Phish Bowl Ministries
August 2011
Matthew 4:19
“Chummin’ for Saints…until the nets are full”

I, Timothy Nathaneal, a doulos of Christ, am blessed by our Lord, not in the way the world calls a blessing, but in the truth of the Bible. The world would call coming to prison a curse and would look at me and tell me God’s love is manifested in “things”. See I have “this” God’s love in me. When that “thing” is gone, it must mean that God is mad at me. No, this is not the God of the Bible. Now don’t lose me here. God does bless some of us with good “things”, He’s our Abba. As our Abba, He also corrects us when we have wronged Him. This is part of the relationship with a personal God. What I’m talking about is missing who God is in your life. We judge our walk with God by putting things into two boxes; first is “right” or “good” and the second one is “wrong” or “bad”. Fill the first box and we judge ourselves as being okay and we do this by looking at others around us or by some set of man-made rules. However, instead of doing this every morning, we must awaken knowing that Jesus Christ is living in us and then we know that because of Him that we are right. It is not by our deeds, but by His work on the cross. So then knowing this, the next step is God’s will for us today, not in days past where we did not do so great or in some future point, but now, today. We miss the loving relationship with Abba and His loving correction when we spend hours condemning ourselves for past sins. You have been set FREE! Not to sin no more, not to live in disobedience to His Word, but to awaken each morning and live in His Will; His will today for you, your walk with Him today. Barb’s sister, Nancy, is having a tough go of it these days and needs our prayers. Some would look at her and judge saying, “Oh, she must have done something for God to do this to her”. NO! As sad as it is (and this needs prayer), this is life. The reason is so we can choose to live because Jesus Christ is alive in us and we need to show the world this truth! So, I am blessed. I am blessed in my prison because He is in me. I am blessed in my past because He is in me. I am blessed in my future because He is in me. I will not allow you to label me anything but beloved son of God.

My dear saints, stop willfully sinning daily. Come out of the darkness and walk in the Light. I am free today, free to live for Christ. I tell you the truth, I’m freer than you! Take a moment and think on this.

“The happiest person I know is always the person I don’t know”. ----B.B.S.

Last night I sat awake until two a.m. condemning myself, trying in my own will to free myself from the demons that live to remind me of my past. How even today I fall short of the man God calls me to be. I awaken anew in the morning to greet the Lord and ask, “What is your will for me today”? Knowing that with the Holy Spirit in me I have the power to live out His will and that will is to love, to live, to forgive and never give up; not on my fellow man and not on myself.

Please Saints, live in Victory! Live for Christ and not this world. Find freedom in bondage to Christ. I love you all and wish none of you to perish. At the end, many will call out, Lord, Lord, but few will enter. If you are living to gratify yourself and the lust of this world, I will pray for you. Break the bondage of self-will and live in His will. “But I don’t know His will”, you say. Wake up, walk in the Light and at every step ask yourself, “Would the Lord of the Bible have me do this or that?” In that answer will be God’s will. At first it will be a 50/50 understanding, but as time goes on it will be 60/40 and the 80/20 and true joy will come into your heart to live. You too in chains will be free to live! Love your fellow man in spite of himself, for God loved you and me in spite of all of our sins and chose to die for us. So we must die to self and live for Christ.

You will not see me act as if I’m someone I’m not. I will not put on the mask of this world. I am raw at times with rough edges. I don’t always speak well and will not dress up to look right with my dead bones inside. Where I’m at today in my walk is right where God has me to learn something today for Him. I don’t know it all and never will and won’t act as if I do. To tell you the truth, I am a crayon Christian who knows how to make a pot of coffee and a bowl of Ramen soup and love on the hurt and wounded. Why? Only because He is living in me. Why? Because He loved me when no one else would and I know this pain.

Phish Bowl is short this month for two reasons. First, I’ve been out in the desert looking for God. Last month’s Phish Bowl opened the door to freedom for so many men, but at the same time, left me raw and beaten down. I opened a door that cannot be closed. A world of yesterdays, of a 100 Timothys in one room and all of them wearing a sign with a different name on it. They curse me, but I will not run. I will stand fast in the truth that Christ wore every one of those names on the cross as He hung there in my place. I have a long road. I have a story that must be told.
Second, Barb is getting ready to go out of town (pray for safe travels) and I could not write a word until tonight. Pray as I seek the Lord in how to go forth; I know His call on my life, but am lost in how to write a healing, loving message for the wounded Saints in the cells, on the street and in our homes. Brothers and sisters, we are not alone. We can find healing in God’s loving arms and in a church full of the Messiah’s Misfits. Remember my chains. Watch. Hold fast in the faith. Be brave and be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. Semper Fidelis!
I Cor 16:13-14


Phish Bowl Coffee House, P.O. Box 153, Loveland, CO 80539.
http://inthephishbowl.blogspot.com
An outreach of Calvary Chapel Loveland