Harrison Faith Church https://harrisonfaith.org Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 hourly 1 3600 SnapPages.com Day 5 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/04/03/day-5 Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/04/03/day-5

The Search Continues

Romans 10:9 ESV

"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

Devotional Thought

So here we are. We've walked through the arrival, the applause, and the anguish. We've watched the shepherd come on His terms, watched the crowd celebrate without understanding, and watched Jesus weep over a city that didn't recognize the One standing in front of them. And now the question lands on us.

What do we do with this?

Because the incredible thing about this whole story is that it didn't end on that hillside. Jesus didn't weep over Jerusalem and go home. He walked all the way through a fake parade, false applause, and rejection, and He went to a cross and gave everything He had so that the distance between you and God could be closed forever. He saw you, every broken thing, every hidden thing, every shameful thing you swore nobody would ever know about. He saw it. And He wept, not because He was disgusted with you but because He could see what was coming for you and He couldn't stay away. And then He died. And then He rose. Because the shepherd doesn't stop at grief... He finishes the rescue.

And then He did something no one expected. He handed the mission to us. To people like you and me who were once the lost sheep ourselves. He found us, and then He said now go find them. Not with perfection, not with a flawless presentation, but with the same love that wouldn't let you go.

So for those of you who've been found, who've tasted that grace, who know what it's like to be pursued by a God who wouldn't quit... here's what I'm asking. Between now and Easter, get on your knees and weep for the one. Pray by name. Pray with the kind of urgency that says I can see what's coming and I can't stay silent. Pray like you can see what's at stake and it breaks you the way Jerusalem broke Jesus.

And for those of you who've been praying, who've been faithful in the pursuit but you're tired and you feel like nothing is changing... can I tell you something? He kept coming. Through rejection, through misunderstanding, through silence, through a sealed tomb. He kept coming. And so do you. Because the love that found you is the love that sustains the search. You don't quit. You keep going. You keep knocking on that door, you keep having that conversation, you keep showing up in that person's life, not because you're strong enough but because the shepherd in you doesn't know how to stop.

And if you're reading this right now and you don't know Him... if something in you has been stirring through these devotionals and you don't quite know what to do with it... let me just tell you what He did. He saw you. He wept for you. He died for you. And He's still here, right now, because the shepherd searches until He finds it.

Romans 10:9 says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. That's not complicated. That's an open door. And He's standing on the other side of it waiting for you.

Easter is upon us.
The shepherd is still searching.
Until.

Application Questions

1. Who is the "one" that God has placed on your heart? What is one specific step you can take this week to pursue them the way the shepherd pursues the lost?

2. If you have not yet surrendered your life to Jesus, what is holding you back from responding to the shepherd who has been searching for you?

Today's Challenge

Before Easter arrives, write down the name of one person you're going to pursue. Commit to praying for them every day this week. And then do something about it, send the text, make the call, show up. Let the shepherd in you keep searching.

Today's Prayer

Father, thank You for not giving up on me. Thank You for a love that kept coming through every wall I put up, through every season I wandered, through every moment I shaped You into something You weren't. You found me. Now use me. Give me the courage to go after the one the way You came after me, not perfectly but persistently. Fill me with Your grief for the lost and Your hope for what You're about to do. Easter is coming, and I want to be part of the rescue. Until, Lord. Until. In Jesus' name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/04/03/day-5#comments 0 Day 4 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/04/02/day-4 Thu, 02 Apr 2026 05:31:15 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/04/02/day-4

The Anguish

Luke 19:41-44 ESV

"And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, 'Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.'"

Devotional Thought

Here's where it all shifts...when the parade is behind Him and the noise is still echoing off the walls of the city.  Luke says Jesus drew near and saw the city, and He wept. It is important to see that He doesn't weep until He sees it. The weeping follows the seeing.

And that order matters more than we think, because so many of us want to be people who pursue the lost without ever letting ourselves look at them long enough to grieve. We want the mission without the ache. We want to invite people to church without letting our hearts break over what's actually happening in their lives. But Jesus didn't skip to the sermon. He didn't correct their theology first. He didn't lecture them about what kind of king He really was. No....He wept.

He drew near enough to see what everyone else was celebrating over, and it broke His heart before it ever became a word on His lips. He sees the destruction that's coming. He sees what happens to sheep who don't recognize the shepherd when He's standing right in front of them. The wolf is coming, and they have no idea.

"Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace." He doesn't say the things that make for victory or the things that make for freedom. He says peace, Shalom, wholeness for the very thing the crowd was singing about is the thing they didn't have. Jesus is grieved not because He's angry but because He can see what's on the other side of their blindness.

Now watch this...the pursuit of the one doesn't start with a plan. It doesn't start with an invitation or a program or an event. It starts with a heart that weeps over the lostness of someone you love. It starts in prayer, the kind of prayer that causes your chest to tighten because you can see the wolf creeping closer to someone you know by name and they have no idea what's coming for them.

When was the last time you wept for someone, not because of what they did to you but because of what's coming for them?

I think for a lot of us, this is the piece we've been missing. We've got the theology right. We know the gospel. We can explain it clearly. But somewhere along the way we stopped looking, and because we stopped looking we stopped grieving, and because we stopped grieving we stopped pursuing. You can't pursue what you refuse to see, just like a farmer can't tend a field he never walks through. The shepherd had to see the city before He wept over it, and we have to see the people in our lives, really see them, before the ache of God's heart becomes our own.

So look around you today. In Walmart, at the gas station, in the checkout line, across the dinner table, in the cubicle next to you. Open your eyes. Because what you see will break you, and what breaks you will move you, and what moves you will lead you straight into the mission of the shepherd Himself.

Tomorrow we'll close with the call that Jesus left for every one of us who's already been found.

Application Questions

1. Who in your life have you stopped really looking at? What would it look like to open your eyes to their spiritual condition this week?

2. Jesus grieved before He spoke. How might your conversations about faith look different if they started from a place of genuine heartbreak rather than obligation?

Today's Challenge

Pray for one specific person by name today. Not a quick mention, but a real prayer. Ask God to let you see them the way He sees them. Ask Him to give you His grief for their lostness. Let the ache lead you somewhere.

Today's Prayer

Jesus, give me Your eyes. I've been walking past people without seeing them, living near people without grieving for them. Break my heart for the ones You're still pursuing. Show me someone by name and give me the kind of love that won't stay silent. Let the ache of Your heart become mine, and let it move me the way it moved You on that hillside overlooking Jerusalem. In Your name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/04/02/day-4#comments 0 Day 3 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/04/01/day-3 Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/04/01/day-3

The Applause

Luke 19:36-40 ESV

"And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, 'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!' And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, rebuke your disciples.' He answered, 'I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.'"

Devotional Thought

If you were watching this from a distance you'd think this was the greatest worship service Jerusalem had ever seen. Cloaks on the road, voices lifted, the whole multitude praising God with a loud voice. It looks right. It sounds right. But something underneath it all is terribly wrong.

Here's what I see in Luke's account. He is very careful with what he records them saying. In the other Gospels the crowd cries "Hosanna," which is a plea for salvation. But Luke's crowd says something different. "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest." They're declaring a peace they don't even possess. And just a few verses later Jesus says, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes" (Luke 19:42). The very thing the crowd was singing about is the thing Jesus says they don't know. They were celebrating peace while peace was standing right in front of them unrecognized.

So what I'm seeing is this... you can have all the right words and all the wrong meaning. You can sing about a God you've never surrendered to. You can celebrate a king you've never actually let rule. And the most dangerous part? It looks like faithfulness. It looks like worship. It feels like the real thing. But volume is not the same as surrender, and enthusiasm is not the same as obedience.

The Pharisees told Jesus to shut it down. You know where you stand with the Pharisees, they make their rejection obvious. But the crowd? The crowd is worse. And I know that sounds strange because they're the ones praising Him. But they don't even know they're rejecting Him. They're celebrating a Jesus of their own making, just like Israel did at the foot of Sinai when they built a golden calf and said, "This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt" (Nehemiah 9:18). They shaped God into something familiar and worshiped the thing they made instead of the God who made them.

Let me ask you something that might sting a little. Is your faith loud enough to look like worship but quiet enough to avoid obedience? Are you singing about a peace you don't actually possess? Because the distance between celebration and salvation is real, and it's possible to stand in a crowd of worshipers and still be lost. Celebration says, "We found what we were looking for." Salvation says, "He found me when I wasn't looking at all."

I think this is one of the most important things the church in America needs to wrestle with right now. Because we are incredibly good at the externals, the songs, the services, the language of faith, but God has never been impressed by noise. He's moved by hearts. And a heart that sings to Him on Sunday but lives for itself on Monday is a heart that's still singing the right songs with the wrong meaning.

Tomorrow we'll see what happened when Jesus looked past the noise and saw what was really happening in the city... and it broke Him.

Application Questions

1. Is there an area of your faith where you've been going through the motions, where the outside looks right but the inside hasn't caught up?

2. Jesus said they didn't know the things that make for peace. What does true peace with God look like for you right now, not in theory but in daily practice?

Today's Challenge

Before you worship today, whether in church, in your car, or in your quiet time, stop and ask yourself honestly, "Am I singing about a God I've actually surrendered to, or one I've shaped to fit my comfort?" Let the answer lead you into real worship.

Today's Prayer

God, search me. I don't want to be someone who looks like a worshiper but lives like a stranger. Show me the places where my mouth has been ahead of my heart, where I've been declaring peace without possessing it. I don't just want the songs. I want the surrender. Make my worship honest, even if it means it gets quieter before it gets louder. In Jesus' name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/04/01/day-3#comments 0 Day 2 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/31/day-2 Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/31/day-2

The Arrival

Luke 19:28-35 ESV

"And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, 'Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, "Why are you untying it?" you shall say this: "The Lord has need of it."' So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, 'Why are you untying the colt?' And they said, 'The Lord has need of it.' And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it."

Devotional Thought

So we said yesterday that the shepherd searches until he finds the sheep. But what does the "until" actually look like when the shepherd arrives? Because that's where things get uncomfortable.

