Thankfulness in Our Hearts

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:15-17 (ESV)

In everything we say and do, above all it’s essential to keep the love of Christ in our hearts.  For when we have that personal, intimate relationship with our Savior, every day becomes Thanksgiving.

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

Meditations Monday: Spiritual Maintenance

Dear Lord; Happy Meditations Monday Father!

Well Father, once again You’ve Blessed my family and I by gracing us with another wonderful weekend together, surrounded by ample signs of Your love for us.  Aidan’s birthday party Friday night brought a flurry of activity to the house, and the sleepover portion of the festivities kept that youthful liveliness going late into the evening.  (If we could harness the energy of nine-year-old boys Father, I truly believe the world’s energy issues would be at an end.  ;-))  Shannon spent Saturday afternoon playing her viola in the Dover Symphony’s Children’s Concert, while the boys and I got some errands and household duties accomplished.  Sunday started as usual with morning services at Ewell’s St. Paul, with the remainder of the day consumed by housework, preparations for Thanksgiving and quiet time spent enjoying each other’s company.  All in all Lord, it was a Blessed time spent with those I love, and I thank You for that period of respite from the workweek.

As part of preparing our home for the upcoming Thanksgiving gathering, and to lay the groundwork for next weekend’s Christmas decorating marathon, Jonathan and I spent a good bit of Sunday afternoon cleaning and rearranging the garage, and bringing in the furniture from our back deck.  In the midst of doing so, I realized that it had been more than six months since I’d started the 1986 Jaguar I’d restored some years back, and well over a year since it had left the confines of our garage.  The battery was completely dead, so I connected up the charger, and let it run until the indicator light clued me in that it was done.  I settled into the driver’s seat, turned the key in the ignition, and…

It bluntly refused to start.

At first, I was a little taken aback.  Since I’d finished restoring it, this car has always fired right up with no hesitation whatsoever.  Then I realized… it’s had the same gasoline in its tanks for well over 16 months; engines don’t like stale gas.  When the brakes went out a year and a half ago I parked it, and waited for the time and money to repair it.  Unfortunately, our finances have been stretched since that time, and I unintentionally allowed it to fall into neglect.  I failed to perform the proper maintenance a stored vehicle requires, and as a result it will now require some repairs before it runs again.

Thinking about the situation as I drove in to the office today, I realized there was a lesson to be learned here…

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 (ESV)

Like my immobile auto, our faith needs to have regular service performed on it as well.  In this passage from First Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul describes some directives which could be looked at as “Spiritual Maintenance” of a sort.  Our journey of faith is a lifelong, winding road, requiring a spirit that’s fueled regularly (time in the Word), diligently maintained (thanks and prayer) and kept out of damaging conditions (abstaining from evil).  When we neglect our spirit’s proper upkeep, that road becomes uncertain, and our pace towards You is diminished.

Our spirits don’t run well on “stale gas” either.  🙂

Heavenly Father,

We thank You Lord, for the great care and faithfulness You show to us each day.  Instill in our hearts the commitment and passion to keep our spirits “maintained” and agile, that we may journey along the path You’ve set for us unimpeded.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Sharing a Conversation

Dear Lord; Happy Tuesday Father!

Today Father, I’m honored to be hosting a guest “Email to God” from a good friend of mine and fellow blogger, Lisa Phelps from “A Moment with God”.  Lisa’s site is wonderful Blessing to me Lord; she brings Your message of faith and hope to her readers each day, and at the same time teaches and enlightens with a whimsical spirit.  It’s such a gift for me to have her sharing a conversation with You here on PhatherPhil.org, and I hope it Blesses all those who get to read it.

Good morning Father,

First of all, I want to say thank you to Phil for allowing me to share my conversation with You on phatherphil.org.   I’m so thankful that I have come to know Phil.  Through his words and actions, I am learning more about what it looks like to live as Your servant.

Father, thank you for the awesome service we had at church on Sunday.  You taught me so many lessons through those few hours we spent worshiping together as Your body.  As you know, Father, I sometimes struggle with leading worship.  I want to make sure that we all sound good and flow together in unity.  As I was thinking about these things before the service started, you clearly spoke to my heart.  You were asking, “Why are you here?” or more specifically, “Why are the people here?”  You wanted me to understand that if they had come to hear perfect vocals or rousing music, we might be able to provide on some level, but they would leave disappointed.  As Your church, we are to love and encourage one another, but if the people came just for the fellowship, they would leave disappointed.  But if they came to encounter a Holy, Living God, then you would meet them and they would leave filled and satisfied.  Thank you for reminding me that the world doesn’t need to see me, they need to see You!  

You also reminded me that you have called us by a new name.  You don’t see us the way we see ourselves.  In the secret places of our hearts, we may call ourselves unworthy, unloved, unforgiven, or a disappointment.  But You reminded us that, through the blood of Jesus, we are now called Dearly loved, Forgiven, Righteous, and Children of the Most High God.  Father, thank you for reminding us of Whose we are and help us to listen only to Your Voice of Truth.

And finally, Father, you spoke to us about the sunrise.  We know that as Your children, our future is secure; we will spend eternity with You in Heaven.  But You have called us to see the sunrise.  The sun rises each morning, signifying the start of a new day; the old is gone and the new has begun.  So it is in our walk with You.   The old is gone and You have given us new life.  

“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” – Isaiah 43:19

Father, you are truly amazing.  I love that You bend down and speak to Your people.  Help us to keep our hearts and minds fixed on You that we might always hear Your still small voice.  Thank you for giving us a new name and a new identity through Jesus Christ.  I pray that each one reading these words today would forget about the past and focus on the new thing You are doing in their lives.  Father, help them to see themselves the way You see them.  Remind them that You have come to give them Hope and a new beginning.  I ask all these things in the precious name of Your Son, Jesus.

