Dr. Creflo Dollar on 'Winning in Troubled Times'

These are troubling times indeed, observes minister Dr. Creflo Dollar. Whether it’s finances, troubled relationships or addiction, Dr. Dollar believes a solution can be found in biblical scripture. The founder of the International Creflo Dollar Ministries has penned a book, “Winning in Troubled Times,” on ways Christians can look for victory in the most trying of times by seeking “God’s way.” Dr. Dollar spoke with ESSENCE.com about “Winning in Troubled Times” and shared the five “Rs” of positive change. ESSENCE.com: What was your motivation for writing this book? DR. CREFLO DOLLAR: There’s a lot of things going on in the world. People are unbalanced financially, divorce is at an all-time high and there’s a lot of stress coming with as a result of that. I decided this would be an excellent time to put something together that will help people in their thinking process on how to get over a lot of that stuff. In the book, I talk about true prosperity and that work is important. With the job situation and the economy, people need to know how to establish budgets, how not to get a raise and then be involved in hyper-consumption. Since this is such an emotional time. I have a section where I talk about winning over negative emotion. How to get over inferiority and self-doubt, and anger. ESSENCE.com: You mention that Christians should expect continuous well-being. Do you find that people don’t expect to be living a prosperous life? DOLLAR: A lot of people are afraid right now; and when you operate in fear and it starts to dominate your thinking. You have to adjust your expectations because if you start expecting based on the atmosphere that’s been created, it starts to affect your normal expectations because of the fears that are being created. ESSENCE.com: The book provides ways to get over that fear? DOLLAR: The book shows you how, even in the midst of the fear, there’s a way to walk through those particular things. When people have financial problems then all of a sudden they’ve got problems in their marriage and they’re fussing about bills needing to be paid. This is a book that tries to take you in the midst of the problems and show you how to trouble your trouble instead of being troubled by that trouble. ESSENCE.com: You also write about the eight steps to healing relationships based on biblical scriptures. DOLLAR: You’ve heard the saying, ‘The truth will set you free.’ That’s not the whole truth. It’s only when you continue in the truth that you’ll be made free. One of the things we try to show people in relationships is that the way your wife treats you is not your problem. Your problem is how you treat her. If we can show people how to operate in unconditional love for one another and to develop away from selfishness and spend time considering the other mate more than considering themselves, then they’re going to find themselves working through a lot of issues with that understanding. The scripture talks about love your wife as Christ loved the church. You can take these scriptures and begin to apply to your thinking and to your life and once you start initiating it you start seeing some results. I like to say that the bible can be a great book for marriage therapy if you just listen to the advice because it challenges you to move away from selfishness. ESSENCE.com: What are the five Rs of positive change that you mention in the book? DOLLAR: Responsibility: I accept full responsibility for myself and my life. Once you begin accepting responsibility for your life you start rethinking what you believe. Then you have to reject some of your old ways and then you review your new thinking because ‘as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.’ And then number five is you have to resound your thoughts out loud. As Christian people we believe in the confession of faith and it helps out a whole lot when you start saying out loud the things you’ve changed in your life. Dr. Creflo Dollar’s newest book, “Winning in Trouble Times” hits bookshelves today.