Ambassadors

Throughout this week God has really been showing me the importance of realizing how much we as leaders are being watched and even critiqued by our words and actions. 1 Corintnhians 5:20 states that we are "ambassadors for Christ". As such our deeds should be blameless, but this can become really hard when life and stress set in. I know for myself, I have to continually submit everything i have to Christ day in and day out.


Luke Tanner

Praise the Lord

The Psalms are all about praise and worship to the Lord Almighty. Psalms 150 says,

"1 Praise the LORD.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.

2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.

3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,

4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,

5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.

6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD."

I did this as a team devo in Macedonia. Nick asked us to find a Psalm and share what God spoke to us about it. So I did and in Macedonia it was God was telling me/us (the team) that in all things prasie God because it was all for His glory not ours and for us to keep our team focus on Him but, when i got back I was doing my personal devo and I randomly flipped to Psalm 150 again, so, I read it and this time God spoke to me in a totally ddifferent way. The first time it was all about praising Him and keeping the focus on Him but, the second time I stopped at verse 2, "Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness." This time God was telling me the reason why we need/should always praise Him and that it is because of His awesome acts of power and His surpassing greatness. I love how He used the same exact scripture but it spoke to me in to ways. We need and should praise the Lord Almighty for He is glorious and everything we ddo is for His glory not ours. We should also realize how awesome His acts and how great He truly is and we shold also praise him for that. Word.

David

Be Still

Psalm 46:10

10"Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

So Often I find myself in this position...for the need to be in control of a situation.. and yet we are told here to "Cease" or stop, and to know... know to me means trust, believe and have faith that HE is God, that HE is in control. No matter what I think I cannot change the fact that HE is in Control, but it is my choice to hand that control to him. That is a daily choice in EVERY situation.... to BE still, and have confidence that HE has my back, and that HIS name will be exalted and made known throughout the earth.

Nicki Maguire

PROVERBS

1.)MY SON IF YOU RECEIVE MY WORDS, AND TREASURE MY COMMANDS WITHIN YOU, 2.)SO THAT YOU INCLINE YOUR EAR TO WISDOM, AND APPLY YOUR HEART TO UNDERSTANDING....(PROVERBS 2:1-2)

This verse has really impacted me today in my devotional time with God because, it just applies to my life this year. The reason I say that is because, this whole school year God is going to speak and reveal his words threw different people, teacher's, and threw scripture. I examine this verse and just look forward to follow God's commands, and words threw out this year, and to develop more understanding true, discipline, knowledge, and hearing of the word, like verse 2 says: "INCLINE YOUR EAR TO WISDOM", that part of that verse is what the spirit really spoke to me about, just to pay attention and become a more knowledgeable christian, from wiser and mature Christians.
--Jason Urban