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You are here: Home / Archives for garden

Wake Up America!!!

March 12, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

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

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

Filed Under: Balanced Life Ministry, Church Assistance, Economics & Finance, Health & Nutrition, Leadership Forum, Marriage, The Church Voice Tagged With: african american, america, balance, balanced, foreign missions, garden, God, James Harrison, jesus, life, love, native american, vote

Maturing Within The Garden…

November 3, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

The gift of being a parent parallels the responsibilities of a gardener. As a child is young they are very tender and need nurtured care. Then as the plant or child begins to mature we are to water them in the Word to strengthen their roots within our eternal foundation. The understanding of the pruning process in youth is a valuable lesson to learn. For if we give the miracle grow to an undeveloped child this often causes them to mature before their time.

There are always consequences to follow unnatural growth and the consequences often go unseen for many years due to our human nature of wanting things before we are ready to receive. Since the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden we can witness this message with Adam and Eve. This same parallel of a child can be compared to The United States of America and how we are now seeing the consequences of our overall disobedience due to chasing a dream without first understanding how to maintain what has been given.

There are principles within any garden in order to experience any type of harvest. It is when we neglect these principles of God that our garden’s and our children will struggle to produce future fruit. The object is to care for the garden that we have been given without neglecting our own. For when we don’t spend time in our garden is when the weeds can begin to grow and the serpents can begin to slip in.

If you were to look at your immediate surroundings today or lets say the temporary garden in which you have been given what would see? The garden first starts with our own temple which is our own body and then it reaches out to our homes, our careers and even in the church. I believe when we all begin to look at life as a garden that we will find that there is work that can be done. May I encourage you this morning to not sit on the porch to watch the weeds take over….For greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world….

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

 

Filed Under: Balanced Life Ministry, Church Assistance, Daily Growth, Health & Nutrition, Leadership Forum, Raising Children, Spiritual Growth Tagged With: america, children, fruit, garden, God, harvest, James Harrison, life, love, natural, special delivery

Living In The Garden…

November 2, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Yesterday morning there was a message titled “A Walk In The Garden” and we compared the responsibilities of a gardener within a green house to our responsibilities in our homes, our careers and in the church. Today lets look at the delivery of the water and nutrients upon the plants. If you have ever been in a green house then you have experienced the warmth and the moisture in the air not only from the gentle mist that is being sprayed upon the plants but from the transpiration cycle returning through the pores on the leaves.

There is a very important lesson on watering that many tend to miss and this is how we are to deliver the Word and share the love of God. If you were to water a plant today which do you think would be better received a sudden jet burst of water or a gentle mist upon the leaves? There are times of delivery where the watering may be tough but this is to reach the ones in age that have developed an outer shell due to the environment of the world. There are times where the gully washers come due to the cleansing that needs to take place but the object is to be always open to receive and deeply rooted in the rock of our foundation to further the growth of the tree.

As we learn in the Holy Bible through the love of Jesus there is living water in the Holy Spirit that comes up from the wells of our soul. Like the plants cycle of transpiration the love of God should be pouring out of our human pores and giving back to environment in which we live. The water cycle of life here on earth should be the same cycle of love that we show to others. As we receive it helps to feed and as it feeds we should grow. Then as we grow we are to give back in order to continue the healthy cycle of life through Jesus Christ. I challenge you to study the water cycle and compare it to the instruction of God to see the paralell. May God bless your day and guide your steps in every way as you help to water others….

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

Filed Under: Balanced Life Ministry, Church Assistance, Daily Growth, Leadership Forum, Raising Children, Spiritual Growth Tagged With: balanced, delivery, garden, God, James Harrison, jesus, life, love, water

A Walk In The Garden…

November 1, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

There is a great responsibility placed upon leadership which is to start in our homes to our careers and to the church. Let’s look at this way to have a better understanding. We can compare our homes our careers and the church to individual green houses that are to promote life. Each green house is to have a gardener or a care taker who’s responsibility is to take care of the environment within their area in love and they are to recognize the maturity of each plant as they grow to insure their needs are being met.

If the plants are watered too much or not enough then this can stunt their growth without the proper balance between the two. Another factor is the replanting of the young and the old. For the roots of the young are very delicate and the roots of the old can be very stiff in age. The old don’t like to be moved and the young are very delicate to the touch but they both are to be handled in love. Whether the plant is young or old when being replanted for further growth this often places the plants into shock until they adapt to their new environment which is to further the blooms and to help produce future fruit for the harvest.

Some plants that start out in the green house can only grow so far until they must be taken outside to eliminate any restrictions of growth. These plants often grow into trees like our children who are one day set free. The doors of the green house are to be monitored closely to be aware of any infections that could be blown in. It is when we overlook this importance that the infections can turn into a disease that can stunt the overall growth. For the longer we neglect the infections the harder the disease can set in. But on the other hand if we live in fear without ever opening up our doors for fresh air then the atmosphere can become stale.

There is a disciplined balance required within our lives to maintain the roots of our foundation and to promote future life. It is when we take our eyes off of God that we often begin to live without recognizing the environment that we are in and this leads to selfish a garden due to the lack of care to others. Some of you might ask how does this have anything to do with our homes, our careers or the church and the answer is simple. As a father I have a responsibility as a care taker within my home just as a pastor is to be a care taker of the flock and as any leader is to help and serve the people. I challenge you this morning to reread this message and pray to God as you read to help you see what could be needed within the green house that you are in. Please join me again tomorrow morning to expand on future growth within the garden….

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Luke 12

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

Filed Under: Balanced Life Ministry, Church Assistance, Daily Growth, Leadership Forum, Spiritual Movie Reviews Tagged With: balance, balanced, fruit, garden, God, harvest, James Harrison, jesus, life, love, plants

Seeds Of Love…

July 28, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

If you were to look at your words and actions as seeds that are being planted what type of crop would you find? Would you find that your seeds are fertile and full of love or would you find that your seeds are dormant with only one life to give? What good is a seed if it can’t grow and produce a vibrant crop with future seeds to feed the next generation? A seed that is planted in love is one that is sprouted from the very heart of God.

I challenge you to examine your words and actions to recognize the seeds that are being planted and to insure the path that you are on. For if we don’t know the path then we must not know the garden and if we don’t know the garden then we must not know the Farmer…

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specaildeliverybook.com

 

Filed Under: Balanced Life Ministry, Church Assistance, Daily Growth Tagged With: balanced, creator, dorment, farmer, garden, God, James Harrison, life

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Letter to America

August 20, 2017 By admin Leave a Comment

Where are the men of God?! [Read More…]

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Moving Forward At The Outpost…

August 14, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

The Lord recently led me from my daily writings at BLM, to living it out in faith, at a little place on the edge of the TN River called The Outpost located in Pickwick, TN.

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Don’t be like Eli in 1st Samuel and miss something that has been given by God. If you recall with Eli he did not listen because the Word of God was rare in those days and he did not recognize what was taking place until he saw the persistence of Samuel…

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