DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR MONDAY NOVEMBER 27:
WORD OF WISDOM
Don't ever run with bagpipes. You could put an aye out.
Or worse yet, get kilt!
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DAILY DEVOTION
What Happens When We Pray?
"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be
healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly
that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three
years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the
earth brought forth her fruit."
James 5:16-18
There is a great deal of attention paid to prayer in the church today, but many
times it is only theoretical. We tend to talk about prayer more than we
actually practice it. If we are not careful, we can become what Dr. Curtis
Hutson called "practical atheists." We believe there is a God, but we live as
if we do not. And when we do not pray, we rob both ourselves and God's work of
the power and resources that are needed.
Prayer is not a relic. It is not something reserved for great saints of the
past but out of date in the modern era. Prayer works just as surely now as it
has for thousands of years. We must never forget the privilege God has offered
us to boldly enter His presence and make our requests, confident in His ability
to respond. Charles Spurgeon wrote, "Prayer moves the arm that moves the world."
Our society glorifies the myth of those who do it on their own, without any
help. But God honors and rewards those who live in dependence on His strength
and claim His promised resources to accomplish His purposes. If we do not pray,
we will certainly fail when the moments of test and challenge come. "And he
spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not
to faint;" (Luke 18:1).
A Christian who does not pray will not have a positive impact for Christ in the
world.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
2 Corinthians 1-3New King James Version (NKJV)
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all
Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Comfort in Suffering
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies
and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may
be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we
ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in
us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. 6 Now if we are afflicted,
it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the
same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your
consolation and salvation. 7 And our hope for you is steadfast, because we
know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of
the consolation.
Delivered from Suffering
8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to
us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we
despaired even of life. 9 Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that
we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, 10 who
delivered us from so great a death, and does[a] deliver us; in whom we trust
that He will still deliver us, 11 you also helping together in prayer for us,
that thanks may be given by many persons on our[b] behalf for the gift granted
to us through many.
Paul’s Sincerity
12 For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted
ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly
wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you. 13 For we are
not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I
trust you will understand, even to the end 14 (as also you have understood us
in part), that we are your boast as you also are ours, in the day of the Lord
Jesus.
Sparing the Church
15 And in this confidence I intended to come to you before, that you might have
a second benefit— 16 to pass by way of you to Macedonia, to come again from
Macedonia to you, and be helped by you on my way to Judea. 17 Therefore, when
I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan
according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No? 18
But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No. 19 For the Son of
God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and
Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. 20 For all the promises of God
in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. 21 Now He who
establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, 22 who also has
sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
23 Moreover I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no
more to Corinth. 24 Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow
workers for your joy; for by faith you stand.
2 But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in
sorrow. 2 For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but
the one who is made sorrowful by me?
Forgive the Offender
3 And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow
over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my
joy is the joy of you all. 4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I
wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you
might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.
5 But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some
extent—not to be too severe. 6 This punishment which was inflicted by the
majority is sufficient for such a man, 7 so that, on the contrary, you ought
rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with
too much sorrow. 8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. 9 For
to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are
obedient in all things. 10 Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For
if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one[c] for your sakes
in the presence of Christ, 11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we
are not ignorant of his devices.
Triumph in Christ
12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was
opened to me by the Lord, 13 I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not
find Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I departed for Macedonia.
14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through
us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to
God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who
are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and
to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these
things? 17 For we are not, as so many,[d] peddling the word of God; but as of
sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.
Christ’s Epistle
3 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others,
epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? 2 You are
our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you
are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the
Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that
is, of the heart.
The Spirit, Not the Letter
4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are
sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our
sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new
covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit;[e] for the letter kills, but the
Spirit gives life.
Glory of the New Covenant
7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious,
so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses
because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how
will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of
condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in
glory. 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect,
because of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing away was glorious,
what remains is much more glorious.
12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— 13
unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could
not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were
blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of
the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to
this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when
one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit;
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with
unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of
the Lord.
Footnotes:
a.2 Corinthians 1:10 NU-Text reads shall.
b.2 Corinthians 1:11 M-Text reads your behalf.
c.2 Corinthians 2:10 NU-Text reads For indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have
forgiven anything, I did it.
d.2 Corinthians 2:17 M-Text reads the rest.
e.2 Corinthians 3:6 Or spirit
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas
Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
