Nov 16

Psalms 18:24-28
24 The LORD rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity.
26 To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the wicked you show yourself hostile.
27 You rescue the humble, but you humiliate the proud.
28 You light a lamp for me. The LORD, my God, lights up my darkness.

A story is told of a village in a part of the world that is rainy for a small part of the year and dry throughout the rest of the year. One year the village elders announced a plan: Everyone in the village was to bring a single cup of water to a large tank in the center of the town during the rainy season. Then, when the dry season came and water was scarce, the village would still have water, and they would all share equally the water in the tank. The villagers all cheered the elders' plan, and it was agreed. The rainy season came and went; dust began to settle on the village, the ground began to crack from the dryness, and water became scarce. Then the day arrived when the elders agreed that the tank should be opened and the precious water should be shared among the villagers. Everyone gathered around the tank with cups and bowls, and a spirit of celebration was in the air. With great ceremony, the elders opened the tank-and discovered that not a drop of water was to be found inside! Only then was it learned that not one of the villagers who had agreed to the elders' plan had given a single cup of water. Each had assumed that his or her cup of water would not be missed, and so the water tank had sat empty throughout the rainy season. The village was without water. It's easy to think that no one will notice our unfaithfulness. It's easy to skip church or not attend a club meeting at school or decide not to fulfill a promise we've made to a friend, thinking "no one will notice" or "it's no big deal." But unfaithfulness doesn't hurt only those who are depending on us; it hurts us, too. If each of the villagers had brought his or her cup of water, that water would have been returned to them all. If you are faithful, you'll receive faithfulness back-from God and from others, many times over.

REFLECT: What do you think would have happened if the villagers in the story above had kept their agreement? Do you ever act like those villagers, thinking no one will notice your irresponsibility or unfaithfulness? Have you ever been hurt or disappointed by someone's unfaithfulness? Have you ever been hurt or disappointed by your own unfaithfulness?

PRAY: Read the words of Psalm 18:25-28 out loud, this time making them your prayer to God.

I guess one thing we can all get back from this reading is to give back to God as he gave us.

So that can be through your friends, or family members or whatnot. We should all be giving away what God has given us, and if he gives again, then give it away again.
The Holy Spirit is something you gain from giving it away. In simple terms [ We give holy spirit to x person, holy spirit gives us itself yet again ], and then we loop the process.
I remember there was one quote in the Bible where Jesus was preparing to depart, and he told all of his disciples to teach what he taught them far and wide.
As his followers of today, we should take ourselves and give ourselves a RESPONSIBILITY to do the same.

i pretty much got similar messages from the past few devotions. give back to God what he has rewarded/blessed you with in return and he will continue to make your gift grow into something that can become big. for instance, i have always been told that i was good at the piano, and when praise team opened up, i felt the urge and some sort of feeling to join for the piano. at first it was just me, learning how to play chords and make some small riffs for songs. eventually, my faith grew in God and i have learned much more than i had first had and i am proud of the progress and look forward to what God has planned out for me with the talent that brought me to praise team. just go with what God wants you to do with the talent that you are blessed with and it will grow into something great.

I'm too tired to do this now! Just came back from almost 4 hours of non-stop singing and my throat is driving me mad. I'm going to sleep so I can recover as much as possible. I'll do this devo tomorrow! So sorry!

Um didn't get much but I did find the main point of this important. As a part of the congregation, and especially as praise team members, we should be active members. It's like the thing where if you tell a crowd to call 911, they all think the same thought that someone else would do it, resulting in no one actually calling them. We can't think that our weight can be pulled when we decide to take breaks lightly. It's a big deal when we can't make it to different church functions. Every extra body counts. So be responsible in all your actions and be active within the groups you are in.

I thought the exact same thing as Jeremiah
We can't rely on someone else to do a responsibility
We as leaders need to take charge and get things done when and how we see fit.

I havrnt ever been hurt from others lack of faithfulness but i have of my own faith
When im in desperate need or in pain, when there is no one to ble other than myself, i turn to blame god which is a really bad habit
By soing that i guess that my faith falls and god continues to make me suffe brcause its my own fault, but i blame god.
Never blame god for your mistakes but never hesitate to ask him for help.

From reading this, I learned how much greed humans have.

God gives us exactly what we need. Actually he gives us more than we need!
But for some reason, we always want more. If God gave us something and he asks for a little of it back, shouldn't we give him more than just little? After all, everything belongs to God.

Being one body of Christ, we can't afford losing a portion of our "body". The human body wouldn't be perfect unless we had all aspects of it, right? As a team, we have to help each other. Spiritually and physically, and building up a fellowship together. No man left behind, or woman for that matter