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Secrets to Exceptional Living

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In a creative, compelling, easy-to-read way Joyce Meyer shows you how opportunities for living out the fruit of the Spirit are available everyday. This book truly does show you how to turn negatives into positives by seeing them in a different light. Rather than experiencing frustration, turn the situation into a stepping stone of spiritual growth.

I'll use just one small example to illustrate. When in a checkout line and the cashier has run out of tape on the cash register and seems unable to replace it in a timely manner, rather than being frustrated, you can model patience, tolerance for others, and even pray for the person.

She says the two "bookends" of the fruit of the spirit, i.e., the ones listed first and last which make all the others function are love and self-control. In describing her own struggle at growing in these areas we all encounter, she makes herself realistic. Just as she had to grow, so do we. These disciplines do not occur automatically.

Who doesn't want a life of peace? This is included in the fruit of the Spirit and the chapter discussing it is worth the price of the book. Actually, since you can't enjoy anything without peace, that chapter alone is priceless. Buy this book! Read it! You'll be thankful you did.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23. What a terrific idea to write a book explaining these fruits in more detail and how to achieve and apply them in your life.

Below are the chapter titles followed by some of my favorite quotes by Joyce (some paraphrasing) I'd like to remember and share:
LOVE--YOU HAVE IT IN YOU
*Receive God's love, then give it away.
*Love is action.
*Concentrate on loving people, and all the other fruit will come.
*To abound in love is the most excellent thing we can do.
FAITHFULNESS--NEVER GIVING UP
*The way to grow is to stick with something.
*To be faithful, we cannot let ourselves be led by feelings.
*Appreciate the faithful people in your life.
GOODNESS--GOING ABOUT DOING GOOD
*Demonstrating love starts with a simple act of goodness.
*Being good to others is spiritual warfare against Satan.
*We must be good to one another and get our minds off ourselves.
*We serve a God Who is so good. He even takes what the devil meant for harm and works something for good.
PATIENCE--LACKING NOTHING
*Patience is not waiting; it is how we act while we are waiting.
*The best definition of "patience" I have heard is to be constant or the same all the time, no matter what is going on. That's my goal as a believer.
*Prove you trust God by enjoying the right-now life that He has given you.
*Possess your soul. If you don't learn to possess your soul, then it will possess you. So many people let their emotions rule their lives. That was a breakthrough for me when I stopped being ruled by my emotions.
*God's ways, God's time.
KINDNESS--EASY TO GET ALONG WITH
*Kindness should be extended to people because they don't deserve it; otherwise, it is not kindness.
*If you don't receive the love of God and love yourself in a balanced way, how can that love flow through you to anybody else? If you don't receive the mercy of God when you make mistakes, you don't have a reservoir to give out from whenever you need to give to mercy away.
*Colossians 3:12 says we should have behavior full of mercy. God mightily uses people who are meek, patient and kind.
*Kindness will cause you to slow down and give people some time... Life was not meant to live at the fast pace that we live at. If you go to a foreign country, the pace slows down unbelievably...In some of these other countries, they become offended if you don't take the time to fellowship. They don't want any of this hurry stuff.
PEACE--KEEPING IT
*Jesus had peace, a special kind of peace, and He told us in John 14:27, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. [This is one of my all-time favorite scriptures.]
*Peace is more valuable than things. Nothing is worth anything if you don't have peace.
*Put God first. (Mt. 6:33.)
*Make it a priority to remain in peace.
*We can refuse to let negative emotions steal our peace.
*A sure way to lose your peace is to be fretful and anxious. (See Phillipians 4:6,7.)
*Don't allow strife to be a part of our relationships.
HUMILITY--STRENGTH UNDER CONTROL
*What is humility? The opposite of pride. What is pride? Something God hates.
*Pride will destroy you.
*Did you know that me, myself and I are the greatest problems that we have?
*Spritual pride is the worst. Never be afraid to ask God for help. (See John 15:5.)
*Compassion doesn't come by osmosis. It comes by going through things. Going through personal pain helps us empathize and be more gentle and understanding of others.
*Humility comes before honor.
JOY--YOU CAN HANDLE ANYTHING WHEN YOU HAVE THIS
*The joy of Jesus has nothing to do with circumstances.
*Joy and peace are found in believing.
*John 10:10--The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and they may have it more abundantly.
*Stay focused on the good things in life.
*There's nothing negative about God. Amos 3:3 says, Can two walk together, except they be agreed? In order to walk with God we must come in agreement with Him. God says He loves you so you need to say He loves you. God says you have worth and value,. You need to say you have worth and value...
*Today is the day to go forward. Remember joy can override all your discouragements and disappointments in life. Jesus gave us His joy, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. All it takes is a decision. Choose joy!
SELF-CONTROL--MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICES
*To experience victory, make decisions to do what you know you should do.
*Colossians 3:23 says, Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily as for the Lord and not for men.
*Self-control takes a decision to set your mind and keep it set.
*Stay focused.

