Paul praised the Thessalonians, in fact, for their perseverance and faith throughout the trials they were enduring (2Thess.1:4). It does not mean an easier life, as we can see by the lives of the apostles and other saints throughout church history. In the Bible, however, God’s favor simply means His unmerited grace, and we receive this freely when we receive Christ as Savior. The favor of God is causing me to stand out in the crowd’” (40). “Throughout the day, declare, ‘The favor of God is causing this company to want to hire me. To receive this favor, he says we have to speak it out. He wants to assist you, to promote you, to give you advantages” (38). He defines favor as “‘to provide with special advantages and to receive preferential treatment.’ In other words, God wants to make your life easier. The first principle that Osteen explains is “Enlarge Your Vision,” which involves obtaining God’s favor. Osteen writes, “By following the principles I’m going to share with you…you can be happy and fulfilled, starting today” (p.x, emphasis in original). The book’s stated purpose is to give seven principles for improving your life. Osteen’s first book, Your Best Life Now: Seven Steps to Living at Your Full Potential, rose to number one on the New York Times “Best Sellers” list in December 2004. In a December 2004 interview on Fox TV’s The O’Reilly Factor, while stating that he is an ordained minister, he admitted to having no seminary training.

Following the death of his father, John Osteen, in 1999, he took over as pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, despite having completed less than one year of college at Oral Roberts University and never having preached a sermon in his life.

Nowhere is the self-esteem gospel more prominent than in the ministry of Joel Osteen. Jesus told us that only one thing was needed, and that was Himself (Luke10:42). What many preach is the gospel of self-esteem, a gospel that puts the emphasis on one’s self and one’s abilities to provide for one’s own needs, instead of on Christ, who supplies all of our needs. The gospel, even then, is not always the good news that through His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has reconciled sinners to a just and holy God. One of the most popular methods of preaching today is to leave out the law entirely and to present only the gospel. For further information or to subscribe to the Christian Research Journal go to: Ĭ.F.W.Walther wrote, in his classic book The Proper Distinction between Law and Gospel, “The doctrinal contents of the entire Holy Scriptures…are made up of two doctrines differing fundamentally from each other, viz., the Law and the Gospel….Without the Law the Gospel is not understood without the Gospel the Law benefits us nothing.” 1 This review first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume28, number2(2005).

Your Best Life Now by Joel Osteen