Here recently the Lord has been leading me to write out for further clarity the importance of discipleship and the vitality of recognizing the spiritual maturity of others before we speak. As we look upon the disciples we can recognize that not only did they go out to share the Good News but they also took responsibility for the new births. They did not just care about the “numbers” of who came to Christ but they understood their responsibility of continuing to teach Gods Word in order for each new child to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.
True Fasting…
“Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. 2 For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 3 ‘Why have we fasted,’they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness[a] will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14 then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Working Together For The Good…
In 1 Kings 12 of the Holy Bible we learn a valuable lesson between two different generations because they did not know how to deal with it in love. This lack of understanding caused a division in the body that eventually separated the people. When King Rehoboam asked for advice from the older generation that once advised his father he rejected their wisdom because it was not what he wanted to hear and he wanted to prove himself. So, he called in some youth that he had grown up with to seek their advice and as expected their youth gave no mercy to the people because they wanted to show their own strength.
Why did the youth lash out towards the people? Why did they not want to give mercy instead of making matters worse ? Why were they carrying so much anger instead of learning from the past to help correct something in the future? Doesn’t the Lord show us here how the youth must have been carrying some anger towards those that were once in control? Do you think possibly that the youth might have felt suppressed as they matured because the elders were so stuck in their ways? Can you see the importance of adding value to someone else’s life by involving our youth as we all continue to mature?
When a child receives freedom it is very important for them to understand the Word of God and to know how to mature in love rather than allowing their emotions to misguide their actions. Children that live under rules without love are more subject to break them because they do not understand them and when the older generation neglects how to develop the younger generation then we are only setting ourselves up for a possible division in the family of God.
The Word of God teaches us to listen and to always be alert for the wisdom that God provides because there is something to be gained in every age of life. It is easy to become blinded when we get so wrapped up in building our own mission that we often forget how to add value to someone else’s. When this takes place usually the very ones that miss out are the ones that are right at our feet because we become so busy with the world that we forget how to take care of our homes. God gives us children to carry on what He has given and God raises up men and women to carry on the direction that we are to serve.
When we don’t include those that God has placed around us whether in our homes, in our careers, in our churches or even in our nation then we are only setting ourselves up for a future division to come. This lesson is a very important message on how to develop the youth without causing rebellion and it teaches us the importance adding value to someone else’s life so they will in turn do the same in the future. We go from one extreme to the other in this message between the youth and the older generation because the youth failed to understand the principles in the foundation while the elders failed to properly disciple their future generations. May God give us the wisdom to listen and learn from one another in order to lift the burdens that are on the people and to display that all things are possible through Christ as we come together in one mind and one spirit…amen… Please take a moment to listen to this song titled The Stand by Hillsong and ask the Lord in prayer what you can do today to help someone else. How we serve shows in whom we serve…
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans8:28
James A. Harrison
The Missing Link…
My name is James A. Harrison Jr. and within my family heritage there are founding fathers of this nation from President William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison. Secretary of State William H. Seward who purchased Alaska and many other leaders that have helped shape this nation. I have always found our family heritage interesting as I looked back in history to recognize the strengths and weaknesses within my family blood line. I can recall sitting on the front porch one day with my mother and discussing with her the patterns within my Grandfathers life and the same patterns within my own fathers as well. These patterns were not what I wanted in my life due to recognizing that there was something missing within my fathers family heritage and I was seeking for this missing link.
As a prodigal child I made many wrong steps and made some wrong decisions but it was within these trials that I discovered this missing link. I will never forget writing a letter to my father and saying,”Dad I figured it out! Do you know why you have risen and then fallen? Do you know why you have never been able to maintain what you have been given?” I then said,” The reason we have struggled for so long is because we have left GOD out of it!” Ever since this discovery of the TRUTH and why God had to send His only begotten Son Jesus Christ here to die for our sins my life has been on a road of restoration and further understanding.
As you can witness throughout this website a burning desire and call that has set up in my bones. Recently I heard these words while seeking God for further understanding. I heard the Spirit of Truth say,”What man messes up, God corrects through the blood.” I was astounded at this fact that is easy to now see due to looking back at history in order to break the pattern and move forward into the Promises of God. For there is mighty power in the blood.
Recently, I discovered that on my mothers side of the family there was Native American blood within her family. This discovery opened my eyes further as I found it interesting to recognize the genetic make up within my blood line. Where is all of this going you might ask? This is all leading up to the roots of this nation and the importance of being grounded in the Word of God to maintain what God has given.
