Mighty and Awesome God

For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God . . . (Deuteronomy 10:17a NLT)

Today's meditation:

• To know our awesome God personally and to worship at his feet are remarkable privileges that should not be taken for granted.

Pray today:

• For earnest and sincere worship of our mighty God among our students, staff and faculty, for praise to constantly be on our lips.
• And give thanks for God's presence among us, for his love reaching to us, for redeeming and reclaiming us as his own.
• And praise today for God's favor and kindness to us, for the miracles he has sent our way and will yet send, for his comfort in turbulent times and peace that passes understanding.

Pray First! Pray Through!

Working Together

Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. (Philippians 2:2 NLT)

Today's meditation:

• What a joy to work together with like-minded brothers and sisters in ministry and mission, in a labor of love, and in fulfillment of his call. Praise the Lord!

Pray today:

• For preparations for the meeting of the Board of Trustees to go well over the next few days, for data and reports to come together, for ideas to be sound, for presentations to be clear.
• For the leadership team to work together in unity and purpose to serve the Lord through Emmanuel College.
• For all our ideas and efforts to be covered in prayer and in line with God's will.

Pray First! Pray Through!

Anyone Who Needs Wisdom

But anyone who needs wisdom should ask God, whose very nature is to give to everyone without a second thought, without keeping score. Wisdom will certainly be given to those who ask. Whoever asks shouldn't hesitate. They should ask in faith, without doubting. (James 1:5-6a CEB)

Today's meditation:

• We may ask God for many things, and sometimes we ask for the wrong things, but asking for wisdom is always appropriate, and if we ask believing that God grants wisdom, we will receive it.

Pray today:

• For the leadership of Emmanuel College to pray for wisdom and pray for it often, for us to recognize wisdom when it comes and to use wisdom in our decision-making and in our actions.
• For our prayer partners to ask God to give us wisdom and to ask often, to ask for wisdom that cuts through confusion and complexity, that clears a path through emotions and bias, that leads to perfect words offered in perfect timing.
• For faith to believe that God always grants wisdom to his children who ask for wisdom.

Pray First! Pray Through!

Pure Joy

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4 NIV)

Today's meditation:

• Joy and trials, pure joy and testing. Human nature says its either/or, but God says its both/and. At the end of the trial, it's easy to have joy, but in the middle, not so much. Teach us, Lord, to live in joy.

Pray today:

• For the Emmanuel family to have the faith and the energy to persevere and pray through until the current constrictive challenges are overcome.
• For the Emmanuel family to celebrate with joy in advance of our victory through faith, knowing that life after debt will produce a whole new set of visionary challenges through which we must persevere.
• For perseverance, meaning staying with it, putting one foot in front of the other, getting up when you fall down, and if you can't, crawling until you can, until you finish, until the job is done, but all the while, holding onto the pure joy that comes from knowing God is with us.

Pray First! Pray Through!

Remind Us

We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, "What do these stones mean?" Then you can tell them, "They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord's Covenant went across." (Joshua 4:6-7 NLT)

Today's meditation:

• No river too large, no mountain too high, no resistance too great that God cannot control and mitigate it in favor of his people and his plan for them. God be praised.

Pray today:

• For the number two challenge facing Emmanuel College over the next eight months - achieving reaffirmation of accreditation with no sanctions because a debt solution is in place.
• For the leadership of the College to manage effectively a very tight timetable and an extensive action list resulting in a satisfactory debt solution in March and reaffirmation in June.
• For every obstacle currently in our way as well as every obstruction yet to come to be rendered impotent and useless by the power of God. 

Pray First! Pray Through!

Powerful Arm

But worship only the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt with great strength and a powerful arm. Bow down to him alone, and offer sacrifices only to him. (2 Kings 17:36 NLT)

Today's meditation:

• May we never bow down to the world's standards, and if we do, may we repent quickly and allow him to break the chains that bind us and to lead us to freedom in worship, to submission to his plan for us, and to action that changes lives, advancing his kingdom.

Pray today:

• For the number one challenge facing Emmanuel College over the next eight months - eliminating the debt, or at the very least, reducing it to a manageable level in the short term until he he leads us to a solution in the long term.
• For deliberations and decisions regarding the College's debt, for wisdom to find the path that minimizes the effect of debt upon the vision and future God has for us.
• For the Lord to intervene with his strong and powerful arm, turning desperation into hope, slavery into freedom, and lack into abundance. 

Pray First! Pray Through!

Wisdom Calls Out

Listen as Wisdom calls out! Hear as understanding raises her voice! (Proverbs 8:1 NLT)

Today's meditation:

• To listen more is to learn more. To speak less is to regret less.

Pray today:

• For upcoming meetings where significant issues will be discussed and important decisions made.
• For the Emmanuel College Board of Trustees which will meet next week, for understanding of the myriad of topics to be discussed, for wisdom to prevail in planning and decision-making.
• For the voice of the Lord to be heard, for God's pathways to be seen clearly, for obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Pray First! Pray Through!