Customer Reviews

It Came from Within!: The Shocking Truth of What Lurks in the Heart

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Andy Stanley tackles the subject of the heart in his latest book, It Came From Within. This book is a very enjoyable and easy to follow read as Stanley reveals the four monsters that can kill our hearts and how to combat them.

The four evils inside of all of us are:
Guilt - "I owe me"
Anger - "You owe me"
Greed - "I owe me"
Jealousy - "God owe's me"

Andy spends the first third of the book addressing these monsters and then the really good stuff emerges in the ways to heal our hearts of these menaces. Andy doesn't go after the typical responses that many times serve as band-aids to the bigger issue. He helped poke around inside of me and I hope my life will be changed because of reading this.

Small Group Leaders! This would be great curriculum for your groups to read out loud together and talk about!

Stanely's ability to deal with matters honestly and with such pointedness make him one of my favorite authors and teachers.

"I'm sure you will agree that the 1986 sci-fi thriller ALIENS is one of the finest films ever released."
Andy Stanley had me hooked from the first line of the book's introduction.
Building off of the image of a creature growing inside of a human host and suddenly bursting out for the world to see, we find soon this is no xenomorph. Stanley is referring to beasts that daily wreak havoc in the lives of Christians, whether they see it or not, whether they'd like to admit it or not.
What follows this premise is an ardent dileniation of these creatures and sound Biblical strategies for battling them that are fun readings, yet provoke thought and serious intro-spection on the part of any reader.
If, however, you don't want to see the things that 'lurk in your heart', then perhaps you should avoid It Came from Within!, because anyone who journeys into this work will be hard-pressed to close the book free of the Lord's conviction and the effects of Mr.Stanley's insight.

This is an enjoyable and easy read, but do read it reflectively. What Andy wrote has helped me reflect on my life and also identify areas that I need to work on even though I was not aware of them previously. He went to the heart of the matter, and not just the surface actions. He sorted through common reasons and rationale, and showed how it was flawed in light of what lurks beneath.

The 4 areas that Andy wrote about, what that means, and their remedies are:

Guilt - "I owe you" [Remedy: Confession]
Anger - "You owe me" [Remedy: Forgiveness]
Greed - "I owe me" [Remedy: Generosity]
Jealousy - "God owes me" [Remedy: Celebration]

Confession allows us to come out from hiding. Forgiveness allows others to come out from under cover. Generosity allows us to partner with God as He shows himself in tangible ways to the world around us. Celebration makes us a vehicle thorugh which God communicates pleasure... these four habits set us free to love as God intends for us to love. Anger, greed, guilt, and jealousy are the antithesis of love. [pg. 218]

But what about lust? Andy writes that lust is different in that lust is an appetite that needs to be managed. Andy writes that lust can be a good thing, and if not for lust, we would probably not have been born. He also states that before sin, there was lust. (pg. 212-3) I guess this would be a matter of definition as what lust is. In anycase, Andy writes that if we deal with the 4 monsters of guilt, anger, greed and jealousy, we would reduce the problem of sexual temptation.

Andy Stanley's book is full of clear direct teaching and it is easy reading. I appreciate his insights and his honesty. His admitting something he did years earlier in chapter 11 is worth the price of the book! I commend him for his earnestness in making things right. I have a little trouble agreeing with his final two chapters; I'm still sorting out that information, which is a good thing!I like books that make me think.

Well written, thought provoking, and informative, this is one of the best christian non-fiction books i've ever read. It deals with four main sins of the heart: anger, guilt, greed, and jealousy. It doesn't mention pride or some of the other sins the Bible names but for the four that it does, it gives great insights to each. I found a lot of his statements eye-opening. Verses i've read and heard a thousand times were cast in a perspective i had never thought of before. Some people who've reviewed this book already didn't agree with guilt being a problem of the heart. I agree with that to an extent because feeling guilty of committing a sin makes you aware of its horrible potential if you continue in it. But, i think guilt can become a sin when you hold on to it and when it begins to hinder you from growing closer to God. In the end, this is a very short and very powerful book for anyone: from a teenager to a elderly man or woman.

