Power Thoughts by Joyce Meyer

Title: Power Thoughts: 12 Strategies to Win the Battle of the Mind
Author: Joyce Meyer
Released: September 14, 2010
Publisher: FaithWords
Pages/format: 288 (Hardcover)
Source: From the publisher.

Quick Synopsis: In this follow-up to Battlefield of the Mind, Joyce Meyer presents twelve “power thoughts” as an antidote to negative thinking.

From the book jacket:

This follow-up to Battlefield of the Mind takes the groundbreaking principles that have made that book so successful and goes a step further. While Battlefield of the Mind exposes the truth that we can choose what we think about and learn to think in line with God’s Word, Power Thoughts shows us how to accomplish this using twelve strategies that provide the antidote to negative thinking.

Quick Review: Power Thoughts is more or less a sanctified version of The Secret–about 10% biblical Christianity and 90% spiritual junk food.

Long Review:

Power Thoughts is divided into two parts, the first contains four chapters and the second twelve chapters. In part one Joyce outlines why she thinks that positive thinking is a vital component of living a happy, successful life. Part two contains Meyer’s twelve-step program for changing destructive thought patterns. Each chapter in part two begins with a Power Thought and a Bible verse and concludes with a “Power Pack” of Bible verses designed to help the reader implement the principles taught in that chapter. All chapters are divided into titled sections and are sprinkled with study questions complete with blank lines to fill in your answers.

I had numerous problems with this book, not least of which is the way that Joyce puts words in God’s mouth. An example of this comes from page 34 where Joyce states:

I believe God has laws that completely disagree with Murphy’s Law. The world may expect Murphy’s Law to operate in their lives, but we need to resist that kind of negative thinking and embrace God’s Law instead, which says something like this: “If anything can go right, it will; nothing is as difficult as it appears; everything is more rewarding that it appears; if anything good can happen to anybody, it will happen to me.”

Ummm… Sorry, but I can’t find anything even closely resembling that in the Bible. In fact, there are Scriptures that refute Joyce’s anti-Murphy’s law. The entire book of Job is a good example. (Losing all your children, your possessions, and your health isn’t as difficult as it appears? Really?) Joyce also has a habit of misinterpreting Scripture, as exhibited on page 127, where she says:

…Jesus said we should pray that we will not give in to temptation (see Matthew 26:41). Praying that temptation won’t present itself to us does no good, but we can choose to take it or leave it.

Pardon? Matthew 26:41 (ESV) says, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” I don’t know about you, but to me this particular verse says that I should pray that I may not enter into temptation in the first place, not that I should pray not to give in to temptation. Her notion that “praying that temptation won’t present itself to us does no good” directly opposes what the Bible says. Matthew 6:13 backs this up.

I was infuriated when Joyce illustrated the power of unchecked fear with the true story of a man who was bitten by a tick, tested negative for Lyme Disease, and began to obsess about it–convinced that the doctors were wrong. He ended up shooting his wife and then killing himself because he was afraid that he was infected and had sexually passed the infection on to his wife–which Joyce asserts was impossible, because he didn’t have it to begin with. (See page 112 of Power Thoughts for the complete story.) If Joyce knew anything about the nature and potential severity of the Lyme, the current problems with diagnostics, and the political turmoil surrounding the disease, she would have refrained from using this story. Why? Because it is now common knowledge that the common tests for Lyme Disease are unreliable, and hundreds of thousands of people are misdiagnosed as a result. There’s a decent chance that in this man’s case the doctors were in fact wrong. Obviously the man was mentally ill if he killed his wife and committed suicide, but I’m guessing that being brushed off by doctors didn’t help his situation, and his fears–while taken to a destructive extreme–were well-founded. Meyer’s [perhaps unintended] slight against the Lyme community is particularly offensive to me because I was one of the ones that was misdiagnosed. The doctors tested me, told me I was fine, and sent me packing. As a result, I have Chronic Lyme Disease today, something that is extremely difficult to treat and live with. That’s two strikes against this book right there.

Joyce’s gift is clearly speaking and not writing. I was thoroughly unimpressed by the quality and style of the writing in this book. Meyer writes a lot like she speaks, which, while it sounds great in front of audiences, doesn’t translate very eloquently to the page. I was also annoyed with Joyce’s pick of Bible translations. She used the Amplified Bible throughout the book, which is great for expository Bible study, but not very helpful for everyday reading or using as the primary translation in a Christian living book. (Due to the wordiness, it’s hard to follow.)

Not everything about this book was a total disaster. There were a handful of times when I noted a biblical, insightful statement. Here are three I picked out:

…if we don’t lead wrong thoughts away captive, the wrong thoughts will lead us away captive. {page 46}

Our confidence should not be in anything or anyone but Jesus–not in education, outward privilege, positions we hold, people we know, how we look, or our gifts and talents. Everything in this world is shaky at best and we should not place our confidence in it. {page 103}

You may have heard the saying, “Refusing to forgive is like drinking poison and hoping it kills the other person.” We are not hurting the one who hurt us by being angry at them. The truth is that most of the time people who offend us don’t even know how we feel. They go on with their lives while we drink the poison of bitterness. {page 137}

In case you couldn’t tell, my overall opinion of this book was pretty low. There were a few bright spots in the mire, but there is so much spiritual junk food mixed in with the healthy stuff that it was hard to get a whole lot of good out it. The bottom line: I had to aggressively practice positive thinking just to get myself to keep reading to the end.

About Joyce Meyer:

Joyce Meyer is one of the world’s leading Bible teachers. A #1 New York Times bestselling author, she has written more than eighty inspirational books, including The Love Revolution and the entire Battlefield of the Mind family of books. Joyce’s Enjoying Everyday Life radio and television programs are broadcast around the world, and she travels extensively conducting conferences. Joyce and her husband, Dave, are the parents of four grown children and make their home in St. Lois, Missouri.