It's the tenth day of Nisan. Every household in Jerusalem is doing one thing... selecting their Passover lamb. They're inspecting it, checking for blemishes, setting it apart for sacrifice. And right in the middle of all that, Jesus mounts a colt and begins His descent into the city. Lamb selection day, and here comes the Lamb of God. But the people aren't looking for a lamb. They want a lion. They want someone to overthrow Rome, someone to establish a political kingdom, someone to deliver what they've been waiting for on their terms.

Now, it wasn't the first time God's people rejected the king He chose for them.
A thousand years before this moment, David, the anointed king of Israel, was driven up this same Mount of Olives, weeping, barefoot, head covered, because his own people turned on him and chose Absalom instead. They looked at the king God gave them and said we'd rather have the one who tells us what we want to hear (2 Samuel 15:30). And now Jesus comes down that same mountain. Same path. Same tears. Different direction. David went up rejected. Jesus comes down knowing He will be. And still He keeps coming, because the shepherd does not abandon the sheep just because the sheep would rather follow someone else.

And Jesus comes on a donkey. Not a warhorse. Because this moment was prophesied long before Rome ever set foot in the Holy Land. Zechariah 9:9 said the King would come humble, mounted on a colt, the foal of a donkey. This was never about Rome. It was always about redemption. And Jesus will not rearrange His mission to fit their expectations.

Here's what I need you to hear today.
He won't rearrange it to fit yours either.

He doesn't come to you on the terms you set, He comes on His own. That...truth...is something that should both humble us and free us, because a God who can be managed by your preferences is not a God who can save you.

So the question isn't whether Jesus has arrived. He has. The question is whether you'll receive the King who actually showed up or keep waiting for the one you invented. Because the shepherd came for the sheep on His terms, not theirs, and that's not a flaw in the rescue plan... that's the rescue plan.

Maybe you've been frustrated with God because He didn't show up the way you thought He would. Maybe you've been holding out for a version of Jesus that fits more neatly into your life. But the Jesus who rode a donkey into a city that wanted a warhorse is the same Jesus who meets you right now, not on your terms but on the terms that will actually save you.

Tomorrow we'll look at what the crowd did when the King arrived... and why their celebration was more dangerous than it appeared.

Application Questions

1. In what area of your life have you been waiting for God to show up on your terms instead of receiving Him as He is?

2. David was rejected going up the mountain, Jesus was rejected coming down. What does it tell you about God's character that He keeps coming even when He knows rejection is waiting?

Today's Challenge

Write down one expectation you've placed on God that He hasn't met. Then ask Him honestly whether you've been looking for the King He sent or the one you invented.

Today's Prayer

Lord, I confess that I've wanted You to come on my terms. I've shaped You into what I needed You to be instead of receiving You as You are. Forgive me. Help me to see You clearly, not as the version I invented but as the King who actually showed up. I don't want a God I can manage. I want the God who saves. In Jesus' name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/31/day-2#comments 0 Until (Day 1) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/30/until-day-1 Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/30/until-day-1

Until

Luke 15:4 ESV

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

Devotional Thought

There's a word buried in the middle of this parable that most of us read right past, and it's the word that carries the whole thing. Until. Not if. Not maybe. Not when He gets around to it.
Until.

Jesus tells a story about a shepherd who has a hundred sheep and loses one. And instead of doing the reasonable thing, instead of calculating the risk or weighing the cost, he leaves the ninety nine in open country and goes after the one that wandered off. And the text doesn't say he searched for a reasonable amount of time,  nor does it say he gave it his best effort and then came home. It says he searched until he found it.

That word "until" is not just a detail in a parable. It's the heartbeat of everything God has ever done. Because if you trace it through Scripture, you'll find that God has always been a God who keeps coming.
He came walking in the garden after Adam hid.
He came to Abraham when Abraham had no reason to believe.
He came to Moses in a desert where Moses had already given up on himself.
He came to David after David had fallen about as far as a man can fall.
And every single time the pattern was the same, He kept coming until.

So what I'm seeing is this... the word "until" isn't a strategy. It's not a ministry plan or a program. It's the very nature of God poured out toward people who don't even know they need to be found. It's a love that refuses to quit, not because the sheep deserves it but because the shepherd can't help Himself; that's just who He is.

And I think for a lot of us, we've heard the parable of the lost sheep so many times that we've turned it into a flannel graph story from childhood, something sweet and simple that we nod at and move on. But if you slow down and sit in the weight of what Jesus is actually saying, it will undo you. Because He's not just telling a story about a shepherd and a sheep. He's telling you what He did for you. He's telling you that there was a moment when you were the one who wandered, and He didn't stay where it was safe. He left the ninety nine and came looking for you, and He didn't stop until He found you.

That's incredible when you think about it. The God of the universe, the One who holds every star in place, narrowed His attention to you. Not because you were easy to find. Not because you made it simple. But because "until" is who He is.

And maybe right now you're reading this and you're not sure you've ever really been found. Maybe you've been in church, maybe you've heard the songs and said the prayers, but something in you knows there's a distance between you and God that hasn't been closed yet. Can I tell you something? He's still coming. He hasn't stopped. He won't stop. Because the shepherd doesn't search until it gets hard. He searches until He finds it.

Tomorrow we'll look at what happened when the shepherd finally arrived... and why it wasn't what anyone expected.

Application Questions

1. When you read the word "until" in this parable, what does it stir in you about the way God has pursued you in your own life?
2. Is there an area where you've been wandering and assumed God had moved on? What would it look like to believe He's still searching for you right now?

Today's Challenge

Take five minutes today and sit with Luke 15:4. Don't study it. Don't analyze it. Just read it slowly and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what "until" means for your life right now.

Today's Prayer

Father, I confess that I've underestimated Your pursuit. I've treated Your love like something I have to earn or something that runs out. But Your Word says You search until You find. So today I'm asking You to show me where I've wandered and to meet me there. Not because I deserve it, but because that's who You are. Thank You for being the God who keeps coming. In Jesus' name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/30/until-day-1#comments 0 Build Your Welcome Committee (Day 5) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/27/build-your-welcome-committee-day-5 Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/27/build-your-welcome-committee-day-5

Build Your Welcome Committee

Luke 16:9 ESV

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.

Devotional Thought

And so here we are. Five days of looking at the stewardship that will be reviewed, the God who is watching, the shrewdness that converts the temporary into the eternal, and the faithfulness that proves you can be trusted with what really matters. It all comes down to this. When you die, there will be a reception. And the question is... who will be there?

According to this passage, the people whose eternal destiny was affected by your stewardship will be at the gate. They will welcome you. The one whose life was forever transformed because you gave toward missions and the missionary was able to stay longer and reach the person he had been working so hard to win. The person who just needed to know that somebody cared, and you sowed a seed of love, and God sent someone else to harvest it. The student who desperately needed to go to camp, and you helped make it possible, and that very weekend they gave their life to God. Those people will be greeting you in heaven.

So here is the question right now. Who is going to be there? One? Five? A crowd? Or will you arrive by yourself with no one to welcome you but Jesus? How is it that we cannot go to Walmart without being greeted by someone we know, but when we get to heaven not a single person is at the gate? It is because we did not leave the 99. It is because we consumed the blessings instead of converting them. It is because we managed the Master's resources for our own comfort instead of transmuting them into something eternal.

See...this whole series has been about learning to leave the comforts and stability of the 99 in order to go find the one. And today Jesus gives us the ultimate reason to do it. Because nothing you experience with the 99 will go with you into eternity except the joy of bringing back the one. That is the only thing that crosses from this life into the next. Not the house, not the car, not the savings account, not the vacation. People. Just people.

Jesus said transmute the temporary into the eternal, and now you know what that means. It means take what will burn and convert it into what will last. It means stop asking how much you are gaining from God's resources and start asking how much God is gaining from what He gave you. It means look at your time, your money, your ability, your relationships and see them not as things to enjoy but as seeds to sow.

Just like a farmer who knows the harvest does not come from seed left in the barn, your welcome committee does not build itself. It is built by every conversation you had, every dollar you gave, every hour you spent, every risk you took to leave the 99 and go after the one. So start today. Start with one. Who is your one? Because building your welcome committee in heaven starts right here, right now, with one name and one step of obedience.

Transmute the temporary.
Invest in the eternal.
...and build your welcome committee.

Application Questions

1. If you arrived in heaven today, who would be at the gate because your stewardship played a part in their eternal destiny, and are you satisfied with that number?

2. What is one specific way you can begin transmuting something temporary in your life into an eternal investment this week, and who will it be for?

Today's Challenge

Write down one name. Just one. Someone whose eternity could be affected by your willingness to invest in them. Pray over that name and then take one step today. Send a text, make a call, extend an invitation, share your story. You do not need a script. You just need a willing heart. The welcome committee starts with one.

Today's Prayer

Father, I do not want to arrive in eternity with an empty gate. I want my life to have mattered for more than comfort and consumption. Give me eyes to see the people around me the way You see them, as true riches worth every investment I can make. Help me transmute what is temporary into what is eternal. Help me leave the 99 for the one. And let the joy of that one person coming home be the thing that rewrites the way I steward everything You have given me. I am ready to build my welcome committee. In Jesus' name, Amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/27/build-your-welcome-committee-day-5#comments 0 Small Stuff and True Riches (Day 4) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/26/small-stuff-and-true-riches-day-4 Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/26/small-stuff-and-true-riches-day-4

Small Stuff and True Riches

Luke 16:10-11 ESV

One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?

Devotional Thought

Jesus calls money a very little thing. That should stop every one of us in our tracks, because for most of us money is a very big thing. It determines where we live, what we drive, where our kids go to school, what we eat, where we vacation, how we plan for the future. Money occupies an enormous amount of our mental and emotional energy. And Jesus looks at all of it and says... that is a very little thing.

Here's what I see. In God's economy, the value system is completely upside down from ours. What we chase after down here, what we lose sleep over, what we argue about and stress over and build our lives around... they walk on it in heaven. Streets of gold. The thing we would give almost anything to accumulate on earth is so common in eternity that they pave the roads with it. That should tell you something about how God measures what matters.

