Handbook to Happiness

This book highlights the bible verses that Christians can use to get the spiritual victory over sin, self and satan. These principles have been extremely effective in my own life.

As a true born again Christian, I was going through insomnia, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks. I didn’t know why God was allowing this to happen to me, but I was in such despair and torture I came to the point of contemplating ending my life. When I totally gave up and stopped trying, my dad pointed me to this book. This book miraculously explained why I was suffering so intensely and showed me what I must do. The answer was to come to faith in knowing I died with Christ on the cross, and that it was no longer I who lived, but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20). God eventually led me to totally surrender to Him (even my right to take my own life), then led me to trust in Him no matter how desperate my situation looked, and taught me to simply rest in Him. He taught me to take His Words in the Bible by faith and hang my life on them and jump into His arms. This book was the gateway to this truth and the start of my journey into much more resources on exchanging my life for His. God has set me free by the truth. I am now armed with the truth and He has truly healed me and set me on solid ground, which is Jesus Christ.

Charles Solomon has written an excellent book for people who are struggling to live out the Christian life and failing on a regular basis. His conclusion to that sort of life is that surrender hasn't fully happened and our identify in Christ is a key component to understanding how to "live out" the Christian life. I found this book refreshing and applicable to many issues I face in my own life. Many churches seem to teach that once you believe the Gospel, you have to put in the effort yourself to grow as a Christian. They may not directly acknowledge that is what they teach, but I think many Christians are defeated by trying in their own strength to live a life pleasing to God, rather than to let God live through them. If you want to know more about this approach, you should definitely read this book. This one and Watchman Nee's Normal Christian Life book both do an excellent job explaining the details of how to live out your faith. Highly recommended.

This book focuses on Galations 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me..." If you are feeling stuck in your walk, or if you are lacking the joy of the Lord, I highly recommend this book. It's an eye opener.I recommend this book for all mature Christians, not only will it help with your walk, but it will be a huge help in discipling others. It explains how we go from total committment to truly identifying with the cross and recognizing that it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.We did this book for our women's bible study, and several of the ladies were reluctant, thinking it was about psychology. It's not. It's really a rebuttal of pscyhology. Dr Solomon's point is that we must come to the end of ourselves before we are ready to submit to Christ living His life through us.

This is a great book on counseling and give a very good perspective of the role that faith in Jesus can play in helping people overcome life's problems. One of the best lessons for me was the positive role that adversity can play in the life of a current or about to become Christian in turning a person to or helping them depend more on Christ. this part of the book is appropriately called Anatomy of a Downer. As an aside, this theme appears to be thrust of George MacDonald's book "Phantastes", a book that C.S. Lewis said, "The quality which had enchanted me in his imaginative works turned out to be the quality of the real universe, the devine, magical, terrifying, and ecstatic reality in which we all live." This is odd, but as I began reading "Phantastes" I could only describe my reaction as it feeling like I was taking a potion for my brain - I felt like I had found Narnia. Toward the end of Solomon's "Handbook ..." there is an excellent overview of counseling vs. psychiatry vs. psychology.