Michael Harrison's e-devotion

What we wake up thinking about gets me to thinking.  Yeah.  I said it. What do you wake up thinking about?  It may be something that needs adjusting.  How do you do that?  I think it has some to do with what you are doing or thinking about when you go to sleep.  I really think it has more to do with what you are consuming your life with. I woke up this morning with these verses rolling through my mind: Psalm 19:14  NASB   May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Why would that be on my mind?  Maybe it is because I really do care about what God says about my life.  Maybe that is on my mind because it is something God wants me to care about and deal with.  Both are good things. First, the words of my mouth.  Our words are important.  The words toward ourselves will build our worth and fill our hearts.  Then the words will come out of our mouths,...

Sunday morning I woke with the following song on my mind.  I think is it important to note what is on your mind.  Also it is important to saturate your thoughts, your walk and all you do with things that impact your thinking… “I’m so blessed” by Cain I'm so blessed, I'm so blessed.  Got this heartbeat in my chest No, it doesn't matter about the rest.  If I got You, Lord, I'm so blessed, I’m so blessed.  Hallelujah, I'm blessed.  … And when I count the problems that I see.  Hope looks all but gone.  But when I count the ways You're good to me.  You got me counting all day long, oh, yeah.  I’m so blessed, I'm so blessed.  Got this heartbeat in my chest.  No, it doesn't matter about the rest.  If I got You, Lord, I'm so blessed Confess it… we are blessed!  No matter what anyone else says.  I am blessed.  You are blessed.  Understand that fact.   Confess truth.  We need God.  And like I share...

In ministry you meet a lot of cool people.  And since I have been in this work for more than three decades I have met many.  Some have been awesome preachers from across the world.  I have met Christian musicians that have so much talents.  I have also met some writers and other speakers.  So many of them have left an impression on me. One of those that I met about 17 years ago was a writer named Margaret Feinberg and her husband Leif.  We first met when my family was visiting Washington DC.  It was during the time right before The Community Fellowship was started.  We were in DC to visit National Community Church and wanted to hear their pastor, Mark Batterson, speak and experience their worship service.  He wrote the book In a Pit With A Lion on A Snowy Day. We had no idea that Batterson was not in town or speaking that weekend.  But Margaret Feinberg was speaking.  Since then we have connected a few times, and she has always been...

  Isaiah 55:6  NASB   Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. That is the verse that I ended yesterday’s devotion with.  It is a powerful word that reminds us to go to the one with all the power, the one who has all the answers and the one who cares the most for us. Why would we seek the Lord?  We live in a world and a society that says they have all the answers, and when they don’t have the answers, they say religion or God is never the answer.  I beg to differ.  Maybe you do as well.  What do we believe about God. Why seek God? Jeremiah 33:3  NLT   Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.  Seek God because He has the answers 2 Kings 6:17  NLT   Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. See...

  Lots to pray for.  Still thinking about what I shared yesterday.  Revival!  Just pray! Psalm 139:23-24  NLT   Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Isaiah 6:5  NLT   Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Matthew 6:7-13  NLT   When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! 9 Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10  May your Kingdom come soon.  May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 11  Give us today the foo...

Revival services have been happening the last two weeks on college campuses the last two weeks.  The awe and news of revival is not new, but it is new for the people who are experiencing it. Isaiah 43:19  NLT   For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. That is our theme verse for 2023 at our church.  Literally when God does something new it is incredible.  People begin to experience God in fresh ways and He does miracles that all include life change. Oh, the stories coming out of college campuses have been incredible.  The personal experiences have been awesome to hear about, but the thing that gets me the most is the joy people are finding in the presence of God.  Longing to be in the presence of God is not new, but that place, being with God, changes the person that spends time there. Throughout Scripture there are stories ...

  I literally believe that God has given us the tools and desire to have great relationships, yet when we become selfish, when we pull away from people, when we seek to live life our way and not God’s way, we are in for trouble. One of the most powerful places in Scripture, a place I run to in my mind often, is this: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-18  NLT   Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. 13 Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other. 14 Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.15 See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. 16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is Go...

One of the most powerful books in the Bible is Romans.  It is some what of a textbook that Paul wrote under the direction of God.   I am always in awe of what God says.  I am reminded that His work is perfect and life changing.  Here are a few thoughts that came to me as I was preparing to share with our local college baseball team.  This is powerful. Just a couple major points, but this chapter has far more truth for us.  Romans 8 is packed full of faith learning! Romans 8:1,3  NLT   So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus… 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. We are not condemned because of what Jesus did for us.  We can try to do this on our own, but ...

