Book "Enemies of the Heart" by Andy Stanley

About the Book: Break free from the destructive power of guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy.
Divorce. Job loss. Estrangement from family members. Broken friendships.
The difficult circumstances you are dealing with today are likely being fed by one of four emotional forces that compels you to act in undesirable ways, sometimes even against your will.
Andy Stanley explores each of these destructive forces — guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy — and how they infiltrate your life and damage your relationships. He says that, left unchallenged they have the power to destroy your home, your career, and your friendships.
In Enemies of the Heart, Andy offers practical, biblical direction to help you fight back, to take charge of those feelings that mysteriously control you, and to restore your broken relationships.
Includes a six-week discussion guide — a valuable resource for small groups!
Previously released as It Came from Within.

About the Author: Andy Stanley is a pastor, communicator, author, and the founder of North Point Ministries, Inc. (NPM). Since its inception in 1995, North Point Ministries has grown from one campus to five in the Atlanta area and has helped plant over thirty strategic partner churches globally. Each Sunday, more than twenty-five thousand people attend worship services at one of North Point Ministries’ five campuses. Andy’s books include Communicating for a Change, The Next Generation Leader, How Good is Good Enough? and many more. He lives in Alpharetta, Georgia, with his wife, Sandra, and their three children.

My Review: The author does a superb job on describing what he calls the primarily four emotions that can give us heart diseases. Those emotions can cause damage to us and to our relationship with others. Those four emotions are:
- Guilt - this is the feeling that I owe those I have offended (I owe you). Suggested treatment is to confess.
- Anger - this is the feeling that everyone owes me (You owe me). Suggested treatment is to forgive.
- Greed - this means that I always want more and more (I owe me). According to the author, it is not a feeling, but a refusal to act. Suggested treatment is to give.
- Jealousy - this is the feeling that I deserve more than what I get (God owes me). Suggested treatment is to celebrate others triumph.

The author uses plenty of examples and advices to prove his point, but it is always easier to say than to execute.
Anyway, it is an excellent book and I recommend to be in the permanent library of any reader that wants to improve his/her self-control and get closer to God.
This book was written by Andy Stanley and was first published in February of 2006 with the Title "It Came from Within" by WaterBrook Multnomah Books and it is now republished in June 2011 by the same publisher but with a different name, "Enemies of the Heart". The publishers were kind enough to provide me a copy for reviewing through their Blogging for Books Program. Thanks, Mr. Stanley, for this wonderful book.
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