DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR MONDAY AUGUST 31:
WORD OF WISDOM
As a child of God, prayer is kind of like calling home everyday.
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DAILY DEVOTION
Put God First
"And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray
thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the LORD thy God
liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil
in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress
it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. And Elijah said unto her,
Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first,
and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son."
1 Kings 17:11-13
I once heard a story of a missionary in Africa who received a knock on the door
of his hut one afternoon. Answering, the missionary found a native boy holding
a large fish in his hands. The boy said, "Missionary, you taught us what
tithing is, so here. I've brought you my tithe." As the missionary gratefully
took the fish, he questioned the boy. "If this is your tithe, where are the
other nine fish?" At this, the boy beamed and said, "Oh, they're still back in
the river. I'm going back to catch them now." This boy evidenced the joy of
faith in his giving.
God does not need our money. He has all the resources of Heaven and Earth at
His disposal. But He does command us to give tithes and offerings. Though this
teaching is clear throughout Scripture, it sometimes meets with resistance from
God’s people. Yet those with a heart for God have no issue with giving back
to Him part of what He has given to them. When we give to God first rather than
handing Him the leftovers, we show that our heart is fixed on Him rather than
on the material blessings we receive.
How you handle your financial resources reveals where your heart is.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Ezekiel 16-17 New King James Version (NKJV)
God’s Love for Jerusalem
16 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, cause
Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God to
Jerusalem: “Your [a]birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your
father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 As for your nativity, on the
day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to
cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5
No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on
you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were
[b]loathed on the day you were born.
6 “And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to
you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7 I made
you [c]thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very
beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and
bare.
8 “When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the
time of love; so I spread [d]My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes,
I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became
Mine,” says the Lord God.
9 “Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I
anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you
sandals of [e]badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with
silk. 11 I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a
chain on your neck. 12 And I put a [f]jewel in your nose, earrings in your
ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold
and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth.
You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful,
and succeeded to royalty. 14 Your fame went out among the nations because of
your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on
you,” says the Lord God.
Jerusalem’s Harlotry
15 “But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame,
and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. 16 You
took some of your garments and adorned multicolored [g]high places for
yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be.
17 You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which
I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with
them. 18 You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My
oil and My incense before them. 19 Also My food which I gave you—the pastry of
fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set it before them as [h]sweet
incense; and so it was,” says the Lord God.
20 “Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and
these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small
matter, 21 that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by
causing them to pass through the fire? 22 And in all your abominations and acts
of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked
and bare, struggling in your blood.
23 “Then it was so, after all your wickedness—‘Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord
God— 24 that you also built for yourself a shrine, and made a [i]high place for
yourself in every street. 25 You built your high places at the head of every
road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who
passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry. 26 You also committed harlotry
with the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of
harlotry to provoke Me to anger.
27 “Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your
[j]allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, the daughters
of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28 You also played
the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played
the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. 29 Moreover you multiplied
your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, Chaldea; and even then
you were not satisfied.
30 “How degenerate is your heart!” says the Lord God, “seeing you do all these
things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.
Jerusalem’s Adultery
31 “You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your [k]high
place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned
payment. 32 You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her
husband. 33 Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all
your lovers, and [l]hired them to come to you from all around for your
harlotry. 34 You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no
one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was
given you, therefore you are the opposite.”
Jerusalem’s Lovers Will Abuse Her
35 ‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord! 36 Thus says the Lord God:
“Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your
harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of
the blood of your children which you gave to them, 37 surely, therefore, I will
gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and
all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will
uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. 38 And I
will judge you as women who break wedlock or shed blood are judged; I will
bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy. 39 I will also give you into their
hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down your [m]high
places. They shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry,
and leave you naked and bare.
40 “They shall also bring up an assembly against you, and they shall stone you
with stones and thrust you through with their swords. 41 They shall burn your
houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and
I will make you cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers.
42 So I will lay to rest My fury toward you, and My jealousy shall depart from
you. I will be quiet, and be angry no more. 43 Because you did not remember the
days of your youth, but [n]agitated Me with all these things, surely I will
also recompense your [o]deeds on your own head,” says the Lord God. “And you
shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations.