Psalm 46:1  NASB   God is our refuge and strength, A very ready help in trouble. Life is full of ups and downs, celebrations and sad times, weddings, births and funerals.  Everyone goes through difficult things in life, but the question is how will we deal with such times?  When you need help, who do you go to or where do you look for it?   Psalm 121:1-3 NLT I look up to the mountains- does my help come from there?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!  He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.   Each day gives me obstacles to deal with.  I have watched God work in tremendous ways.  Watching and experiencing people follow God really is amazing and inspiring.  Yet there are also those times when you lose someone close to you, their death is unexpected.  Much pain comes from their death as well.   In those places we need the help and comfort of God.  We need to k...

Psalms 139:23-24  NLT   Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. There are so many things that I see in these special verses.  Mostly it is personal.  But it is also tied to my faith, lived out and following Jesus.  There is more to the verses.     But what I want to draw your attention to is this … Search me, O God.     W hat an awesome request made of our God.  What a deep and difficult request because God may share something that is hard to hear or difficult to deal with. Keep searching.  Go directly to the source.  Allow Him to open the truth and deal with you.  He is faithful.  He is to be trusted.   The people we trust help us deal best with problems, questions and direction.  We let the doctor deal with our health.  We let a counselor look in to our heart and head ...

This is the 30th time I have had the blessing of Julie being my Valentine.  In fact is was just before Valentine’s Day in 1993 that Julie said yes to being my wife.  No our marriage isn’t perfect.  Neither of us is the perfect partner, but we love each other and are so blessed by God with the gift of each other.   She is so much more than I share, but today I want to give you just a little glimpse in to who this special lady is to our kids, to the world and to me!  My Valentine, Julie, is a gift from God! Proverbs 31:10  NASB   An excellent wife, who can find her? For her worth is far above jewels. She is worth more than any Jewels.  She is worthy of more!  To me she is a precious jewel! Song of Solomon 6:9  NASB   But my dove, my perfect one, is unique… My valentine is unique.  There are no others to me as special and made fore me as my Jesus.  She literally is unique! Ephesians 5:33  NLT    So again I say,...

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and I shared a message at church yesterday about how we can help our marriages and relationships stronger and lasting.  I believe that God gives us so much encouragement to be people who love others and are committed to the people we love. In this message from Ephesians 5 we talked about the essentials of living a life of submission to each other, a life of sacrifice and that we are to choose each other.  I will get to a couple of those later this week in the e-devotions. Today I accept the challenge to love as Jesus loves.  The reason why we love and the way we are to love was defined by God! 1 John 4:19  NLT   We love each other because he loved us first. It is easier to love when we know that we are loved. We were created in His image and living out the character and example God gave us we literally become an image bearer of God because we do what He does. A person who loves well will think and do for his or her spouse.  Serv...

  Following Jesus is not a Sunday thing.  Following Jesus is not a some time thing. Following Jesus is not a some day thing.   Following Jesus is a daily thing.  Following is important.  He is like air.  We need Him.  And we need Him daily.  That is why I believe and share and live so that myself and others will come in to contact with Him and experience Him.   Matthew 6:11  NASB Give us this day our daily bread.   That is part of the “Lord’s Prayer” where Jesus taught those who followed Him that it is daily we need God to fill us, guide us and for us to daily come to Him.   Psalm 145:2  NLT I will praise you every day; yes, I will praise you forever.   It was a daily commitment from David to praise the Lord.  He couldn’t let a day go by that he would miss seeking God, praising God and spending time in His presence.   Hebrews 3:13  NLT You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so th...

A sweet friend sent me a message last night that struck a cord in me, and I would like to just share some of the overflow of what I have been thinking about her question.  She simply asked, “how do I pray for for myself?  It seems selfish.” First, let me say that praying for yourself is never selfish, but I also want to remind us that prayer is vital and also very simple. Praying is connecting to the one who has all the power.  Praying connects us to God who is the one who loves you more than any one else ever will.  Praying also reminds us that all the is needed because of all that is going on, good and bad, is in the control of our good and gracious God. Second, let’s think about how to pray.  You don’t have to use big words or churchy type words.  Just pray.  Whatever is on your mind or in your heart.  Let those those words be what you say. If you are hurting or have questions, ask God to answer, heal and God.  He is able.  You know t...

  I had the great opportunity to share a message about HOPE last evening in our Celebrate Recovery ministry.  It is always an honor to be part of such a great work. Here is part of the lesson I shared, and there is so much truth and power in this message.  I pray you are challenged by this… Romans 5:5  NASB  and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. By embracing and being embraced by God and His love we will have HOPE.  It is through this admission of being powerlessness that we are able to believe and receive God’s power.  We come to understand that God wants to fill our lives with His love, His joy, and His presence.  One of the parables in Luke 15 is the story of the prodigal son. Though the story is about a father’s love for his lost son; it really is a picture of God the Father loving you. God’s love is looking for you, no matter how lost you feel...