Michael Harrison's e-devotion

  We continue to study the book of Romans at The Community Fellowship, and one of the most important parts of the book is dealing with the struggles of being human. In fact the last few messages have been difficult as the problem of sin and humanity tries to justify themselves without knowing Jesus.  The Apostle Paul takes a great deal of time and effort to convince the Jews in Rome of their issue of using the law to be closer to God than Gentiles. Take some time to look at a few of the things that yesterday’s message from Romans 3:1-20 brought up. Mark 8:36  NLT    And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Without Jesus we are sunk, in trouble and will not find our way to God.  As that verse says we gain nothing and lose our soul, or ourselves.  That is not where it ends. Galatians 3:22  NLT  But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing...

  There are so many things in life that we just don’t understand.  There are also lots of things that are out of our control.  Difficult times are going to come our way.  Let’s get some perspective.   James 1:2-4  NIV   Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  Think about and hold on to joy when the difficult times come your way.  That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.  What does make sense is that there is something or best yet someone who has everything in control when it is out of my control.  That same person knows all will be ok when those difficult times seem overwhelming. The struggle is real.  But so is God’s Amazing Grace.  It is a must to decide before something happens how you are going t...

  Ephesians 2:8-9  NLT   God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.  I don’t know how often you step back to look at the facets of something that is very complicated, but this is something we ought to do.  Taking that look might take some time to sink it.  It also might take some extra research to understand what is happening, how it works or maybe how it all fits together. Our faith is something very much like that.  It is not man made or man planned.  100% of what God has done.  And our God did this by His grace. Be challenged to take that look at the grace of God and how it has impacted your life and your eternity.  This revelation and understanding of the grace of God should leave us in awe of the love of God. Read those verses again.  By His grace.  By His doing ...

  What is next? That is a tough question but an important one.  This week has given me much to think about as it relates the christian life and the striation ahead for us.  As I said earlier this week, the journey is as important as the destination. So what is next for us and for our faith?  It is a challenge to live by faith, but it is always right.  Keeping our eyes on Jesus is vital to making sure the journey continues. Galatians 3:12  NASB   However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “The person who performs them will live by them.” That calls in to question how we walk and the part that the law plays in our lives.  Faith is based on the finished work of God that is founded in His grace and His love for us. Hebrews 12:2  NLT   We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place o...

  I am going to revisit in this e-devotion some of the most important verses we might ever talk about.  They come up in conversations about faith and living with purpose.  Why is that?  It is because I think these are powerful reminders of who we are and of what God has done for us. Take a look and maybe even commit these to memory! Ephesians 2:8-10  NLT   God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. First, it is by grace that God gave us salvation. I didn’t deserve and will never deserve what God has given me.  That means it is all of Him and none of me.  The reason Paul talks about boasting or shares about pride is that our life in God is based solely on ...

It seems to be a crazy Monday, but it is not.  Julie is getting ready for school to start this Wednesday.  There are lots of meetings at school, and our church is helping serve breakfast at a school this morning.  This weekend our son had a birthday.  Of coarse we had church, some meetings and lots going on.  Therefore, it seems to be a crazy Monday. But i it is not.  It is a day to prepare for what is ahead.  I am praying for our children and the children of our community.  I am thinking about the weeks ahead and preparing for a mission trip, some special time with my brothers, some events and outreach.  Man, there is a lot going through my head.  Seems like a crazy Monday. Do you get my point?  Every day brings challenges, but how we look at the days brings either darkness or light, excitement or discouragement.  The choice is ours.  It all depends on how we look at things. We are in a series at The Community Fellowship ...

There is so much more to living the Christian life than just being a Christian.  Yet I want to make sure we both understand that Christianity is not a checklist of do’s and don’ts.  It is not religion but relationship. Here are some key thoughts about relationship, our daily walk with and getting to know Christ: John 1:12 NKJV “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name”. Being a Christian is asking Christ to come and live inside of you.  This relationship is a day in and day out way of life.  In other words you don’t add God to your life.  God is life and part of every area of life. Like in marriage as a husband I am to treat my wife like Jesus treated the church.  We are to live with understanding and love. To neighbors and those we come in contact with we are to offer grace and kindness in every way possible.  That is a different way because so often humanity says we are to do w...

Here is a part of a newsletter / article from one of my mentors, Blaine Bartel (you can find his stuff at www.blainebartel.com).  This was originally titled How to Handle the Haters.  This is a long article, but take some time.  Read on… “To the Haters: Take a number. The line is long, but it moves quickly.”  I remember furiously composing this tweet about eight years ago.   A long-time friend and former colleague in ministry had just posted a hateful and derogatory comment about me online.  In the moment, it hurt.  It spitefully targeted past failures in my life that I had repented of and quite honestly, I was still crawling out of the ashes of all the repercussions. This friend had never reached out to me to have a conversation of any kind.  At the time, I didn’t know how to handle hate.  I allowed the poisonous arrows of shame to go straight to my heart. I had imaginations of revenge. I found bitter feelings taking up preciou...