Sons are a heritage from the LORD

Dear Lord; Good morning Father!  On the heels of our discussion yesterday Lord, I’d like to follow up by talking with You about one of the most personal and effective ways You’ve brought Your Teachings and Guidance to me; through my children.  I know we’ve covered things they’ve said and done more than once, but there were a couple glimmers of Your Light in them the last few days that I’d like to share.  I still find it fascinating that even though You’ve put them in Shannon’s and my care to raise, I learn at least as much about You from them as they do from me.

To begin with, Friday night Jonathan was reading our discussions from the prior few days and informed me I had missed something.  In the post “Better Than a Hallelujah”, I neglected to include his favorite song in the list.  It’s from the Newsboys, and entitled “He Reigns” :

I have to agree with him, it’s a wonderful song.  The lyrics that really get my attention are :

“And all the powers of darkness
Tremble at what they’ve just heard
‘Cause all the powers of darkness
Can’t drown out a single word”

Amen!  If we fill the world with our praises of Your Glory, no dark force stands a chance.  Nice choice Jonathan.  🙂

He and I also had a reasonably deep conversation about You that evening Lord, during which he made a statement out of the blue that just made my heart jump.  He looked up at me and said : “Dad… I crave God.” Wow… I’ve never heard him use the word “crave” before, but from the lips of my 11 year old it was an amazingly powerful statement.  Once again Father, you’ve used him to make me see Your Light.  Thank You so much for this.

Not to leave Aidan out of the “influence loop” Lord, he gave me a good smile last night as well while he was reading his Action Bible and telling me all about it.  He recanted the story described in Judges 6-8 in which Gideon’s army was reduced from 32,000 to a force of 300 men, and then by Your Power he prevailed against the Midianites much larger force.  Aidan was completely captivated by this, and when we started discussing it he informed me that You were better than all the superheroes put together.  Seeing him absorbing Your Word just brings joy to my heart Father.  🙂

I love my children to no end Lord, and seeing Your Light in them affects me more than almost anything else.  Thank You so much for bringing them to my life, and staying by their sides each day.  I pray that I can honor Your Gifts to us as they deserve, and that they never lose that craving for Your Love.

“Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.” – Psalm 127:3

Amen.

~Phather Phil

My sheep listen to my voice

Dear Lord; Happy Monday Father!  To begin with Lord, I want to thank You for another lovely weekend with my family and friends.  I was able to get caught up on quite a bit of housework, did a little cooking, had fun time with the kids and even went out on a great date night with Shannon.  All in all, a productive and relaxing couple of days away from work.  Thank You so much for that much-needed respite!

This morning Father, I was thinking about all the different ways You and I communicate.  Throughout my journey to You, I’ve found that the more “in-tune” I become with Your Presence, the more ways I see and hear Your Guidance in my everyday life.  I’ve come to rely on Your Voice more and more, and love finding Your influence in the world around me during the course of the day.

So today, I thought I’d run down some of the places and ways I find Your Messages to me each day.  Lets see…

• Through reading and hearing Your Word; Whether it’s hearing verses quoted on the Christian Radio stations I listen to, reading passages in my Bible or finding quotes while searching the Internet, Your Book brings such amazing Guidance for all facets of my life.
• Through Christian Music; Music gets into our soul in ways that not many other things can.  The Godly messages and themes present in Christian Music help keep me focused, uplifted and energized over the course of my day.
• By reading and interacting with Christian Devotional Blogs and their authors; The blogs I read each day and the wonderful people I’ve met by doing so are an amazing resource and Blessing for me Lord.  They give me perspective, encouragement and an online fellowship that has been invaluable in my walk with You.
• Through Prayer; Along with our conversations on this blog Father, prayer is my lifeline to You.  Whether silent or verbal, much of the guidance and direction I receive from You over the course of the day comes from our “prayer connection”.
• By the words and actions of others; As I’ve written to you so often Lord, I see Your Love and Influence in the actions of others.  We’re surrounded by miracles every day, and the closer I walk to Christ’s footsteps the more obvious those wonders become to me.

Obviously Father, this isn’t a complete list by any means but these examples are what first came to my mind as I thought about our talks.  I love the deepening connection You and I are forming, and I crave for it to expand more each day.

