Sunrise

The road the righteous travel is like the sunrise, getting brighter and brighter until daylight has come. (Proverbs 4:18 GNB)

Today's meditation:

• Relentless pursuit of long-term goals, like education and service, bring vast rewards but need constant encouragement along the way.

Pray today:

• For faculty and staff who begin pre-planning workshops and activities for the new school year, for them to get progressively better at their work with each passing day, for them to discern the needs of our students and have insight and sensitivity to meet those needs.
• For faculty to prepare effective lessons and methods, for new faculty to assimilate quickly, for all faculty to be ready for the first day of class, to be innovative in their teaching.
• For staff training and preparation this week to help us be ready to meet the many challenges our students face, for best methods to assist those who will need academic help, for others who will need emotional and relational guidance, for still others who will need spiritual re-birth and discipleship, for all our students to develop day by day towards their full potential.

Pray First! Pray Through! 

Faithful People

I will praise you forever, O God, for what you have done. I will trust in your good name in the presence of your faithful people. (Psalm 52:9 NLT)

Today's meditation:

• Faithful people are people of praise.

Pray today:

• And give praise for the Lord is faithful to us his children, give thanks for all he has done for us, give thanks for each miracle of mercy and provision.
• And give praise and thanks for his faithfulness to Emmanuel College, give thanks for the growing stream of graduates who are salt and light to a desperate and confused world.
• And trust him, lifting his name high above all others for his name is Lord of Hosts, his name is Savior, his name is Comforter. O praise our God today - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Pray First! Pray Through! 

Blessing

From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. (Psalm 3:8 NIV)

Today's meditation:

• Cuts and bruises, pain and discomfort, all part of life, but ultimately the Lord delivers his people.  

Pray today:

• For God's deliverance, sooner than later, in his perfect timing, with our complete cooperation, not interfering, but affirming his perfect plan.
• For students, staff and faculty to be delivered from our doubt and other unproductive thoughts and actions, for the lost to be delivered from their sins, for believers to be delivered from their anxieties.
• For God's blessing to rest upon students, staff and faculty of Emmanuel College, blessed for service, blessed to mentor and be mentored, blessed to share the Gospel by the lives we live and the words we speak.

Pray First! Pray Through! 

Save Me

Come, Lord! Save me, my God! You punish all my enemies and leave them powerless to harm me. (Psalm 3:6 GNB)

Today's meditation:

• Accepting God's plan requires us to accept the less comfortable moments in his plan. 

Pray today:

• For God to save and rescue us as needed throughout the journey because we often find ourselves in tight spots, sometimes of our own making and sometimes because he's placed us exactly where we need to be.
• For those who mean us harm to be powerless to do so, for the enemy of our soul, the devil, to be defeated in the war over Emmanuel College.
• For great rejoicing in each battle because God saves.

Pray First! Pray Through! 

All Around

I will not be afraid of multitudes of people who have set themselves against me all around. (Psalm 3:6 MEV)

Today's meditation:

• Although opposition may be all around, the presence of the Holy Spirit is all around me.

Pray today:

• For Emmanuel College to be effective in its mission of education and service, for us to be wise in dealing with others, especially those who oppose us or wish us harm.
• For the Emmanuel family to never waver in our trust in God to deliver us, for anxiety to dissolve like mist in the morning sun, for clear and confident hope in God's protection.
• For the perfect peace of our Lord to defend us against every anxiety and worry, for joyful praise to constantly be on our lips in every circumstance and on every occasion. 

Pray First! Pray Through! 

Watching Over Me

I lay down and slept, yet I woke up safely, for the Lord was watching over me. (Psalm 3:5 NLT)

Today's meditation:

• Sleeping or waking, in the heat of battle or during a moment of respite, we have the assurance that God is watching over us. 

Pray today:

• For Emmanuel College to be kept safe and sound in the Lord's hands, for nothing to interrupt its mission, for students to flock to the College in ever larger numbers.
• For staff and faculty to get adequate rest and to find time for necessary preparations as they make plans to open a new school year in August.
• For needs and concerns to be placed in God's capable hands, for worries and anxieties to be banished by his mighty power.

Pray First! Pray Through! 

He Answered Me

I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain. (Psalm 3:4 NLT)

Today's meditation:

• There are times to pray quietly and then there are times to cry out to God with urgency and great emotion. He eagerly listens to both. 

Pray today:

• And cry out to him for rescue, for him to deliver Emmanuel College from the intentions of the evil one, for us to look up and see the salvation of the Lord.
• For us to listen carefully for the Lord's answers to our prayers and to obey.
• For us to have faith that the answers are on the way as we continue to pray without ceasing.

Pray First! Pray Through!