Book Review |

Joyce Meyer helps us recognize and deal with our emotions in her book ‘Managing Your Emotions’.

Book Title: Managing Your Emotions

Author: Joyce Meyer

ISBN: 1-57794-0261

Page Count: 349

Publisher: Harrison House, Inc.

Year: 1997

Reviewer: David Oletu

Joyce Meyer has taught on the subject of emotions and emotional health in several seminar series, however, she clarifies in the introduction of her book ‘Managing Your Emotions’ that her purpose was not to teach us how to get rid of emotions but how to manage emotions.

She debunks the false idea that Christians are never to get emotional, thus denying the existence of their emotional being. The message Meyer tries to pass across in her book is simple: “There is nothing wrong with emotions, as long as they are kept under control.”

Chapters

Joyce Meyer’s ‘Managing Your Emotions’ is divided into 10 chapters.

I find all chapters fascinating because Meyer didn’t merely define terms related to our emotions; she also gives real-life examples and experiences of ways we are led by our emotions and backs up her ideas and admonitions with apt scriptural verses.

In Chapter 1, she makes us understand our different kinds of personalities by defining who emotional people are and examining four basic types of personalities: choleric, phlegmatic, sanguine, and melancholy.

She explains that it really helps to know the kind of personality we have; however, we should learn to control our weaknesses. Meyer goes on to explicitly discuss other related terms. She defines what emotionalism is and who emotionless people are, describes our hardened and unbridled emotions and ordinary impulses, and further teaches us how we can properly discern and control our emotions.

In Chapter 2, Joyce Meyer takes us through the healing process of our damaged emotions.

She states that the healing of our emotional wounds is a process and not something that takes place all at once or overnight; it comes one step at a time. Meyer further encourages us to keep pressing on, be willing to receive help, and obey God’s word.

In Chapter 3, Meyer stresses the subject of the healing process of our damaged emotions, discussing some practical ways the Holy Spirit leads us in the process of healing our damaged emotions.

Some of the ways that Meyer highlights include facing the truth, confessing our faults, admitting the truth about ourselves, receiving forgiveness and forgetting our sins, acknowledging ourselves as a new creature, etc.

In Chapter 4, ‘Emotions and the Process of Forgiveness’, Joyce Meyer hints to us that two things cause us to get all knotted up inside.

The first are the negative things done to us by others, and the second are the negative things we have done to ourselves and others. Many times, we get hurt by those things, finding it difficult to forgive and forget. In this chapter, we will learn how to operate in forgiveness—of ourselves, of others, and of God—to help our emotions.

In Chapter 5, Joyce Meyer critically examines mood swings.

She views mood swings as one of the major tools Satan uses to steal our joy and destroy our effectiveness as witnesses for Christ. But she acknowledges that we cannot stop the enemy from placing negative thoughts in our minds; however, with the help of God, we shouldn’t let our emotions control us.

Meyer firmly asserts that we can control our mood swings as followers of Christ when we live by truth and wisdom, not by feelings and emotions. In order not to leave us hanging in the air, she further gives us 10 practical and scriptural guides on how we can live by truth and wisdom to control our mood swings.

In Chapter 6, Joyce Meyer gives a vivid understanding of the subject of depression.

She makes us understand that the Devil is the one who brings depression and clarifies that when we are deeply depressed, the Devil comes along to add to our misery by reminding us of all the horrible things we have ever done, said, or thought.

She goes further to highlight the possible effects and causes of depression and conclusively, but comprehensively, alludes to the Bible story of King David to show us how we can overcome depression.

Next

We all, at one point in time, may have experienced different kinds of abuse in our lives, be it emotional, verbal, physical, or even sexual abuse. In Chapter 7, Meyer recounts her personal experience of how God restored her soul from certain evil occurrences and abuses in her life, with the hope that her testimony builds our hope and faith.

Furthermore, she gives the assurance that God can restore our souls if we submit our minds, will, and emotions to Him, allowing Him to bring wholeness and health to them.

In Chapter 8, Meyer points out that if we have problems in our attitude, behaviour, and relationships, it is likely to be from our roots, which she compares to a bad tree that produces bad fruits.

According to Meyer, such bad fruits could come in the form of rejection, abuse, negativism, and shame. Her words become more edifying in the chapter when she outlines key things we should know to bear good fruits, even out of our bad roots. Figure out those things she outlines by reading a full copy of the book.

Are you that person who is battling with addiction or obsessive behaviour? Or are you the type that moves around with people who are addicted to bad things or behaviours?

If yes, then this book will also go a long way in helping you get yourself freed from the shackles of addiction. In Chapter 9, Meyer examines the problem of addiction from her perspective and shares some scriptural truths about addiction that may help us learn to recognize it and deal with it more effectively.

In Chapter 10, Meyer opens the eyes of her readers to see, appreciate, and enjoy the beauty of life—the good things that God has blessed us with.

According to Meyer, the good things that come to us in this life are given to us by the Lord. God wants us to enjoy life to the fullest, even when we don’t entirely deserve it. She further claims that if we are not enjoying life as we should, the Devil is trying to steal our joy by destroying the inner child in each of us.

I sense you are wondering what Meyer means by “the inner child” in chapter 10. Find out more as you flip through the chapters of this book. “Managing Your Emotions”

In conclusion, Joyce Meyer wants us to know that it doesn’t matter how rough our past is; God can heal us; God wants us to see the world through His eyes; and He wants us to enjoy all He has given us and is still giving us.

The rewards that come with managing our emotions are great, and we will learn a great deal about them in Joyce Meyer’s ‘Managing Your Emotions’.