DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR FRIDAY MARCH 3:
WORD OF WISDOM
. Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!
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DAILY DEVOTION
The Power of God's Love
"Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your
sakes. Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world
be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto
me. This he said, signifying what death he should die."
John 12:30-33
I read a wonderful story about a missionary to Zimbabwe who was trying
diligently to witness to a man who had no interest in the gospel. When the
man continued to refuse to listen to the message, the missionary offered to
give him a New Testament. The uninterested man replied that he would just
use the pages to roll his cigarettes and smoke them. The missionary said,
"Well at least promise to read the pages before you smoke them!" The man
agreed.
Fifteen years passed before the two men met again, and this time it was at a
preaching conference. The once lost man who had declared his intention to
smoke the pages of the Bible was now an effective evangelist. In his
message, he gave his testimony and told the story of being given a New
Testament. "I smoked Matthew and I smoked Mark and I smoked Luke. But when I
got to John 3:16, I couldn't smoke anymore. My life was changed from that
moment."
The power of the message God has given us to take to the world is not found
in our ability, our personality, or our charisma. It is found in the story
of the crucifixion, for the cross is the measure of God's amazing love for
the world. When we substitute that message with anything else, we are
weakening the power of our witness to the lost. Paul reminded the
Corinthians of his ministry in their city this way: "For I determined not to
know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1
Corinthians 2:2).
If our lives and our message show God's love to the world, He will draw the
lost to salvation.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Joshua 1-3New King James Version (NKJV)
God's Commission to Joshua
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the
Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying: 2 "Moses My
servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this
people, to the land which I am giving to them-the children of Israel. 3
Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as
I said to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great
river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great
Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. 5 No man
shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with
Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be
strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an
inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be
strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the
law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right
hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of
the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day
and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in
it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good
success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not
be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you
go."
The Order to Cross the Jordan
10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11 "Pass
through the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for
yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in
to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.'"
12 And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh Joshua
spoke, saying, 13 "Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord
commanded you, saying, 'The Lord your God is giving you rest and is giving
you this land.' 14 Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall
remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But you
shall pass before your brethren armed, all your mighty men of valor, and
help them, 15 until the Lord has given your brethren rest, as He gave you,
and they also have taken possession of the land which the Lord your God is
giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy
it, which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side of the Jordan
toward the sunrise."
16 So they answered Joshua, saying, "All that you command us we will do, and
wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we heeded Moses in all things,
so we will heed you. Only the Lord your God be with you, as He was with
Moses. 18 Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words,
in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of
good courage."
Rahab Hides the Spies
2 Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove[a] to spy
secretly, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and
came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there. 2 And it was
told the king of Jericho, saying, "Behold, men have come here tonight from
the children of Israel to search out the country."
3 So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who have
come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out
all the country."
4 Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, "Yes, the men
came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 And it happened as
the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the
men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them." 6
(But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of
flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.) 7 Then the men pursued them
by the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued
them had gone out, they shut the gate.
8 Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9 and said to
the men: "I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of
you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are
fainthearted because of you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the
water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to
the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan,
Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we heard these
things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in
anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and
on earth beneath. 12 Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord,
since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my
father's house, and give me a true token, 13 and spare my father, my
mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our
lives from death."
14 So the men answered her, "Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this
business of ours. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that
we will deal kindly and truly with you."
15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on
the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. 16 And she said to them, "Get to the
mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the
pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way."
17 So the men said to her: "We will be blameless of this oath of yours which
you have made us swear, 18 unless, when we come into the land, you bind
this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and
unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your
father's household to your own home. 19 So it shall be that whoever goes
outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his
own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house,
his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. 20 And if you tell
this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us
swear."
21 Then she said, "According to your words, so be it." And she sent them
away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window.
22 They departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until
the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but did
not find them. 23 So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and
crossed over; and they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that
had befallen them. 24 And they said to Joshua, "Truly the Lord has
delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the
country are fainthearted because of us."
Israel Crosses the Jordan
3 Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia
Grove[b] and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and
lodged there before they crossed over. 2 So it was, after three days, that
the officers went through the camp; 3 and they commanded the people,
saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the
priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and
go after it. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two
thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way
by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before."
5 And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord
will do wonders among you." 6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying,
"Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people."
So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.
7 And the Lord said to Joshua, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the
sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will
be with you. 8 You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the
covenant, saying, 'When you have come to the edge of the water of the
Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.'"
9 So Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words
of the Lord your God." 10 And Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the
living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before
you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and
the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: 11 Behold, the ark of
the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into
the Jordan. 12 Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the
tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. 13 And it shall come to pass,
as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the
Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan,
that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down
from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap."
14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the
Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,
15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the
priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan
overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), 16 that the
waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very
far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went
down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and
the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 Then the priests who bore the
ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the
Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had
crossed completely over the Jordan.
Footnotes:
a.Joshua 2:1 Hebrew Shittim
b.Joshua 3:1 Hebrew Shittim
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James VersionR. Copyright C 1982 by Thomas
Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
