Michael Harrison's e-devotion

1 John 3:20  (NLT) Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. This past Monday night was our The Community Fellowship leadership team normal meeting.  We had a great time together dealing with the life of the church.  Some things are some, some are sweet but it is awesome to be part of what God is doing.  It was a good meeting. We ended the night by having communion together and meeting around the cross.  I shared some things from the perspective of a father and his child maybe similar to what God our heavenly father thought as his son, Jesus, went to the cross and was murdered.  All of that was for our salvation, our destiny and by God's grace. Each team member was asked to take a small piece of paper and write on it one of the things in their life that brought darkness in and kept light out.  These are always powerful moments for me and our team as we ask God to deal with us personally.  Each was put on the cross as a con...

I've been reading through the gospel of Mark for the last week or so, and God has spoken in some phenomenal ways.  Chapter 5 was so good this morning as Jesus walked through several events of healing. The man with demon with problems: Mark 5:13  (NLT)  So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water. The lady with the blood problem: Mark 5:34  (NLT) And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over." Jarius' daughter who died: Mark 5:42  (NLT) And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed. All 3 healings were a response to faith.  A response to someone believing that Jesus is able to save and heal and share life with those in need.  Do we believe God?  Are we...

I've been reading through the gospel of Mark for the last week or so, and God has spoken in some phenomenal ways.  Chapter 5 was so good this morning as Jesus walked through several events of healing. The man with demon with problems: Mark 5:13  (NLT)  So Jesus gave them permission. The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water. The lady with the blood problem: Mark 5:34  (NLT) And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over." Jarius' daughter who died: Mark 5:42  (NLT) And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed. All 3 healings were a response to faith.  A response to someone believing that Jesus is able to save and heal and share life with those in need.  Do we believe God?  Are we helpi...

As I continue speaking to The Community family from the book of Ecclesiastes (see chapters 10 & 11 for more insight), I found some interesting stuff to say the least.  Looking like a fool is something we are all good at.  Not just the song from "American Idol" fame of looking like a fool with your pants on the ground , all of us find our selves on the wrong road by our own choices.   Proverbs 12:15 
(NLT) --- Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to others.   Proverbs 16:25 
(NLT) --- There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.   It is important that we follow the direction God gives us.  Trusting God is not something we can miss or push aside.  God has awesome plans for us that keep us from looking like a fool and keep us from falling into places we don't need to go.   Proverbs 14:27 
(NLT) --- Fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain; it offers escape from the snares of death.   One way we become...

Last year we were able to serve Crossroads Baptist Chapel in Burnsville, West Virginia.  It was an awesome time, and The Community adopted them and have continued our support.  Every time I hear what God is doing, I am blessed. Pastor Rodney Jamison from West Virginia called yesterday.  Here is what he shared: 4 saved last weekend 2 families joined church New principal invited church to work at school anytime. Prayer walking this weekend around the school. That is awesome!!!!!   We are stronger when we partner with each other.  Who are you partnering with to help share Jesus and celebrate what God is doing around you?  This is going to be a great weekend at The Community Fellowship.  If you are close by, please join us at 10:10am Sunday morning as we talk more about having balance in our lives through the truth God gives us.  God is good ... all the time!

Proverbs 9:6  (NLT) Leave your simple ways behind, and begin to live; learn to use good judgment. Sometimes learning is hard.  There are a few things that my parents had to tell me again and again for me to get it.  Our relationship with God is much the same way.  Why is it that we need to hear a second or third time?  Why is it that we struggle with much of what God wants us to learn? One of the things that God has reminded me about is that we in the church many times are like Pharisees.  Hear me out.  We have received the grace of God and are grateful for it.  Yet the longer we are part of the church and religion the colder we get.  Often we become judgmental and hypocritical.  That is just the truth.  To stay warm toward the things of God we have to keep getting and giving away what God has given us. Philippians 4:9  (NLT) Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will...

Psalm 116:15  (NLT) Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His godly ones. This may very well be one of the most difficult but most blessed weeks of my life.  My dad is here visiting with us which is a great time.  But early Monday morning I got a phone call that was very tough. My friend Becky Smith was slipping away.  The last 3 months have been very tough for her as she has battled with and had surgery for a brain tumor.  After the surgery becky improved much until the last couple weeks.  We talked a few times last week, and it was evident that things were not going well. Monday morning Becky walked into heaven.  She and I had talked about this day many times.  In fact, we have been through so much together.  Everything from marriage and the death of her husband to dealing with a difficult past and the sweetness of God's grace. Becky was a servant in big, big ways.  When my family moved to Virginia in 2001, she was one of the first people who walke...