In his newest book, author and pastor of one of America's largest churches North Point Community Church, Andy Stanley tackles the subject of heart issues. It Came From Within is a good, honest look at the heart of the Christian believer. In this book Stanley examines the four conditions of the heart that leads to an unhealthy heart. He looks in depth at guilt, anger, greed and jealousy and being rooted in a heart that is not properly cared for. Using entertaining titles and quotes from 50's sci-fi movies Stanley drive home the point of the importance of keeping a healthy spiritual heart.

You can read a full review of this book at http://www.1340mag.com/book_reviews/view.php?review_no=58

I appreciate Andy Stanley. I love his preaching. I like his writing. I respect his ministry and leadership. From that vantage point, I was excited to read this book, and for the most part, it did not disappoint. The basic premise of "It Came From Within!" is that our actions and behaviors result from the health (or ill-health) of our hearts (spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically speaking). When we do and say things that shock and disappoint us, it can be traced back to dysfunctional parts of our hearts. Rather than treating the symptoms (our sinful behavior), Stanley suggests that the only way to get things right before God and other people is to do the hard work of fixing our hearts.

From that foundation, Stanley describes four fundamental heart flaws that have the potential to derail any of us: guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy. And he offers four corresponding solutions to these heart flaws: confession, forgiveness, generosity, and celebration. And, frankly, these categories provide an extremely helpful framework that many of us could use to restore the broken places in our hearts. As always, Stanley describes the problems and offers the solutions through the use of funny stories and engaging anecdotes. His writing style is accessible to anyone, and he manages to provide various points of entry into some very weighty material, without losing his winsomeness.

My primary critique of the book is that I think Stanley is guilty of a common mistake among Christian authors. In offering an extremely helpful framework for understanding our problems and pursuing some potential solutions, I think he oversimplifies some things that are extremely complex. Can all of our frustrating and erratic behavior really be boiled down to only four heart problems? Can each of those heart problems be solved by one simple solution? I'm not suggesting that he doesn't offer some extremely helpful stuff, but I'm not convinced it's nearly as neat and tidy as he suggests. I wish he would have stepped back a bit from some of his more dogmatic claims, as he seemed to overreach on several occasions.

In any case, Stanley has offered an extremely insightful reflection on the human condition. Frankly, I'm surprised that this book hasn't been more influential and popular since its release several years ago, as I think he has much value to offer many of us. For anyone curious about the origins of the hurtful actions of ourselves and others, this book offers much wisdom. I'm not sure that we can fix things quite as neatly as Stanley suggests, but his solution steps would certainly go a long way towards repairing a lot of the wreckage of sin. I anticipate that I'll be returning to this book in the future as I continue to deal with the broken parts of my heart and the hearts of those with whom I live, lead, and serve.

This book was used by our small group for a group study. The book has some good, thought provoking items. In addition, it has some useful tools to work on jealousy, forgiveness, guilt, and anger. This is not a deep theological read, but I found this useful. The book makes some good, biblically based points on HOW to change our views and fix some of the "stuff" that corrupts our Christian life. I found the points that Andy Stanley makes about jealously quite hard and challenging but true. It adds some tools to your faith to help you be more Christ like. You will find the DVD is a good resource. Thumbs up.

Andy Stanley gives great practical insights and wisdom on dealing with problems in our hearts that we all struggle with namely guilt,anger,greed and jealousy. I found this to be both an insightful and very practical book. I continue to use some of the strategies from this book in my own battles!

We used Stanley's book "It Came From Within" as a series with our Senior Highers. They loved it. The information in Stanley's book is so practical. It's a great reminder that our hearts are a pretty filthy place apart from God's touch. The old monster movie parallels that Stanley uses are fun, and actually have a unique way of conveying the message themseleves. I highly recommend this book.