Michael Harrison's e-devotion

  Holy Week is the time we focus on God and His gift of salvation.  We come to Friday.  The day we remember the cross, Jesus’ death and all God has done for you and me   Why do they call this day “Good Friday” because it doesn’t seems good?   Jesus was treated as a criminal.  He was beaten so much that He could not recognize Him.  His pain would have been too much for you or me to endure.  That is especially from Scripture I’ve read or as in the movie the  Passion of the Christ .   Yet it is a good day.  It is Good Friday because God had our good in His heart.  What Jesus did that day changed our forever direction. Here are some thoughts that come to me:   He is Redemption and Redeemer   He too our Pain and Punishment   He is our Righteousness and Reality   He is the Savior and Life   All of those happened from the cross.  It was meant for the worst lawbreakers. ...

  Holy Week is a time to focus on God and His gifts to us.  Maundy Thursday is a special day.  It is often called Holy Thursday reminding us of Jesus’ interaction with His disciples as he instituted the Communion and washed their feet.   John 13:34  NLT So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.    Thursday of Holy Week is one of the best known of the week.  It is the first observance of the Lord’s Supper and the Passover with His closest friends.  Jesus shared the meaning of His blood and body that we continue to celebrate.  It is in Jesus’ body and blood that we find the forgiveness of sin and redemption.     The conversations that took place around that table must have been amazing and powerful.  It would have been eye opening to be there.     What would you do if you knew you had 24 hours to live?   G...

  Holy Week reminds us of all God has done for us.  Take some time today to meditate on the first 5 days of Holy Week and what they mean for those who follow Jesus.   Day 1, Sunday.  Palm Sunday.  Jesus enters Jerusalem making his triumphant entry.  May we see Jesus as the King of kings and our gift from God. Zechariah 9:9  NLT   Rejoice, O people of Zion!   Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!  Look, your king is coming to you.  He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt. Day 2, Monday.  Jesus turns over tables and clears the temple.  May we seek to worship in God alone and seek personal holiness.   Luke 19:45-46  NLT   Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people selling animals for sacrifices. 46 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” Da...

  Holy Week moves toward Easter weekend, the cross and the resurrection  Palm Sunday leads us to see the passion of our hero, and the price He will pay for us.   Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week week finds Jesus teaching important lessons.  Here is part of the story that sticks out for me.   Remember that Jesus was and is God.  Jesus was also human.  Often that is what makes him stand out.   Can you imagine the difficultly and power of the fist holy week?  Can you imagine being fully God knowing all that the coming days were going to bring?  Jesus kept on following the Father’s direction and helping others find faith.   On Monday Jesus went to the temple.    Matthew 21:12-13  NLT Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. 13 He said to them, “The Scriptures decl...

  It is holy week.  That is the week that leads us to the horror of Friday’s crucifixion and Sunday’s resurrection.  We remember all of what Jesus has done for us.  His purpose was completed in the events of holy week. That is why we spend the next 5 days examining different parts of the week.  Yet I first declare and remind each of us that God is good.  No one truly compares to Him, His love for us and the price He was willing to pay for our need and His desire to connect to us. That fist Palm Sunday was the day Jesus entered Jerusalem as a king and a hero.  It must have been a situation of festive crowds and joy for so many.  Most likely the news got around town, and there were likely large crowds who came to see and even to celebrate Jesus.  Let’s remember. Luke 19:36-38  NLT   As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. 37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount o...

  This Sunday is Palm Sunday.  That is the Sunday before Easter that we remember the day that Jesus went in to Jerusalem and was celebrated by all the people around. What seems weird is that just a few days later these same people were part of having Jesus put on the cross and killed as a criminal.  Again, the cross was not meant for Jesus, yet Jesus chose to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. John 12:13  NIV   They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” Make sure that you are preparing for Easter and thanking God for all He has done! In the next few days I will be part of an Emmaus Walk, and I ask that you join me praying for each person that is on this special Walk. There are many people I encourage you to pray for today and in the days ahead.  You fill in the list where God leads you as well. Pray for … Your family, your neighbors, yo...

  Easter is about 9 days away.  We have so much to be thankful for.  It is a time of celebration, yet it was a time of crying and so much pain. Can you imagine knowing what the cross was all about?  It was for criminals and not Christ.  It was punishment for a life of wrong doing and hurting others.  So, how could they justifying putting Jesus on the cross. The first mention of the cross from Jesus might have seemed a little strange. Matthew 16:24  NLT   Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. How do you take up your cross?  The people around Jesus might have been a little puzzled as to what Jesus meant by taking up their cross.  He never wasted His words.  But what was this about? John 19:17-18  NLT   Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). 18 There they nailed hi...