And what matters to God, what is BIG in the economy of heaven, is people. People are the true riches. Jesus says it plainly. If you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? He is connecting how you handle money to whether He can trust you with something far greater, and that something is souls. If dollars are a big thing to you, if hours are something you hoard, if your ability is something you protect rather than deploy... then you do not yet have an eternal perspective.

Now watch this... Jesus goes even further in verse 12. "If you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?" Everything you have right now is on loan. Every dollar, every hour, every breath, every relationship. You are a steward, not an owner. But one day when you get to heaven, God is going to give you something that will actually be yours. Not loaned, not temporary, not something you have to give back. But what He gives you in eternity will be measured by what He loaned you in time. And if you cannot manage a loan, why would you get a gift?

So the question is not really about money at all. The question is about perspective. Do you see your life through the lens of time or the lens of eternity? Because just like a farmer who only eats his seed corn will have nothing to plant in the spring, a Christian who only consumes the blessings God gives without sowing them into the lives of others will arrive in eternity with nothing to show for it.

Jesus is not asking you to be poor. He is asking you to be faithful. Faithful with the small stuff, so He can trust you with what really matters. And what really matters is people. Tomorrow we bring all of this together and ask the question that will define your eternity. Who is on your welcome committee?

Application Questions

1. When you honestly evaluate your life, does money function as a small thing that you manage for God or a big thing that manages you, and what evidence would you point to?

2. If everything you currently have is on loan and what you receive in eternity is measured by what you did with the loan, what changes would you make starting today?

Today's Challenge

Take a look at your budget or your calendar this week. Find one place where you have been faithful in something small and thank God for it. Then find one place where you have been hoarding instead of sowing and ask Him for the courage to release it toward someone who needs it.

Today's Prayer

Father, I confess that I have treated small things like big things and big things like they do not exist. Money has occupied space in my heart that belongs to people. Comfort has taken priority over faithfulness. Forgive me and reset my perspective. Help me see my resources the way You see them, as tools for eternity and not trophies for time. Make me faithful in the very little so You can trust me with what is true. In Jesus' name, Amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/26/small-stuff-and-true-riches-day-4#comments 0 The Shrewdest Investment You Will Ever Make (Day 3) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/25/the-shrewdest-investment-you-will-ever-make-day-3 Wed, 25 Mar 2026 06:30:16 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/25/the-shrewdest-investment-you-will-ever-make-day-3

The Shrewdest Investment You Will Ever Make

Luke 16:8-9 ESV

“The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.”

Devotional Thought

There is a manager in Luke 16 who is about to lose everything. He has been called out for wasting his master’s resources, and the termination is coming. So what does he do? He panics, sure, but then he does something that even the master himself had to respect. He pulls up every single person who owes his boss and he cuts them a deal. One owes a hundred measures of oil, he says make it fifty. Another owes a hundred measures of wheat, he says make it eighty. And he does this because in those days, doing a favor like that guaranteed one in return. He was securing his future by investing his present.

Now let me be clear… Jesus is not telling you to go cheat someone. He is not saying dishonesty is the way of the kingdom. What He is highlighting is the man’s ability to understand the urgency of his future. The manager knew his time was running out and he acted with everything he had while he still could. And Jesus says something incredible in verse 8. The sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.

So what I’m seeing is this… the world better understands the importance of investing in their future than the church understands the importance of investing in their eternal future. People transmute money into equipment, into investment property, into education all the time because it will generate a higher return. This manager transmuted temporary assets into lasting relationships. He took what was about to expire and converted it into something that would outlive his position.

And that is exactly what Jesus is telling us to do. Verse 9 says, “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” What is unrighteous wealth? Wealth you cannot take with you. And Jesus is essentially saying take what will burn and convert it into what will last. Transmute the temporary into the eternal.

Just like a farmer who takes a handful of seed and puts it in the ground knowing the harvest will be worth more than what he held in his hand, we have to learn to see our dollars, our hours, our abilities not as possessions to protect but as seeds to plant. Because there is only one thing you can take with you into eternity, and that is people. Every dollar you gave that kept a missionary on the field, every hour you spent with someone who needed to know they were not forgotten, every sacrifice you made that put someone in a position to hear the gospel… that is transmutation. That is shrewd.

Tomorrow we will look at what Jesus says about the difference between small things and true riches, and it will reframe the way you see everything in your wallet.

Application Questions

1. If In what areas of your life have you been more shrewd about your earthly future than your eternal one, and what would it look like to bring the same urgency to kingdom investments?

2. When you think about transmuting the temporary into the eternal, what is one resource in your life right now that you know God is asking you to convert?

Today's Challenge

Identify one financial or time investment you made this week that was purely for earthly comfort. Now ask the Lord to show you how you could redirect something of equal value toward an eternal return. Give toward a mission, invest an hour in someone far from God, sow a seed that outlasts you.

Today's Prayer

Lord, I confess that I have been more careful with my earthly investments than my eternal ones. I have planned for retirement more than I have planned for the moment I stand before You. Teach me to be shrewd with what You have given me, not for selfish gain but for kingdom return. Show me how to transmute what is temporary into what will last forever. I want my life to produce eternal dividends. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/25/the-shrewdest-investment-you-will-ever-make-day-3#comments 0 What the Replay Reveals (Day 2) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/24/what-the-replay-reveals-day-2 Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/24/what-the-replay-reveals-day-2

What the Replay Reveals

Hebrews 4:13 ESV

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Devotional Thought

Yesterday we talked about the certainty that a day of accounting is coming. Today we need to talk about what God actually sees when He reviews the tape. Because He is not checking in once a year like some annual performance review. He is watching right now, and He is weighing everything.

Proverbs 5:21 says a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord and He ponders all his paths.
Job 34:21 says His eyes are on the ways of a man and He sees all his steps.
Hebrews 4:13 says no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

You are being watched. Every decision you make with your time, your talent, your treasure is being observed. Just when you think it is just you and the spreadsheet, just you and the calendar, just you and the bank account... God sees the whole picture.

But it is not just that you are being watched, you are also being weighed. When you stand before the judgment seat of Christ, He is not going to ask whether you made it into heaven; that is already settled.
What He wants to know is did you steward or did you squander what He gave you? 
Did you only enjoy or did you actually invest?
Did you produce kingdom dividends, or were you so busy managing blessings that you forgot to multiply them?

Now... imagine the Lord replaying your life from the moment of salvation forward. He stops at one month, one year, five years, and He says look at how much I gave you. Look at the food, the homes, the vehicles, the bank accounts, the friendships. But then He says, "I noticed you had food yet never shared it, homes but never opened them for anybody, vehicles but never gave anyone a ride, and the more money you made the less you gave away." The more friends you had, the less you talked about Him. It looks like you were so busy enjoying what He gave you that you forgot about the reason He gave it to you.

Here's what I see, the reason God watches is not because He wants to catch you failing. He watches because He is invested in your stewardship the way a father is invested in his child's future. He blessed you so you could be a blessing. He gave you resources so you could produce returns. And if the replay of your life shows consumption without distribution, enjoyment without investment, blessing without multiplication... then the warning is clear.

You have been watched.
You will be weighed.
And right now, while there is still time, you are being warned.

Tomorrow we are going to look at the shrewdest investment you could ever make, and it came from the most unlikely place.

Application Questions

1. If God replayed the last five years of your life and stopped at the blessings He gave you, what would the "I noticed something" section of His review sound like?

2. What is one resource God has given you, whether time, money, ability, or relationship, that you have been enjoying but not investing for His kingdom?

Today's Challenge

Pick one blessing in your life that you have been holding onto and find a way to share it with someone today. A meal, a conversation, a ride, an hour of your time. Let God see something different on the replay.

Today's Prayer

Father, I do not want to be someone who enjoys Your blessings but forgets the reason You gave them. Forgive me for the times I have consumed without sharing and received without giving. Open my eyes to see the resources You have placed in my hands and give me the courage to invest them in things that last beyond this life. You are watching, and I want what You see to honor You. In Jesus' name, Amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/24/what-the-replay-reveals-day-2#comments 0 The Day of Accounting (Day 1) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/23/the-day-of-accounting-day-1 Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/23/the-day-of-accounting-day-1

The Day of Accounting

2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Devotional Thought

There is something about the word "accounting" that makes most of us uncomfortable. We hear it and immediately think of taxes, audits, someone looking over our shoulder. But in the kingdom of God, accounting is not a maybe, it is a certainty. And what Jesus describes in Luke 16 is a moment that every one of us is headed toward whether we are ready for it or not.

So Jesus tells a story about a rich man and a manager. Someone was watching that manager, and somebody saw something that was not right, and a complaint was made. The manager was called in and told to turn in the books. The job was over. No appeal, no second chance, just... "Give me the account of your management."

Now that story is not just about a dishonest employee in the ancient world. Jesus is telling His disciples, and He is telling you and me, that there is a day coming when every believer will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Not to find out whether you are saved. If you are standing there, that part is settled. But to find out what you did with everything He gave you while you were here.
Paul says it plainly in 2 Corinthians 5:10. Each one of us will receive what is due for what we have done in the body, whether good or evil. It's a promise, not a suggestion and it's not a metaphor.

But what I observe is this... most of us live like that day does not exist. We plan for retirement, we plan for vacations, we plan for the next home, the next vehicle, the next season. But how many of us are planning for the moment we stand before the Lord and He asks what we did with the time, the talent, and the treasure He loaned us? Because that is the word, loaned.

You did not earn your breath this morning.
You did not manufacture the people in your life.
You did not generate the opportunities God set in front of you.
All of it was given, and all of it will be accounted for.

Hebrews 9:27 tells us it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. You cannot skip it and you cannot reschedule it. And the incredible thing is that Jesus does not tell us this to scare us, he tells us so we can prepare. He tells us because He loves us enough to warn us while there is still time to do something about it.

The question is not whether the day is coming.
The question is what will the report say when it does.

Tomorrow we will look at what God actually sees when He reviews your stewardship, and it might be more detailed than you think.

Application Questions

1. If God pulled the report on your stewardship right now, what areas of your life would you feel confident about and what areas would concern you?

