Customer Reviews

Your Best Life Begins Each Morning: Devotions to Start Every Day of the Year (Faithwords)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Perfect for : Personal Use, Great gift

In a nutshell: This is a wonderful book for daily use, that helps to start the day on a positive/inspiring note with biblical inspiration. It is small, about 6 inches tall, 4 inches wide and about 1 inch thick - it will fit great in a purse, glove box, desk drawer, etc, just put it somewhere so you can read it every morning. There is an inspirational thought and bible verse for each day of the year, and each one takes only a minute or two to read, but will help you stay inspired all day! This would be a great gift for any religious friend or relative you want to provide encouragement to.

Extended Review:
Content: I've taken the time to read ahead in the book so I could do a better review. I love the different ways I am encouraged each morning, revisiting my hopes and dreams (Jan. 1), looking at where you want to be in the future (Jan. 26th), "Dare to be Happy" with who you are (April 17th), etc. I've provided a few themes that are supported by scripture and examples, along with a great thought for the day.

Format: The book is very easy to follow - there is a short introduction, then a page for each day that includes: the date, a title theme, a scripture supporting the theme, and a story or example that ends with a type of thoughtful reflection for the day. The book has a section for notes at the end, and a built-in ribbon bookmark to help you easily find the next day.

Readability: Wonderfully easy to read, with a consistent format.

Overall: A great way to start the day! And it only requires a few minutes to read (maybe less?), and you will gain insight into yourself and great thoughts to take you through the day.

This is a beautiful way to start your mornings with thoughtful and insightful devotions. Joel Osteen's daily devotions are incredible how they speak to you as if they were written for you personally. I have learned so much from the devotions and have found so much peace from the messages in them. No matter what is occurring in your life you can gain so much from his words and feel uplifted.

I love to start my day by reading from this book. Even though the daily devotionals are short, they are packed with thought provoking words. This is a no excuses devotional because anyone can spend a couple of minutes reading the daily thoughts.

There are likely only a small number of North Americans who wouldn't find Joel Osteen's face familiar if shown a photograph of him. Seen beaming at book buyers from the covers of a number of best-selling inspirational/motivational hybrids, Osteen is perhaps best known for his #1 New York Times bestseller, Your Best Life Now.

Your Best Life Begins Each Morning: Devotions to Start Every Day of the Year is a collection of daily micro-devotions -- each two to three paragraphs in length -- which are based upon Osteen's previous work. Not having read the titles which this derivative devotional draws some of its content from, namely Your Best Life Now and Daily Readings from Your Best Life Now, I read through this chubby, padded hardcover (with handy ribbon) as a stand-alone title.

After reading through the year's worth of short readings -- each consisting of a date, title, scripture, and Osteen's text -- I feel ready to make some comments concerning the work. Each reading, rather than resulting in a desire to dig deeper into the word of God, seems to consist of a simple, Christian-flavoured pep-talk. Osteen does motivation well, the "pull up your socks and do better, have more faith, and make yourself shine" sort of pep talk. However, he's internally inconsistent. One moment he claims that God will do the work, the next it's all back on you. Wait for God; God won't move until you do. A seesaw found throughout this title.

Many of Osteen's critics have planted him firmly in the "Name It and Claim It" camp. There are certainly hints of that throughout, but nothing blatant. What I did notice however is the one-sidedness of Osteen's perspective of God's blessings. While he acknowledges that believers can go through times of testing and trial, he says that these are always temporary and that God will bless us richly if we are faithful and trusting during these periods of testing.

What Osteen fails to share is that sometimes these blessings may not arrive during this life, but the next. Indeed, we're told in the Bible to store up treasures in heaven and not here on the earth. Believers living their best lives will be living it in submission to the will of their Father in heaven, even when trials,suffering -- and yes even poverty -- come their way as a result. God is trustworthy, He is faithful, but His purposes do not always look like those that Osteen presents - such aspromotions, wealth, church growth, and such.

Another interesting point is that Osteen never mentions the word sin. He couches the desired behaviour of a Christian in terms of living with integrity, living an excellent life, and so on. He describes clear-cut sins such as thievery and deception as living without integrity - something that God won't bless. Well, God certainly doesn't bless sin, but He does bless us despite our sins - loving us even before we loved Him. This avoidance of biblical language and classifications struck me as very lukewarm on Osteen's part, as though he's hard at work trying to avoid confrontation and offense.

Apart from my doctrinal concerns, I found Your Best Life Begins Each Morning rather unfulfilling. There wasn't enough meat to sink my teeth into and contemplate throughout the day. The readings I completed were soon forgotten and I was disappointed to find that behind the charming, coffee-themed packaging lay little substance. Hard-core Osteen fans will no doubt be pleased; readers like myself will be better served by an alternate selection of devotional readings or, better yet, the Bible.

I'm recently unemployed and scared. I always turn to reading to uplift and inspire and of course Joel Osteen is the king of inspiration. It is also uplifitng because it is related to the Bible, and God's promises.
Daily reminders help keep me centered in these troubled times.

I bought this book for my grandmother for Christmas of last year, and she loves it.
It brightens her day!

I recommend this daily devotional book to everyone! It is an excellent way to start your day in a positive way! This book is helping me change my life for the better as I grow closer to God with each passing day! Thank you and God bless!

This is a great little book for daily inspiration. Well done and not overly preachy. Will buy more for friends and family.

I love this little morning book. I read it every morning and it starts my day off right. Joel has been blessed and you couldn't ask for a better way to start the day. I highly recommend this for someone needing God's love in the morning!

Life is hard. When the tough times are seemingly never ending, discouragement is there. Faith in God's goodness and care wanes. In this disjointed society where individuals are often alone and without the encouragement of a true Christian friend, Joel's words are like water to weary souls. Yes, there is a lot of repetition in his book as some one critiqued. But there is also a lot of repetition in the Bible. Humans don't learn by having been told once. The issue is not intellectual. Our spiritual problems often come because we give up, we give in. We NEED to be ENCOURAGED (lovingly reminded again and again ... as the Bible itself does) of the Truths that are tested during prolonged testing -- that God loves us - despite..., that we ARE overcomers in Christ, despite... Faith is a work in progress. I for one and very thankful for Joel's spiritual coaching to not give up in the race of life and faith in a good God in a sometimes bad world and to guard my thoughts, as the Bible itself teaches (and too little is preached on) because as my thoughts go so will my life (Proverbs) I've bought about 10 copies of this book to encourage and inspire others to not allows bitterness, faithlessness to set in and to grow their faith "muscles" - to dare trust God's goodness, despite whatever the obstacles/problems/hurts. I thank the Lord for Joel's ministry of encouragement. He, like all preachers and all humans, does not have all the Truth as 1 Corinthians 13 states no human does. But the bottom line of Christianity is a life of passionate love for God and fellow man -- to this end, I do believe that Joel succeeds in helping people choose to BE better instead of staying bitter - and Joel clearly communicates this goal is not one anyone can achieve on their own -- it's called a life of faith, hope, and love with full acknowledgment that only with Christ's help can anyone persevere in it joyfully and humbly.