DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR TUESDAY DECEMBER 19:
WORD OF WISDOM
The Things you are taking for Granted is the Answer to someone else's
Prayers. Be Thankful.
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DAILY DEVOTION
The Gift that Never Disappoints
"Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank
thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said
unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the
water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up
into everlasting life."
John 4:12-14
I read about two coworkers who were discussing their holiday celebrations
after everyone got back to the office from the Christmas break. Dan asked
Bob, "So what did you get for Christmas?" Bob replied, "See that brand new
red Ferrari parked out in the parking lot?" Dan was shocked. "Seriously?
That's incredible!" But Bob said with a sigh, "I got a tie that's the exact
same color as that Ferrari."
Most of us know what it is like to be disappointed with a Christmas present.
Maybe it was when we were a child with an expectation of something specific
we had asked for but instead received a replacement. Maybe it was a style or
color that we just didn't like as a teenager. Maybe it was completely
different from what we were expecting. But when we finished tearing off the
wrapping paper and opening the box, we had to do our best to put a smile on
our face that didn't match how we felt, because we had been let down by what
we received.
That never happens when we come to Jesus. He meets every need and satisfies
every longing in the human heart. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice for our
sins, and the perfect Saviour to answer our desires for love, fulfillment,
and meaning in life. No wonder the Apostle Paul declared that Jesus is
beyond human ability to describe. "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15). When we come to Him we are never turned away and
never left unsatisfied.
Christmas is ultimately the celebration of the greatest gift in all of
history.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
James 4-5New King James Version (NKJV)
Pride Promotes Strife
4 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your
desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have.
You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet[a] you do not
have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask
amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and[b]
adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with
God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an
enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The
Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"?
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
"God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble."[c]
Humility Cures Worldliness
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you
sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and
weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Do Not Judge a Brother
11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a
brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law.
But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12
There is one Lawgiver,[d] who is able to save and to destroy. Who[e] are you
to judge another?[f]
Do Not Boast About Tomorrow
13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will[g] go to such and such
a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; 14 whereas
you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even
a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead
you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."
16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is
sin.
Rich Oppressors Will Be Judged
5 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon
you! 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your
gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against
you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the
last days. 4 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which
you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached
the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.[h] 5 You have lived on the earth in
pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as[i] in a day of
slaughter. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not
resist you.
Be Patient and Persevering
7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the
farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it
until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient.
Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned.[j]
Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! 10 My brethren, take the
prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and
patience. 11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the
perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord-that the Lord is
very compassionate and merciful.
12 But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or
with any other oath. But let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No," lest
you fall into judgment.[k]
Meeting Specific Needs
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him
sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of
the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name
of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord
will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16
Confess your trespasses[l] to one another, and pray for one another, that
you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails
much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly
that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and
six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth
produced its fruit.
Bring Back the Erring One
19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns
him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his
way will save a soul[m] from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Footnotes:
a.James 4:2 NU-Text and M-Text omit Yet.
b.James 4:4 NU-Text omits Adulterers and.
c.James 4:6 Proverbs 3:34
d.James 4:12 NU-Text adds and Judge.
e.James 4:12 NU-Text and M-Text read But who.
f.James 4:12 NU-Text reads a neighbor.
g.James 4:13 M-Text reads let us.
h.James 5:4 Literally, in Hebrew, Hosts
i.James 5:5 NU-Text omits as.
j.James 5:9 NU-Text and M-Text read judged.
k.James 5:12 M-Text reads hypocrisy.
l.James 5:16 NU-Text reads Therefore confess your sins.
m.James 5:20 NU-Text reads his soul.
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.