2. How often do you think about eternity when making decisions about your time, your money, or your relationships, and what would it look like to think about it more?

Today's Challenge

Set aside ten minutes today and take an honest look at how you spent the last week. Not to feel guilty, but to see clearly. Ask the Lord to show you where your time, your money, and your energy went, and whether any of it was invested with eternity in mind.

Today's Prayer

Lord, I know that a day is coming when I will stand before You and give an account of everything You have given me. That is not something I want to fear, but it is something I want to be ready for. Open my eyes today to see my life the way You see it. Show me where I have been managing well and where I have been wasting what You have loaned me. Give me the wisdom to start preparing now while I still have time. In Jesus' name, Amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/23/the-day-of-accounting-day-1#comments 0 From Sheep to Shepherds (Day 5) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/20/from-sheep-to-shepherds-day-5 Fri, 20 Mar 2026 06:14:05 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/20/from-sheep-to-shepherds-day-5

From Sheep to Shepherds

The shepherd doesn't just save sheep. He invites them into the work.

John 10:16 (CSB)

But I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Devotional Thought

If the story ended with the shepherd saving the sheep, it would already be the greatest story ever told, but Jesus doesn't stop there. He says something in John 10:16 that stretches the whole picture wider than we expect. He says, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd."

Hear me, the shepherd is still gathering. Like right now. He is still calling names, still bringing people home, still reaching into dark and distant places to find the ones who haven't heard His voice yet. And here is the beautiful part that so many of us miss... He invites us into the work. The sheep He rescues don't just sit in the fold and enjoy safety.
They begin to take on the heart of the shepherd Himself.
They start noticing who is missing.
They start caring about names.
They start doing the work of counting, not attendance, but people.

So what I'm seeing is this, and it's one of my favorite moments in scripture which happens early in the Gospel of John. Andrew meets Jesus and the very first thing Andrew does is go find someone. Not just anyone, and not just anyone, but his brother Peter. Notice how Andrew didn't organize a campaign, or launch a program... he just went and found one person by name. An encounter with Jesus, causes something to shift inside of you. You start seeing people the way the shepherd sees them. You don't see people as crowds or categories, but as individuals with names and stories and struggles that matter.

This...is the heart behind everything we've been talking about this week. The church was never meant to simply exist so we could have the feels and get our little touch of heaven on Sunday morning. The church was meant to take on the heart of the good shepherd and go from being rescued sheep to becoming shepherds in the likeness of our Lord. We learn to count the flock. We learn to notice when someone hasn't been around. We learn to feel the weight of an empty seat the way the shepherd feels the weight of a missing sheep.

And just like Andrew went and found Peter with the simplest invitation, "Come and see," we carry that same calling right now. You don't need a seminary degree to do this, it may help but you don't need it. You don't need a title or a platform. No, you just need the shepherd's heart beating inside of you and a willingness to say to someone, "You've got to meet the shepherd because I've been with Him, and you need to be with Him too."

But before any of that can happen, there is a question each of us has to answer for ourselves. David didn't say "The Lord is a shepherd." He said "The Lord is MY shepherd." He's got to be personal, relational, and not just a truth you agree with. Is He your shepherd? Have you trusted Him with your life, your direction, and your future? Because when you do, you can't help but communicate the change it creates in you. It's not a circumstance shift, its a shift from the fact that the shepherd is leading and you are no longer walking alone.

Application Questions

1. Who is the "Peter" in your life right now, someone specific the shepherd is putting on your heart to go and find and invite to meet Him?

2. Can you honestly say "The Lord is my shepherd" and mean it personally, or has your faith stayed in the realm of general agreement without becoming a personal relationship?

Today's Challenge

This week you've walked through what it means to be known, found, and rescued by the good shepherd. Today, take one step from sheep to shepherd. Identify one person in your life who needs to hear the shepherd's voice and reach out to them. Invite them to church, to coffee, to a conversation. Be an Andrew. Go find your Peter.

Today's Prayer

Lord Jesus, You didn't just save me to sit still. You saved me to carry Your heart into the world. Give me eyes to see the missing, ears to hear the silent cries of people around me who are wandering and don't even know it. Make me an Andrew. Give me the courage to go find someone and say "come and see." I don't want to just agree that You are a shepherd... I want to live every day knowing You are my shepherd. And I want others to know it too. Use me in the work of gathering. In Your name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/20/from-sheep-to-shepherds-day-5#comments 0 Not a Hired Hand (Day 4) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/19/not-a-hired-hand-day-4 Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/19/not-a-hired-hand-day-4

Not a Hired Hand

Real shepherds risked their lives. Jesus gave His.

John 10:11-13 (CSB)

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn't own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn't care about the sheep.

Devotional Thought

There is a difference between someone who is paid to watch and someone who owns what they protect. Jesus makes this distinction and He makes it sharp; a hired hand sees the wolf coming and runs. Not because he's a coward by nature, but because the sheep aren't his. He has no investment beyond the paycheck, no attachment beyond the arrangement. When the cost of staying becomes greater than the reward of the job, he leaves. So the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep because the one who was supposed to protect them had no real love for them.

Here's what I see in this passage, Jesus is drawing a line between himself and every other voice that has ever claimed authority over God's people. The religious leaders of His day were supposed to be shepherds. They were supposed to care for the flock, protect them from harm, and lead them toward God, but so many of them had become hired hands. They kept the position but lost the heart. They maintained the title but abandoned the responsibility when it cost them something.

And then Jesus says something that separates Him from every leader, teacher, or religious authority that has ever existed. He says, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." See, real shepherds in the ancient world risked their lives regularly. They fought off predators with nothing but a staff and a sling. They put themselves between danger and the flock because the sheep were their livelihood, their responsibility, their family's provision. Yet even the best earthly shepherd fought to survive and Jesus did something different. He didn't just risk His life... He gave it. He willingly and completely gave it...on purpose.

Now watch, John 10:17-18 says, "I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again." The cross was not an accident, nor was it a tragedy that spiraled out of control. It was not the plan that was falling apart, no, it was the plan. The shepherd walked into the valley of the shadow of death on purpose because that's where His sheep were trapped, and the only way to free them was to face what they could never face on their own.

Sin, death, and the grave... these were the wolves. And when they came, Jesus didn't run. He stood between you and everything that was trying to destroy you, and He absorbed it all. That is what makes Him good. Not just kind, not just wise, not just powerful, but Good. Because He did for you what no hired hand ever would and what you could never do for yourself.

And here is the part that makes the gospel so incredible. He didn't just lay His life down, He took it back up again. The shepherd lives...and because He lives, He is still leading, still protecting, still gathering!! Which means there is more to this story, and we'll see it tomorrow

Application Questions

1. In what areas of your life have you been trusting hired hands, voices or systems that will leave when things get hard, instead of trusting the good shepherd who stays?

2. How does knowing that Jesus chose the cross willingly rather than having it forced upon Him change the way you understand His love for you personally?

Today's Challenge

Write down one area of your life where you feel unprotected or exposed to a "wolf," whether that's fear, temptation, grief, or uncertainty. Then read John 10:11 out loud over that area and declare that you have a shepherd who does not run when danger comes.

Today's Prayer

Jesus, You are not a hired hand. You didn't run when the cost of loving me became the cross. You stood between me and everything that was trying to destroy me, and You gave your life to bring me home. I don't deserve that kind of love, and I can't earn it. But I receive it today. Help me to stop trusting in voices that will leave when things get hard and to anchor my life in the shepherd who stays. You are good. You are mine. And I am Yours. In Your name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/19/not-a-hired-hand-day-4#comments 0 The Shepherd You've Been Waiting For (Day 3) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/18/the-shepherd-you-ve-been-waiting-for-day-3 Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/18/the-shepherd-you-ve-been-waiting-for-day-3

The Shepherd You've Been Waiting For

The shepherd you've been reading about your whole life... that's me.

Isaiah 40:11 (CSB)

He tends his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in the fold of his garment. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

Devotional Thought

The idea of God as a shepherd didn't begin in the New Testament. It runs through the entire Bible like a thread that holds the whole story together. Long before Jesus stood up and made His claim in John 10, the people of God already knew this language. They had been singing it, praying it, and clinging to it for centuries.

David was the one who gave us the words we still hold onto today. Psalm 23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." And notice David didn't say God is just powerful, He said God is personal. He is the one who leads me, provides for me, protects me, walks with me. David described green pastures and still waters, places of rest and restoration that only a caring shepherd could provide. Then David went further, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." The valley exists, and faith does not remove valleys but the presence of the shepherd changes the valley.

So what I'm seeing is this. God has always been near to His people, even when they couldn't feel it. When the people of Israel were in exile, when their homes were destroyed and their nation was broken and they felt completely abandoned... God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and gave them one of the most intimate pictures of himself in all of scripture. "He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them close to his heart, and gently lead those that are with young." This is not the image of a harsh ruler barking orders from a throne. It's the image of a God who bends down, picks up the weak, holds them close, and walks slowly enough for the struggling to keep up.

Now here is where it all comes together. When Jesus stands up in John 10 and says "I am the good shepherd," He is not introducing a new idea, He is fulfilling an ancient one. To a Jewish audience that grew up reciting Psalm 23 and memorizing Isaiah 40, this was an incredible claim. Because they knew who the shepherd was and the shepherd was God. Now Jesus is saying... the shepherd you have been reading about, the one David sang to, the one Isaiah promised would come and gather the lambs in His arms... that's me. I am the one you've been waiting for.

That moment in John 10 was not a gentle teaching illustration, it was a declaration. Jesus was telling them that the God who walked with David through the valley was the God who promised to carry His exiled people home, had now stepped into human skin and was standing right in front of them. The shepherd had arrived, and He didn't come just to guide the sheep from a distance. He came to do something no shepherd had ever done before, and that's exactly where we're headed tomorrow.

Application Questions

1. When you read Psalm 23 and Isaiah 40, do you tend to see God as distant and powerful or as personal and near, and what has shaped that view?

2. How does understanding that Jesus is the fulfillment of an ancient promise rather than a new idea strengthen the way you trust Him in your current circumstances?

