Michael Harrison's e-devotion

  1 Thessalonians 5:11  NLT   So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. I am grateful for the people who encourage me and make me a stronger person.  Please pray for our family as today is my uncle’s funeral.  Pray for my uncle Frank’s wife, son and family as they face challenges ahead as well as go through the funeral today. There are plenty of other people in and around my life that need your prayers.  Pray for the family and friends of one of our local men that passed away on Wednesday.  And another lady in our church that has been one of my mission partners deals with her brother in law’s funeral and her sister continues to battle cancer. And there are many more who need our prayers and encouragement.  Make a difference today with your words and encouragement! I sat last night listening to another uncle share so many stories.  He is full of information and stories and history or our family.  It w...

  Choose what you say carefully.  Our words have power, and our words say a lot about who we are. James 3:6,10  NLT   And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself… And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Blessing.  Cursing.  Which one comes out of you the most? Ephesians 4:29  NLT   Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. Does it bother you when you hear people use foul language?  What words or conversations encourage you? Proverbs 15:4  NLT   Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. Gentle words or deceitful words… both are powerful. Colossians 4:6  NLT ...

"Thank you!" Do you what kind of difference that one little phrase makes?  It could change a situation from a negative to a positive.  It could change someone’s mind from doing something to stupid to living a good life for a change. It only takes a little breath, a little effort, a very short bit of time, but it might be as powerful as a bomb going off.  A bomb?  Where did that come from? James 3:5-6  NLT   In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. Our tongues are powerful.  But that doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense.  When I eat ice, my tongue gets numb, and it is hard to talk.  I remember going to the dentist, and it seemed that my tongue went to sleep...

What we wake up thinking about gets me to thinking.  Yeah.  I said it. What do you wake up thinking about?  It may be something that needs adjusting.  How do you do that?  I think it has some to do with what you are doing or thinking about when you go to sleep.  I really think it has more to do with what you are consuming your life with. I woke up this morning with these verses rolling through my mind: Psalm 19:14  NASB   May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Why would that be on my mind?  Maybe it is because I really do care about what God says about my life.  Maybe that is on my mind because it is something God wants me to care about and deal with.  Both are good things. First, the words of my mouth.  Our words are important.  The words toward ourselves will build our worth and fill our hearts.  Then the words will come out of our mouths,...

1 Thessalonians 5:11  NLT   So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. We ought to be the people who help others know how special they are.  It is our words, words of kindness and encouragement, that make a difference.   Words can be used to hurt or to help.  Often the right words chosen just at the right time can do damage to the people they are given to.  Yet we ought to use all we have, including our words, as something like gifts to those who they are given to.   Speak life and strength over the people that means the most to you.  That is a choice I want to make, especially to the people closest to me.  That is my family and friends.  Sometimes these people get the worst and not the best. Take the opportunity to build up, not to tear down.  Choose words that bring courage.  In fact we are told by God to use the name of Jesus to give light and strength to those they are given to. The foll...

The following devotion is from Pastor Robert Morris.  Check out this devotion from the series “first” … 2 Corinthians 5:14 MSG His love has the first and last word in everything we do. Picture that perfect moment in your life. That time in your life so wonderful you wouldn’t change a single thing about it. A time when you said, “It doesn’t get any better than this!” Maybe it was your wedding day. Or it might have been after you received the job promotion you were fasting and praying about. It could have been a time when you were hanging out with close friends and having fun. Or maybe it was simply a quiet evening spent at home with your family and loved ones. No matter how wonderful that moment was, it doesn’t even begin to compare to what God has in store for us. The final book of the Bible gives us a tiny peek into what He has planned: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making His home with men and women! They’re His people, He’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear fr...

This week is full of great things for me personally.  My dad’s 80th birthday is tomorrow.  Our oldest daughter’s birthday is Wednesday.  And Thursday is the National Day of prayer.  Each of those is important to me in several ways. Yesterday I continued sharing a series of messages at The Community from the book of James, and we began chapter 3.  It talked about how we use our words and communicating in the best possible ways.   The passage talks about those who bless and curse almost at the same time, and the Scripture says that shouldn’t be.  I challenge you, as I have been challenged, to use my words and all communication should be used to build people up and spread kindness.  That is why I share the following verses with us today: 1 Peter 3:10  NIV For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. Choose ...

Courage and encourage.  Inspire and inspiration. Those words bring many thoughts in to my mind, but the biggest of those is how we use our words.  The Bible is verse clear about the things we say and how they are used.  Our words are a choice and not an outcome of our situation. James 3:10  NASB from the same   mouth   come   both   blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Our words ought to be used for blessing. There are people we encounter every day that need to hear goodness and not pain, blessing and not cursing, encourage and not discourage.  Again, that is a choice. If we live our lives only for ourselves, we will be opportunities to be an inspiration to others.  We miss opportunities and blessings and seeing lives changed by the grace of God. Let your words build up the people you are around. May God fill our words with inspiration....