why he is necessary for most of the things I hear a lot of pastors and Christians talking about in church these days."

Horton offers a description of this brand of "Christianity" that pervades so much of the evangelical scene these days. Following sociologist Christian Smith, he calls it moralistic, therapeutic deism. It offers this kind of working theology: God created the world; God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and most world religions; The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself; God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when needed to resolve a problem; Good people go to heaven when they die. Pause to consider much of the teaching you might find on your television on a Sunday morning and you'll see how apt a description this is. Horton traces this through Finney, through modern day Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism and into the pulpits of Joel Osteen and other popular smooth talking preachers. He describes the kind of can-do spirit that allows such preachers to thrive. "When looking for ultimate answers, we turn within ourselves, trusting our own experience rather than looking outside ourselves to God's external Word." And here is where the Osteen's of the world are so skilled--they simply reflect and direct human wisdom back at humans all the while pretending as if they gleaned this wisdom from the Word of God. He shows that such preachers, while appearing to perhaps teach a kind of freedom from the law, actually do the opposite, burdening people with a new kind of legalism. "One could easily come away from this type of message concluding that we are not saved by Christ's objective work for us but by our subjective personal relationship with Jesus through a series of works that we perform to secure his favor and blessing. God has set up all of these laws, and now it's up to us to follow them so we can be blessed." This kind of Christianity makes God merely a means to an end rather than an end in and of himself.

In an insightful chapter discussing "how we turn good news into good advice," Horton shows how Christians are prone to turn indicatives into imperatives. In other words, we take a statement of fact and turn it into an exhortation. This, too, drives people to a form of legalism in which they are ultimately responsible for their own salvation and sanctification, even without understanding or embracing the gospel message. "Across the board in contemporary American Christianity, that basic message seems to be some form of law (do this) without gospel (this is what has been done)." He deals well here with the constant exhortations in the church today to "be the gospel," amazed at the hubris of such a statement. "[Unbelievers] may not like our message anyway, but at least they might be relieved that we have stopped holding ourselves up as the way, the truth, and the life. If the message the church proclaims makes sense without conversion, if it does not offend even lifelong believers from time to time so that they too need to die more to themselves and live more to Christ, then it is not the gospel." St. Francis' exhortation to "Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary use words" has never offended a soul.

Final chapters look to "your own personal Jesus" and the resurgence of Gnosticism and to "delivering Christ," examining the relationship between the message and the medium. Horton notes that men like Barna and so many others are advocating a wholesale abandonment of the institutional church. "Instead of churching the unchurched," he laments, "we are well on our way to even unchurching the churched." Here he speaks of the critical importance of the local church and says "the faithful ministry of Word, sacrament, and discipline is the mission" of the church. "A genuinely evangelical church will be an evangelistic church: a place where the gospel is delivered through Word and sacrament and a people who witness to it in the world." He calls for the church to narrow its commission from fixing all of the world's ills to simply returning to the basics. "The church as people--scattered as salt and light through the week--has many different callings, but the church as place (gathered publicly by God's summons each Lord's Day) has one calling: to deliver (and receive) Christ through preaching and sacrament." Of course Christians, the church as people, should pursue justice and peace, but this ought to be done through common grace institutions along side non-Christians rather than through the church as a place. The church needs to mind its own business and get its own house in order.

In the final chapter, Horton calls for resistance. "What is called for in these days, as in any other time, is a church that is a genuine covenantal community defined by the gospel rather than a service provider defined by laws of the market, political ideologies, ethnic distinctives, or other alternatives to the catholic community that the Father is creating by his Spirit in his Son. For this, we need nothing less than a new Christian where the only demographic that matters is in Christ."

Through all of this I'd suggest the most important statement in the book may just be this: "It is not heresy as much as silliness that is killing us softly." This is where the book may be most useful for the conservative Christians who are the audience most likely to read it. All of us can fall into silliness without tossing aside the gospel. We can hold fast to Christian theology, even while allowing silliness and levity to pervade the very fabric of our church. A once-serious institution can become overrun by programs and purposes that slowly erode the gravity and simplicity of the church's unique calling. This book is a call for the church to return to its biblical foundations and to remain true to those convictions. It is a clarion call and one that Christians would do well to heed. Christless Christianity is an excellent and timely book and one I would not hesitate to recommend to any Christian.

