Michael Harrison's e-devotion

  Psalms 76:13-15  NLT O God, your ways are holy.  Is there any god as mighty as you?  You are the God of great wonders!  You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.  By your strong arm, you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.   Have you taken some time recently to examine what God has done?   Have you notice some of the beauty of His creation? It is time well spent to see these things, and all God has and is doing.  Don’t miss what God is doing in the world around you.  Listen to the testimonies people share.  Stop and listen to the stillness.  Stop and see the amazing beauty around you.   There is much negative around us.  There are challenges and obstacles we all deal with.  Focusing on those things and the troubles of life keeps us from seeing the goodness and the greatness of our God.   The verses above point to God, His ability and His identity.  The author wr...

  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 ...

We continue our series based upon hymns of the faith, and yesterday we sang and shared from “Amazing Grace”.  Full on, totally honest, many agree that when we get a good glimpse of God’s grace we are more and more touched, excited and overwhelmed by how God gives us this incredible gift. Grace is a gift.  Grace is what God does to forgive our sin and bring us close to and in right standing with God.  No one but God could do this. Micah 7:18  NASB Who is a God like You, who pardons wrongdoing And passes over a rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy. He wants to have mercy on us.  His desire and longing since the beginning of time has been to bring His people closer to Him, but the problem of sin keeps people away from God.  That is why there is such a need for grace, amazing grace. What does real grace look like, how does it act, what does it mean?  Powerful questions wrapped u...

I close out the week with a shorter than normal devotion built around a simply phrase.  It’s amazing.  I am referring to the things that I have seen God. I remember a young man accepting Jesus at church.  We have been praying for him for a while.  Sometime he sent me a text message that his children’s mother is close to accepting Jesus as well.  This really is amazing. I remember a mission team that that came to serve at our new campus.  I had walked through the building many times, but when I realized the work that God helped us complete the word “WOW” came out of my mouth.  It really is amazing.  God is making our dreams come true and positioning us to be able to bless more and more people. 1 Chronicles 16:24   NLT Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does. Psalm 111:2   NLT How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them. Habakkuk 3:2   NLT I ha...

Philippians 4:5   NLT Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 1 John 3:18   NLT Dear children , let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Overwhelmed.   Grateful.   Surprised, but not really.   Hopeful.   Amazed.   Encouraged.   Ready.   Those are just a few of the things rattling through my mind as I look back through all God did this past weekend and weeks through back2school .   The final numbers are not in as of yet, but it looks like we served about 1,900 students and their families on Friday and Saturday.   There are a few hundred more students will get backpacks and school supplies.   Several schools will also receive boxes of supplies that will help teachers and students.   That means over 2,000 students will be served this year.   I am so grateful. There were five churches involved.   ...