Recently I was seeking the Lord in prayer and asking, “Why is it that I see so many traveling to foreign places to assist others when their own homes and communities have such needs?”  This is what I heard in return;

“The reason that many travel to other places to serve is simply due to not wanting to face the real issues in their own home. Facing the needs in our own home often requires more than one to two weeks of service and it often has a price that many do not want to pay. So instead, many people often do things in foreign places to often avoid the real issues that they have in their own home.”

In other words what the Lord was teaching is about our human nature and how easy it can be to lose our balance when we neglect or overlook our own responsibilities at home. For when we neglect this principle of balance within our homes then this can open the door for Satan to weaken and oppress the body. We can easily see this over the last forty years here in America as I can witness this same lesson within my own life as well. Think about it! How long can a soldier in foreign missions stay focused when their own home is struggling to survive? How long can we expect foreign aid to continue when we can’t balance the input with the output?

This teaching explains to me why so many communities, missions and relationships become oppressed. Simply due to neglecting the basic principles of gardening and the importance of maintaining the roots of our foundation. By seeking to live a balanced life through the love of Jesus Christ we learn to plant ourselves upon the Rock of our foundation while staying in tune with the needs of the garden. It is also wise to understand that God calls some to plant while he calls others to assist with the harvest.

For God plants each one of us in different places and in different positions in order to serve His purpose and not our own. Unfortunately many fail to understand this so they allow their seeds to be blown in the wind rather than learning how to plant and work within garden. Think about it! Our home can be related to a garden just as our individual lives. What we give and receive plays a major roll within the productivity of the garden. The home garden is supposed to help serve the community as the community garden helps to serve the city to the state. For when we begin to take care of our own home garden then this leads to a productive harvest that can help feed foreign missions and help maintain the strength within our homes for future generations.

There is a great need within our own communities and our country for men and women that are willing to commit to the work that is needed in every community across America. This need is to simply do what God has called each of us to do and that is, to work within the gardens we have been given and to leave something behind for someone else. Without these men and women that are willing to grab hold of the plow and apply the Instruction of God to their local gardens we might as well prepare for an unproductive harvest and for the locust to continue to devour the crop. Many of you reading this may be thinking it is too late but I strongly disagree! For nothing is over until God say’s it is over!!!

How bad would it be to go home and hear one of these questions, “Why did you quit? Why did you not get up off the pughs to help your neighbors? Do you honestly think you were doing your job when you neglected your own home to take care of someone else’s? Why did you not stand up and vote for Godly leadership rather than give in to the popularity contest?  Did the numbers that came against you give you fear? Did you honestly think your voice or vote would not matter? Have you forgotten the very One who gives you Victory? Why did you simply fail to be a doer instead of just a hearer? There were blessings right at your feet but you simply lost your perspective. All you had to do was get up off the porch and put your hand to the plow to receive the blessings of God! But instead you allowed your fears, weak faith and laziness to infect the garden. This infection has not only affected you but other plants as well.

It is my sincere prayer for a spiritual Awakening here in America. I pray that Americans will recognize the season at hand and the need for true repentance on a national level. Lord help us clean up our own homes and communities so we can continue to spread your love and feed the hungry. Please give us strength and the wisdom to make the right decisions within our own home in order to refresh the garden and continue to supply the needs in foreign missions. Lord I know that nothing is over until You say that it is over, so please Lord forgive us on a national level of the innocent blood that has been shed from the Native Americans to the African Americans and for simply losing our balance with you…I love you Father and I thank you for the pits that you have picked me up from and I thank you for giving me a new life with purpose and with direction and may others find the same…For all glory is yours…amen

“A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’’ 

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

In order to experience the power of love it is necessary to open up our hearts as a surgeon requires for open heart surgery. Unfortunately many never experience the fullness of love nor the amazing power due to holding back from distrust or from simply caring more for themselves than they do for others.

It is when we open up our hearts to reveal who we really are without allowing our fears to hold us back that we can begin to experience the amazing power of selfless love. For selfless love is a love that keeps on giving and it never stops the blood circulation within the body. There are blood clots from time to time but the object is to defeat them before the defeat us.

For a heart without restrictions is a body that is full of life and this can only be fully achieved through the blood of Jesus Christ. If there is something in your life that is causing a restriction in the flow may God give you the strength today to make that needed step in order for your heart to begin to glow.

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

This morning as I walked out on our screened porch for morning prayer I noticed a sparrow that had slipped in through one little hole within the screen. This happens from time to time due to not addressing the hole within the screen. In order to repair the hole correctly it is going to involve the alot of work that requires time and if we were to patch the screen this would only bring further work due to not being done correctly.

As far as the little sparrow he was not flying wildly within the porch but would just hop from place to place along the floor. The sparrow did not see the door when it was opened due to the screen blending in with nature. So I did what I have done in the past by propping the door open and then walking in behind the bird for him to move on his own toward the freedom from the screened in porch. In the past I have done this and rather enjoyed watching the birds (which I now recall have always been sparrows) being set free to observe their next actions in flight. Some fly out and simply sit on the outside rail. Some fly just a little ways and perch on the branch of a tree but this morning there was something different about this little sparrow.

He paused for a moment once he found the door but then he took off flying through the woods and into the valley behind our home. I could here him chirping and and calling out to other birds in his excitement of being set free. The chirps echoed through the valley as he flew through the trees. As I listened to the call of the sparrow that had been set free I then heard this message that relates to you and me.

Recognize the significance of not addressing  the hole and what happens when we try to patch our problems. Another point the Lord was teaching me was how the screen blended in with the world. This is a very important point to recognize. The screen was almost invisible and made by man but was there holding back the bird from flight and it took the help of another to step behind rather than in front to assist the sparrow along the Way.