Amen.

Meditations Monday: The Glue That Binds Our Hearts

Dear Lord; Happy Meditations Monday Father!

To start off our week together Lord, I want to thank You for the many Blessings You graced my family and I with this past weekend.  As I still wasn’t feeling very well, we spent much of Saturday at home, save for a much-needed grocery shopping trip, and finished the evening off by curling up on the couch together and watching the final chapter in the Harry Potter movie series.  Sunday we started our day with an inspiring worship service at Ewell’s St. Paul, and then joined some close friends for a brunch to celebrate the birthday of one of their children.  The afternoon was filled with a marathon of housework, homework, bill-paying and laundry, but at the end of the day we were all able to relax a bit before bed, and enjoy some quiet time together.  You know Father, as my Walk with You progresses, I find myself appreciating those times of unity with my family more and more.  I’ve always enjoyed “family time”, but the more connected I become with You, the more connected I feel to them as well.  🙂

In her message this weekend, Pastor Kris made a statement that’s been churning around in my head ever since.  She told us that one of her seminary professors had once said that if you look at the Bible as a whole; the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Gospels, the one underlying concept that’s consistent throughout and that ties it all together, is love.  Now Father, while initially this may seem like an awfully simplistic and obvious statement, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was a fundamental point that quite often we miss.

Throughout the Scriptures as well as in our lives today, we see many examples of the wide range of ways You show Your love for us.  Some are obvious, and come in the form of Blessings that clearly enrich our mortal lives and bring us immediate joy.  Others however, may be perceived as negative events that seem to complicate our lives and cause us difficulty.  The point that we need to remember however is this; just because things don’t always go as we expect or desire them to, it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t an act of love on Your part nonetheless.  I liken it to when I have to discipline my children.  I certainly don’t enjoy reprimanding or punishing them, but in my desire to be a loving, caring and responsible parent, sometimes it’s necessary for me to correct and guide them by providing a response that makes the point apparent and relevant to them.

In one of the most beautiful, and I believe powerful passages of the Bible, the Apostle Paul describes this love that You’ve given us, and the importance of it in our lives:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (ESV)

I view love as the “glue” You use to bind our hearts to Yours Father.  You bestow it on us freely, and through Christ’s example, You lead us to share it with others in a similar fashion.  Such an overwhelming gift Lord, and one that grows more and more prominent as our walk to You progresses.

Heavenly Father,

We thank You Lord, for the love and Blessings You give to us freely and abundantly each day.  Please open our hearts and our minds, that we may more fully come to recognize Your acts of love in our lives; both those that fill our hearts with overwhelming joy, and those guiding actions which while sometimes painful, are done as the caring, loving, responsible Father that You are.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Thankful Thursday: Daily Inspirations

Dear Lord; Happy Thankful Thursday Father!

Today Father, I want to take a moment to say thank You and to celebrate some changes here at PhatherPhil.org.

When You led me to begin this site a little over a year ago, I really had no distinct idea as to what direction it would take, what I’d write about each day, or who in the world would possibly have interest in reading it.  I certainly didn’t see myself as a writer, but You were diligent in Your pursuit of me taking on this endeavor so I followed those urgings, and 327 posts later, here I am.  🙂

Over the last few months Lord, I’ve felt You urging me once again to take another step with this outreach.  One of the things I hear most when talking to people is that they’re unsure how the Scriptures pertain to their lives and situations today.  To help with answering those questions, I’ve begun something new here at PhatherPhil.org.

The site has now been divided into two blog threads; the “Emails to God” I’ve been posting for the last year, and a new section called “Daily Inspirations”.  Each post in “Daily Inspirations” will contain a Bible Passage, accompanied by a short message connecting those wisdoms and truths to our world today.  The posts from both sections will all be visible together on the home page, or can be viewed independently on their respective pages as well.  Along with this new blog thread, I’ve also added a “Contact Me” page to allow a more private connection with the readers if they so desire.

I’m truly thankful for this ministry You’ve led me on Father.  Through it I’ve connected with some wonderful people, had the opportunity to minister to the needs of others, and in the process nourished my relationship with You as well.  It’s been an amazing Blessing in my life this past year, and I’m excited to see where You’ll lead me each day.

To add to that note of thanks Lord, I’d like to continue my Thankful Thursday list from last week.  This past week, I’ve been especially grateful for :

376. The opportunity You’ve given me to minister to others through PhatherPhil.org.

377. Shannon helping with nighttime “dog duty” so I could get some rest.

378. That our Tuesday night Bible Study group wants to continue meeting after the conclusion of the “Treasures of the Transformed Life” series next week.

379. The beautiful colors the trees take on in Autumn.

380. Spending some “Down Time” with Jonathan and Aidan.

381. The urgings You place on my heart to reach out and share Your Truth with others.

382. Hot Apple Cider K-Cups for our Keurig.

383. Breathing treatments that help me combat the effects of my current respiratory illness.

384. An evening of good food and fellowship at the “Heart and Hand” dinner last Saturday.

385. Making good progress on the redesign of Ewell’s St. Paul UMC’s web site.

386. The helpful staff at our local Christian Bookstore : “The Branch”.

387. Lessons in a foggy morning.

388. Half-price “post-Halloween” candy sales.

389. The brightest star in my sky.

390. The selfless sacrifices that our Veterans and Active Duty Military make each and every day.

Heavenly Father,

We thank You Lord, for the multitude of Blessings you bestow on us each day; both those that light up the sky with Your brilliance, and those that grace us quietly from the shadows.  I thank You from the bottom of my heart for guiding me along this journey Father, and for drawing me ever closer to You in the process.  More of You Lord, less of me.

In Jesus’ Name we pray,

Amen.

~Phather Phil