Joyce Meyer is not satisfied with the status quo. She believes that we each need to become a revolutionary and practice love every day. And if Joyce has her way, the revolution will spread -- person by person, house by house, town by town, until the old culture of selfishness and greed gives way to a new culture of concern for others.
The book is a revolutionaries' manual, a hands-on primer for bringing the Golden Rule to life in the twenty-first century. Meyer starts out by giving some stunning statistics. Right now. . .210,000 children will die this week because of poverty; 640 million children do not have adequate shelter; every day, 3,000 children are abducted into the sex-trafficking industry; every day, 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes. She goes on to say that although crisis is global, the solution is local. We can't solve the world's problems, but that isn't a reason to remain idle.
Love Revolution focuses on personal behavior on the local scale. It's not just a call to action; it is a call to being the person who goes out of your way to encourage someone who's out of hope; being the one who smiles at a stranger; being the one who is willing to do something for nothing. The when we do something for nothing, what we often get is something far greater.
Joyce Meyer is one of the world's leading practical Bible teachers. A New York Times bestselling author, Joyce’s books have helped millions of people find hope and restoration through Jesus Christ. Through Joyce Meyer Ministries, Joyce teaches on a number of topics with a particular focus on how the Word of God applies to our everyday lives. Her candid communication style allows her to share openly and practically about her experiences so others can apply what she has learned to their lives.
Joyce’s programs, Enjoying Everyday Life and Everyday Answers with Joyce Meyer, can be seen around the world through television, radio, and the Internet. Joyce has authored more than 100 books, which have been translated into more than 100 languages and over 65 million of her books have been distributed worldwide. She teaches in cities across America as well as internationally. Joyce Meyer Ministries has offices in nine countries.
Joyce’s passion to help hurting people is foundational to the vision of Hand of Hope, the missions arm of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Hand of Hope provides worldwide humanitarian outreaches such as feeding programs, medical care, orphanages, disaster response, human trafficking intervention and rehabilitation, and much more – always sharing the love and Gospel of Christ.
Her latest book, LIVING A LIFE YOU LOVE, releases Spring 2018.
Hachette Book Group has sold over 30 million copies of Joyce Meyer's books.
I had such high hopes for this book. I was so excited when I won it in the goodreads giveaway. I've studied International Development and have always believed that each person must take action to help contribute in solving overwhelming problems related to poverty among others.
I apologize in advance to the author and those that enjoyed this book but to gloss over my review on the fear of hurting the author's feelings would be disingenuous and serve no purpose. The funny thing is I agree fundamentally with almost everything Meyer is attempting to put forth. The problem is in the delivery. Because this topic is dear to me I feel as though she has mutilated what could have been a great vessel to helping people understand and be inspired to take action rather than being preached to. To inspire, one must first learn salesmanship. This author made me feel as though I had accepted the cheap Florida holiday and now had to sit through the timeshare pitch. The book needed a story to better put forth the worthwhile message so that it would appeal to a greater audience.
The good
I loved the story of Somebody, Anybody, Everybody and Nobody.
I liked the idea of giving your life away. I hadn't thought of it in those terms before. To completely let go and surrender...terrifying...and freeing.
If nothing else I suppose the book rekindled and confirmed my personal beliefs and, that said, if it inspires one indifferent reader to take action thereby increasing humanity's well-being, then the publication of this book is not a total loss.
The bad
Broadly
The book was too preachy. Her intentions would have been better served had she SHOWN me what is being done so that I could be inspired to jump on the train. She is apparently doing wonderful work and I would have loved to read more about that than to repeatedly be beat over the head with "be good and it will come back to you".
Some specific irks
She seems to suggest that most people are simply not interested in taking action. I completely disagree. You touch any community in the world with a tragedy and people respond. The problem lies in the smaller stuff. I believe in people. We are good at heart and want to do great things if given half a chance. Most of us, however, think too big too soon and end up overwhelmed into inaction. I think this is where Meyer missed the boat. Rather than deeming us all as living selfish inactive lives, she could have focused on being a leader for the good people that simply need guidance.
p.65 "Fathers go to work so their families can have nice lives..." This is just an out of touch blanket statement that offends me. "according to The State of Our Unions 2005, a report issued by the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University the...study said that only 63% of American children grow up with both biological parents -- the lowest figure in the Western world." (http://www.divorcemag.com/statistics/...)
p.154 "Lack of encouragement causes depression, despair, failure and divorce" Divorce? I know a few battered women that would disagree.
p.154 God had to show her that nagging her husband would result in negative reactions? This idea of giving credit to God for every single minute detail in life worries me as it can enable irresponsibility.
