{"id":6938,"date":"2013-01-08T00:01:48","date_gmt":"2013-01-08T05:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=6938"},"modified":"2013-01-25T10:54:53","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T15:54:53","slug":"stop-praying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/08\/stop-praying\/","title":{"rendered":"Crazy Love: Week 1 \/ Chapter 1 &#8211; &#8220;Stop Praying&#8221; (pgs. 27-28)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #000000; font-size: medium;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">The story goes of two men walking along the beach.\u00a0 One man said to the other:\u00a0 \u201cTell me all you know about God.\u201d\u00a0 His friend reached down and scooped up a handful of water in his hand and said:\u00a0 \u201cWhat I know about God, I can hold in the palm of my hand.\u00a0 If you want to know more, you will have to go swimming for yourself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #000000; font-size: medium;\" data-mce-mark=\"1\">On pages 27-28 in our book, Chan expands on God\u2019s diversity, creativity, and sophistication in the universe, on earth, and in our own bodies.\u00a0 I marveled at how the thought of it just engulfs him.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I sense his excitement in the video, \u201cJust Stop and Think,\u201d as he walks along the beach in awe of God\u2019s creation, and his realization of how the God of the universe could love him so much.\u00a0 One can readily tell that he is genuinely in love with God, as well as has a deep understanding of how much God loves him. I feel his intense desire that we, too, embrace this crazy kind of love he is being overwhelmed with in his relationship with God. Crazy!<\/span><\/p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pRi4VwcrYmA?version=3&#038;rel=0&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">But, to be honest, I have to grab hold of those truths for myself.\u00a0 They cannot be poured into me by someone else, even a teacher such as Chan.\u00a0 I have to experience it in order for that craziness to be a part of my life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">For me personally, I have caught just a small glimpse of this crazy love that God has for me <b>through the relationship I had with my earthly father<\/b>. \u00a0In his book entitled <i><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Father Hunger<\/span><\/i>, Robert McGhee stated: \u00a0\u201cas you see your earthly father, so shall you see and relate to God.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I shall never forget teaching this concept to a group of inmates at Stiles Prison in Beaumont, Texas. I made the statement that \u201cmy daddy had a sense of humor, and I often laugh out loud with God, because I believe He has a sense of humor, too.\u201d\u00a0 To which an inmate replied:\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWoman, you must be crazy.\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t laugh.\u00a0 He is standing there just waiting for you to mess up, so he can swing his axe at you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">I said:\u00a0 \u201cTell me about your own father.\u201d\u00a0 At that point, he began to cry and related how he was physically abused as a child and how hard his dad use to \u201cwhip up on him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">My heart broke for him because, you see:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">My dad was firm in discipline, but gentle and not abusive.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">When the deed was over, it was never brought up to me again. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;\">He was fun to be with. <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was, indeed, crazy in love with me.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman; color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">As secure as I felt in my dad\u2019s love, my heart tells me that his love could not reach to the height and depth of God\u2019s love for me. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And so, I ask you:\u00a0 Do you want to experience this crazy love that Chan is, not only talking about, but obviously experiencing? \u00a0If so, let\u2019s go swimming together toward the King of Kings. \u00a0I long for more glimpses of the One who bought the whole world to get a piece of the treasure, which is <b><i><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">you and I<\/span><\/i><\/b>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*****<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Let&#8217;s Pray:\u00a0 <\/strong>Father God, may we worship You for who You are, and never cease to\u00a0have the praises of God flowing from our lips.\u00a0 Show us anything in our lives that is hindering our relationship with You.\u00a0 In Jesus name I pray, Amen<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Your Assignment:\u00a0 <\/strong>Did you follow Chan&#8217;s suggestion at the bottom of page 28 to meditate on the Almighty One?\u00a0 If so, what did you discover in your silence?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Be blessed,<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Martha<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you would like more information about Crazy Love Bible study, please email us at: <a href=\"mailto:GCH_Womens@girlfriendscoffeehour.com\" target=\"_blank\"><b>GCH_Womens@girlfriendscoffeehour.com<\/b><\/a>, OR click <a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/sign-up-for-girlfriends-coffee-hour-online-bible-studies\/\"><b>HERE<\/b><\/a> to be taken to the sign-up page.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you would like to send Martha a personal message in regards to this blog, you may email her at: <a href=\"mailto:Martha@girlfriendscoffeehour.com\" target=\"_blank\"><b>Martha@girlfriendscoffeehour.com<\/b><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The story goes of two men walking along the beach.\u00a0 One man said to the other:\u00a0 \u201cTell me all you know about God.\u201d\u00a0 His friend reached down and scooped up a handful of water in his hand and said:\u00a0 \u201cWhat I know about God, I can hold in the palm of my hand.\u00a0 If you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[200,268,1320,1318,425,1317,1323,1333,554,1322,649,1334,791,794,1321,1332],"class_list":["post-6938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-womens","tag-child-abuse","tag-crazy-love","tag-emotional-abuse","tag-frances-chan","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-girlfriendscoffeehour","tag-gods-crazy-love","tag-gods-discipline","tag-jesus","tag-king-of-kings","tag-martha-bush","tag-physical-abuse","tag-prayer","tag-praying","tag-the-fathers-love","tag-the-hand-of-god","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-1NU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6938"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6954,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6938\/revisions\/6954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}