Teapot Theology

Rote & Pettigrew author, A 40-Day Spiritual Gameplan for Men which hits all the main themes for men today:- Living Life in the Zone contains many of the basic elements we have come to expect from 40 day devotionals books, like short easy to read chapters, real life examples, though provoking questions, and daily homework. While it could get lost in among other devotional books I believe the strong content directed towards men make this book a must read. Living In the Zone deals with all of the stressful things in a man’s life and puts them in perspective by seeing how all of these issue relate to our personal walk with God.

My favourite parts of the book were Day 30 “Living Up to Your Potential” and Day 36 “Fighting the Battle.” They were real encouragements to me. Another aspect of the book is that not only does it talk about what a godly man looks like, but also what it takes to become that man. Hopefully, you find this devotional as thought provoking and inspiring as I did, despite the across-the-pond translations needed at times! Great for all men!

Today I had great fun, preaching from Nehemiah 2 v 1-10 and I didn’t even set the passage! Most of you know I’ve been brought back to this book, time-after-time….. I took a different tack to the passage, and resisted checking over previous preaches from this passage!

I contend that it’s often the hardest thing to  turn intention into action! Yetwithal making it happen is vital! My original thought is this:- Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace!

1. Be patient; Passionately pray and responsibly serve. v.1b

2. Be bold; Let your fears feed your faith! v. 2-3

3. Be dependent. v. 4

4. Be prepared. v. 5-8a

5. Be expectant. v. 8b

“I would rather walk in the dark with God than go alone in the light. I would rather walk with Him by faith than walk alone by sight.” Mary Gardner Brainard

Boy meets girl. They talk. They laugh. They fall in love. Little do they know what’s going inside their brains. Dr. Earl Henslin explains some of the latest findings in brain research and how brain imbalances can have a bad affect on your love life in his newest book, This Is Your Brain In Love. With stories from his clients as well as scientific research, Henslin pinpoints five common types of lovers and offers tips and solutions. This book seek to unravel the secrets of proactive passion and it’s helped me realise (already!) where I get it wrong and am unclear with Julie. It calls each to bring their healthiest, most balanced and joyful self to the relationship.
Dr. Henslin speaks to the vital connection between spirituality and sexuality. He identifies the five types of lovers. Filled with relatable stories and humour, this is not your boring brain book! Engaging and practical, Dr. Henslin provides an amazingly accurate, scientifically-based brain test to help spot typical brain imbalances. (And yes, most everyone has at least one!) There is a lot of sage advice within these pages with a potent conclusion majoring in kindness, patience and forgiveness.

As Goethe said, Love does not dominate: it cultivates!

Broken soil produces a crop,
broken clouds give way to rain,
broken grain is vital for making bread,
broken bread to provide strength.

It is the broken alabaster box that offers significant fragrance and costly worship.
It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater purpose than ever before…..

God uses broken, vulnerable, fragile, open lives – it’s always His way; though this process is not ever comfortable, it is always productive.

Experience proves it because God’s word explains it!

these words from Sara Groves, are part of my pondering today…

‘this is grace: an invitation to be beautiful!’

God gives grace by using whatever comes our way to shape our lives. Progress in life and following Jesus, depends greatly on our openness.  Discipleship means opening our lives to God and to others. For if we believe that God is compassionately sovereign, then we can be confident that nothing will obstruct His loving plan for our lives.

Simply put, God is never surprised. Never. In a sense God stands invisibly between us and all the circumstance we ever face and uses them as tools for renovation, never wishing or willing them to be instruments of destruction. God will use all things especially those things we see as coincidences to strip us down and build us up!

Underneath the rotten siding of life is pure oak, but we’ll never know that until we let God renovate our lives. The process of stripping down is as necessary as the process of building up. Jesus calls it pruning. The level of our openness will determine whether we inflate the power of circumstances beyond what they deserve or deflate their power by submitting all things to the reign of God. Let your will be done! By God’s grace circumstances, all situations, are the means to maturity; by our resistance they are the way to ruin. Eitherway they will drive us toward our destiny.

Daily and hourly we are saying yes or no to God, by how we handle everything that lies in front of us. So how about it. Will you and I let all things today, all things in the now of our lives, serve God’s purpose in our life?

For every atom in the quadrillion-mile universe and ever chance event in its history is deliberately and perfectly planned by God for the ultimate end of our good and our heavenly joy. Galaxies revolve, animals breed, rain falls, seasons change, people fall in love, uncles smoke bad cigars, parents can make their grown-up children feel awkward, people lose their jobs and we all die – all for our good, the finished work of the God is the Kingdom of heaven. God’s grace is everywhere, it embraces us and forever changes us; if we will but yield to it. There is nothing outside of heaven, except hell. Earth is not outside heaven; It is heaven’s workshop, heaven’s womb. It’s all here for us to know, enjoy and be transformed by.

Key to it all is God’s grace!

Gods grace in you and me, changing everything.

Key to it all is our hunger to be changed!