Unleash a Revolution in Your Life in Christ
Peter Scazzero
I have read other books by Scazzero, such as The Emotionally Healthy Church. When my friends told me about this book and said that I would really enjoy it. He opens the book by giving me background for this updated edition.
The first chapter is about the problem of emotionally unhealthy spirituality. He tells one of the right lessons he was learning from a time when he wanted to look spiritual on the outside but on the inside was completely different. He gives his history and background as a Christian and how he has served Christ. He says that spirituality and emotions are linked. If one is unhealthy, both are unhealthy. He presents ten signs of emotionally unhealthy spirituality.
Chapter 2 brings the first ways to become spiritually healthy – no yourself so that you may know God. He tells a story from his personal life and struggles in his marriage. He discusses volatile emotions and a larger range of emotions. He says God can speak to us through our emotions. He outlines what it means to truly be ourselves and four ways on how to get there.
In chapter 3, the author discusses how to be honest about our past so we can move forward in Christ. He talks about families and how they form us to be the way we are. He also talks about the things in our lives that define our behavior patterns. If we don’t learn how to do this, we will be spiritually stunted. He gives himself, his family, and extended family as an example. Next, He talks about” the beaver system.” He finishes the chapter with Joseph’s story with his family.
In Chapter 4, the author addresses what he calls “the wall,” in which you must let go of power in control. He describes stages in our journey with Jesus. We relate to one or two of these stages. He outlines the stages and what they mean. We must learn how to go through the wall to the other side. He uses examples from the Bible, St. John of the Cross, and his personal life. Sometimes God gives us a trial that helps us realize we are not in control and give it to God. He offers some ways trials can help us when we don’t think they could.
In Chapter 5, Scazzero talks about how to enlarge your soul through grief and loss and surrender to your limits. Job is a great example of this. He asks how you would handle loss like Job. We try to protect ourselves from pain and loss. We have many ways to do this and he goes through many of them. But we must not act as if our emotions are not involved in what happens to us. Emotions are there to help us through the process instead of ignoring it. He gives some strategies for dealing with loss.
Scazzero describes two offices of the Church that help us develop emotionally healthy spirituality. The first is of the daily office. We live in a very busy world and don’t even realize it. The daily office is to take different times throughout the day to offer quick prayers, and moments of worship to God. You can choose your own schedule and content but these help to separate the day out and keep you from becoming so busy that you don’t forget about them. The author offers his own schedule as an example. He gives multiple activities during the daily office.
The second office he discusses is Sabbath keeping. This requires a whole day of rest and devotion to God. He gives four principles of the Sabbath. It requires us to stop, trust God, delight in His creation and people, and healthy play. We also worship God and contemplate His glory. He also talks about sabbaths that are longer than just one day.
Next, he addresses how to grow into an emotionally healthy adult. We can misapply the Bible and hand knowledge without spiritual and emotional growth. We must learn to apply what we learn from the Bible to our everyday lives. He describes the stages from emotionally unhealthy infants to emotionally healthy adults. He gives types of relationships we should develop with others. He brings up conflict as a way to understand our relationship with others. He outlines tools for how to have emotionally healthy relationships.
He sums up the principles and in the book with a call to develop your own rule of life, a plan to keep God at the center of your life. We need to develop our own sense of God and relationship with Him. He gives Daniel as an ample of a person with a rule of life. Then he gives the history of a rule of life in Church history. They vary and are based on each person.
I really like how Scazzero has a prayer at the end to help guide you into whatever contents of the chapter he is covering. This was helpful to me to know how to pray. He also explains every point of each chapter very well. Many people don’t consider emotions and how to be emotionally healthy as a Christian. This book helps you do just that.
I recommend this book to every Christian because being emotionally healthy and growing in your relationship with God and others is essential to the Christian walk.