America has covered up the roots of our national sin without proper repentance and politicians have tried to avoid this fact for the sole purpose of their own desires. Indian Chief Joseph once said,”I believe much trouble would be saved if we opened our hearts more,” and this could not be more true. The United States of America is facing the same pattern as my own life and it is my prayer that America WAKES UP to this TRUTH! For the longer we neglect the real issues at hand the harder the fall and the harder it will be on our children’s future.
Here are two different Youtube clips that every American should see. Please forward this to as many as you can and join me in prayer for our nation to be healed and for God’s restoration before it is too late. The first video American Holocaust of Native Americans is where it all began and the second Freedom Riders is with the injustice of the racism with the African Americans. To God be all the glory…amen
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16
James A. Harrison
Wake Up America!!!
Recently I was seeking the Lord in prayer and asking, “Why is it that I see so many traveling to foreign places to assist others when their own homes and communities have such needs?” This is what I heard in return;
“The reason that many travel to other places to serve is simply due to not wanting to face the real issues in their own home. Facing the needs in our own home often requires more than one to two weeks of service and it often has a price that many do not want to pay. So instead, many people often do things in foreign places to often avoid the real issues that they have in their own home.”
In other words what the Lord was teaching is about our human nature and how easy it can be to lose our balance when we neglect or overlook our own responsibilities at home. For when we neglect this principle of balance within our homes then this can open the door for Satan to weaken and oppress the body. We can easily see this over the last forty years here in America as I can witness this same lesson within my own life as well. Think about it! How long can a soldier in foreign missions stay focused when their own home is struggling to survive? How long can we expect foreign aid to continue when we can’t balance the input with the output?
This teaching explains to me why so many communities, missions and relationships become oppressed. Simply due to neglecting the basic principles of gardening and the importance of maintaining the roots of our foundation. By seeking to live a balanced life through the love of Jesus Christ we learn to plant ourselves upon the Rock of our foundation while staying in tune with the needs of the garden. It is also wise to understand that God calls some to plant while he calls others to assist with the harvest.
For God plants each one of us in different places and in different positions in order to serve His purpose and not our own. Unfortunately many fail to understand this so they allow their seeds to be blown in the wind rather than learning how to plant and work within garden. Think about it! Our home can be related to a garden just as our individual lives. What we give and receive plays a major roll within the productivity of the garden. The home garden is supposed to help serve the community as the community garden helps to serve the city to the state. For when we begin to take care of our own home garden then this leads to a productive harvest that can help feed foreign missions and help maintain the strength within our homes for future generations.
There is a great need within our own communities and our country for men and women that are willing to commit to the work that is needed in every community across America. This need is to simply do what God has called each of us to do and that is, to work within the gardens we have been given and to leave something behind for someone else. Without these men and women that are willing to grab hold of the plow and apply the Instruction of God to their local gardens we might as well prepare for an unproductive harvest and for the locust to continue to devour the crop. Many of you reading this may be thinking it is too late but I strongly disagree! For nothing is over until God say’s it is over!!!
How bad would it be to go home and hear one of these questions, “Why did you quit? Why did you not get up off the pughs to help your neighbors? Do you honestly think you were doing your job when you neglected your own home to take care of someone else’s? Why did you not stand up and vote for Godly leadership rather than give in to the popularity contest? Did the numbers that came against you give you fear? Did you honestly think your voice or vote would not matter? Have you forgotten the very One who gives you Victory? Why did you simply fail to be a doer instead of just a hearer? There were blessings right at your feet but you simply lost your perspective. All you had to do was get up off the porch and put your hand to the plow to receive the blessings of God! But instead you allowed your fears, weak faith and laziness to infect the garden. This infection has not only affected you but other plants as well.
It is my sincere prayer for a spiritual Awakening here in America. I pray that Americans will recognize the season at hand and the need for true repentance on a national level. Lord help us clean up our own homes and communities so we can continue to spread your love and feed the hungry. Please give us strength and the wisdom to make the right decisions within our own home in order to refresh the garden and continue to supply the needs in foreign missions. Lord I know that nothing is over until You say that it is over, so please Lord forgive us on a national level of the innocent blood that has been shed from the Native Americans to the African Americans and for simply losing our balance with you…I love you Father and I thank you for the pits that you have picked me up from and I thank you for giving me a new life with purpose and with direction and may others find the same…For all glory is yours…amen
“A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’’
James A. Harrison
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