The Phil Files

Well, I put out a couple of invitations for folks to join the SpiritFire daily email devotional list with Heartlight and have been entering email addresses ever since. (The email list is a free, year long, daily devotional on the Holy Spirit that I am doing in 2010. You can sign up by sending an email to spiritfire@heartlight.org) Seems like there is a deep hunger to know more about the Holy Spirit and be drawn closer in relationship with God’s abiding presence within us.

Here’s one that is especially close to my heart because we have Congolese refugees as part of our church family. This young man lives as a refugee in another African country:

Hi, I’m Freddy, a young Congolese student in the south, living for Christ no matter all winds that I’m going through, but thank God through what I’ve read about Heaven’s Fresh Air (the Holy Spirit) …

This was a response from a sister in Christ, and this challenges me today on my birthday as I look at finishing strong for the Lord!

Please include me on your mailing list. I do want to go above and beyond where I have been. I do more today that I did 5 years ago and I fully intend to head out beyond that. The Lord has graciously given me open doors and I want to pass through those doors with the passion required.

Too often we forget that we are part of a world-wide Kingdom that knows no genders or races and transcends cultures and languages. Receiving emails from all over the world, it has been a joy to see the variety of names and countries and know that while “blood is thicker than water,” the Spirit that binds us together in the Body of Christ is thicker than blood!

Over the next year, I’m committed to focus throughout the year to reminding us that God wants us to be …

* Spirit-cleansed

* Spirit-filled

* Spirit-led

* Spirit-equipped

* Spirit-empowered

Please pray for me as I try to share God’s great and gracious promises given to us through the Holy Spirit. No one is really sufficient for such a task. But I am pumped about the interest and passion I’ve seen in others. Let’s pray for Holy Spirit revival to sweep like wildfire through the people of God all over the world!

Grace to you for a great New Year as we serve the King of Glory and serve the world as the Body of Christ!

Here are the questions that go with today’s Heartlight.org article entitled, ASK!

When is the last time you have prayed for God to release his powerful presence in your life through the Holy Spirit?

When is the last time you have prayed that God release his powerful presence into the life of a believing friend or family member?

Why do you think so many believers have neglected or don’t even know that God has promised the Holy Spirit to believers who ask for him?

Who is someone you can get together with regularly to help you stay on track in your daily prayer for the Spirit of God to be released into your life and the lives of those you love?

What are some Scriptures that speak to you about the five ways God wants us to be blessed by the Holy Spirit?

* Spirit-cleansed

* Spirit-filled

* Spirit-led

* Spirit-equipped

* Spirit-empowered

Thanks to the folks at Granger Community Church, I can help you get in your yearly dues on Christmas Carol and Carol of the Bells in under 90 seconds — think of all the specials you won’t have to watch the next few days and you can actually enjoy the people of Christmas!

Christmas Carol of the Bells from Granger Community on Vimeo.

Of course I could say it a little more simply.

Merry Christmas Ya’ll!

Oh by the way, you can have your yule tide pudding, I’m going to be eating Perrinni’s hominy at my Christmas table, hope you get something good, too!

We are back from being gone for two weeks and I’m officially ending my Twitter and Blog silence!

We had a great visit with our kids in Lexington, Kentucky who are caring for an emergency situation with a foster baby and couldn’t leave town to come see us and so we packed up and went to see them for the week of Thanksgiving. Last week I was south of Fort Stockton stalking Mule Deer in the cold, wind, sleet, snow, and rain in an open jeep. Like most crazy outdoor loving dudes, I loved every minute of it!

I’m excited about a couple of things coming up.

Our church is hosting the second Community Christmas Celebration at the Abilene Civic Center on December 20th at 10:00 a.m. We had folks from the Abilene community and the surrounding Big Country come last year. Brandon Scott Thomas, of Zoe, will be leading our worship time. We will be making a special presentation to our Habitat for Humanity family as well as remembering the incarnation of God in human flesh.

The big thing I’m working on and very excited about is the SpiritFire email list for 2010. It will be a daily devotional focusing on the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It will be added to the Heartlight devotional offerings and we will be offering to everyone in our church. If you are interested, just send an email to spiritfire@heartlight.org and say, “Add me to the list!” We’ll be working on the details next week, but so far, the response has been very good!

Grace to you for a great weekend.

Phil