The part that touched me the most was the chirping of the sparrow that had been set free. As I stood there on the porch listening to the bird that had been released from the bondage of something made by man it was then that God gave me this spiritual message that relates to His overall plan. The Lord then opened my eyes of futher freedom that can related to the formation of America in which we stand. For in our freedom it should ring from the hill tops and echo through the valleys for all to hear. Because there is nothing like the freedom in knowing that God is near.

Enjoy this song Let Freedom Ring as I pray that you will stand with me in the freedom that God has given us through His only Son that got behind each of us for our freedom today. The spiritual door is open and all we have to do is walk on through as Jesus has taught us the Way. I pray that we can learn from our past in order to stand in the love of Jesus for our future…Amen 

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

In the book of Acts 28 Paul was building a fire after a ship wreck on the island of Malta. As he gathered the sticks for the fire and placed them a poisonous snake struck him on the hand. It was driven out of the fire due to the heat that was being produced. The interesting part of this lesson is how long the snake took the heat before it was time to move. Another part of this lesson was that the heat made him strike the innocent one before him but the venom from the snake had no affect on its victim.

Here is the spiritual lesson that can be applied to this message. Like the serpent in this message we can all only take so much pressure when things begin to heat up unless we are being led by Jesus Christ. The more we allow the love of God to feed our spirit the stronger our immune system is to the things of this world. We all get bitten from time to time from people that inject something of the devil or from some that never mean to bite. But if we can’t learn to shake the snake then it is only a matter of time before an infection can spread through the body.

We all face snakes everyday and if we can’t shake the snakes due to the infection within the mind then this is worse than being bit on the hand. Think about a soldier with full armor and snakes trying to get in but fail. It is what develops in his mind after what he sees that can develop a deadly disease….The only Way to overcome is through the blood of Jesus Christ that teaches us to forgive and love as we are forgiven and loved in return…Don’t allow something that is not of God to ever cause you to panic or to feel that everything is not going to be okay. For when we stay planted with God is when He will show us the Way…

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

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

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

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

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

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

It is so easy in life to become distracted in our relationships and in our jobs because we tend to focus on what we see rather than focusing on our daily objectives to help reach the overall goal.  Ever since I began to apply this word of truth to my daily walk it has been amazing to see what can take place when we look ahead instead of becoming stuck where we are. Here is a word which I received in the spirit as I was meditating with the Lord ias I was doing my work…

Don’t think about it just do it!  When we think about it,  it is easy to dread it. But if we don’t know it, take a step back to learn it!  Then once we have learned it, step up and do it while striving to do better everyday that God provides.

When we stop to think about our situations when we already know what to do, after seeking God’s direction, then we often allow Satan to enter into our minds because he wants to detour us from what God has directed. It is when we quit trying to grow that our lives become stagnant and depressed. When we commit ourselves to follow God’s Word then He will provide what we need to succeed…amen

James Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

As we all can see here in America there is a great need for a movement of God to reignite the coals within our souls in order to prepare and strengthen us for the days ahead. We can all hear others sitting around and talking about what this country needs but what this country needs are men and women that are willing to stand up with the willingness to simply do their part.

Real change first starts within each of us and then it spreads throughout our homes to communities and then to our nation but if we are not willing to make initiative ourselves then all we are doing is giving the enemy victory by robbing us of the life that we can have through the love of Jesus Christ. There is something you can do today to make a positive difference and I challenge you not to give Satan victory in falsely thinking you just dont have the time when you really do. In fact if you dont feel that uyou have the time then I challenge you to examine all the things you do to recognize in whom you are serving. For if your actions are not for the better of mankind then you are not properly serving God…

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

Can you recall a time where you experienced the love of God and it dramatically affected your life? Have you ever been in a circumstance that seemed like a living hell and the hand of God deliver you? These times in our life are testimonies of what the power of God can do when we truly cry out and seek for His deliverance through the love of Jesus Christ. It is important to recall that we don’t need to know all the answers to share Christ with others and God did not deliver us for us to keep our mouths shut.

We should be sharing with others what God has brought us from and how He has changed our life. Don’t worry about not having all the answers but learn to trust that God will use your words to help others believe in Him, too. This teaches others where to look by seeking the Lord for the answers they need to overcome their downfalls in life. Please enjoy this video link http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=K7LK67NX  on Cardboard testimonies and may it inspire you to share yours…

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

When we neglect to look upon our lives as farmer in a field then we often miss this purpose in life. For the world is full of many things that are here to distract us from the field that we have in order to affect the future harvest. The world likes to sell us additives to speed up the growth process but these additives have other affects that many miss due to focusing on the now instead of caring about the later.

The more we stick to the basics of fertile soil, light with daily water and learn how to have patience while trusting God to raise the crop allows a sweet taste of Heaven to be in every bite of the fruit during the harvest. Here is a question for you this morning,”What good is a farmer who looks upon the plants but holds back the work or the nutrients that are needed for the crop to reach its potential?” Blessed are those that learn to not hold back and give their all.

For a heart that is restricted is a heart that has blockage and a heart that has blockage is a heart that restricts the life that it can have…

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com

 Cycles in life are repetitive until we learn to look within the patterns and then allow God to show us the Way. For if we continue to face a repetitive issue then there is a reason it continues to appear. The object is to break through without any fears.
 Why would Satan want to use another tactic to hold us back when the very one he has before us is working? May every person that reads this message have a break through and grow deeper in the well. We serve an awesome God that only wants us to discover His Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven.

James A. Harrison

http://balancedlifeministry.org

http://specialdeliverybook.com