JUNE 2026

Ever precious greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! It is my great honor and high privilege to share my heart with you once again. It has been 35 delightfully wonderful, Spirit- filled years since I received Jesus Christ as Savior. Recently, though, the Lord has shown me something new concerning how He intervened while I was in the hole. One day, I was just meditating on how the Lord dealt with me salvifically, and I realized that the Bible had come flying into the hole where I was through the “food port”! Can you perceive a sovereign smile as He made his point with subtle humor?😄

First of all, I would like to articulate in a broader sense what “the hole” actually is. It is the place of intense punishment in prison. It is the prison of the prison; solitary confinement in its worst possible sense. It is designed to teach you the lesson of all lessons – do not break the rules again! You are confined with yourself, and there is no one or anything else. Some prisons call it
“the box,” which upon reflection seems much more apropos to me.

The hole is made out of concrete. The concrete bed, no mattress, is built right into the wall and the floor. It’s all one piece so you cannot hide anything. Comically, there is nothing that you could hide anyway because you have absolutely nothing. You are alone in your underwear and they will take those too if you keep acting up!😏 There is one light socket high up on the wall with a single bright bulb intended to annoy you. It quietly does its job. The door is solid, except for a 15×3-inch food port, which is just big enough for a tray of state goulash to slide through. They intentionally place it very low, at the bottom of the door, because it is the habit of feisty prisoners to throw the food back onto the officer.

Just by way of a reminder (because I know most of you have not been a prisoner), it is the mindset of the prisoner that the officer is always the enemy. It is the law of the jungle. It is written, “The wicked flee when no man pursues. . .” (Prov. 28:1a) The prisoner is always doing wrong; he has learned nothing by his incarceration. Therefore, he is always at odds with authority. I personally grew up running from the police because I was always doing wrong. Early on, I was stealing bikes and doing this and doing that, always acting up and “up to no good” as my mom used to say! The police were always after me. Albeit, I was guilty, in my mind they were the enemy, and they were the problem. How grievously perverse the fallen mindset. In prison, the prisoners used to mockingly accuse me of being brainwashed. My retort was always – “Praise God!” I needed a good brainwashing, and so do you! The perfect open door for my gospel presentation to them: “He maketh us white as snow!” (Isaiah 1:18)

By law, all prisoners are required to receive three meals a day. Feeding is the one thing that the prison does well. Don’t get it twisted. I am not talking about the quality of the food, but about their effort to get you your three trays a day. For all my 30 long years on that fruitful missionary field, there was never a day when I did not get my three meals a day. The Lord feeds His own, not the prison. Ironically, men in the hole constantly complain that they don’t get enough food, yet they waste it by throwing it back onto the officer who delivers it! They use their much- needed bread as a weapon. It ought not to be.

It is written, “I am the bread of life: He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. . . For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” (John 6:35, 55)

By way of a reminder, we have all been sinners, and the mindset of the sinner is that God, the Authority, is always the enemy. It is the law of the jungle of sin. The sinner always sins. He has learned nothing. We all grow up running from the Lord for doing this or doing that. Early on, from the very womb, we keep acting up! Thus, as my mom used to say, we are “up to no good.”
Even though we are guilty, we see the Lord as our enemy. In the prison of our sin, we mock Christians as brainwashed, not realizing we are in need of such a brainwashing! They mocked Jesus on the cross and told him to come down. He had come to go up, and they told him to come down! How grievously perverse is the fallen mindset!

As you know, I received the gospel through an air vent. Shortly thereafter, the Bible came flying in through my food port! God sent the Word of God through an earthly food port! You can not make this up! Tony could have slid the Bible under the door, but the Lord was trying to make His point! He knew exactly what I needed. He knew I was finally broken from my sin. He knew I was helpless to save and feed myself. By grace, He fed me His Living Bread through the food port! He wants to feed you too!

Unbelievers are in their own hole as it were. They are confined with themselves in this body of death. Left to themselves, they will end up in the prison of all prisons – the Lake of Fire – in which there is no reprieve. It is solitary confinement in its worst possible sense. There are no more lessons; you have broken the rules. They are alone in their underwear forever! Have you seriously considered the weight of that? Everyone in your life has a food port, and your job (God’s mission) is for you to get the Bread of Life into their food port! Do you have any higher earthly purpose? I think not. Does this not move you to preach the gospel to them through the air vent of their life?

Christ Himself is food indeed! Don’t be that feisty prisoner and throw Him back! That’s what the religious leaders did. God sent down His only begotten Son from Heaven through the food port of this world, and the Pharisees threw Him back at God, their Authority! Don’t do as they did and crucify the Lord of glory Who is your only hope! Do not reject Whom God has broken upon the cross for you. Jesus is the very Bread of Life!

Feeding is one thing the Lord does very well! Don’t get it twisted. I am not talking about earthly food, but Living Bread! The Lord makes every effort to get you the gospel message three times a day – for those who have eyes to see! The Lord feeds His own. I have been eating and savoring Him ever since! (John 6:47-58) Don’t be like those men in the hole who throw the Word of God back at Him. Don’t use the Bible as a weapon to argue against your own salvation. You do have a food port in your life (the Lord makes sure of it), and the Word of God has been flying into it. Stop throwing it back at the Lord! Maybe you feel alone right now in the underwear of your sin. Well, you had better watch out because He’ll take those too. . .

“IF YOU KEEP ACTING UP!”

JOYFULLY IN JESUS,
LOVE, PHILIP