She writes about taking responsibility but then repeatedly blames Satan as intruding on our idol lives and wreaking havoc. I find this hypocritical. Sometimes "Satan" is a convenient excuse as to why our lives are not what we may like.
To sum up
The message is good. Meyer is obviously a wonderful, caring individual who is doing great things with her life. I am left frustrated however as I know this call to action would have been more effective had she been more creative with it.
I was not a fan of this book. This was the first book I read by Joyce Meyer and I won it in a GoodReads giveaway.
I'm not sure how you give a bad review to a Christian themed book...I've read a lot of Christian non fiction before and I have liked all the books I've read. Until now.
This book discusses a Love Revolution. Joyce describes the issues in the world today with hunger, child prostitution, the poor and needy, those that abuse alcohol and drugs, etc. She calls Christians to rise up and show love to these people in Jesus' name.
My problem with this book was that it seemed very promotional of Joyce Meyer Ministries to me. I hate to be critical, but it seemed like she'd say something about where Christians aren't doing their job and duty to represent Christ, then she'd say something along the lines of "At Joyce Meyer Ministries, we..." or "I have a gift for giving..." And it just felt weird to read. Don't get me wrong, I think Christians could be doing a lot more of what they hear in church (myself included) instead of sitting there every week and hearing the message. I think we need to practice and apply what we learn. But I felt that this book was VERY critical of Christians as a whole. I think some of us honestly try and some of us could try harder.
This book was filled with depressing statistics. I get that the point was to give the numbers to give some folks a reality check and to get the message across. But in today's tough times, it felt more like watching the news or reading the paper. I think I expected a more encouraging book that inspired me to be a better Christian and ambassador of Christ's love. Instead, I found myself getting sad about all that goes on in this world and feeling like I am not doing anything to help. But don't worry, Joyce Meyer Ministries is doing what they can. (Ok, so that was a cheap shot. )
I don't mean to be down on the ministry because if they are impacting lives with the message of Jesus Christ then I absolutely think that's wonderful. But I have to wonder why the name of the ministry doesn't have God or Christ or something related to His name in it? After all, isn't that where all the glory belongs? It may seem as though I'm being a bit harsh and I don't mean to come off that way, but I was not a fan of this book. I hope that if you read this, that it inspires you and moves you. I think the message of the book was a great idea in theory. I just think the message could have been delivered more effectively.
I feel so blessed to have won this book through the First Reads program! My mom has always been a Joyce Meyer fan, but this is the first book I have read of her collection. I truly enjoyed this book from cover to cover.
Though an easy read, I took my time with this one because there was so much to reflect on. The way The Love Revolution is written in segments makes it easy to leave off and pick up pretty much at any point. I can even see this book being used as a devotional for church groups or those looking to make a difference.
The book itself describes what the world needs in today's day and age - love. Meyer explains that there are so many of us out there (myself, for sure) that always want to help, but don't think that we have the means. She, among others, leave us with inspiring ideas on how we can all be better Christians, and better people in general.
I've read in other reviews that people thought this book was too depressing with it's sad statistics and stories. I agree... it IS depressing... though completely and entirely necessary. All too often we find it easier to be ignorant of what it going on in the world, because it doesn't directly effect us, and if we don't know about it therefore cannot make us sad or feel guilty. I like how Joyce doesn't use this text to preach that we must do this or we must do that, but she simply lays down the facts and mentions that there are a million ways to help, from going on mission trips across the world, to offering to get the mail for your elderly neighbor.
One of my favorite quotes from the book went something like this, "If we want something bad enough, we will make it happen." Meyer talks about how often we don't do things because we make excuses for ourselves.