Editorial Review:

Is it possible that we have left Christ out of Christianity? Is the faith and practice of American Christians today more American than Christian? These are the provocative questions Michael Horton addresses in this thoughtful, insightful book. He argues that while we invoke the name of Christ, too often Christ and the Christ-centered gospel are pushed aside. The result is a message and a faith that are, in Horton's words, "trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant." This alternative "gospel" is a message of moralism, personal comfort, self-help, self-improvement, and individualistic religion. It trivializes God, making him a means to our selfish ends. Horton skillfully diagnoses the problem and points to the solution: a return to the unadulterated gospel of salvation.

Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples

Thom S. Rainer, Eric Geiger

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Total reviews: 80 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not sure I would pay the full price for this again.... 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book is as skewed. The statistics are skewed and the survey findings are not able to be generalized to the overall population. There was no random sampling, and so the findings were significant because they surveyed significant churches and failing church.... several times the data in the form of graphs show something totally different than what they state their findings are, which makes the skewing even more evident than usual, if they had let the data say what the data says, and not force the data to try and say what they want it to say their findings probably would be not substantial and would not need to have a book written.

Editorial Review:

The simple revolution has begun. From the design of the iPod to the uncluttered Google home page, simple ideas are changing the world.

Simple Church clearly calls for Christians to return to the simple gospel-sharing methods of Jesus. No bells or whistles required, so to speak.

Based on case studies of four hundred American churches, authors Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger prove that the process for making disciples has quite often become too complex. Simple churches are thriving, and they are doing so by taking these four ideas to heart: Clarity. Movement. Alignment. Focus.

Each idea is examined here, simply showing why it is time to simplify.

They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations

Dan Kimball

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they like Jesus but not the church 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

We are using this book for our Young Marrieds & Singles class on Sunday mornings and it has been a good fit so far. There are a lot of things in it that are obviously going to make people uncomfortable but I think that they are things that all need to be said and understood if we are going to be able to reach today's generation.

They Like THEIR Jesus, But Not the Church 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I do not like the title of this book but overall I like the book. I do not believe most non-Christians like Jesus. They like their perceptions of him, but their thoughts of him are not well-rounded. Most people I have talked to see him as a great teacher and example, a person of love and a person who sacrificed greatly for others. These things are true but are only part of the story. The people Kimball references are no different than any other people, they like Jesus as long as he doesn't offend them. But in time Jesus will offend a person, because he breaks down our pride and self-reliance through his actions and words. In John chapter 6 this very dynamic plays out. Jesus is very popular with the people in the beginning of the chapter but by the end many people turn away from following him. So many people in our culture may think they like Jesus, but when they hear a fuller presentation of who he is, they turn away. This may be the case with some of the people Kimball is referencing. Since they don't want to come right out and say they don't like Jesus, they blame the church when confronted with the cost of discipleship. There's no doubt the church can be abusive, narrow, and stuck in tradition. But people outside the church are not just a bunch of well-meaning people who have been confused by the church. They are rebels against God, whether they know it or acknowledge it. All Christians were once in the same place, rebels to the core.

Kimball does a good job of highlighting the way Christians are often misperceived by the culture as well as the way Christians often stand in judgment over the culture. His approach of relationships and love is good and should be an important focus of the efforts of believers to live their faith and share it with others.

Editorial Review:

An overview of the six most common objections emerging generations have with church and Christianity along with the biblical answers to these objections and examples of how churches are facing this challenge.

Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back

Frank Schaeffer

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FRANKIE GOES TO SWITZERLAND 2 out of 5 stars.
13 of 19 people found this review helpful.

Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back-by Frank Schaeffer, like all of the authors books, is well written and an easy read. But, wait, RELAX, Don't Do IT! This quasi auto-biography is long on "look how wonderful and enlightened I am" and short on any real substance. It's MOMMY DEAREST for the born-again liberal crowd, except this mommy is no over the top Hollywood actress, just the woman behind the fundamentalist man, in this case the late, and I feel great, Francis Schaeffer. If you haven't figured out by the prologue Frank Schaeffer is the only son of theologian/cultural commentator Francis Schaeffer.

