Blog Archives - Alan Harris Ministries

Treasures from the Word

As a child in Sunday school, I learned to believe and love every word in the Bible. As a teen at youth camp, I realized that the Word was God. It was alive with words that I needed daily. It was there that I began reading the Bible through one verse at a time. I love to take my time to meditate and learn as the Holy Spirit teaches and guides. My favorite reference is Strong's Concordance. Since the Bible was not written in English, much can be learned by referring to the original language of the author. Often, God will direct my attention to another topic or passage. Then, I take a detour, spending time on that road, before returning to my stopping point. Along the way, I journal the thoughts, ideas, and lessons God gives me. Now I am obeying God in sharing some of these thoughts with you. My prayer is that you will be encouraged and challenged. My desire is that you fall totally and madly in love with God and His Word. I would love to hear from you. Feel free to respond to what you read, whether you agree or disagree.

Crumbs in the Corner

4/29/2015

Jeremiah 8:4-7 Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.
Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
These verses make me think of natural processes like the law of gravity or the water cycle. There is a rhythm of life. Usually when a person falls, they get back up. When an object falls, we pick it up. When we move in a certain direction, we return to the starting point.
Not so with the people in these verses. They turned away from God and stayed there. The word perpetual here does not refer to a constant going forward and then back again. It refers to a permanent position. They had turned away from following God, and refused to return. In verse seven, God exclaims that even the animals know when to come and go, but His own people defy nature in not recognizing the consequences of their backsliding.
I can think of many today who would fall into this category.
But I must examine my own heart. Is there any area of my life, any shadowy corner filled with the dust of of "perpetual backsliding?" Have I swept into the corner a few crumbs of resentment, bitterness, or pride. Have I tucked away a secret "little" sin or refused to do something God has clearly instructed me to do? Am I rushing into battle, having deceived myself into thinking that I can hide this little thing? No one will ever notice and God will never judge me since I'm doing so many things right....
Lord, help me not to be deceived. Show me my transgression (Isaiah 58:1), and create in me a clean heart, O God.... (Psalm 51:10)

How Deep....

4/28/2015

Jeremiah 7
As I read this chapter, I am once again amazed at the mercy and forgiveness of God. Pagan atrocities had become the accepted lifestyle with a proud and hypocritical nod toward God as the people came to the house of the Lord. Yet, God wanted them back. He sent Jeremiah to plead with them to come back to Him with promise of total forgiveness and restoration. How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure, that He should give His only Son to make a wretch (ME!) His treasure..... (Click here to go to Youtube and pause for a moment to worship and thank God for His unending mercy.)

Which Way?

4/27/2015

Jeremiah 6:16 Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
God was calling these people as He did in Haggai and in so many other places in the Old Testament to "consider their ways." Jesus spent His entire earthly ministry calling people to examine themselves in light of the gospel and their need of a Savior.
Stand ye in the ways, and see... To stand, we must stop. We race along in our lives, navigating the traffic and seldom looking back. God is calling us to stop now and then and examine our lives and our paths. Are we really following His direction? Are we obeying His instruction? Are we even listening to His voice?
Do you need rest for your soul? You can find it in the old paths. This reference has nothing to do with style of ministry. The old paths were the forgotten ways that the Israelites had walked. They had previously followed the laws of God, but now they were walking in the ways of the pagan nations around them. Have you left the simple life of faith? Pull over and stop a minute. Examine your life and see whether you are following God and His Word or the expectations of those around you, or even selfish ambitions. In order to find rest for your soul, you must first see that you are on the wrong path, and then ask God to show you the good way. Look to His Word, and walk therein. Don't be like the stubborn people referred to in this verse. But they said, We will not walk therein. They chose a path that ended in weariness and desolation.

Which Voice?