Most importantly, I find it nice that Meyer does not just preach what she believes, but speaks from the heart and reminds us that we all are different and we all have different opinions. She respects that, and through reading we learn that she too, has many flaws, like all of us, and life is really about discovering those flaws and working through them.
I give this book an A+... one to keep around and to look back to from time to time.
The Love Revolution is an excellent Scripture-based, God-focused book. If you questioned her past theology, I urge you to give this book a chance. If you liked her past books, definitely get this one as well!
I'd summarize this book's message as being 'the fulfillment of our faith in Christ is following his example (and showing our appreciation for the mercy he has shown us) by showing that love and mercy to others.' She teaches a Biblical, balanced view of how to do life.
The book is written in a conversational, easy-to-understand style. She gives suggestions of things we can do (both big and small), cheers her readers on, and explains why showing love to others in real, tangible ways is important. I liked that she stressed doing small, everyday acts of love for those around us as well as the big, obvious things like helping stop sex trafficking and such. Little things might not seem important, but I've seen how they can make a huge impact.
She repeats several points throughout the book, but they are important points that bear repeating. She often uses the outreach ministries done by her organization as examples of possible ways to love others, but she also gives examples from other people's ministries, suggests doing things her organization doesn't do, and tells how personal experiences in showing love (which resulted in a new outreach) has impacted her life.
Overall, I'd highly recommend this book, especially to those who haven't really thought about helping others as a way to grow closer to God or who want ideas on more ways they can show Christ's love to others.
Won this book through the Firstreads program and I'm so happy I did. What a wonderful and inspirational book. Not in the least bit preachy, Meyer (and several guest writers) talks about the importance of doing everything with love. The book discusses how critical it is that we "refuse to do nothing" by stepping outside of our comfort zone to help others the way God would wish, whether they are strangers, enemies, or loved ones.
She talks about how each thing we do with love, although we may view it as too small to make a real difference is essential. When the world lives by sharing the love of God with our neighbors, we will be happier, we will act as a witness of God's Glory, and we will contribute to abolishing evil in this world.
The book focuses on the importance of giving of ourselves in every definition of the word, to the best of our ability, even if it means, and especially if it means going out of our way and inconveniencing ourselves to do so, for that is the true meaning of giving.
I feel this book offers practical solutions for living better and offers suggestions that would be valuable for anyone, regardless of their spiritual maturity. This book makes me want to be a better person. It makes me want to strive for a better marriage, to be a better mother, a better daughter, a better friend, a better stranger...
Five stars! I recommend this to anyone who would like to see a little less evil in the world and feel a little more peace and love in their own heart. I will surely read this again!!
Love isn't just something you feel, it's something you do. Loving is contagious just like hate. Surrounding yourself with loving people will enrich your life. At the same time, surrounding yourself with people who hate can be can lead you on a downward spiral. Each individual has the opportunity to make this life better. Everyday we are faced with obstacles and some of us take that opportunity and turn it into something great. Others, turn it into something dreadful. The smallest gesture can bring someone hope. I encourage you to start your own revolution by taking the time to smile at a stranger. Cancer usually starts out small and then it grows and makes it way through the body. The same can be done with love. The difference is, love will change you for the better.
This is a great handbook for people who want to bring joy into the world. There are some things that are difficult to read, like 210,000 children will die this week because of poverty and other horrific details. How can we make a change if we don't know what we're up against?
I was very pleased that such a popular author and speaker wrote a book on the importance of Christians being inolved in social justice. Unfortunately, though, her presentation struck me as cheesy and made it hard to swallow even though I agreed with almost everything she said. I wish it was better written as I would love to be able to recommend it to my friends. Some of her books are really good, but this one just didn't do it for me.