I love listening to Joyce Meyer on television. She preaches about practical topics that are needed that anyone can apply to his/her life for the good. She is very interesting, entertaining and funny. This book is very good, but I feel it needs a lot of editing throughout. The entire first six chapters I think could be deleted and make the book better. Chapter Seven begins with Love and for me, it is chapter one. The introduction and conclusion are terrific. There are great lessons to learn in this book about the fruits of the spirit.

Soar!

Joyce Meyer has a wonderful way of getting to the root of the issue and explaining things in a down-to-earth fashion. This book is no different! Expounding on her own personal experiences, Joyce takes each fruit given to us by the Holy Spirit and explains the grace by which we not only receive it, but can also help it to grow within ourselves.

This book is a MUST for anyone questioning the difference between spiritual gifts and the fruit of the spirit as well as anyone needing more grounded and everyday examples of what the "fruits" really are and how they grow in Christians.

After reading this book and watching the fruit in the ministry of Joyce and Dave Meyer I have grown tremendously. This book helped me go deeper in my walk with God. It also helped me deal with different situations in my own personal life. This book has helped me to grow to a deeper level of intimacy with God. I think this is a book everyone should read at least one or more times a year to help you succeed in life.

Thank you so much! This was the 1st time ordering through Amazon. Couldn't have asked for a better transaction.

Secrets to Exceptional Living: transforming your life through the fruit of the s

I enjoyed this book so much that I plan on using it in my upcoming Bible Study Group. Joyce Meyers has changed the lives of many women, and has given insight for leading a life filled with love for others. What a wonderful and blessed lady. What a wonderful book! I highly recommend it!

***This was an amazing read. I always glean so much from Joyce Meyers. She speaks from her own experiences and has a way of explaining things in such practical ways. I know that what I have learned from this book will help me to live an even more victorious life. I have been deeply blessed by this book.

When my church group began studying the fruit of the Spirit, I picked up this book as a supplemental resource. To be honest, I didn't find it particularly helpful.

While I have no problem with the book's general message, I found it to be rather superficial. There's nothing here that was really helpful or inspiring. The writing is stilted and jerky and often goes off on tangents. While I appreciate Meyer's willingness to share her personal experiences, I would have preferred fewer anecdotes and more Scriptural references and examples.

I was actually shocked by some of the judgmental statements and condescending tone that Meyers has in this book. For example, on page 25 she refers to "immature" Christians as being like spiritual babies stating: "They need their diaper changed," and later on the same page declares that "some immature Christians make quite a few more messes and mistakes and take a few more falls than they need to experience!" Is she to decide what experiences a Christian needs to grow in their spiritual journey or how long that journey takes? I oppose her man-made dichotomy between "immature" and "mature" Christians. We are all God's children learning the lessons that He has ordained for us and creating a hierarchy where one Christian is "ahead" of another is certainly not very "Christian" and, in my opinion, irresponsible of her.

Another example of her critical spirit toward those she perceives as "immature" Christians is on page 26. She states: "I have discovered that Christians who have not worked on the process of developing the fruit before entering another group - a church, ministry or other organization - are trouble and dangerous." Developing the fruit of the Spirit is a lifelong endeavor! In Chapter 5 she discusses how to "inspect fruit" and "discern deception". On page 45 she says "I refuse to be in relationship with people who don't do what they say they will do. If we cannot trust people, how can we form relationships with them?" You cannot trust PEOPLE - we are all sinners and none of us keep our word 100% of the time. We are CALLED to form relationships with ALL people - not just those we deem spiritually fit. According to her standards, the majority of sinners - sitting in the pews of our churches on Sunday, would not pass her "inspection" of their fruit!

I struggled through this book as I wanted to give it a chance and take from it whatever I could. However, it was NOT spiritually uplifting and I sense that Joyce wrote it out of her flesh and not from her spirit because it was not a reflection of what we are called to do or how we are to treat each other. I was hoping for a book focused on HOW to develop the fruit of the spirit and instead found a book on how to criticize and avoid anyone who doesn't measure up. If you want a GREAT book/study on the fruit of the spirit I HIGHLY recommend Living Beyond Yourself by Beth Moore.[ASIN:0633193801 Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit Of The Spirit]]

I opened this book eagerly and leave it with disappointment. I applaud the ideas and concepts of the book but poor grammar and writing style get in the way of the message. I strongly hope that Ms. Meyers will find someone with a "gift" for writing to assist her in sharing her message, which is valuable.