Here is part II of: ‘Are husbands afraid of their wives?’ on Chris Fabry Live.
On the show is the author of the book and wife of the past guest speaker: Kimberly Wagner, and Gary Chapman.
It is all about the power God gives women, and how they are enabled to make a difference in their families and with those who surround them without missing what God intended marriage to be.
Oh, to find a guy that says and really means this.
It is when you find what you are determined not to let go of.
“I found you, and now there is nothing else to look for…” Daddy Yankee
2]God has the ability to take something ordinary, and when your not looking, turn it into something extraordinary.-paraphrase, Tony Evans
This week, instead of focusing on the blessing, focus on the One who blesses. When He blesses you, He is trying to teach you something about himself, and how much He loves you.
3] Celebrate YOUR extraordinary (not related to above comment)
This season (and always, I should say) pick your favorite feature, or make your least favorite feature your favorite. Sephora’s new campaign about being you and celebrating YOUR extraordinary.
I met her in person when she came to New York to visit. She is an extraordinary business woman, lawyer and investment banker. She wrote The Mountain Within. Her personal story and the people she has helped and met are all inspiring.
Meet her here (it is not very long, and she is great):
“Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for.” -Dag Hammarskjold
“A mature man is his own judge. In the end, his only form of support is being faithful to his own convictions. The advice of others may be welcome and valuable, but it does not free him from responsibility. Therefore, he may become very lonely.”
“The concept of loyalty is distorted when it is understood to mean blind acceptance. It is correctly interpreted when it is assumed to cover honest criticism.”
This is something that really touched my heart. I hope you take the time to read it. I took the time to type it out, because it really uplifted my spirits.
Thoughts by Dr. Tony Evans (with my interjections) Everything in quotes is from his message in Tampa, Fla., on Nov. 2.
CANDIED APPLES WITH SECULARISM
Tony Evans tells the story of how he does not like apples; he’s more of an “orange kind of guy.” But he likes them when he goes to a fair they have in Texas.
Why? Because they are candied apples. The thing is, he said, once you dip the apple into liquid sugar, it cancels out its nutrients. People take God’s word, and they dip it into human opinion, man-made thought and secularism.
“They think that just because they have an apple, they still have its nutrion. Not knowing, you dip God’s Truth in man’s thought, you canceled out its impactin your life.”
MAKING IT GO
He further reveals an experience of when he was on a horse. He felt he knew what to do because he had watched plenty of Western movies. He got on the horse and made the “click, click” sound and said “giddy up,” with a slight kick. The horse would go two steps forward and four steps back. He became frustrated with the horse and told the organizer that his horse was crazy and that he needed another horse.
The organizer asked him, “What are you doing?”
He responded telling him, “I am going ‘click, click,’ like this, and saying ‘giddy up’ with a kick.”
The organizer looked at him and said, “The horse is not the one that is crazy. You can’t expect him to go when you keep pulling on the reins. He is confused.”
Sometimes, it is like this with us and God. We want Him to go, and have control of our destiny and future, yet we pull back on the reins.
“In the Bible, wisdom has to do with one’s ability, capacity and determination to apply spiritual truth to life’s realities. Conversely, a fool in the Bible is not somebody who dropped out of kindergarten; it is not concerned with academic accomplishments as its formal meaning. A fool in the Bible is someone who refuses to apply spiritual truth to life’s realities. The difference between wisdom and foolishness is an application difference, not an informational difference.”
TWO FOUNDATIONS
24 “Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built a house on bedrock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house [Like Hurricane Sandy…]. It didn’t fall because it was firmly set on bedrock. 26 But everybody who hears these words of mine and doesn’t put them into practice will be like a fool who built a house on sand. 27 The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It fell and was completely destroyed.” (Matthew 7)
“Both looked fine until the storm came. Your foundation determines your future. You can’t fix a foundation in a storm. One house stood, one house fell–all predicated, not one their dreams, but on where they started.”
“Sand is easy, moving, cheap; bedrock is hard, firm and expensive.”
“It is all about where you start: The Bible or our human efforts.”
Despite our finite intelligence, which is given to us by God, we can’t find our own way. In the end, humanity’s solo path leads to a dead end. We will always be at a loss, no matter how hard we try. You know that feeling when someone compliments you, and you genuinely say, “No…no, I am not that great.” That feeling of inadequacy and unworthiness– that is how we always are before God. That is how we are on our own. But our weakness is made perfect in His strength and power.
