Last week we started the Crazy Love Study. This book is one of the best I have read, although it can be a little convicting. We had 11 women there last week with a couple missing, the more the merrier we say!!
The first sentence of last week's study said: "What if I told you to stop praying". I read that and said huh?!?! But he went on to say that we need to stop before we pray and realize WHO God is and quit talking at him but to him. He challenged us to try to pray the week without asking for anything. Simply praise God for who he is. You might think that sounds easy but it isn't! All too often we go to God with out "shopping list" and rattle off what we need from him when what we really need to do it be in awe of who He is! Here is a couple of quotes from chapter 1:
- I haven’t always felt this way. I grew up believing in God without having a clue what He is like. I called myself a Christian, was pretty involved in church, and tried to stay away from all of the things that “good Christians” avoid—drinking, drugs, sex, swearing. Christianity was simple: fight your desires in order to please God. Whenever I failed (which was often), I’d walk around feeling guilty and distant from God.
- He goes on to say on page 21 that we need to stop giving people excuses not to believe God. OUCH!!! He then goes on to say that: But before we look at what is wrong and address it, we need to understand something. The core problem isn’t the fact that we’re lukewarm, halfhearted, or stagnant Christians. The crux of it all is why we are this way, and it is because we have an inaccurate view of God. We see Him as a benevolent Being who is satisfied when people manage to fit Him into their lives in some small way. We forget that God never had an identity crisis. He knows that He’s great and deserves to be the center of our lives. Jesus came humbly as a servant, but He never begs us to give Him some small part of ourselves. He commands everything from His followers.
Tonight is chapter 2, so as to not give anything away to those attending tonight, I will update about this one later!!
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