Today's Challenge

Read Psalm 23 slowly today, but this time read it as a prophecy pointing forward to Jesus. When David says "the Lord is my shepherd," hear Jesus saying "I am the good shepherd" in response. Let the Old Testament and the New Testament speak to each other and see how the whole story connects.

Today's Prayer

Lord Jesus, You are the shepherd that David sang about, that Isaiah promised, and that I desperately need. You are not distant from me. You are the God who gathers, who carries, who gently leads. Help me to see You not just as powerful but as personal. You walked with David through the valley, You carried Israel through exile, and You are walking with me right now through whatever I'm facing. I trust You because You have always been faithful. In Your name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/18/the-shepherd-you-ve-been-waiting-for-day-3#comments 0 Lost Is Never Anonymous (Day 2) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/17/lost-is-never-anonymous-day-2 Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/17/lost-is-never-anonymous-day-2

Lost Is Never Anonymous

Lost is not a category to Him. Lost is a name. Lost is a face. Lost is a person He knows. Lost is a person, someone He calls His child.

Luke 15:4 (CSB)

"What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it?"

Devotional Thought

Shepherds in the ancient world counted their sheep constantly. Morning and night. Leaving the pasture and returning to the fold. It wasn't a habit born out of anxiety, it was the natural rhythm of someone who cared about each one by name. Because when you truly know your flock, you don't just notice a lower number... you notice a missing face.

The parable in Luke 15 doesn't say the shepherd noticed the flock seemed smaller. It says he had a hundred and lost one. He knew which one was gone. This wasn't guesswork or a headcount that came up short. This was a shepherd who looked out over his flock and knew exactly who was missing. And that mattered enough for him to leave the ninety nine and go searching.

Here's what I need you to know. In the heart of God, "lost" is never a category. It's never a statistic or a general label we throw over a group of people we've given up on. To the shepherd, lost is a name, a face, a person He knows. When someone drifts, when someone walks away, when someone disappears from the fold... God doesn't shrug and say "well, we still have the majority." He goes after the one because the one was never anonymous to Him.

Think about what that means for you. If you've ever wandered, if you've ever found yourself far from where you know you should be, the shepherd didn't write you off, He came looking. Not because you earned it, not because you deserved the rescue, but because you belong to Him and He refuses to let you stay lost.

And this reveals something so important about the way God operates. He doesn't wait for the lost to find their way back on their own. Sheep don't rescue themselves... they can't. They panic easily, they get stuck, they wander further into danger when left alone. So the shepherd goes, initiates, searches, and does the work of finding because..the sheep can't do the work of returning.

I remember hearing about a pastor who grew up raising sheep and he said something that stuck with me. He said you learn every sheep's personality, their habits, the way they move. And because of that, when one is gone you feel it. It's not just a number missing from the count, it's a presence missing from the fold. That's the heart of God for you. Your absence is felt. Your wandering is noticed. Your silence is heard.

So if you're reading this and you feel like you've drifted too far, like maybe nobody has noticed you've been gone... the shepherd has.

He's been counting, and He's already on His way. But here's the incredible thing we need to see... this shepherd heart isn't new. It didn't start in the New Testament. God has always been this way, and tomorrow we'll trace it all the way back.

Application Questions

1. Is there someone in your life right now who has drifted or gone missing from the community of faith, and what would it look like for you to notice them the way the shepherd notices his sheep?

2. Have you ever experienced a season of wandering where you felt too far gone, and how does knowing the shepherd comes looking for you change the way you see that season?

Today's Challenge

Think of one person who has been absent from your church or your life recently. Reach out to them today, not with pressure but with presence. A simple text or call that says "I noticed you and I'm thinking about you" carries more weight than you know.

Today's Prayer

Father, thank You that I am never anonymous to You. Even when I wander, even when I drift into places I was never meant to be, You come looking for me. Forgive me for the times I've treated the lost as a category instead of seeing them the way You do, as people with names and faces and stories You know by heart. Give me the eyes of the shepherd today. In Jesus' name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/17/lost-is-never-anonymous-day-2#comments 0 More Than a Number (Day 1) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/16/more-than-a-number-day-1 Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/16/more-than-a-number-day-1

More Than a Number

"This is not management. This is relationship. Not statistics. Names. There is intentionality and purposeful investment."

John 10:14 (CSB)

"I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me."

Devotional Thought


There is something about being known that reaches a place inside of us nothing else can touch. You can walk into a room filled with hundreds of people and still feel completely invisible. You can be surrounded and still feel alone. But the moment someone calls your name, something shifts. You go from being a face in a crowd to being seen, and that changes everything inside of you.

Here's what I see when I look at John 10. Jesus doesn't describe himself as a manager running an operation. He doesn't talk about his sheep the way someone talks about inventory or attendance numbers. He says, "I know my own." That word "know" in the original language carries a depth that goes far beyond casual awareness. It's the kind of knowing that involves time, presence, and personal investment. It's the difference between recognizing someone's face and knowing their story.

In the ancient world, shepherds didn't work from a distance. They lived among the flock. They slept near them, talked to them constantly, learned their personalities and habits. A shepherd could tell you which sheep wandered off every evening and which one stayed close. He knew which ones panicked at the sound of thunder and which ones needed to be guided to water because they wouldn't go on their own. This was not a professional arrangement... this was a relationship built over time through constant, intentional presence.

So what I'm seeing is this. When Jesus says "I know my own," He is telling us something about the character of God that we desperately need to hear. You are not a number to Him. You are not a statistic in a church report or just another soul in the crowd. The God of the universe, the one who holds all of creation together, knows your name. He knows your struggles and the things you carry that nobody else sees. He knows the fears you've never spoken out loud and the questions you're afraid to ask.

And this is where it gets incredible. His knowing isn't passive. It's not like someone who read your file and moved on. His knowing is active, invested, relational. Just like a shepherd who spends every day with his flock, God's knowledge of you comes from his desire to be near you. Psalm 139 says it so clearly, that before a word is on your tongue He knows it completely. He has searched you and known you. That's not surveillance... that's intimacy.

Can I just say this to you right now. If you've been feeling invisible, unseen, like nobody really knows the real you... the shepherd does. He always has. And his knowledge of you isn't something you have to earn. It's something He chose because you belong to Him.

But being known is just the beginning. Because a shepherd who knows his sheep also knows when one goes missing. And that's where we're headed tomorrow.

Application Questions

1. When was the last time you felt truly known by someone, and how did that experience shape the way you see yourself in your relationship with God?

2. If God's knowledge of you is active and personal rather than distant and general, how does that change the way you approach Him in prayer today?

Today's Challenge

Take five minutes today in a quiet place and read Psalm 139:1 through 6 slowly. As you read each line, let the truth settle that the God who made the universe knows you personally, not as a concept but as His own.

Today's Prayer

Lord, I confess that there are days I feel invisible, even in a room full of people. I forget that You see me and know me completely. Today remind me that I am not a number to You. I am known. You know my name, my fears, my story. Help me to rest in that truth and to stop striving for the approval of people when I already have the attention of the shepherd. In Jesus' name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/16/more-than-a-number-day-1#comments 0 Will You Leave? (Day 5) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/13/will-you-leave-day-5 Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/13/will-you-leave-day-5

Will You Leave?

"The kingdom doesn't multiply by holding what you have, it multiplies when you go after what's been lost."

Luke 15:4 ESV

"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?"

Devotional Thought

Devotional Thought:

And so here we are. Five days of looking at the joy that expands the kingdom, the joy that thrills heaven, the joy that causes the Lord Himself to shout over us as we celebrate the one. It all begins with a love that is willing to leave the 99.

Because love that leaves the 99 leads to a joy that celebrates the one. That is what this whole thing has been about. Not guilt. Not obligation. Joy. The kind of joy that God rejoices with in Deuteronomy, the kind that makes Him sing like a bridegroom in Isaiah, the kind He pours out with all His heart and soul in Jeremiah, the kind that makes heaven loud in Zephaniah, and the kind that carried Jesus through the cross in Hebrews. That joy is waiting for you on the other side of obedience.

But here is the truth right now... that joy requires a leaving. Jesus asks the question plainly in Luke 15:4. "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?" The question is rhetorical, but the answer is personal. Because the 99 is comfortable. The 99 is safe. The 99 gets you. You know the language, you know the rhythms, you know where you stand. And leaving that for the unknown, for the messy, for the one who might not even want to be found at first... that is a price.

But I promise you, the 99 will still be there. The one might not be.

So what is it going to take to turn our hearts to seeing lost sheep as sheep left behind and not sheep that are less than? What is it going to take for us to stop using our routines, our comfort, our theology even, as reasons we cannot go? Because the kingdom does not multiply by holding what you have. It multiplies when you go after what has been lost. And the joy waiting for you on the other side of that leaving is a joy you have never tasted while sitting comfortably among the 99.

I want to challenge you the same way the Lord challenged me. Your pastor is still growing, still learning, still surrendering parts of my life that lack obedience. Reaching the lost is one of those areas for me. It is not that I do not want to, I do, but a heart that sees the lost, looks for the lost, leaves the 99 for the lost... that is something the Lord is building in me right now, and He wants to build it in you too.

The lost are out there looking for someone who is looking for them. They are not looking for perfection. They are looking for a shepherd with the scent of the open field on them, someone who cared enough to leave. Will you be that person?

The joy of celebrating the one begins with a love that is willing to leave.

Will you leave?

Application Questions

1. What is one specific thing about the 99 that makes it hardest for you to go after the one, and what would it look like to surrender that to God this week?

2. If you knew that heaven was ready to throw a celebration over the person you have been thinking about all week, how would that change your willingness to act?

Today's Challenge

Take the names you wrote down on Day 3 and do something about it today. Send a text, make a call, extend an invitation, show up where they are. You do not need a script. You just need a willing heart. The Shepherd has already gone ahead of you.

