Michael Harrison's e-devotion

  “The church is most appealing when the message of grace is most apparent.”  - Andy Stanley   Grace is not an easy word to understand, and it is even harder to live out.  I’ve met many people who talk about the grace of God and offering people grace, yet their lives seem to miss what grace really is.   Grace is a rare find in our world today.  The church talks about it, praises God for it and speaks of its wonders all the time.   But do we show grace and really live by grace?  Do we receive and give grace freely to others each day?   This includes the people in our homes, work, school, church and even the people we meet on the street.   It is hard to be full of grace and give grace when we are full of self, pride and focusing on our own struggles rather than what God has given us.  It is hard to give grace to others when we don’t give ourselves grace for our mistakes.   "Never forget that grace takes guts, risk ...

  Here are some of my favorite verses that reference GRACE.  The concept or belief about grace is central to our faith.  One of the easiest ways to understand what grace is might be known from this acrostic of the letters in the word … God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Praise God for all He has done for us that we do not deserve  Check out these verses on grace: Ephesians 2:8  NLT   God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Our salvation is by the incredible grace of God and not because we deserve it. Romans 11:6  NLT   And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved. Galatians 1:5  NLT   But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him Ephesians 2:7  NLT   So God can point to us in all future ages as ex...

  In today’s e-devotion I share with you from one of my favorite writers, Paul Tripp.  Check out any of his books, and you will see why I like Tripp.  This devotion is from his most recent weekly email.  Read on. If you have read any of my writing, it won’t come as a surprise to you that the word “grace” is my favorite and most frequently used in the Christian vocabulary. Other than the word (and names of) God, I would argue there is nothing more important that the human mind could consider and mouth speak. This month of Wednesday’s Word devotionals have been all about grace. We started with five life-changing words from James 4:6, “But he gives more grace,” followed by reflections on double grace, restraining grace, and common grace. I. Just. Love. Grace. (Fun fact: Luella’s middle name is Grace!) ... Either now or at the end, read the full first chapter of Ephesians. I’ll highlight just a few verses: “ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus ...

  For as long as I can remember I have been touched by and stopped in my tracks by the grace of God.  Hearing about His grace is one thing, but experiencing His grace is another.  It is powerful. Hare you experienced the grace of God in your life? There are so many things I could share and stories I could pass along, but today I will let others explain the incredible truth of God’s amazing grace. Hebrews 4:16  NLT   So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. “Repentance was never yet produced in any man's heart apart from the grace of God. As soon may you expect the leopard to regret the blood with which its fangs are moistened,—as soon might you expect the lion of the wood to abjure his cruel tyranny over the feeble beasts of the plain, as expect the sinner to make any confession, or offer any repentance that shall be accepted of God, unless grace shall first ...

  This weekend we finished chapter 9 in our walk through Romans; it also included the first few verses of chapter 10.  So in today’s devotion I will hit some of the highlights of that message.  It centered around being a Christian has everything to do with faith and God seeking us and not living by the law and mankind seeking to make themselves right before God. Romans 10:4  NLT   For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God. Christ did for us what we can not do for ourselves, yet so many people seek other ways to be made right with God and to connect to God.  Often that seeking God is through the law or man made rules. Ephesians 2:8-9  NIV   For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.  Faith alone because of God’s grace.  And His grace...