Common English Bible (CEB)
THE STORM
35 Later that day, when evening came, Jesus said to them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” [They said they wanted to cross over to the other side… isn’t that what we always say? When someone wants to take us to the other side, and we are excited; we want to go–something new, something that might be better-(paraphrase)] 36 They left the crowd and took him in the boat just as he was. Other boats followed along.
37 Gale-force winds arose, and waves crashed against the boat so that the boat was swamped.[Storm]38 But Jesus was in the rear of the boat, sleeping on a pillow. [When someone is asleep on a pillow or cushion, you know that person intended to sleep, He did not fall asleep on accident. (paraphrase)] They woke him up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re drowning?” [The storm must’ve been bad if FISHERMEN feared for their lives (paraphrase)]
39 He got up and gave orders to the wind, and he said to the lake, “Peace! Be still!” The wind settled down and there was a great calm. [He told the peace to be still. Wouldn’t He address the storm instead? No, because even within the storm is the movement of God’s peace, taking you to where you are intended to wind up.-(paraphrase)]40 Jesus asked them, “Why are you frightened? Don’t you have faith yet?” [“Do you believe my word in your storm. A storm in the way does not change my word, [Jesus was trying to teach them.]”]
41 Overcome with awe, they said to each other, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!” (Mark 4)
TO YOU:
Are you going through a storm? Are you building a foundation? We all are, but what are you building it on? Are you building it on truth or society and man’s everchanging arguments and opinions?
Today, take truth as it is; unadulterated, even if it is not convenient. Let your destiny unfold in God’s providence, and let go of the reins. Build a foundation on something eternal that never changes and that is greater than yourself. And when you go through the storm, don’t lose faith, and know that not even a storm can change His word, power and plan for you.
I Touched His Garment:
This video is of a group I sing with back home (I love and miss them all!). We sang on Thanksgiving weekend. This song is a beautiful song. I hope the words touch you, as they touched us.
And yes, I am the girl that starts out and finishes the song singing in the purple dress. 🙂
“It is in vain, 0 men, that you seek within yourselves the cure for your miseries. All your insight only leads you to the knowledge that it is not in yourselves that you will discover the true and the good. The philosophers promised them to you, and have not been able to keep their promises… Your principal maladies are pride, which cuts you off from God, and sensuality, which binds you to the earth; and they have done nothing but foster at least one of these maladies. If they have given you God for your object, it has only been to pander to your pride; they have made you think that you were like Him and resembled Him by your nature. And those who have grasped the vanity of such a pretension have cast you down into the other abyss by making you believe that your nature was like that of the beasts of the field, and have led you to seek your good in lust, which is the lot of animals.” Blaise Pascal
David Berlinski (Who responded to Richard Dawkin’s book, The God Delusion, with his own book called, The Devil’s Delusion):
“Has anyone provided a proof of God’s inexistence?
Not even close.
Has quantum cosmology explained the emergence of the universe or why it is here?
Not even close.
Have the sciences explained why our universe seems to be fine-tuned to allow for the existence of life?
Not even close.
Are physicists and biologists willing to believe in anything so long as it is not religious thought?
Close enough.
Has rationalism in moral thought provided us with an understanding of what is good, what is right, and what is moral?
Not close enough.
Has secularism in the terrible twentieth century been a force for good?
Not even close to being close.
Is there a narrow and oppressive orthodoxy of thought and opinion within the sciences?
Close enough.
Does anything in the sciences or in their philosophy justify the claim that religious belief is irrational?
Not even ballpark.
Is scientific atheism a frivolous exercise in intellectual contempt?
Dead on.”
2] For the world thinker and philosopher
“And I promise you I say this to you very sincerely, the more I know of Him, the more I read the Gospels, the epistles and letters, the more I read in the scriptures, the more I understand that the other world views are not even close to being close. That in Christ you have this comprehensive explanation for the four deepest questions of life. Do you know what those four questions are? Origin, meaning, morality and destiny. How did I come to be? What point of reference do I find for meaning? How do I differentiate between good and evil? What happens to a human being when he or she dies? He answers to those four questions, when you find answers that are correspondingly true to the individual questions; and when all of the questions are put together, you have a coherent set of answers.” -Thoughts from Ravi Zacharias, apologetic, evangelist and philosopher (Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, RZIM)
3] For the woman who needs relationship advice
Love Letters to Kellie-Kidd Kraddick in the Morning
“This is what I have learned the older I get: I don’t want a man who I have to beg to go out with me, and be nice to me and call me. When a man wants you; a man lets you know he wants you. He pursues you, he chases you, and he buys you laptops. And that is what happens when a man likes you, so don’t try to make something happen when it’s not there.”-Kellie Rasberry
GABRIELA YARELIZ 