Mice Problem?

Me and my wife were doing some sound system rewiring last night in our basement. For the last couple of weeks now, we have been hearing what sounds like mice in our ceilings but didn’t really had a clue of how bad it was until we actually checked it.

I started to move the tiles so that i could pass the wires through but every tile that i moved would be full of mouse droppings. The problem is not the fact that we have a mouse problem but rather the fact that we ignored it. (well, i ignored it. My wife kept telling me to put up traps…. maybe i’ll listen next time :/.)

I think a lot of Christians do the very same thing. You know that you have something in your life that is eating you away and stealing all your joy and destroying your focus towards God. God has been speaking to you and you keep on ignoring it but what you don’t realize is that ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. In fact it will just get worst. We need to face the reality and clean the “poop” that some of us have rotting in the ceilings of our lives! Don’t wait until it’s too late. Let God help you clean your life up!

Tags: Clean, Dirt, House, Jesus, Mice, Poo

You May Have Been Set Up… (Part 2)

Sometime we get setup Because God is getting ready to move in a mighty way and you will be blessed in the process. Maybe He is wanting to make Himself known to others around you but it will take you to be setup in order for Him to show Himself through your trials.

God is always looking for someone to shine through. If asked by God, would you be willing to go through the hardship in order for Him to shine? Is your financial income more important than for God to shine? I believe that God is ready and willing to bless each and everyone of us, if only we will let His light shine through the process!

Are you willing to be setup?

Tags: Blessing, Hard Times, Jesus, Life, Persecution, Set, Up

You May Have Been Set Up… (Part 1)

Ever been at a point in life where everything was just hard? It seems like life is falling apart. Friends are leaving you, you get fired or laid off, money doesn’t easily get around for you, etc… What ever the situation that you went through or are currently going through, I want to challenge you today with a thought!

I want to specifically address the hard time that we are experiencing financially. I was just having a meeting with one of my worship leaders and the subject of trials and persecution came up. Then we went on the subject of the financial state that we are in as a nation. Maybe you are reading this and you have lost your job for what ever reason, I know that this may be hard to believe or to think about. You may say, well that is easy for you to say Phil because you still have a job. Please just try to hear me out.

What if… God is trying to set you up?

Honestly, just take a second and think about it. Wha if God is trying to set you up for a blessing. What if in order to bless you, God had to remove you from where you were? What if He’s got something better for you? What if you dare to believe that God is a good God? What if…?

Tags: Blessing, Hard Times, Jesus, Life, Persecution, Set, Up

A Love Story

Last friday, i delivered my second message from my new message series called The Hot Pursuit. I talked about God’s love and love in general. I explained our need FOR love, TO love and TO BE loved. In order to try to explain the love story that God wrote to us know as the Bible, i wrote a little story my self and was told i need to put it on my blog. So here it is. Enjoy!

Once there was a man named Joe. He was in love with this one girl. Her name was Tina. His whole entire life he was trying to get her attention. One day she noticed him but she didn’t think much about him. He really loved her. He would buy her flowers, bring her chocolate, take her to the movies but she wouldn’t change how she felt about him. On the other hand though, she really liked the attention so she kept going to the movies with him. She always loved that he would bring her flowers but still, she wouldn’t give in. Soon enough, you could say that she was just flat out using Joe. Joe felt really hurt because he knew what she was doing but his love for her was so grand that he just couldn’t help it. He did everything he could to try to make her happy and to be there for her even if he knew that she didn’t want anything to do with him.

One day, Tina got really sick and she had to be hospitalized as there was something wrong with her heart. Everyday Joe would come and see her. He would buy her gifts and write her poems and cards to try to make her feel better. All this time, Tina was wondering why Joe was doing all this, but she never said anything. The doctors said that Tina needed a heart transplant but because of her rare blood type and heart tissue, it would be nearly impossible to find a match. It was as if she was already dead; there was no hope. Tina started to cry. The next time that Joe came by, she told him everything. A few days had gone by since Joe’s last visit. though she didn’t love him the same way he loved her, she started to wonder where he had been but she didn’t think much about it after that. Later on that same day the doctors stormed in to Tina’s room saying “Ma’m We have found you a new heart. It’s a miracle.”