Just so readers of this review will know where I am coming from I am a practicing Catholic (whose gonna keep practicing until he gets it right) and one who enjoys Frank Schaeffer's writing, especially his novels. I have followed his career since the 1990s. I was there when he converted from Fundamentalist Christian to Orthodox attack dog polemicist, though in this book you find out that the fire has gone out. I subscribed to his now defunct, but always interesting (at least the articles written by his guest writers) Christian Activist periodical. If I remember I think in passing I also saw his movie, on late night TV, Baby on Board. So I am familiar with Mr. Schaeffer.

Simply, he is bitter, he has always been bitter, and now he is more burnt out than bitter. So who does he blame, MOM and DAD. Not really very original. And, that is the problem with this book, there is no truth in advertising. You really never find out what it was like in the early days of the organized religious right, you just find out that the author thinks that the likes of the late Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, etc. are terrible, misguided, evil, or all of the above. And which thinking person on the right or left doesn't think the above three are misguided to some degree? In other words you only get a cursory idea of Frank Schaeffer's brushes with these folks, no details, and a lot of hand wringing from the author. To hear him (or in this case read him) tell it if it was not for Frank Schaeffer no one would have heard of any of the stars of the American Religious Right. So, you are not there in the beginning.

What you do get a lot of is if it wasn't for my parents I would have been the greatest artist, film director, writer and all about cultural icon that ever lived. And, you find out he masturbated a lot, and lusted after any and all females under the age of 30 who visited L'Abri, the cultural discussion hostel in Switzerland founded by his parents. And, oh yeah, now that dad is dead and mom is senile and blind his parents were (and still are, in the case of mom) great people and he loves them. But, and I did say he is a talented writer, dig deeper, beyond the literary pats on the back the author gives himself and you will find his parents had feet of clay, whose doesn't, they loved him and most of all they indulged him. While Mr. Schaeffer is loathe to admit it, until he knocked up his wife, and even after that, this guy led a charmed life, with no demands. He got to paint, make movies, meet Led Zeppelin, oh yeah, the writer drops names like a dying oak. This reminds me of the old Steve Martin routine "Sammy Davis Jr., personal friend of mine." So this now begs the question, after reading this tome, why is he mad and why should I care that he is mad? Hey Frankie, count your blessings you smuck. You never had to get a real job, oh yeah, I know you do tell us in the book how when you were a starving artist you stole pork chops. But, this is actually a literary device, much like "it was a dark and stormy night" that I know I read somewhere else. In the book you tell us that when you were a teenager you painted and a bit later sold your work to folks like the Rockefellers. Also, had showings at well known galleries in Europe and New York, all because of the connections you made because of your father. This, while the rest of us slobs, were flipping burgers at MacDonalds, and running the ditto machine in some college work study program. So, what the hell are you complaining about in this book?

In closing there is no real insight or history here. Just a lot of the usual Frank Schaeffer bitterness and regret. He's a still a sensitive lad you know, at least according to this book. I really expected him to quote the song My Way, by the end of the book. All this being said like all Frank Schaeffer books it is well written, easy to read, and entertaining. But only if you can push aside all the "my childhood was really messed up" stuff. You see, Frank Schaeffer, apparently, according to this book, was an angry young man who now is just tired.

Editorial Review:

By the time he was nineteen, Frank Schaeffer’s parents, Francis and Edith Schaeffer, had achieved global fame as bestselling evangelical authors and speakers, and Frank had joined his father on the evangelical circuit. He would go on to speak before thousands in arenas around America, publish his own evangelical bestseller, and work with such figures as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Dr. James Dobson. But all the while Schaeffer felt increasingly alienated, precipitating a crisis of faith that would ultimately lead to his departure—even if it meant losing everything.

With honesty, empathy, and humor, Schaeffer delivers “a brave and important book” (Andre Dubus III, author of House of Sand and Fog)—both a fascinating insider’s look at the American evangelical movement and a deeply affecting personal odyssey of faith.

The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission

Rick Warren

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Sudy Book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I purchased these for my Graceful Ladies Bible Study group, at their request. We haven't begun, yet, but we are anxious to get started.

Editorial Review:

The thesis of The Purpose Driven Church is that when churches think first about their health, growth is sure to follow. "If your church is healthy," writes Rick Warren, "growth will occur naturally. Healthy, consistent growth is the result of balancing the five biblical purposes of the church." These five purposes are to "Love the Lord with all your heart," "Love your neighbor as yourself," "Go and make disciples," "[Baptize] them," and "[Teach] them to obey." And those purposes can only be accomplished, argues Warren, when church leaders stop thinking about church-building programs and shift their focus to a "people-building process" involving fellowship, discipleship, worship, and evangelism. Warren, the founder of the fastest-growing Baptist church in American history, has taught seminars to thousands of pastors from all over the world, many of whom have successfully implemented his techniques.