Your Son phrased it perfectly when he said :

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” – John 10:27-29

Heavenly Father, thank You so much for Your Loving Presence and Guidance in my life.  The more I open myself to You, the fuller and more complete my life becomes.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Better Than a Hallelujah

Dear Lord; Happy Friday Father!  As I was driving in to work this morning Lord, the song “Better Than a Hallelujah” by Amy Grant came on the radio.  While the inspiration of those wonderful lyrics settled over me, it started me thinking about some the other fantastic messages I’ve received through Christian Music as of late.  As yesterday’s discussion we had was about the disturbing direction some media has taken, I thought today we could focus on the positive message that these songs bring to us instead.

Let’s start with the chorus from “Better Than a Hallelujah” :

“We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah”

What a wonderful way to say that You love us for who we are, and when we honestly seek You that our plea comes through loud and clear.  It’s a beautiful song, and always warms my heart when I hear it.

Another one I’ve become extremely fond of, and actually posted the video of as a dedication to my wife on Facebook the other day, is “Dancing in the Minefields” sung by Andrew Peterson.  Towards the end of the song, the lyrics contain the following verse :

“Cause we bear the light of the son of man
So there’s nothing left to fear
So I’ll walk with you in the shadow lands
Till the shadows disappear
Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos baby
I can dance with you”

I love this!  What an amazingly powerful metaphor connecting marriage and the way that You love us.  It just makes me want to hold Shannon tightly when I hear it… What a wonderful message.

One more for the day Lord, and it comes from the song “Lead Me” as performed by Sanctus Real :

“To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can’t
Don’t want to leave them hungry for love,
Chasing things that I could give up

Father, lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone”

We’ve talked about this song before Father, but this truly represents my hopes and prayers as a father and Your Child so well that it can’t be repeated enough.  I see this song as a prayer from my heart, and strive daily to be the man this verse describes.

There are many more examples as well Lord, but these are a few that touch me the most.  It’s comforting to know that while Your Word may not be on millions of TV screens this Sunday, the airwaves do still carry Your Message of Love to us each day.  Thank You for reminding us of Your Love and Aspirations for us through these talented artists.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Grant me the Serenity…

Dear Lord; Good morning Father!  First off, I want to send out a quick prayer of support for my wife Shannon.  She’s been dealing with a very difficult professional situation as of late that’s had her mind wrestling with her heart, and it’s taken a toll on her.  She’s an amazing lady Lord, with a giving and caring spirit that seems to know no end, but in some cases those wonderful qualities can make necessary decisions much more difficult.  Please send her Your Strength and Guidance to make the right decisions, and comfort her with the knowledge You’re with her.  Thank You.

Yesterday, I read a posting on one of my favorite Christian Blog Sites (Mothers On Mission) that brought to mind one of my favorite prayers.  It’s referred to as the Serenity Prayer and is attributed to a gentleman named Reinhold Niebuhr :

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

There’s that word Accept again!  You know Father, since You placed that focus in my heart it seems to just pop up all around me.  As You’re well aware, the plea “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change…” is something I pray for on a regular basis.  The more my life seems to veer away from my control, the more I realize that much of what I struggle with never was mine to direct in the first place.

I’m getting there Lord… Thank You for bearing with me.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

And My Focus Word is…

Dear Lord; Good morning Father.  Today Lord, I want to follow up on a discussion we had earlier this week where we talked about finding my “One Word Focus” for this year.  You and I have been “chatting” a lot about this over the last few days, and my mind’s been flooded with so many words describing parts of myself that I know could use work.  Throughout all those deliberations and prayers however, I keep hearing one word in the midst of it all :

Accept.

Ok, message received… “Accept” it is.  I’ll admit, it’s not quite along the lines of what I had originally conceived when I started down this path but I’ll Accept Your Guidance :-).

So this morning, I started contemplating what the word Accept means in relation to my life, and the more I thought about it the bigger the scope grew.  There are so many things that I currently Accept (and possibly shouldn’t), and so many more that I need to work on.  For example, as we discussed yesterday I need to work on the fact that my nature is to try and fix everyone’s problems, when obviously that’s not a realistic perspective.

I need to Accept that I’m not in control and that I can’t fix everything.

Wow… So, I’m starting to understand why you put this word in my heart Lord.  I guess there are more things in my life that I haven’t fully Accepted than I had originally thought.  This is a truly powerful word, and I thank You for seeding me with it.

Heavenly Father, thank You so much for instilling this focus in my heart and mind.  As I contemplate and pray about this direction over the coming year, please lead me to recognize and Accept all Your Truths and proceed with them in Your Love.  Amen.

~Phather Phil