A few short days after that, the surgery went on as planned and was a success. Tina came out of the operation as healthy as before. On her way out, the doctor stoped her and said that there was a note that came in for her. He said it was from a man named Joe. Tina quickly opened the note and began to read. By the time she got to the end, she was crying uncontrollably. The note went as follow.
Tina, How should I begin? My whole life, all I wanted was you. You meant more to me then you will probably ever know. I know that in your heart, you did not feel the same way as I did, but all the things I did for you, was in hope that one day you might. My love was never along the lines of, “as long as you love me, I will love you”. My love for you was unconditional. When I came in that day to your room and I saw the grief, pain and hurt on your face when you told me what was going on, I knew what I had to do. I left your room and got tested for my blood type and heart tissue to see if it was compatible and it was. After much thinking, I knew I had to do it. Your life meant a lot more to me than my own. I truly hope that you live a life with as much love as i currently feel for you. Hope you like your new heart!

In hope that we meet again one day,

Joe

Tags: Hot, Jesus, Love, Pursuit, Series, The

It’s All About Love

I started reading this book by Erwin Raphael McManus called “Soul Cravings”, (yes i know I’m awesome at starting books but brutal at finishing them, just look at my “Books I’m Reading” section on the right and you’ll see what i mean) And tell you what, I haven’t gotten into a book like i have into this one for a while now. I love His perspective on so many things.

I am currently reading the first part of the book, (It is divided in three parts, Intimacy, Destiny and Meaning and each part has like 20 ish chapters) and i feel like i need to just share a bit about this part of the book i came a cross. Erwin wrote this, and 

I quote 

“Strange as it seems, in the midst of our most painful memories, we find our most treasured ones. This is powerfully portrayed in the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.Jim Carey and Kate Winslet come together to explore the question, Is a mind free of pain of love filled with eternal sunshine? If you had the chance to erase all the memories of your greatest love to be free of the pain of losing it, would you? I wouldn’t. I don’t think many of us would.
We are addicted to love, and it’s out of our control.
We would give anything and everything to find it.
Here is where I begin to hold a conspiracy theory.
There is more going on here then meets the eye.
It’s as if we’ve been purposefully designed with a factory defect that keeps us searching for…love.
It seems humiliating to say it, but we need to be loved. I need to be loved. I feel like i just walked into a twelve-step program. “Hi, I’m Erwin. I’m a Loveaholic.”
If you try to ignore it, if you think that you can live your life without love, you’re in even worse shape than the person who’s desperate to find it.

To give up on love is to chose a life that is less than human.
To give up on love is to give up on life.”

End of quote.

What i super interesting is the importance that He puts on love. I mean i knew and always did knew that love what important. Even when asked, Jesus answered that the 2 greatest commandments are to love God with everything we’ve got to the best of our ability and to love People as our selves! But He talks about love like this for about a hundred pages or so putting such an importance on being loved and on loving. Like you just read, he goes as far to say that we are addicts because even though being in love is the most dangerous place to be in the world because we are making our selves vulnerable to that other person, giving them the opportunity to ruin us but yet we are still willing to risk it.

After reading up to where i currently am in the book, it really made me think. God’s love truly is the only one that will never fail.

Ever been hurt by someone else? family member, boyfriend, girlfriend, best friend. etc… Is that pain and hurt keeping you from surrendering your heart to Jesus? We all need love, we all need to be loved. Jesus will NEVER fail you! Even if you’ve been a Christian, maybe you started a relationship with Christ but not an intimate one. This is your chance! Do not let past experiences with love ruin your relationship with Christ!

Tags: Book, Cravings, Erwin Raphael McManus, Jesus, Love, Review, Soul

What Motivates You?

I have been reading a book by Dave Earley called “The 21 Most Affective Prayers Of The Bible”, and i just came across something awesome. One of his chapters refers to Matthew 9:27-31, talking about the blind men that followed Jesus and begged “Have mercy on us, Son of David”.

That really rose up something in my heart… What is YOUR motivation? Dave Earley talked about “Desperation” being the blind men’s motives! Think about it this was. These men were blind, probably from birth, though the Bible does not specify, and they have lived their whole lives blind up to this point. Nothing but utter darkness day in and day out. Night 24/7. These men probably heard about the miracles of Jesus because the reality was that if Jesus came to your town, you would hear about it! I mean, come on… the guy that is casting out demons and healing people right left and center, trust me, the word got around. So sure enough it reached these 2 men and the Bible says that they followed Him and SHOUTED, ” HAVE MERCY ON US, SON OF DAVID”.

What are you dealing with today? What is your “infermity”? What is your “thorn in the flesh”?…. Better yet… is it driving you TOWARDS God? What is motivating you towards God?

Tags: Blind, Healing, Jesus, Men, Motivation