Essential Church?: Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts

Thom S. Rainer, Sam S. Rainer

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Editorial Review:

Why do so many young adults (18 to 22) leave the church, and what will it take to bring them back? This important question is examined and duly answered in Essential Church?, a follow-up to Thom S. Rainer’s best-selling Simple Church cowritten this time with his son, research expert Sam Rainer.

The book is based on a study of one-thousand so-called "church dropouts" who were interviewed about why they left. Their answers are quite surprising, having less to do with "losing their religion" and more about the desire for a community that isn’t made stale by simply maintaining the status quo.

In turn, the Rainers offer churches four concrete solutions toward making their worship community an essential part these young people’s lives again:

Simplify - develop a clear structure and process for making disciples.

Deepen - provide strong biblical teaching and preaching.

Expect - let members know the need for commitment to the congregation.

Multiply - emphasize evangelism, outward focus, and starting new churches.

The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World

David Wells

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A Stinging Critique of Contemporary Evangelicalism 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

In his newest book, The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2008), David Wells launches a stinging critique of contemporary evangelicalism, particularly in its market-driven and Emerging forms. Bundling together the insights from his previous books, Wells advocates a return to doctrinal fidelity and a renewed trust in Scriptural authority.

David Wells reminds me of a curmudgeonly grandfather - a man full of wisdom who is also highly opinionated. The Courage to Be Protestant contains piercing insights into the problems of today's evangelical movement along with a good dose of "attitude" that keeps the book entertaining. (Take for example Wells' description of the hip-hop culture "set apart by their getups, their tattoos, their piercings, jewelry, hoodies, off-kilter baseball caps, and pants that look like they were made by a drunken tailor." [15])

Wells is at his best when offering insight into why our culture is going through its contemporary turmoil. He rightly notices how our terminology has shifted (for example, we no longer look at lost people as "unconverted" but as merely "unchurched" [45].) He sees through the market-driven mentality of many churches, where "the benefits of believing [Christianity] are marketed, not the truth from which the benefits derive. (53)"

Wells' chapter on God is terrific. He writes: "Culture does not give the church its agenda. All it gives the church is its context. The church's belief and mission come from the Word of God." (98) He argues that we have lost our center, and this because we have lost the God that is outside of ourselves. We have misunderstood God's nearness and immanence as if he were inside us. The truth of the God that stands outside of us is what gives us the Law, defines sin, and makes the cross necessary. Here, Wells calls us to recover God's transcendence.

In later chapters, he makes his case for the public nature of Christian truth claims. Particularly insightful is the way that Wells shows how many Christians have become both secular and spiritual. "Secularization does not mean that all religion and spirituality must wither away. It simply means that all religion and spirituality need to be kept private." (187) Wells articulates a robust understanding of the penal substitutionary atonement, and yet he nuances it in all the right places. For instance, he believes we should make the distinction that Christ took upon himself the penalty of our sin, not that he was punished for sin. (201). In other words, God condemned sin in the flesh of Jesus; God did not condemn Jesus.

Yet The Courage to Be Protestant has several problems. Wells puts too much stock in surveys and polls. For example, he worries that only 32 percent of evangelicals believe in absolutes (93). I cannot help but wonder if most evangelicals even speak in these categories enough to be able to answer such a survey question accurately.

Other times, he makes sweeping generalizations without the documentation to back up his point. For example, he argues (without any documentation) that the overwhelming majority of evangelical pastors have become seeker-sensitive (44). A brief glance at the layout of the large number of smaller, rural evangelical churches might change that perception.

Or take his common refrain that Americans are "spiritual, but not religious" (60, 185). Researchers are beginning to see how this generalization is not only undocumented, but simply untrue. (See Robert Wuthnow's After the Baby Boomers for some surprising statistics.)

