Michael Harrison's e-devotion

  May we get this, hold this, believe this and tell others about this!   Hebrews 12:1-2  NLT  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.   Be encouraged.  You are not alone.   Not only is God with us but others are with us.  So many have been through what we are going through.  Like a huge stadium (see verse 1 above) many are cheering us on.   Be encouraged.  Throw away what slows you down and tripps you up.   Some times it is sin.  Deal with it.  Ask forgiveness and move on. ...

We could call this e-devotion several different things.  What I will simply do is share that these are the extra verses that I shared during Sunday’s message.  Each illustrates a point in how Jesus is greater than everything. If we are honest, there have been times where we have doubted, struggled, got down, wondered why and even thought about giving up.  Yet we didn’t.  Somehow God intervened. That is why we need to take the confession of our faith serious.  Hold tight, as we talked about in yesterday’s devotion.   Let me share some of these verses and give a little thought with each… Hebrews 4:14  NASB Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let’s hold firmly to our confession. That is the first I want to make us think through.  The greatest one is greater than all the others because He was the first one and will be the last.  He holds it all together.  That is, He holds me...

Sunday I enjoyed sharing with our church a message from our theme of HE>i from the book of Hebrews.  We talked about how Jesus is greater than everything.  Specifically He is greater than the angels, greater than Moses, greater than Joshua and greater than Aaron. Answer this… what have you made great than Jesus in your life?  That is a tough and telling question.  Answer that and figure out why you feel alone at some points in your life.   The book of Hebrews has some incredible truth from the first to the last chapter with a huge portion being in chapters 11 and 12.  But the crux of the book are these two verses: Hebrews 10:23-24  NLT Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds,  How do we make Jesus greater?  We become less.  We make more of Him, believe Him, share Him with others and spend time with ...

  The scripture I want to share with you are some I share often.  In fact these are verses for the last three decades that I have quoted often as I share with others, both in and out of preaching.  They are special significance because of what God has done through them all through the years.  God uses Scripture.  God uses situations.  God uses people and so much to speak in to our lives.  As I reminded our church yesterday and quoting Henry Blackaby, “God is always speaking.”  Yet we are not always listening. May we be found listening.  Daily.  Often. Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of my mom’s death.  I miss her so, yet I know without faith and believing in heaven this would be so much tougher.  There are so many things going on in our lives from the pandemic of the Covid virus to the unrest around the election.  We need something to hold on to.  We need God. These two passages are great ones to hold on.  But ...

The things that we lean on to hold us together and keep us going are far too often the wrong things.  We lean on medicine to mask the issues or problems in our lives.  We lean on wrong relationships or people who allow us to stay in tough places.  By leaning on the wrong things or the things that keep us from moving forward we are weaker and not helping ourselves. What do you lean on to hold you together?  It is probably what your parents held on to or something you learned from people that cope rather that look to God.  I am not trying to belittle people who lean on wrong things.  I am trying to ask us to get honest about the things we trust that let us down. God put some things in our lives and on our path to keep us going.  Men often lean on their jobs for their identify or their ability to provide for their family.  Women often lean on their friends or relationships.  Some of those things are good, but God intends for us to le...