4/25/2015

Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
The prophets were preaching lies and the priests were ruling over the people by their own power and influence. Priests were to be servants of God, representatives of the people to go before God on their behalf. They were to carefully and humbly maintain the temple and lead the people in worship and repentance. Though the priests claimed to be serving God, God was no longer in the picture. They were exercising their influence and enjoying their power over the people. "Prophets" were speaking their own words, not God's.
And the people loved it! They didn't have to think about their sin! They answered to man, not God. As long as they could keep each other happy, life could move on, and they could enjoy their sin.
There is an end to that kind of living. It's the judgment of God.
Though they had strayed so far, God was urging them, through the words of Jeremiah, to return to Himself. You may have strayed far from God. Your sin may have taken you to a strange land where you are serving strange people (Jeremiah 5:19). Quit listening to the lying voices that want to keep you happy in your sin. Is there a Jeremiah in your life, tearfully pleading you to turn back to God? Listen to that voice.

Love or Looks?

4/23/2015

Jeremiah 1-4
I'm not a history expert, but I notice a few interesting facts at the beginning of Jeremiah's prophecies.

In Jeremiah 1:2, we see that Jeremiah began his ministry when Josiah was king of Judah.
Beginning his reign when he was only eight years old, Josiah "began to seek after the God of David his father" at the age of 16 (2Chron. 34:3).
Four years later when he was 20, he began reforms in Judah to bring the erring nation back under God's laws.
Six years later, in the 18th year of his reign, when Josiah was 26, Hilkiah a priest found a "book of the law of the Lord given by Moses." (2 Chronicles 34:14 and 2 Kings 22:8) Distressed by the words he heard from God's book, Josiah spent the rest of his life (13 years) serving God and commanding all in Israel to do so as well.
Jeremiah's ministry began in the 13th year of Josiah's reign, when Josiah was 21 and had been purging Judah and Jerusalem of their idolatry for a year. You can read 2 Chronicles 33 and 2 Kings 21 to find out the atrocious state God's people had descended to under the reigns of Manasseh and Amon, Josiah's grandfather and father.

So why the history lesson?
Josiah obviously repented and followed God and did his best to see that his kingdom did the same. According to 2 Chronicles 34:32-33, many of the children of Israel did follow the Lord. But look at Jeremiah 3:10. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
Many things can be learned from the events in this time period, but one thing that is obvious is the fact that religion can be legislated, but a relationship with God can never be established by legislation. This is true in a kingdom, in a church, and in a family. If the people were truly repenting and following the Lord as Josiah was, Jeremiah's ministry would not have been necessary. We can clean up and sober up. We can stop making excuses and start attending church regularly. We can get out of relationships that are tearing down our faith. we can do all the things we are told to do by our pastors, teachers, and parents. And these are honorable and right things to do. But we must be careful that we are not simply trading one set of behavior patterns for another in order to feel better about ourselves, or to gain the approval of those around us, or even to gain God's approval. Sure, we want God's approval, but that must not be the motive of our obedience. We can wash and scrub (Jer. 2:22) until our fingers are bleached white. That's not enough. We must allow God's Word to peel away the pride that covers our hearts (Jer. 4:4), realizing that the destructive patterns in our lives are not simply bad behavior, but sin (Jer. 3:13) against the God that formed us (Jer. 1:5) and loves us and made a way for us to have a right relationship with Him. We must begin to seek after God (2 Chron. 34:3) with our whole hearts (Jer. 3:10). As leaders and parents, we must be diligent to teach the right things to do, but we must be even more diligent to fall in love with God with all of our heart and soul (2 Chron. 34:31), and let that love permeate our life and our relationships with those whom God has given us the privilege to influence.
Why are you doing what you're doing?

A Well or a Cistern?

4/21/2015

Jeremiah 2
What a scathing rebuke! And Jeremiah's first sermon! Jeremiah must have feared God with all his heart and soul. God told him in 1: 16, 19 that the message would be harsh and the people would resist. But Jeremiah obeyed God's call explicitly.
There are sooo... many parallels in chapter two of the sinful state of the people then and now. If you know you are wandering from God, read this chapter! Perhaps it will give you a wake up call as to where your life is headed.
One of the most striking verses to me is v. 13. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
A fountain is discovered. We must dig in the ground to find it. But the source of water is not from us. It flows forth continually with living water. A cistern, on the other hand, is filled with water that we provide. It is temporary and must be refilled again and again. If it is broken, as the ones illustrated in this verse, we may think it is full when it is actually leaking continuously. How foolish to work so hard to dig a cistern and continually fill it with water, when we can enjoy fresh spring water from a well that continually flows from within us.
Maybe you have discovered the Living Water, but you think you have to fill a little bucket for yourself and laboriously carry it to your own broken cistern and pour it in, rationing its use until the cistern is dry and you have to make another trip to the well.
God is calling us to higher living! If you are a child of God, you have an unending source that is always with you and can quench every thirst you have or will ever have. Don't forsake that well for a work of your own hands! Take some time today to enjoy it's cool, clear water!