Today's Prayer

Father, I do not want to be someone who hears about leaving the 99 and stays seated. I want to be someone who goes. Give me eyes to see the one the way You see them, not as less than but as left behind. Give me a heart that is willing to trade comfort for obedience and routine for restoration. And let the joy that is waiting on the other side of that leaving be the thing that moves my feet today. I am ready to go. In Jesus' name, Amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/13/will-you-leave-day-5#comments 0 When Comfort Becomes the Shepherd (Day 4) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/12/when-comfort-becomes-the-shepherd-day-4 Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/12/when-comfort-becomes-the-shepherd-day-4

When Comfort Becomes the Shepherd

"The Haverim didn't hate the lost. They just loved their comfort more."

Luke 15:1-2 ESV

"Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, 'This man receives sinners and eats with them.'"

Devotional Thought

In Jesus' day there was a group called the Haverim, the associates of scrupulous people. They were devoted to purity beyond what God had ever asked of them. When the Old Testament law said not to boil a young goat in its mother's milk, they took that and built an entire system around it, rules about how long you had to wait between eating meat and cheese, regulations on top of regulations. And on the surface it looked like holiness. It looked like devotion. But it was all a show.

The Haverim looked down on the people who did not keep the law the way they did, who did not tithe the way they did, who did not perform the way they did. They called those people the Am Ha'Aretz, the people of the land, and being near them jeopardized their cleanliness. So they kept their distance. They did not associate with those who lacked discipline, they did not want the messiness of the lost, they did not have patience for the lost, and they enjoyed the comfort of the synagogue and the traditions and routines that affirmed themselves.

Now watch this... the Haverim did not see the lost as sheep left behind. They saw them as less than sheep. And that is exactly what made them false shepherds. In Ezekiel 34:4, God accuses the shepherds of Israel and says, "The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them." The Haverim did not hate the lost. They just loved their comfort more.

And that should make every one of us stop and examine ourselves. Because here is the incredible thing about Luke 15:1-2. Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Jesus. Lost sheep were running to the Shepherd. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled. The ones who were supposed to know the heart of God were the very ones pushing the lost away from it.

So what I'm seeing is this... the danger was never that the religious people rejected God outright. The danger was that they replaced God's heart with their own preferences, their own comfort, their own version of what faithfulness looked like. They built walls to keep themselves clean instead of building bridges to bring the lost home. And they used their position to justify why they could not care.

Do sinners see the Shepherd in you?
Do the lost see a way home in you?
Do lost sons and daughters see a loving father waiting for them in you?
Or do they see the Haverim?

Because the lost are not looking for a perfect church. They are looking for a church that is looking for them. They are looking for someone who is willing to leave the comforts of the synagogue, the traditions, the events, the gatherings and lifestyles that affirm our beliefs... they are looking for us to leave the 99 to come find them.

Tomorrow we bring all of this together and ask the question that matters most. Will you leave?

Application Questions

1. In what ways might you be building walls of comfort and routine that look like faithfulness but are actually keeping you from the lost?

2. When you read that the lost are looking for someone who is looking for them, who comes to mind, and what has kept you from going after them?

Today's Challenge

Take an honest inventory of your weekly routine. Identify one comfort, one tradition, or one habit that you could set aside this week to make space for someone who is far from God. It does not have to be dramatic. It just has to be intentional.

Today's Prayer

Lord, search my heart and show me where comfort has become my shepherd instead of You. I do not want to be someone who loves the fold more than the one who is missing from it. Break the patterns in me that look like devotion but are really just self-protection. Give me the courage to leave what is familiar and go after the one You are already celebrating in heaven. In Jesus' name, Amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/12/when-comfort-becomes-the-shepherd-day-4#comments 0 The Joy That Endured the Cross (Day 3) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/11/the-joy-that-endured-the-cross-day-3 Wed, 11 Mar 2026 05:23:46 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/11/the-joy-that-endured-the-cross-day-3

The Joy That Endured the Cross

"When Jesus looked at Calvary, He didn't just see nails and wood and blood. He saw you. And the joy of having you was so great that it was worth every bit of what the cross cost Him."

Hebrews 12:2 ESV

"looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

Devotional Thought

There was a man who once left the comforts of heaven, the security of His throne, and even, though temporarily, the relationship to His Father... just so He could celebrate the return of those who were lost. That man is Jesus.

And Hebrews 12:2 tells us something that should reshape the way we see everything. Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Can I tell you what that means? It means when Jesus looked at Calvary, He did not just see nails and wood and blood. He saw you. And the joy of having you was so great that it was worth every bit of what the cross cost Him.

Here's what I see. This is not a God who reluctantly paid a debt. This is a God who was fueled by joy to pay the highest price that has ever been paid, because the thing waiting on the other side of that suffering was you coming home. The cross was not an interruption to His joy, the cross was the doorway to His joy.

Now if the life of God is in me, and His Spirit lives in you, then we have to ask ourselves some hard questions right now. How important is the recovery of the lost in my life? How critical is that to me? How do I find my highest joy? Is it in some trivial thing in this world, some temporal thing, some insignificant thing? Or do I find the highest levels of my joy in the knowledge that a sinner has been found and restored?

That should be our highest joy. Is it?

Because if God's greatest celebration is over one sinner coming home, then what does His Spirit living in you celebrate? If the Spirit of the One who endured a cross for joy is the same Spirit inside of you, then something in you should be stirred by the same thing that stirred Him. You should feel something pulling you beyond your comfort, beyond your routine, beyond the safety of what you already know, and into the space where the lost are waiting to be found.

Just like a farmer who plants in hard soil because the harvest is worth the labor, the joy set before Jesus made the pain worth enduring. And the joy set before you, the joy of seeing someone come home to the Father, is worth whatever it costs you to leave the 99. It will cost you comfort. It will cost you time. It may cost you the approval of people who think the lost are not worth the trouble. But the joy on the other side of that obedience is a joy you have never tasted sitting safely among the fold.

Tomorrow we are going to look at a group of people who should have known all of this and missed it entirely, and what they teach us about the danger of loving comfort more than the lost.

Application Questions

1. When you think about Jesus enduring the cross "for the joy set before Him," how does that change the way you see your own willingness to sacrifice comfort for the sake of someone who is lost?

2. If God's Spirit living in you celebrates what God celebrates, what area of your life might He be asking you to surrender so that celebration can begin?

Today's Challenge

Write down the names of one or two people in your life who are far from God. Spend five minutes in prayer asking the Lord to give you His joy for their restoration, not just concern for them, but joy that is willing to go after them.

Today's Prayer

Jesus, You looked at a cross and saw me, and the joy of having me was enough to carry You through the worst suffering imaginable. I am humbled and undone by that kind of love. Give me the same heart. Let the joy of seeing someone come home be greater than the comfort of staying where I am. Make me willing to leave the 99 the way You left glory. In Your name, Amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/11/the-joy-that-endured-the-cross-day-3#comments 0 What Makes God Shout (Day 2) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/10/what-makes-god-shout-day-2 Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/10/what-makes-god-shout-day-2

What Makes God Shout

"What causes heaven to be loud with the singing of the Lord? Those who have been saved by the mighty one."

Zephaniah 3:17 ESV

"The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."

Devotional Thought

If God is the source of all joy, then what makes God show great joy? What makes Him rejoice? Because if we are carrying His Spirit inside of us, whatever moves Him should be moving us too.

So what I'm seeing is this... all through the Old Testament, God keeps coming back to the same thing. In Deuteronomy 30, after listing every blessing for obedience and every curse for rebellion, God already knows what Israel will choose. He knows they will wander. But He doesn't leave them without hope. He says, "When you wake up one day and realize you messed up and call on me, I will be there for you. I will bring you back home like I promised." And then in verse 9, He says the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers. Not reluctant acceptance. Not a frustrated sigh. Rejoicing. God's response to a repentant heart is not tolerance, it is joy.

In Isaiah 62, the Lord is looking ahead to the salvation of His people and He is so passionate about their return that He compares it to a wedding. "As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." That is not casual language. That is the kind of joy that rewrites your whole future, the kind that says everything starts now.

In Jeremiah 32:41, God says something that should stop every one of us. "I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul." With all His heart and all His soul. That is not a God who is indifferent to people coming home. That is a God who is completely invested in it.

And then in Zephaniah 3, after calling Jerusalem rebellious and defiled, after saying she listened to no voice and accepted no correction and failed to trust in the Lord... He looks forward to the day when a humble remnant seeks refuge in His name. And on that day, He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you by His love, He will exult over you with loud singing. God sings over the ones who come home. Heaven is not silent when the lost return. It is loud.

So here is the incredible thing about all of this. The pattern never changes. In Deuteronomy, it is restoration. In Isaiah, it is salvation. In Jeremiah, it is return. In Zephaniah, it is rescue. And every single time, God's response is joy. Not a reserved nod of approval, but the kind of joy that shouts, that sings, that pours out with all His heart and soul.

If that is what moves God, then it should be what moves us. And if it does not move us yet, maybe it is because we have been sitting in the comfort of the 99 so long that we forgot what the one sounds like when heaven throws the party. Tomorrow we will see how this joy showed up supremely at the cross.

Application Questions

1. Which of these Old Testament pictures of God's joy surprises you the most, and why do you think it strikes you that way?

2. If God rejoices with all His heart and soul over the return of the lost, how would you describe the level of your own heart for people who are far from Him right now?

Today's Challenge

Pick one of the passages from today (Deuteronomy 30:9, Isaiah 62:5, Jeremiah 32:41, or Zephaniah 3:17) and read the full chapter around it. Ask God to let His joy for the lost become your joy.

Today's Prayer

Father, You are not a distant God who watches from far away when someone comes home. You are a God who shouts, who sings, who rejoices with everything You are. Forgive me for the times I have been unmoved by the things that move You most. Plant Your joy in me so deeply that I cannot help but look for the one the way You do. In Jesus' name, Amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/10/what-makes-god-shout-day-2#comments 0 The Joy You Didn’t Know Was Missing (Day 1) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/09/the-joy-you-didn-t-know-was-missing-day-1 Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/09/the-joy-you-didn-t-know-was-missing-day-1

The Joy You Didn't Know Was Missing

"If the destination of each parable is joy, then maybe joy is not just a byproduct of the kingdom. Maybe joy is the passion that fuels something bigger."

