Michael Harrison's e-devotion

  Love the old hymns.  Sometimes I wake up with something on my mind or even a song.  Today was one of those days.  So, let me share what I had on my mind.  Just maybe it will help you and me walk a little stronger in faith and closer to the Father. Leaning on the Everlasting Arms What a fellowship, what a joy divine Leaning on the everlasting arms What a blessedness, what a peace is mine… What have I to dread, what have I to fear Leaning on the everlasting arms? I have blessed peace with my Lord so near… Leaning on Jesus, leaning on Jesus… Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning Safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning Leaning on the everlasting arms Powerful song from my children, and even further back.  May it be a powerful word and truth that we hold to as tight as possible believing what God has said.   Proverbs 3:5-6  NLT   Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6  In all y...

  In today’s e-devotion I revisit something I have shared recently.  Each week at The Community Fellowship, the church I am pastor of, we read through the Roman Road.  This is something that is part of our 2025 theme plus helps us share the good news of salvation in Jesus. Knowing key verses helps us in many ways.  We know God, and we can share Him with others.  I challenge you to join me and others and memorize these verses that help us share how to know God and how to have salvation… Romans 3:23   NLT For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Romans 5:8 NLT But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.  Romans 6:23 NLT For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 10:9-10  NLT If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10...

  God gave me as a Bible promise over 30 years ago.  I have quoted these so many times.  It tells us about His incredible peace that God wants to put in our lives.    Philippians 4:6-7 NLT   Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.   I love these verses.  Most of all, the direction of these verses will give us what God desires for us to have.    His peace will guard you hearts.   Apart from Christ there is no peace.  With Christ there is extreme peace.  God’s peace guards our hearts.  That is the place where salvation starts and where convincing comes strongest for people of faith.  It is from our heart we speak.  It is from our heart that the greatest decisions happen....

  Peace is important.  Few people have much peace   How we find true, lasting peace?  The kind of peace that covers us, our families and goes even further.     Peace doesn’t come from something we do or from something we are.  True peace comes from the one who is peace.  Jesus.  Knowing Jesus, trusting Him and walking with Him on a daily basis brings peace in to our lives.   It is at times when peace seems furthest from us that we must seek it in ways and in places where peace isn’t present.  Walk it out and see how peace becomes a reality.   John 14:27  NASB Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor fearful.   Peace comes from God, from trusting God.  Lay down our struggles and trouble so we can have true peace.    Psalm 85:8  NASB I will hear what God the Lord will say; For He will speak peace to His people, to H...

  Hello, how are you? It's so typical of me to talk about myself, I'm sorry I hope that you're well Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happened? It's no secret that the both of us Are running out of time So hello from the other side  Those are just part of the lyrics from Adele’s song Hello , but that might sum up some of our prayer life.   Disconnected.  Confused.  Struggling.  If we are honest, that is.  Yet that is not what God intends for us when we connect with Him.  In fact the thing that He wants most is for us to connect. It was in the Garden of Eden after He created Adam and Eve that God desired to have a relationship with those He loved.  God still desires that.  We have the blessing and opportunity to connect with, be loved by and walk with God.  Think about it. Jeremiah 33:3  NLT   Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come. Matthew 6:6  NLT ...

  Today’s e-devotion is a simple thought from one of my favorite authors, Henri Nouwen and is titled “A Life of Listening”.  I pray this encourages us to stop and listen even more. Galatians 5:25  “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit."  I began to understand that when we listen to the Spirit, we hear a deeper sound, a different beat.  The great movement of the spiritual life is from a deaf, non-hearing life to a life of listening.  From a life in which we experience ourselves as separated, isolated, and lonely to a life in which we hear the guiding and healing voice of God, who is with us and will never leave us alone.

  There is more to being a Christian than just going to church or having high standards.  It really is about a relationship that changes us, our surroundings and encourages others to come to know God. There are things that God reminds us of throughout our days.  This e-devotion is an overflow of some of those things that God has put around me in the past several days.  Strong stuff that builds my faith and walk with God. Check these and dig deeper in your walk with God. Hebrews 10:21-23  NLT   And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Our Savior is greater, is our high priest, does open our ability to be ...

  Just soak in some of the most important wisdom we might ever get.  Proverbs 19 overflows with strength and wisdom.  Read on… Proverbs 19  NLT 1  Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and a fool. 8 To acquire wisdom is to love yourself; people who cherish understanding will prosper. 11 Sensible people control their temper; they earn respect by overlooking wrongs. 14  Fathers can give their sons an inheritance of houses and wealth, but only the Lord can give an understanding wife. 16-18  Keep the commandments and keep your life; despising them leads to death.  If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord— and he will repay you! Discipline your children while there is hope. Otherwise you will ruin their lives. 20-21 Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life.  You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail. 23  Fear of the Lord leads to life, bringing secu...