Colossians 1:6  NLT This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God's wonderful grace. The truth changes lives.  It changes us and then it begins to change the lives of the people we come in contact with.  Have you seen it happen?  I have and I have seen it in vivid, living color.  One of the things I live for, have passion for and am doing ministry for is to see Jesus change lives of people who have no hope until they connect with Him. Yet even many of us who know Jesus chose not to live in truth.  When we chose not to live in truth, we become weak.  There is faith in us.  The God of power, faith and love is in us, but His ways and character and strength can't been seen coming out of our lives. This past weekend I shared at The Community from Ecclesiastes 9 .  The last part of that chapter...

Hello COMMUNITY family – This morning just after 9am Becky Smith passed away.  Since we learned of her brain tumor in late June, her health has not been well.  She has been part of my family since the summer of 2001, and Becky has served us and our church family in many ways. Becky's family asked us to host a Memorial Service at the church Wednesday evening at 7pm. Instead of flowers the family requests donations be made to the funeral home (Bassett Funeral Services) to help with funeral expenses. Again, the family will be gathering at Bonnie Huff's home (Becky's sister) which is next door to Becky's home (304 Stones Dairy Rd., Martinsville, VA 24112). That is where food and other items can be taken as well. There will be people from our church visiting Tuesday night. In fact our ladies small group is meeting at the church at 6pm Tuesday to go visit the family. If you have questions or would like to help, please call the church at 276-647-8231 or...

As we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway last Sunday evening the waves were awesome.  The east coast is so different from the west.  We stopped a few times just to take pictures and watch the waves crash against the rocks.  The momentum was incredible. It is much like the momentum, or MO as i will call it, that we have when God speaks into our lives.  We get excited and run toward God and with Him.  Those are great moments that we want, long for and love. Yet Satan is always trying to get our attention and to stop our momentum.  Think about it. 2 Timothy 3:2-5 (NLT) For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred.  3  They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.  4  They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love...

Jeremiah 17:7  (NLT) But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. Hebrews 6:11  (NLT) Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. This is a strange picture. Let me explain. The dude is Emilio Cervantes. The other part of the picture is the bottom of a cup at In-n-Out Burger in California (one of the most successful businesses on the west coast). I love it. Emilio drove an hour and a half to send off our team before our flight home Tuesday. He's not a pastor. He's a business man that has a heart to make a difference in the lives of hurting people in the roughest of Los Angeles' neighborhoods, the Pueblos of south central LA. For about an hour today Emilio answered a question for our team that left us ready to serve God with more gusto than ever before. You can see my twitter feed from Tuesday for so...

This is a strange picture. Let me explain. The dude is Emilio Cervantes. The other part of the picture is the bottom of a cup at In-n-Out Burger in California (one of the most successful businesses on the west coast). I love it. Emilio drove an hour and a half to send off our team before our flight home Tuesday. He's not a pastor. He's a business man that has a heart to make a difference in the lives of hurting people in the roughest of Los Angeles' neighborhoods, the Pueblos of south central LA. For about an hour today Emilio answered a question for our team that left us ready to serve God with more gusto than ever before. You can see my twitter feed from Tuesday for some big ideas from what he said. It was a powerful time. I'll share more of Emilio's story another time. But one of the pieces that blessed us is a principle we all need to apply. It says that we must serve people and invest I'm their lives with no thought of what you will gain out of it. Let God ...

Luke 14:23 NASB "And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. We walked into the gym at the Dream Center Saturday morning just about 10am.  It was packed.  There were people all walks of life.  Some were volunteers from Angelus Temple, some were from the Dream Center Discipleship program, some of us were from mission teams, some were students from Pepperdine University and another college too. The place was electric.  You couldn't hardly hear. For the next 15 minutes a guy named Jonathan pumped us up.  We were split into many teams to go out into the city for what most likely is my favorite ministry piece we have been part of here at the Dream Center in the past week.  It is Adopt-A-Block.   This ministry goes every Saturday into the same neighborhoods all across Los Angeles and ministers to families.  The next day buses come to pick up people from chu...

It is Sunday night as I write this devotion and share it with you.  Most of you know that I am with a team from The Community Fellowship visiting the Los Angeles Dream Center.  This is an incredible place, and what I must say above all else is that God is speaking. In the last year God has increased our vision and faith.  We have had the honor of serving maybe as many as 2 or 3,000 people through the ministry of The Community Fellowship.  I am not sure of the numbers, but at first glance that seems a fair guess.  But it is not about the numbers.  It is about the person that each of those numbers represent. Matthew Barnett from the Dream Center said this today, "Inside our need is wrapped in helping others get their needs met."  I find significance in meeting needs.  I have found that it is easy to share Jesus with the people we are helping.  That is my heart and our call as a church. But my question is how can we help more people?  I pray that.  I pray it of...