More Wicked than Samaria and Sodom
44 “Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you:
‘Like mother, like daughter!’ 45 You are your mother’s daughter, [p]loathing
husband and children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their
husbands and children; your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
46 “Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells with her daughters to the north of
you; and your younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her
daughters. 47 You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their
abominations; but, as if that were too little, you became more corrupt than
they in all your ways.
48 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters
have done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Look, this was the iniquity
of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and
abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and
needy. 50 And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore
I took them away as [q]I saw fit.
51 “Samaria did not commit half of your sins; but you have multiplied your
abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all the
abominations which you have done. 52 You who judged your sisters, bear your own
shame also, because the sins which you committed were more abominable than
theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, be disgraced also, and bear your
own shame, because you justified your sisters.
53 “When I bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters,
and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also bring back the
captives of your captivity among them, 54 that you may bear your own shame and
be disgraced by all that you did when you comforted them. 55 When your sisters,
Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her
daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return
to your former state. 56 For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth
in the days of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered. It was like
the time of the reproach of the daughters of [r]Syria and all those around her,
and of the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you everywhere. 58 You
have paid for your lewdness and your abominations,” says the Lord. 59 For thus
says the Lord God: “I will deal with you as you have done, who despised the
oath by breaking the covenant.
An Everlasting Covenant
60 “Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your
youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. 61 Then you will
remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your older and your younger
sisters; for I will give them to you for daughters, but not because of My
covenant with you. 62 And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall
know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may remember and be ashamed, and never
open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement
for all you have done,” says the Lord God.’ ”
The Eagles and the Vine
17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, pose a riddle,
and speak a parable to the house of Israel, 3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
“A great eagle with large wings and long pinions,
Full of feathers of various colors,
Came to Lebanon
And took from the cedar the highest branch.
4 He cropped off its topmost young twig
And carried it to a land of trade;
He set it in a city of merchants.
5 Then he took some of the seed of the land
And planted it in a fertile field;
He placed it by abundant waters
And set it like a willow tree.
6 And it grew and became a spreading vine of low stature;
Its branches turned toward him,
But its roots were under it.
So it became a vine,
Brought forth branches,
And put forth shoots.
7 “But there was [s]another great eagle with large wings and many feathers;
And behold, this vine bent its roots toward him,
And stretched its branches toward him,
From the garden terrace where it had been planted,
That he might water it.
8 It was planted in [t]good soil by many waters,
To bring forth branches, bear fruit,
And become a majestic vine.” ’
9 “Say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
“Will it thrive?
Will he not pull up its roots,
Cut off its fruit,
And leave it to wither?
All of its spring leaves will wither,
And no great power or many people
Will be needed to pluck it up by its roots.
10 Behold, it is planted,
Will it thrive?
Will it not utterly wither when the east wind touches it?
It will wither in the garden terrace where it grew.” ’ ”
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 12 “Say now to the
rebellious house: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Indeed
the king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and took its king and princes, and led
them with him to Babylon. 13 And he took the king’s offspring, made a covenant
with him, and put him under oath. He also took away the mighty of the land, 14
that the kingdom might be brought low and not lift itself up, but that by
keeping his covenant it might stand. 15 But he rebelled against him by sending
his ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will
he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and
still be delivered?
16 ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘surely in the place where the king dwells
who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke—with him
in the midst of Babylon he shall die. 17 Nor will Pharaoh with his mighty army
and great company do anything in the war, when they heap up a siege mound and
build a [u]wall to cut off many persons. 18 Since he despised the oath by
breaking the covenant, and in fact gave[v] his hand and still did all these
things, he shall not escape.’ ”
19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “As I live, surely My oath which he
despised, and My covenant which he broke, I will recompense on his own head. 20
I will spread My net over him, and he shall be taken in My snare. I will bring
him to Babylon and try him there for the [w]treason which he committed against
Me. 21 All his [x]fugitives with all his troops shall fall by the sword, and
those who remain shall be scattered to every wind; and you shall know that I,
the Lord, have spoken.”
Israel Exalted at Last
22 Thus says the Lord God: “I will take also one of the highest branches of the
high cedar and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs
a tender one, and will plant it on a high and prominent mountain. 23 On the
mountain height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and
bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. Under it will dwell birds of every sort;
in the shadow of its branches they will dwell. 24 And all the trees of the
field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree and exalted
the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; I, the
Lord, have spoken and have done it.”