Who, Me?

4/20/2015

Jeremiah 1 - Jeremiah's call and commission.
Is God telling you to do something specific? Are you making excuses? Perhaps you don't think you have the abilities necessary to carry out the task. Or perhaps your schedule is already packed so full that you're physically and emotionally exhausted. In Lysa Terkeurst's book, The Best Yes, she says, "We must not seek direction before obeying His instruction."
Perhaps you're exhausted because your "busyness" has allowed you to ignore an instruction that God has already given you. True that there are dozens of instructions in the Bible that I will spend a lifetime learning to live out. But there are also specific instructions that I read like, "Pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you..." (Matthew 5:44). And there's that still small voice speaking directly to me telling me to stop and send a note of encouragement or visit someone whom I know is going through a spiritual struggle.
It is hypocritical for me to beg for God's direction in my life when I have not followed the instructions he has already given me.
God's instruction for you may not be an easy task to carry out. But just as God told Jeremiah, He will go with you and He will give you the words to speak. Slowing down to listen and obey God's prompting is more important than the list I have made of what I must accomplish today. Let's lift each other up in prayer to have the impact on our corner of His kingdom that He wants us to have.

Trembling at His Word

4/16/2015

Isa 66:1-3 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
.....Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
    Usually when I think of "trembling at someone's word," I think of cowering in fear of mistreatment or harm as I hear an angry voice approaching. Or I think of my toughest teacher announcing a major exam!
Is this how God wants His people to approach Him?! Am I to tremble when I read His Word and hear His voice?
    Well, sometimes.
    In the context of these verses, the people were serving themselves and expecting God to bless them. They were delighting in their sinful lifestyles. They had God's Word. They knew His commands. History recorded God's judgment of sin. But none of that put fear in their hearts.
    The image here is not fear of mistreatment or abuse. It is the fearful trembling of a child who knows he has willfully disobeyed. He comes humble and broken before his parent, knowing that he deserves discipline.
    Lord, help me to never delight in my sin. Heavenly Father, help me to never lose a reverential fear of your loving discipline.

Devotional Thoughts from Isaiah?

4/14/2015

Can Isaiah's prophetic message apply to my life today? The scope of Isaiah's prophecies encompasses a vast span of past, present and future. A working knowledge of Old Testament history as well as a basic understanding of eschatology is essential in truly comprehending the depths of Isaiah's message as it applies to a global timeline. In spite of these intricacies, it is not abusing the text to say, "Yes!" Isaiah has much to say to me, a woman living in the United States in 2015. An overview of Isaiah reveals that the book of Isaiah is a call to revival! God, through Isaiah, calls the people of Israel to remember Who He is, to recognize their own sinful state, and to repent and return to Him. Along the way, Isaiah reminds those who have oppressed God's people that they will be judged. They were only tools in the hand of a sovereign Ruler. As God's people humbly return to Him, they will triumphantly join God in final victory. While Isaiah's message was directed largely to the nation of Israel, the nation of Israel was made up of individual people, people who needed a move of God in their lives. The lessons God was teaching the people of Israel in their spiritual journey are the same lessons He wants us to learn today. If you need a revival in your life (And who doesn't?) read and heed this amazing story of God's relationship with His chosen people.

April 10th, 2015

4/10/2015

Isaiah 61:11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations.
God's promises will not fail. Regardless of visible movement or growth, we can be just as sure as Isaiah was that God's Word is true. We may not even see the fruit of our labor or God's promise fulfilled in our lifetime. As we see prophesies fulfilled throughout history, we can gain confidence that God is preparing the soil and will reap the harvest at just the right time. (Isaiah 61:3)