Michael Harrison's e-devotion

  Choosing to be grateful is an every day thing we should do.  It might not be your first choice when things around you are tough, the struggle is hard or negative stuff floods your mind.  But being grateful might just change those things in and around you because of your choice. Psalm 50:14  NLT Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High.   Thankful people are fun and pleasing to be around.  Grumpy and negative people aren’t a lot of fun.   That is one reason I choose, and need to choose, to be thankful.  I want to be known as a person who is gracious to others, grateful and generous.    Stop for a few minutes and make a list.  Name a few things that you are thankful for that might go unnoticed.   Here are a few of mine… I am grateful for the people that said “thank you” when I didn’t expect it.   I am thankful for with our children and grandchildren through our phones or FaceTime...

  Proverbs 20:7  NLT   The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.   Today would be my dad’s 86th birthday.  Just a month away is Father’s Day, and I miss my mom and dad very much.  There are so many things I can share about my parents and in particular my dad.  A few things stick out about him that I remember very well, and that I would like to share with you.   Recognize the blessings.   Often we take things and time for granted.  Recognize the blessings that God has given.  After you recognize them do something about it.  Share those special times with the people that mean so much to you.  It is easy to miss the fact that we are blessed.   Speak up and share what is on your heart.   Dad would call almost every Sunday.  I miss the things he would share and the conversations.  So … That text message should be sent.  Make that phone call.  Go visit when you can....

  The search is on.  Yet the question is will we be honest.  If we get on honest, greater things are ahead. That is just part of what I shared in the message Sunday at The Community Fellowship through our series “Road to Recovery”.  Whether it is addiction or so many other things, even our health, until we admit there is a problem, help will not come. That is why we have to ask God to help the search begin.  Allow God to look in and begin to work in your life.  The outcome is what makes it worth it.  Follow on. Lamentations 3:40  NLT   Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord. Examine.  Search.  And then turn to where God leads.  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. I love those verses from Psalms.  I first reach them as a t...

  1 Thessalonians 3:8  NLT   It gives us new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord. Go get ‘em.  You know, this talks about the people we pour our lives in to.  This comes through influence and living on purpose and with the call of God. We influence the people we are around.  We are either building people up or tearing them down.  There is no middle ground where others stay the same because of us.  That is unless you are a hermit, living off the grid and never encounter other human beings. Choose to help others stand firm.  Use what God has given you, how He has worked din your life to help others get stronger and to be who God made them to be.  That is why we need to have faith and follow how God leads. For me there has been many people through the years that I have had the opportunity to help walk by faith.  Some were in my life for a long time while others only for a short time or even just one meeting.  Some ...

  God is good.  He shows us that as we watch, listen and take in the things that He says and does.  Even in experiencing the things around us we see God, like the sunrise or sunset and more. This year my oldest brother and I have been reading the book of James in the Bible.  It really has been incredible, and many of the verses from chapter one through chapter 5 have come alive.  Some more than others.  Some verses I have history with.  Some are new. In today’s devotion I give you some from chapter 1 that stand out and run through me head.  Then I will share one that came alive this week. James 1:2-4  CSB   Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3  because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4  And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. First heard these when I was a teenager, and they still have deep...

  One of the most important things we can be is an influence.  Every one of us has influence but is that influence good or bad?   Think about it.  Read on.  These verses are eye opening.   2 Peter 1:5-9  NLT   In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. 8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.   God’s promises help us respond differently.  His promises allow our lives to be influence...