We worked with Adopt-a-Block from the Dream Center today and served in the worst gang area of our nation.  It is in south central Los Angeles.  As i look at the faces of these kids and hear stories, I was moved by what God is doing.  More to come.  Pray that The Community Dream Center becomes a reality in Collinsville, VA so we can make a bigger impact in the lives of the people in our area.  Look at those faces.  Pray for the children and their families.

Psalm 66:5 Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he performs for people! I wish you could have walked with our team and about 30 other people down skid row here in Los Angeles last night.  It was like something I had only seen in pictures or on TV.  At any given time there are thousands and thousands of homeless people here.  All for various reasons they have chosen or been put out on the street. But what struck me most is the boldness of these people who went to serve and pray and share with those who are hurting.  I have seen this over and over this week.  It is powerful. More stories will come out later about our time here at the Dream Center.  WIFI connection has been slim.  But we have been changed and charged up to do what God has called us to do.  To serve people by sharing His love and telling them that Jesus is the way.  I have seen God move. Ask God today to move in and around your life.  It is 9/11 and 9 years ago our nation and the ...

Psalm 33:20 NLT We put our hope in the Lord.  He is our help and our shield. Out the window of our room last night was the beauty of Los Angeles. The lights and the sounds were so different from the norm for me and our Virginia community. Yet I notice the people are the same. A young lady sits by herself this morning eating breakfast and testing from her phone. The LA Dream Center is her home. An older gentleman sits down beside me. He's from Brooklyn, NY. Sweet but short conversation of the goodness of God and the Dream Center. This is his home right now. The Hispanic man standing in the corner is ready to help us or clean the table. That's his job. Neat to find out he has family in Pittsylvania County, VA. He's a gentle guy with a great smile. The Dream Center is his home. Our mission is simple: serve and learn. Our heart is heavy for those who are hurting every where. But we live in Henry County, VA. That's our home, and there are peop...

Out the window of our room last night was the beauty of Los Angeles. The lights and the sounds were so different from the norm for me and our Virginia community. Yet I notice the people are the same. A young lady sits by herself this morning eating breakfast and testing from her phone. The LA Dream Center is her home. An older gentleman sits down beside me. He's from Brooklyn, NY. Sweet but short conversation of the goodness of God and the Dream Center. This is his home right now. The Hispanic man standing in the corner is ready to help us or clean the table. That's his job. Neat to find out he has family in Pittsylvania County, VA. He's a gentle guy with a great smile. The Dream Center is his home. Our mission is simple: serve and learn. Our heart is heavy for those who are hurting every where. But we live in Henry County, VA. That's our home, and there are people hurting who have no hope. All three of those people have found hope in Jesus. Can we spread hope? We can e...

Often I'm up in the air about things. On August 7th we served 986 kids in our "back2school" outreach. Since then add another 100 kids who received backpacks and school supplies. This coming Saturday our feeding team and clothes closet team are set to serves 100's of more people. (From 9 to noon on Saturday and you can help.) No. I'm not up in the air about this because we have our call and vision to "demonstrate the love of God to our community" and are doing that. That's our call, challenge, commitment and courage to follow Jesus. Yet the week after "back2school" I hit one of those moments where I had to reflect and review on where I am and where I'm going. It's good. But I'm aiming too low at times. I'm leading. But I'm not leafing with the strength and holiness that will take us to the next level. I'm grateful for where we've been and for where we are. But we haven't seen anything yet! I'm not up in th...

This was at the end of an email from Bernice at The LA Dream Center as we prepared for our trip. Ahead of us are some exciting things, learning times and people we will get to serve. As I said yesterday I've waited for this day for a long time. We are in the air now. I'm praying for our time there in LA. And I pray, "God, fill us. Inspire us. Let us overflow on to and encourage people who don't know you and those who do. Thank you for this opportunity. In Jesus' name, Amen" Also, I'm looking forward to meeting Matthew Barnett. Look for a picture. I'll be the one wearing the OU shirt. He will be the one trying to convince us that God's team is USC. Not gonna happen. Did you know that the Cowboys and Redskins play this weekend. We are pulling for Dallas. Might be a long weekend. Good bye for now. Take another look at the picture. We are headed to a place being powerfully used by God.

1 Corinthians 9:22 NASB To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. More than 2 years ago a ministry in Los Angeles caught my attention as I began to learn about their pastor and his heart to touch hurting in his community.   Matthew Barnett is a young pastor making a large mark on his community.  The Los Angeles Dream Cente r is that ministry and has been duplicating itself around the country and the world. When The Community Fellowship began, it was evident that God infused us with His vision to demonstrate the love of God to our community so we would get the attention of people and tell them about Jesus.  We began do that 3 years and 8 months ago and have continued through sharing clothes, food and ARK's (acts of random kindness) without strings attached.  God has used this here in Collinsville, Virginia and Henry County. I can't wait to see how God brings ab...