This is my favorite Joyce Meyer book by far. It's on my top for all time favorite Christian books. First of all, the topic is powerful - a love revolution. A Love Revolution is EXACTLY what our society needs! We need to truly revolutionize the way we love and the way we treat people. I love this book because it gives so many examples of what love LOOKS like.Many times we want to show love, we want to be better at loving more, but are not sure how to practically make that happen. What does this kind of radical love look like? In her book, Joyce Meyers details precisely that. She explains in a very practical way, how to show the love of God in a tangible sense. If someone is hungry for example, telling them "Jesus loves you" will not feed their empty stomachs! At the end of the day they will still be physically hungry, though you maybe offered something for them to feast on spiritually. Joyce Meyers breaks it down step by step and even gives you specific ways to better demonstrate the love of God. She even has a website dedicated to this and it goes into a list of ways that you can "love" others. I would consider this a must read, especially if your heart is in the right place and you just don't know how to go about putting your faith and belief into action. AS a believer, I think this book is a must read.
audio book. Joyce Meyer delivers a well-needed book on love and how to make a revolution in our society to do and care for others as Jesus has commanded us to do. She also shares surreal stories when she tried to help others by paying for something, offering money or other gifts and how people refused them. She felt as if she did something bad, but knew it was from God to give to them in the first place. She wants to also share that we need to help others in third-world countries and ministry events she has done with Joyce Meyer Ministries. Yet, this part can be overwhelming to hear these horrendous-shocking stories and many of us wonder how can we help these other starve-stricken countries such as Africa, India, and many more. I believe, we can participate with our monetary donations, volunteering, and if financially secure to go on these mission trips to see it face to face.
This book is not easy to be receptive to and make such a transition. Some of it was difficult to picture in your mind or digest. God knows she is doing His will and not of her own. I thank God for people like Joyce.
what a great book. It talks about making a revolution in our lives and choose to love people and take a decision to make a difference to them. First, some shocking statistics about the amounts and percentages of the most violent and dreadful crimes and famines all over the world, especially in poor countries. That book is full of encouragement for the missionary work. Then the author shares with valuable ideas to share the love revolution to people in our everyday life.
This book is your usual Joyce Meyer type. I was expecting more. When you talk about revolution it should be a revolution! I felt like I've already read everything in this book. It's almost as if she wrote this book to get the readers to give money to her ministry. It was mostly about giving, giving, giving. Showing love is more than just money. I would rather Meyer write a truly, earth-shattering book every few years than to release all these books every year that all sound alike.
This book has enorous potential but it missed the mark on many levels. Joyce Meyer seems ambivalent about the defintion of love, describing it too often as giving stuff we already own to others or helping the needy. I have heard her talk about this subject and know she could written a much better book if she had clearly defined her objective and then worked through the book step by step. She seems to write the book without carefully outlining her chapters, something I have never seen her do.
- It felt like the whole point of the book was to tell me how better the author was than myself. Some of the stories were interesting, and it did get me to think about giving to charity, so I suppose it did part of its job. Still, didn't like it. - Arrived last week. Started it Tuesday. - Waiting for it to arrive in the mail.
I loved this book. It seems like a lot of young people today are turned off by all of the "Religion". We need to focus more on what Jesus said to do, instead of always preaching about what we can't do. There are some great stories, statistics, and ideas in this book for showing love to others that we would all do well to pay attention to.
I thought this would be about dealing with difficult people, but it seemed to go on and on about oppressive conditions in developing countries. It was depressing, and I didn't get any helpful wisdom from it.
Do you care what God says about the poor? There are over 2000 scriptures where God is speaking about the poor, needy and orphans,therefore I think this issue is important for God and it should be the priority for His people also. A must read for every Christian.
What's the difference between a revival and a revolution? Joyce Meyer digs deep into this question in this book. She reveals her belief that the Christian church, mainly the Christian church in the United States, is losing members because it needs a radical change. In her opinion, which she offers with well-researched statistics and examples, the church has lost its focus on its foundation of love. Jesus' basic teachings of love, unselfishness, patience, generosity, kindness, and forgiveness have been lost, or pushed in the background. Instead, the church is focused on buildings, outdated worship methods, comfort, and convenience. She offers large and small practical ways that Christians can move toward a "love revolution." Make no mistake about it...this is a Christ-centered book. Meyer does not hold back any of her spiritual beliefs to make any points. She also mentions ways that Joyce Meyer Ministries is participating in the love revolution. Some readers may cite these aspects as negatives if they are not familiar with Joyce Meyer. I appreciate that she walks the walk and talks the talk. She challenges Christians to truly consider Jesus' ministry, and to evaluate our walk with what He preached and what He did. This is an excellent book club selection for Christian book clubs.