Luke 15:7 (ESV)

"Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."

Devotional Thought

We talk a lot about joy in the church. We sing about it, we preach about it, we tell people they should have it. And most of the time when we think about joy we think about our own well being, our own happiness, our own peace of mind. That's not wrong, but it's incomplete.

In Romans 14:17, Paul tells us the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. We understand righteousness and peace as kingdom components. If righteousness increases, so does the kingdom. If peace increases, so does the kingdom. But it sounds out of place to say that when joy increases, when it multiplies, so is the kingdom. And yet that is exactly what Paul is telling us.

So when you look at Luke 15 you find something incredible. Jesus gives us three parables, a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son, and every single one of them lands in the same place. Not the lostness. Not the seeking. The celebration. The joy. In the parable of the lost sheep, there is joy in heaven. In the parable of the lost coin, there is joy before the angels. In the parable of the lost son, there is a feast and gladness because the one who was dead is alive again.

Now watch this... the goal of these parables is not just for you to feel sorry for the lost. The goal is for you to arrive at the same destination that heaven does. Celebration. Joy. And if every parable ends at the same place, then maybe joy is not just something that shows up after the work is done. Maybe it is the thing that drives the work in the first place.

Joy, just like love, is the fruit of the Spirit, and just like love, it has to be cultivated. We experience the love of God that draws us to Him, but we have to work on our love for others. Joy is no different. We have to learn and cultivate a joy that is expressed in love for the lost. And this love is a sacrificial love, because it cannot be a love that celebrates the return of the lost into the fold until it is a love that is willing to leave the comforts of the fold.

So here is the question right now. What is your highest joy? Is it something that perishes, something temporary, something that fits in your hand and fades by tomorrow? Or is it the eternal joy that heaven itself throws a party over? Because if we are going to multiply the kingdom, we need to understand that joy is not just waiting for us at the finish line. Joy is what helps us get us out the door, in hopes of who we might find.

Tomorrow we will look at what makes God Himself rejoice, and it might surprise you how personal it is.

Application Questions

1. When you think about kingdom growth, do you naturally include joy as a part of that, or does it feel more like a bonus? What would it look like to see joy as fuel instead of a feeling?

2. Which of the three parables in Luke 15 speaks to you most right now, and what do you think the celebration at the end of that parable is trying to teach you?

Today's Challenge

Read all of Luke 15 in one sitting. Pay attention to how each parable ends. Ask the Lord to begin shifting your understanding of joy from something personal to something kingdom sized.

Today's Prayer

Lord, I confess that my understanding of joy has been too small. I have treated it as something I receive and not something I release. Open my eyes to see that Your kingdom expands when Your joy expands through me. Teach me what it means to find my highest joy not in the things of this world but in the things that make heaven celebrate. In Jesus' name, Amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/09/the-joy-you-didn-t-know-was-missing-day-1#comments 0 THE OIL, THE WINE, AND THE INN (Day 5) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/06/the-oil-the-wine-and-the-inn-day-5 Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/06/the-oil-the-wine-and-the-inn-day-5

THE OIL, THE WINE, AND THE INN

"He did not just see the wound. He poured in everything needed to heal it, and then He made sure there was a place for recovery."

Titus 3:4-5 (CSB)

"But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit."

Devotional Thought

The Samaritan did not simply look at the man with compassion and walk away feeling good about his emotions. Compassion without action is just sentiment, and sentiment never healed anyone. The text says he bandaged his wounds and poured in oil and wine (Luke 10:34). Every detail here matters because every detail points to what God has provided for our healing.

The oil represents the Holy Spirit. Paul reminded Titus that God saved us not by works of righteousness but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). The Spirit is not an optional accessory to the Christian life. He is the very agent of transformation, the one who regenerates what sin destroyed and renews what the enemy stripped away. Without the Spirit, there is no new birth. Without the Spirit, there is no power to live the life God has called us to live. Jesus told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49), because He knew that the mission could not be accomplished by human effort alone.

And the wine represents the blood of Jesus. Peter wrote, "For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb" (1 Peter 1:18-19). The blood is what purchases our freedom. It is what washes away the sin that no amount of religious effort could remove. The oil heals and the wine redeems, and together they represent the fullness of what God pours into every life that is surrendered to Him.

Now watch this... the Samaritan does not stop at the roadside. He places the man on his own animal, carries him to an inn, and takes care of him there. The inn represents the church, the body of believers where the wounded are brought to recover, to be strengthened, to be cared for over time. Salvation is not just a moment on the side of the road. It is a journey of restoration, and God designed the church to be the place where that restoration continues.

And then the Samaritan says something incredible to the innkeeper. He says, "Take care of him. When I come back, I'll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend" (Luke 10:35). He leaves provision and a promise. He will return. And in that promise we hear the echo of Christ's own words to His church. He has given us the supply of His Spirit, the covering of His blood, the fellowship of His body, and the promise that He is coming back.

So the parable ends where it began, with a question. "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor?" (Luke 10:36). And Jesus says, "Go and do the same" (Luke 10:37). It is not a suggestion. It is a command. You have been rescued. You have been healed. You have been brought into the house and provided for. Now go. Find the one who is still in the ditch. Bring them the oil and the wine. Carry them to the inn. Because that is what was done for you, and the mission has not changed.

Each one, reach one. That is the call. Right now, today, this week. Not in theory. In practice.

Application Questions

1. How have you experienced the oil and the wine in your own life, the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and the redemption of the blood of Jesus, and how has that healing changed the way you live?

2. Who is the "one" God is asking you to reach, and what is the first step you can take to bring them toward the inn, toward the body of Christ where they can find ongoing care and community?

Today's Challenge

This week you were asked to write down a name. Today, act on it. Reach out to that person with an invitation, a prayer, a conversation, or an act of kindness that reflects the compassion the Good Samaritan showed. Do not wait for perfect conditions. Just go.

Today's Prayer

Father, thank You for the oil of Your Spirit and the wine of Your Son's blood. Thank You for not just rescuing me from the ditch but for carrying me to a place of healing and providing everything I need to be made whole. I do not want to hoard what You have given me. I want to pour it out on every life I encounter. Give me boldness to go, compassion to stop, and faithfulness to carry the wounded to the place where they can meet You. And Lord, as we wait for Your return, help us to be found doing the work of the kingdom, reaching one, loving one, because that is what You did for us. In Jesus' name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/06/the-oil-the-wine-and-the-inn-day-5#comments 0 HE CAME TO WHERE YOU WERE (Day 4) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/05/he-came-to-where-you-were-day-4 Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/05/he-came-to-where-you-were-day-4

HE CAME TO WHERE YOU WERE

"The priest would not look. The Levite looked down on him. But the Samaritan came to where he was and gave him the look of compassion."

Luke 10:33-34 (CSB)

"But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine."

Devotional Thought

There is an all-important word that shifts the entire story, and it is the word "but." The priest passed by. The Levite passed by. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was (Luke 10:33). Everything before this moment was failure. Everything after it is rescue. And it all turns on that one small word.

Now consider who this rescuer is. A Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans had no dealings with one another (John 4:9). Samaritans were the despised ones, the mixed-race outcasts, the people no respectable religious leader would associate with. And yet in this parable, it is the Samaritan who represents the heart of Jesus Himself. Just like Jesus, who was despised and rejected by men (Isaiah 53:3), the one the religious establishment refused to accept became the one who stopped, knelt down, and saved the man everyone else had abandoned.

Here's what I see in this moment that changes everything. The text says the Samaritan "came up to him." He did not call out from a distance. He did not send help from the road. He came to where the wounded man was. And that is exactly what God did for us. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). He was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He did not observe our brokenness from heaven and offer advice. He entered it. He put on flesh and walked into the mess.

And when the Samaritan arrived, the text says he "had compassion." That phrase carries weight. It is the same word used of Jesus when He saw the crowds and was moved with compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). This is not pity from a distance. This is a deep, gut-level response that compels action. The Samaritan felt what the priest refused to feel and what the Levite only glanced at.

So what I'm seeing is this... sometimes all a person needs is to know that somebody sees them. Not a sermon. Not a program. Not a theological lecture. Just someone who will look at them and say, I see you, and you are not invisible. The Samaritan gave the wounded man something the priest and the Levite withheld, and it was not medicine or money. It was his presence. He showed up. He got close. He did not look away.

Right now, there are people in your neighborhood, in your workplace, in your family who are lying in their own version of that ditch, and they are wondering if anyone sees them. They are wondering if they have been forgotten. They are wondering if anyone in the world cares enough to stop. And the incredible truth of the gospel is that God sees. He has always seen. He saw you before you ever knew to look for Him, and He came to where you were because that is who He is.

He did not wait for you to clean yourself up. He did not require you to crawl to Him. He came down, He knelt beside you, and He began to heal what was broken. That is the heart of the gospel. That is the love that should be flowing out of every believer who has ever been rescued from their own ditch.

Tomorrow we look at what the Samaritan poured into the wounds, and what it means for every one of us who has been made whole.

Application Questions

1. When you think about your own salvation, can you identify the moment or the season when God came to where you were, and what did His compassion look like in your life?

2. Is there someone right now who needs you to simply show up and be present with them, not with answers or solutions, but just with the compassion of being seen?

Today's Challenge

Ask God to give you one encounter today where you can be the presence of Christ to someone. It does not have to be dramatic. It might be a conversation in a parking lot, a kind word to a stranger, or simply sitting with someone who is hurting. Just show up.

Today's Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You for not staying at a distance. Thank You for coming to where I was, broken and unable to save myself, and for looking at me with compassion instead of condemnation. I want to carry that same compassion into the world around me. Open my eyes today to the people who feel invisible. Help me to stop, to see, and to be present the way You have always been present with me. Let someone encounter Your love today because I was willing to come to where they are. In Your name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/05/he-came-to-where-you-were-day-4#comments 0 A FORM OF GODLINESS (Day 3) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/04/a-form-of-godliness-day-3 Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/04/a-form-of-godliness-day-3

A FORM OF GODLINESS

"The priest would not look. The Levite looked but kept walking. Religion saw the need and chose not to be inconvenienced by it."

