[WARNING: Please read my review fully and carefully. This book is not what it seems.]
This is a very beautiful devotional book made with nice quality hard cover, with even a very pretty hardcover flap (like the kind on journals) that closes over the front cover with a magnet. This is the most beautiful book - from the outside. It's the kind of pretty book you want to buy for all your friends based on looks alone. But Chrisitians have been taught that the surface doesn't count - it's the inside that really counts. And you will want to read and understand my review carefully, when it comes to the inside.
Sadly, thats all this book is - pretty from the outside. I was surprised at how void of God and Jesus this devotional is. At first I thought it was mostly poetic, psychology, opinion and fluff. There are about 20 authors and they mix their writings up randomly. However, I read this book by each author, so I could get a feel for what each of them is saying - each woman's point of view. And that's when I realized the "theology" behind this book is much worse than simple poetic fluff. These women are teaching the "prosperity gospel" that turns God into a genie and us into users of God.
The most prolific writer in the book is Sheila Walsh. In her writings, Walsh tells us about God's promises but her words have no depth behind them. There is no life application. Her paragraphs are choppy and lose focus. It's almost like she had a few ideas and wrote them down but forgot to edit them to make them flow nicely. After reading her writings, I began noticing a pattern and felt her teachings were not biblical - she seems to make God into a genie that must grant us wishes because "God promised". This sounds like the "propsperity gospel" that some of those tv evangelists are misleading millions of people with.
Example: Walsh tells us that "God has promised to deliver us" but she fails to mention anything about when, how, why or God's will. Just a blanket promise that makes it seem like "God promises to ALWAYS deliver us no matter what". Well, clearly we all will die some day, so God's promise isn't the blanket promise Walsh portrays - we are't always delivered from death or even trials. Truth is, God doesn't promise to deliver us from trials or death. His promise is for salvation to believers only. Walsh only tells us that God promised so-and-so and she makes these promises into ALWAYS-NO-MATTER-WHAT promises, such as when she writes "grace and peace are our birthright."
Walsh's other writings are choppy and shallow with misapplied verses: "Do you ever feel like a nobody? Satan tempts us to be somebody. Mt 4:7 says "Don't tempt God." So don't fear. God has our best interests at heart. He will provide for us." I don't really see how Mt 4:7 is relevant to "wanting to get glory for yourself." And I don't really see how "God will take care of you" has anything to do with a solution for being egotistical and seeking your own glory. Most of Walsh's writings that aren't leading us to believe in false promises and turn God into a genie are instead like this one - choppy and with no clear point.
Luci Swindoll is another author I was interested to hear her thoughts, considering her relation to her famous father, Chuck Swindoll. But her writing was very shallow and had little to do with God and I was surprised to find that she also seems to be teaching the "prosperity gospel" as well. She writes about "planting seed-thoughts" - "seed faith" or "seed thoughts" are terms I've only heard scamming tv evangelists like the Mike Murdock use or Word of Faith false teachers like Oral Roberts use.
Luci Swindoll's other writings have nothing to do with God and revolve mostly around herself and her famous father, Chuck Swindoll. Instead of Jesus, she writes about her "elocution lessions", her not wanting get married or have children, her love of "figuring out how things work", her decorating her bedroom, building model airplanes, "bowing to pressure from friends and Mother" to date, a false engagement to a man she had no intent to marry, and "the greatest adventures of my life have come because I said yes to the unknown". Swindoll even writes about "I began memorizing Scripture and learning about the promises and blessings that were mine by simply putting my faith in Christ." Does Swindoll sound more interested in Jesus because of a personal reltionship with Him or interested in getting "promises and blessings WHICH ARE MINE"? Based on her own words, she's seeking to use God for his blessings, more than have a relationship with our Savior. She has made God her genie. This is "the prosperity gospel."
I absolutely would pass on this book. It is pretty on the outside but poison and self-centered on the inside. "The Women of Faith" are clearly wolves in sheeps clothing - their teachings are centered around themselves and what promises they can get from God. They are simply seeking to use God for their own selfish gain.
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the publisher but I am giving my honest review.
