Michael Harrison's e-devotion

  Pray for the students.  This week and the past few weeks have reminded me of the important investment and incredible opportunity we have to love students.  Every age from the very young to college age students are around us. Choose to be an agent of change and strengthening.  This could be words of encouragement or even some time well spent with students.  Teach them at church.  Shoot basketball with them.  Go to summer camp as a counselor.  Do something to impact the younger generation and support the ministries that work with them. Graduations are happening or have happened.  College students are moving in the work force or getting ready for more study.  High school students are seeing opportunities for college, work or more years of study.  And others are having the joy of summer and such. Pray for these students.  I found an article that encouraged us to pray in some certain ways for students.  Use these as a guide: ...

  Be careful to avoid wrong turns.  It is easy to get lost or confused or just miss where you are headed.  There are lots of reasons why we get off track and take wrong turns as we travel.  The same very true for us spiritually. Proverbs 16:9  NLT   We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. Proverbs 16:25  NLT   There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. It may seem like the right direction.  It might even feel right, but in the end you are literally in the wrong place, going the wrong way and have to make changes. What needs to change in our lives that will keep us on the right road?  Maybe it is like changing the GSP in your car or phone so that it leads you the right way.  Connect back to God for His direction and see that your life is headed the right way. This might be something we all need to be reminded of.  The wrong way or even just barely going in the wrong direction wil...

  One of my convictions is that when someone asks you to pray for them is to stop and pray right then.  Too often we forget to pray.  We don’t mean to, but that is just what seems to happen in life. Take a moment.  Stop and pray.  Let that person know you are praying for them.  It will make a difference. James 5:16 NASB Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.   Do you ever have someone ask for you to pray for them?  I do and it happens often.   Commit to is stopping to pray for that person when they ask.  That request may come in person or many difference ways.  Praying at that point is important.   When we stop at that moment and pray for them, we say "you are important".  We might even say through our pray that "God cares about you".   I'm going to leave today's tho...

  One week away from the back2school big day and outreach.  Pray for the students we will serve and their families.  Pray for the teams of people who will serve students.  Pray for the final resources needed (wide ruled notebook paper and 1” three ring binders, as well as a few other items).  God will supply and will bless these young people. I have asked us to go through what we know as the Lord’s Prayer.  One of Jesus’ disciples asked for him to teach them how to pray.  This prayer guides us how we pray as well reminds us of the importance of prayer.  Here is what Jesus shared. Matthew 6:9-13  NASB   “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Th...

  Emotions are raw.   Looking around us, listening to the struggles and acknowledge that there are so many things going on.  Seriously. They might not hot our home, but they impact our emotions, change our thinking and even make us stop what we are doing.   There are many topics that run through my mind, and I know we must share that God will meet our needs.  He will different days to do it.  He will use the trials, pain and struggles to teach us, and I choose to trust Him.  What I need to do is encourage those who are following God to stay faithful.   Choose today.  Be faithful in your time with God.  Be faithful to the people God has put around you.  Be faithful with the resources you have been given, be generous and support your church.    Turn around and keep moving.  This past week, and really the last month or so, we have heard about failure of pastors, families that are fallin...

  Don’t take for granted those moments.  Yeah, God provides moments that we need to cherish and remember. Sometimes life is moving fast.  We are busy.  So much going on and so many things to do.  It is that stuff that keeps us from being able to enjoy what God is doing and what God has provided.  I am speaking from experience. Yeah, I am an over achiever, work a lot, stay on the go and super busy.  Yet there are times I am reminder or hit over the head with opportunity to enjoy moments and people and unique stuff going on. Are we able to see those times?  Are we even able to enjoy those moments that God gives us? Ephesians 5:16  NLT   Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Psalm 46:10  NLT   “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” Psalm 84:11  NLT   For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord wi...

I am not stopping! When God spoke, when He pointed in the direction, when He answered the question I asked… I will not stop going in that direction. Confidence is a great thing.  When a person knows their purpose or why they are on earth, they have the confidence to live and speak and be who they were made to be.  That is when we need to not apologize and keep going forward. Do you know your purpose?  If not, it is time to ask God.  This asking doesn’t come with sitting still or stopping to live.  It comes with trying, checking, asking and even living.   There are plenty of truths in the scripture that we should hold on to before we know our purpose.  Live with strength and character before anything else. Colossians 3:13-15  NLT   Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in ...

Romans 16:25  NLT Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. That is one of those verses that you can tell comes at the end.  It is kind of like a signature or something that gives a great closing.  But don’t miss the punch. The explosion of dynamite leaves something behind.  It is destruction or what was meant to be hit and changed by it.  Maybe that is what God is doing when He brings truth and reality to our lives. Maybe it was a song. Maybe it was a Bible verse. Maybe it was a text message or a card that came in the mail. There were used to make you stop and think or support something that might be in need of reinforcing.  It might even be the answer to the question that has left you second guessing for some time. The verse above does those things.  It does more.  May we learn from the fac...

There are times we are not sure how to pray or what to pray for.  That doesn’t mean you are an amateur.  It might mean you just need a little encouragement.   Let me start by letting you know that prayer is an important part of the life of the person who chooses to follow Jesus.  Yet God doesn’t judge us on how we pray or how much we pray.  Our prayers often are a gauge to our spiritual growth, but all of us have to start somewhere. Moving in to the weekend I give you a challenge we have talked about many times before. That is to “stop and pray” as often as you can.  I find myself when I wake up at night praying.  When I see an accident on the road or read of a need on Facebook, I feel led to pray.  Those prayers can be short or long. Prayer connects us to God.  So, go and connect. 1 Chronicles 5:20  NLT They cried out to God during the battle, and he answered t...