2 Timothy 3:5 (CSB)

"holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people."

Devotional Thought

Two religious men came down the same road. The priest walked by first, and the text says he passed by on the other side (Luke 10:31). He did not even look. He saw enough to know there was a problem and made a deliberate choice to avoid it. Then the Levite came, and at least he looked at the man, but after looking he also passed by on the other side (Luke 10:32). Two men who represented the spiritual leadership of Israel, men who knew the law and served in the temple, and neither one of them stopped.

So what I'm seeing is this... the priest represented the law, and the law cannot save. The Levite represented ritual and religious duty, and ritual cannot save either. Paul explained it clearly. "For what the law could not do, since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering" (Romans 8:3). The law pointed to the need but could not meet it. Religious observance acknowledged the wound but could not heal it.

And that is the incredible danger of dead orthodoxy, of having all the right doctrine perfectly preserved and none of the compassion that doctrine should produce. There is nothing deader than a church that has its theology embalmed and pickled but has lost the heartbeat of the gospel. You can attend every Sunday, sing every song, recite every creed, and still walk right past the man bleeding on the side of the road because stopping would be inconvenient or uncomfortable or messy.

This is where the parable gets personal. Because it is easy to look at the priest and Levite and think, I would never do that. But the question is not what you would do in a hypothetical story. The question is what you are doing right now. That coworker who has been going through a divorce and has never once been invited to church. That neighbor whose kids are out of control and who looks exhausted every time you see them. That family member who stopped calling because they felt judged the last time they opened up about their struggles. These are the people lying on the side of the road, and every day we make a choice to stop or to cross to the other side.

The priest and the Levite were not evil men. That is what makes this so sobering. They were religious men, respectable men, men who believed in God and served in His house. Their failure was not rebellion. It was indifference. They simply could not be bothered, and indifference, when it takes root in the heart of a believer, is one of the most dangerous things in the world because it looks like faithfulness from the outside while producing nothing of the kingdom on the inside.

Paul warned Timothy about people who hold to the form of godliness but deny its power. Form without power. Structure without Spirit. Attendance without mission. That is the portrait of a church in maintenance mode, and it is the portrait of a believer who has forgotten what it felt like to be in the ditch.

But the story does not end with the religious passers-by. Tomorrow, someone unexpected shows up, and everything changes.

Application Questions

1. Is there someone in your life right now that you have been "passing by" because stopping would require time, energy, or discomfort you have been unwilling to give?

2. In what areas of your faith have you been holding to the form of godliness, the attendance, the routine, the right answers, without the power and compassion those things are supposed to produce?

Today's Challenge

Identify one person you have been avoiding or overlooking and take one deliberate step toward them today. Send a text, make a phone call, or simply ask how they are doing. Do not pass by on the other side.

Today's Prayer

Father, I do not want to be the priest or the Levite. I do not want to have all the right words and none of the right actions. Forgive me for the times I have crossed to the other side because it was easier, because I was busy, because I convinced myself it was someone else's responsibility. Break the spirit of indifference in me. Give me eyes that see, a heart that feels, and feet that stop when I encounter someone in need. Let my faith be more than form. Let it carry the power of Your love into the lives of the people around me. In Jesus' name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/04/a-form-of-godliness-day-3#comments 0 THE MAN IN THE DITCH (Day 2) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/03/the-man-in-the-ditch-day-2 Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/03/the-man-in-the-ditch-day-2

The Man In The Ditch

"He chose a dangerous road, and the consequences were devastating. But before we judge the man in the ditch, we ought to remember that every one of us has been there."

Romans 3:23 (CSB)

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Devotional Thought


The parable opens with a man making a journey from Jerusalem to Jericho, and that detail matters more than most people realize. Jerusalem was the city of God's presence, the place of worship and safety. Jericho sat below it, and the road between the two was notorious for danger. It wound through desolate terrain where bandits waited for travelers who were foolish enough to go alone. So when the Bible says this man "went down" from Jerusalem to Jericho, it is saying more than geography. He was leaving the presence of God, heading into dangerous territory, and he was going down in every sense of the word.

Now watch this... the text says he fell among thieves, and they stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and left him half dead (Luke 10:30). That is the progression. First the fall, then the stripping, then the wounding, then the abandonment. It is the same pattern the enemy uses today. He does not destroy a life all at once. He does it in stages, and by the time you realize how far you have gone, you are lying in a ditch wondering how you got there.

Here's what I see in that phrase "half dead." How can someone be half dead? And yet the Scriptures say that without Christ, we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). We are breathing, walking, functioning, but spiritually lifeless. The man in the ditch is a portrait of every human being apart from the saving grace of God. Stripped of dignity, wounded by the consequences of choices both personal and inherited, and unable to do a single thing about it.

Because that is the truth we so often resist. We want to believe we can fix ourselves. Every January we make resolutions, promises that this year will be different, that we will do better, try harder, change on our own strength. And by now, the first day of March, most of those resolutions are broken because we simply cannot save ourselves. The man in the ditch could not climb out on his own. His injuries were too severe. His strength was gone. He needed someone to come to him.

Paul understood this when he wrote to the Ephesians. "For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift, not from works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Salvation was never a self-help program. It was always a rescue mission. The gospel is not advice for people who are doing mostly fine. The gospel is life for people who are dead in the road.

And the honesty required here is uncomfortable. It is easier to look at the man in the ditch and think, well, he made poor choices, he should have known better. But Isaiah reminds us, "We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way" (Isaiah 53:6). Every one of us chose a dangerous road at some point. Every one of us ended up wounded and unable to save ourselves. The only difference between the man in the ditch and the man standing over him is that someone stopped for one of them.

Tomorrow we will look at who came by first, and why their response should make every churchgoer deeply uncomfortable.

Application Questions

1. Can you identify a time in your life when you were spiritually in the ditch, unable to help yourself, and what did God use to begin pulling you out?

2. Are there areas right now where you are still trying to save yourself through effort and willpower rather than surrendering to God's grace?

Today's Challenge

Take five minutes today to sit quietly and remember where you were before Christ reached you. Not to dwell in shame, but to stir gratitude. Write down one sentence that describes what God rescued you from, and let that become fuel for compassion toward others who are still in the ditch.

Today's Prayer

Lord, I confess that I have been in the ditch. I have made choices that led me away from Your presence, and I have felt the weight of what it means to be stripped, wounded, and alone. Thank You for not leaving me there. Thank You that Your grace reached me when I could not reach You. Help me never forget where I came from, and help me see the people around me who are right now where I used to be. Give me a heart that remembers, so that I might be moved to act. In Jesus' name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/03/the-man-in-the-ditch-day-2#comments 0 BACK TO THE MISSION (Day 1) https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/02/back-to-the-mission-day-1 Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/02/back-to-the-mission-day-1

BACK TO THE MISSION

"Seventy-three percent of churches are plateaued or declining. That is not a staffing problem or a strategy problem. That is a heart problem."

Luke 19:10 (CSB)

"For the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost."

Devotional Thought

There is a singular mission that has been given to the church, and it has never changed. Jesus said it plainly. He came to seek and save the lost. Not to build institutions. Not to preserve traditions. Not to maintain what already exists. He came for people, and He commissioned His church to do the same.

So what I'm seeing is this... somewhere along the way, many churches slipped out of mission mode and into maintenance mode. And maintenance mode, if we are honest, eventually becomes apathy. It does not happen all at once. It is gradual, almost invisible, like a slow leak that you do not notice until the tire is flat. One year the church is on fire for the gospel. The next year it is managing programs. A few years later it is just trying to keep the doors open. That is not what Jesus had in mind when He said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel" (Mark 16:15).

Consider the numbers for just a moment. It now takes roughly one hundred church members to reach one person for Christ in a given year. That ratio used to be fifteen to one. Something has shifted, and it is not because the gospel lost its power. The gospel is still the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). The shift happened in us. It happened when we became more comfortable inside the building than burdened for the people outside of it.

The parable of the Good Samaritan, which we will walk through this week, begins with a question from a lawyer. He asks Jesus, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10:25). It is a fair question, but it was asked with the wrong motive. He was not seeking truth. He was testing Jesus. And when Jesus pressed him further, the lawyer followed up with another question that reveals where so many of us get stuck. He asked, "Who is my neighbor?" In other words, give me the minimum. Tell me who I am required to care about so I can feel good about the people I choose to ignore.

That question still echoes in the church today, just dressed up in different language. We ask it when we drive past the struggling family on the corner and reason that someone else will help them. We ask it when we sit in comfortable services and never once consider that our coworker has never heard the gospel because we never opened our mouths.

The mission has not changed. The command has not been revised. Jesus did not say, "Go if it is convenient," or "Share the gospel when the timing feels right." He said go. And He promised that the same power that raised Him from the dead would be available to every believer who says yes to the mission (Acts 1:8).

Just one. That is the challenge. Not a hundred. Not fifty. Just one person this year. One life pulled from darkness into light because someone in the church remembered why the church exists in the first place. If every believer reached just one, the math alone would be incredible, but more than that, the kingdom of God would expand in ways we cannot yet imagine.

Tomorrow, we step into the parable itself, and we meet a man who made a choice that nearly cost him everything. His story might be closer to yours than you think.

Application Questions

1. When was the last time you personally shared the gospel with someone outside the walls of the church, and what held you back if it has been a while?

2. Have you slipped into maintenance mode in your own faith, going through the motions of church attendance without carrying the mission into your daily life?

Today's Challenge

Ask the Lord to bring one specific person to your mind today, someone who does not know Him. Write their name down. Begin praying for an open door to share the love of Christ with them this week.

Today's Prayer

Father, forgive me for the times I have settled into comfort and forgotten the mission You gave Your church. I do not want to be someone who simply attends services and goes home unchanged. Stir something in me again. Give me eyes to see the people around me the way You see them, as worth reaching, worth pursuing, worth loving. Open a door this week that I cannot ignore, and give me the courage to walk through it. I want to be part of what You are doing. In Jesus' name, amen.
]]> https://harrisonfaith.org/blog/2026/03/02/back-to-the-mission-day-1#comments 0