Nothing is more important than a true understanding of the depth of God's love for us, and in gaining a clear understanding of that depth, we are able to extend it to a broken and hurting world. What a gift!
As a practical Minister, Joyce separates religiosity from christianity with sound example and easy to understand counsel. In the end, there are these three things, Faith, Hope and Love and the greatest of these is LOVE! We can speak in the tongues of angels, we can have all knowledge, we can fly like superman through the sky (OK, I'm stretching it here), but the point is...if we don't give it away, we don't have 'it'.
This was a pretty good book - but I feel like some of it should be put into an Advanced section for the veteran Love Revolutionary. I mean, she's talking about overseas missions and rescuing folks from slums and child prostitution. I don't even talk to my neighbors every day.
So I'm gonna have to start with baby steps - not despising the day of small beginnings. And I'm gonna try and not feel guilty about not saving the world on a daily basis - b/c who knows? Maybe my small steps will yield big results in the people who I help. Being nice to people is never wrong - no matter what scale...
This was the first book I read by Joyce Meyer. For me, it was a very interesting book with a great concept. First of all, the topic is powerful - a love revolution. A Love Revolution is EXACTLY what our society needs! I feel as though the world does need to love each other. In the fashion that Joyce Meyer has proposed because it would be a peaceful place. I love this book because it gives so many examples of what love looks like. Sometimes i want to show love, i want to be better at loving more, but not sure how to practically make that happen. Wonderful stories about a real love, and love expression. I recommended this book for all people who still dont know what is the real love. :)
I wasn’t quite ready for this one... I expected another self-help audio. Instead this book extends beyond the church, to a world full of people in need of rescuing. Throughout the audio Meyer quotes scripture, reminding listeners of Jesus’ desire for peace and a Christian’s responsibility for helping others. In a day and age of political turmoil, extremist bombers, and economical hardship, this audio reminds Christians not to watch man or the dollar, but to keep their eyes on God and follow through with his Word.
Solid teaching, inspires reader to want to do more... But found the book repetitious after a while. I like Meyers. I like her teaching - she is a great motivational speaker and she certainly has a heart for Christ and for service. It wasn't the message that caused me to only give the book three stars as much as it was my feeling the book went on for too long, making the same point repeatedly in each chapter.
Still, I recommend the book - and if you've never watched or listened to Joyce Meyers' teachings, you should look them up on YouTube. She's one of my favorites.
As Joyce would say this book was "a word in due season" for me. It really spoke to my heart and reminded me that in order to see change in the world we need to pay attention to how we treat the people around us.
I received a few spiritual revelations throughout the course of the book that have caused me to pause and take an inventory of my own human selfishness. I'm thankful for a fresh perspective on varying areas of life.
We can all make a difference! One random act of kindness at a time. Plenty to ponder in this reading . Hard to maintain a Pharisee status in your walk if your honest with yourself while reading this text aloud to a loved one, or more. I read this aloud to my 86 year old mother in-law and soon to be 99 year old aunt. They told me to give it a 5 star rating.
In The Love Revolution Joyce Meyer has presented us with a "Call to Action." It is a challenge we should not resist. This is an excellent book. I would, however, have preferred it had been written totally by Joyce Meyer, without all the guest authors. Joyce Meyer is a terrific author, as I have read other books by her.
This is an awesome book! I have truly been blessed by reading about LOVE and joining the Love Revolution! I highly recommend this book for those who truly want to know about unconditional LOVE to all!
People spend so much time whining and complaining about their petty problems when there's a world of starving children and abused women who deserve our time and attention instead. Hunger, infant mortality, sex trafficking, aids... as Joyce points out, there's a world in need of a love revolution.
Meyer took this one very serious. Her goal is to reach the church as a whole, and the world. LOVE REVOLUTION didn't make the best seller list which is too bad because the message is priceless.
It's a good book. Our world is in need of a revolution: a love revolution. We cannot allow ourselves to be an apathetic generation. We must be the difference we want to see in the world. Not only does this book point out what we could and should be doing, it gives practical advice to get it done.
This book really opened my eyes to many of the things we as Christians, the body of Christ, should be doing! Love should be put into action. We should love without limitations, and reach out to all people.