Andy Stanley presents practical advice how to guard your heart in Enemies of the Heart.  He describes the insidious nature of a variety of problems that plague our heart.  He illustrates these major problems by using a “debt-to-debtor dynamic that always causes an imbalance in any relationship” (p. 48).  He describes each of the four enemies of the heart using examples from life and ministry and sound biblical principles.  Here are the four enemies of the heart he describes with a corresponding response to guard against them:

            Guilt                 I owe you                      Confess

            Anger               You owe me                  Forgive

            Greed               I owe me                       Give

            Jealousy           God owes me               Celebrate

Stanley does well differentiating between enemies of the heart that we face and God given appetites we must manage.  He does not minimize the work involved in bringing about biblical change.  As he describes heart change he emphasizes, “It requires effort.  Sometimes it requires pain.  And there’s always some discomfort involved.  A changed heart is the result of forming some new habits – some exercises for the heart” (p. 88).

The biblical examples he used were handled well and several practical applications were identified.  An exception was when he related the story of Jesus speaking to Peter about forgiveness he writes, “Jesus probably smiled, put his hand on Peter’s shoulder, and said, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times’” (p. 123).  The Bible actually says, “Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven’” (Matthew 18:22).  The point Jesus was making was not to keep score but He gave a response that would be beyond keeping a record of wrongs.

Overall, I highly recommend Enemies of the Heart as a practical book for helping you get your heart in shape.  (I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review).