nov 21

Psalms 133:1-3
1 How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!
2 For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe.
3 Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion. And there the LORD has pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting.

Announcer: Today on Okra, we will talk to three people whose sordid stories of family feuding have made them famous-or should I say infamous?

First Voice: Yeah, hi. See, it's like this: I didn't exactly get along with my brother. Well, OK, that's an understatement. I killed him.

Second Voice (clears his throat): My uncle and I were business partners. Everything had been going along fine, but our herds were gettin' too big for the land. Besides, my employees and his employees didn't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. Neither did Uncle and I, really. We had to part company.

Third Voice: He never acted like he wanted it anyway. My brother, I mean. When I tricked his inheritance out of our father ... well, my brother went crazy. He woulda killed me if I hadn't skipped town.

Announcer: Three tragic stories. Today on Okra. Stay tuned! Well, maybe you've figured it out. Okra's first guest was Cain, who killed his brother, Abel, in a fit of jealousy. The second voice belonged to Lot, who separated from his godly uncle at a crucial time in his life. The third guest was Jacob, who cheated his brother, Esau, out of his inheritance and his father's blessing, and had to run for his life. But do you know the rest of their stories? Cain (Genesis 4) was banished far from his parents and lived the rest of his life in exile. Lot (Genesis 13-14, 18-19) thought he got a great deal from his uncle; he chose the finest land in the area, moved his flocks into the plains of Zoar, and settled in a doomed place called Sodom. Jacob (Genesis 25, 27-33) ran to a strange place called Paddan Aram, where he spent fourteen years in servitude to a man as devious and deceitful as himself. Each of these individuals paid a high price for his inability to live in harmony and unity with others. That's the way it usually goes. People who can't get along with others usually succeed only in making things more difficult for themselves. Such people's lives become full of anger, strife, revenge, and all sorts of unpleasant things. How much better it is when people live together in unity and harmony! Such people often experience the appreciation, kindness, and cooperation of others. They may never appear on Okra, but they understand that unity is better, nonetheless.

REFLECT: Do you agree that it's better when people live together in unity and harmony? Why or why not? Does the experience of Cain, Lot, or Jacob sound like any of your relationships? Why or why not?

PRAY: "I need your help today to live in harmony with..."

This devo reminded me of the commandment where Jesus says to love your neighbors as yourself. Why make life harder by being abrasive when we could better ourselves by coming to good terms with others around us? We should always be working towards making healthy relationships with others based on love and trust, resulting in cooperations and solutions to problems that benefit everyone. On the other hand, relations based on distrust and selfishness will only result in unneeded suffering and problems as in the example of Cain and Abel. So base all your relationships on principles that God has instilled in us rather than the ones from human nature.

Anger is so common in humans. the tiniest things can frustrate us. There's always a negative side to things even when trying to go to positive sides.
our thoughts can sometimes even make the situation look worse than it actually is. The human mind is very unstable but when we let God take control, we can see.
As christians, we should set an example. Do not focus on one negative thing and let that ruin everything. Geting angry with someone does not fix the problem. Think and act like how God would in every problem that arises.

Also, when praying, there is a difference between seeking help from God and listing all your troubles.
When in a problem, talk to God and listen to what he wants you to do instead of doing what you feel like you want to do.

Good night.
~Audrey~

this can relate to what we talked bout yesterday bout how we should be thankful for what we have. Being selfish and greedy only leads to your downfall and it is always better to have comapny around u. No one wants to be alone and would rather be in a community A Good example of this would be Adam and Eve. God frist created Adam and than saw how lonely he was so he than created Eve to accompany Adam. living in isolation sux so dont be selfish and greedy and get along with other people. living in harmony is good. living with hatred and angr and jelousy is bad
gnite

It's really hard to love everybody that you meet. You're obviously going to meet people you find annoying, or stupid, etc.

But we have to at least respect them and acknowledge the fact that they are human beings with emotions.
Then hopefully, God will give you a change of heart, and you will learn to love that person.

I think this verse focused on how we can't really live in the "Kingdom of God" without really, essentially, a Kingdom. It's like calling one person, an army. It just really doesn't make sense. Also, it doesn't really help to prove its point or perform its function. Take for example our praise team; if we praised with each instrument separately, like a talent show, it REALLY wouldn't work towards leading the congregation.

We have to have different people performing different roles at once to hold things together within our community.

this devotion made me think of the commandment to love you neighbours. its hard to love everyone and for some people its hard to open up to new people. God wants us all to love each other because it is just as important as loving him. he wants his creation to love each other rather than having wars with each other which is currently happening all over the world now. i particularly think it is important for us as a praise team to open up to new people that come into our curch because we are the "face" of the ministry as many have told us. through loving others we are showing them the love of God because we are his people and his children. like father like son by loving others we are learning to be more Godly and more like our father.

Well I guess the message was to live harmonously with your brothers and sisters
But that can be so hard because of such simple things like, they may not have the same interests as us
Even if we're different, that shouldn't stop us from living in "harmony with them"
But I'm sure we've all come to the realization that we tend to surround ourselves with those who are like us
Live harmonously with everyone. I'm sure we're all completely different from God, but that doesnt stop him from loving us.

I think most of us have brothers or sisters so this is fairly easy to relate to.
And one thing I want to point out is that you can never really stop being siblings, so you might as well be the best you can be.
It's hard because of a range of obstacles, like age, personality, gender, and like Kevin said, different interests, to make of a few
but it's so important to AT LEAST be on good terms with one another because they'll (hopefully) be in your life longer than anyone else you come across in life.

SO always try to treat your brothers and sisters as best as you can!

When you're fighting with someone, you're constantly grieving.
To live in harmony is truly a blessing, not having to worry about really anything. As you would co-operate well together, when minds are formed together to fulfil a purpose,
Just having someone watch over you is a privilege. Someone having your back, caring about you. This is proof God's work, as he loved us first.