Throughout the book, Wells advocates a return to the doctrinal convictions of previous eras, but he sometimes conflates doctrinal conviction with the re-adoption of certain forms and traditions not specifically prescribed in Scripture. In a terrific chapter that takes the evangelical church to task for making Christianity "for sale" through the embrace of a market mentality, Wells shows how consumerism has changed American evangelicalism. But the chapter is marred by his lament over the contemporary preacher who sits on a barstool (which replaced the Plexiglas stand, which earlier replaced the pulpit). Wells seems to think the pulpit is the most sacred place for a pastor to stand (29). The absence of pulpits might indeed be due to the market mentality of some mega-churches, but surely the answer to our consumerism is not merely returning to the pulpit!

Other problems surface in some of Wells' contradictions. For example, on page 80, he argues that "Scripture is... the truth. Scripture is not only a measure, not only a standard, but is also truth." Two pages later, he distinguishes between Jesus and Scripture by saying "Scripture is true, but he is the truth." And then, "...only of Christ can it be said that he is the truth." Without further elaboration, the reader is left wondering what the relationship between Jesus and the Bible might be.

The Courage to Be Protestant is a book that should be read and digested by evangelical leaders today. Most of Wells' analysis is correct. He puts his finger on many of the foundational problems that are corroding our evangelical identity. Though his tone is often pessimistic and he offers little evidence or hope for a resurgence of biblical orthodoxy, Wells' counsel and instruction are worthy of receiving and hearing. Readers may disagree at times with the "grumpy Grandpa," but I, for one, am glad that the wise curmudgeon had the courage to write such a book.

Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith

Bill Hybels

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Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Skip this one instead read "The Way of the Master" By Ray Comfort 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I believe the danger of Hybels work is that it will produce false converts. Like some other reviews have stated Hybel only shares half the Gospel. The Law is a tutor that brings us to Christ (galations 3:24). Psalm 19:7 "The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul:" This book shows none of that. Save you time and money. If you want to learn true Biblical evangelism, the way Jesus did it, buy The Way of the Master

Editorial Review:

Believers universally affirm that evangelism is a vital part of what God calls them to do, but very few make a practice of doing it. They feel awkward and ill-equipped, either because they've never been trained, or because their lack of interaction with non- Christians prevents them from using and developing the skills they do have. Bill Hybels addresses these concerns and signals the next era in personal evangelism with Just Walk Across the Room. Drawing on fresh perspectives from the author's own experiences, as well as time-tested and practical illustrations, Just Walk Across the Room encourages and equips readers to routinely initiate spiritual conversations with those who don't know Christ.

A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King

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Editorial Review:

"We've got some difficult days ahead," civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., told a crowd gathered at Memphis's Clayborn Temple on April 3, 1968. "But it really doesn't matter to me now because I've been to the mountaintop. . . . And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land."

These prohetic words, uttered the day before his assassination, challenged those he left behind to see that his "promised land" of racial equality became a reality; a reality to which King devoted the last twelve years of his life.

These words and other are commemorated here in the only major one-volume collection of this seminal twentieth-century American prophet's writings, speeches, interviews, and autobiographical reflections. A Testament of Hope contains Martin Luther King, Jr.'s essential thoughts on nonviolence, social policy, integration, black nationalism, the ethics of love and hope, and more.

The Secret Power of Speaking God's Word (Meyer, Joyce)

Joyce Meyer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Use This Tool Daily 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book and I'm so glad I did! I'm using it every day, speaking God's Word for my life and the positive changes are really remarkable. This is the most useful book I've ever seen by Joyce Meyer and I just can't say enough about it. I'd rate it 10 stars if that were possible. Besides the content itself, this is a really well-made book, very sturdy and small enough to take along in my purse.

Many times when people are praying, they are just speaking to God about their problems. This is faithless prayer and God cannot change anything in your life when you don't ask with faith. God already knows about the situation and think about it this way...God says His Word will never go void, but that He watches over His Word to bring it to pass. When you speak God's Word over situations in your life, situations are guaranteed to improve. Speaking God's Word has caused my faith to grow enormously.

The book is broken down into different topics like courage, health, depression, finance and so many more. Get this book and start using it today!!! God will bless you like never before. Also get "God's Master Plan For Your Life" by Gloria Copeland. It's awesome! I pray that God begins to bless you in every area of your life as you put this foundational principle to work!

Editorial Review:

Bestselling author Meyer teaches readers how to create change in their lives and truly receive God's blessings. Includes powerful Scriptures covering over 50 topics, including patience, loneliness, wisdom, and more.