DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR TUESDAY JANUARY 2:
WORD OF WISDOM
We can't direct the wind but we can adjust our sails.
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DAILY DEVOTION
The Greatest Need for the Coming Year
"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you:
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you
an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to
walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye
shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my
people, and I will be your God."
Ezekiel 36:26-28
Over and over as I counsel with people, I hear them express a longing for a
change in their circumstances. So many people believe that if they just had
a better job or a better marriage or better parents or a better church,
their lives would be transformed. But the reality is that the biggest change
anyone needs, is a change of heart. Changing external people or
circumstances only provides temporary relief at best, for the problems we
have arise from within, not from without.
Repeated studies into the lives of people who win large lottery jackpots
reveal a consistent pattern. A great majority of those people are worse off
five years later than they were before their windfall. No amount of outward
change in circumstances or conditions can fix a problem that has its roots
in the heart. Jesus said, "There is nothing from without a man, that
entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him,
those are they that defile the man" (Matthew 7:15).
More than anything else in our nation, our churches and our own lives, we
need people who have a heart toward God. The things that we love most
dictate how we use our time and invest our resources. If God is first, as He
should be, then every decision and action will reflect our love for Him.
If you want to experience God's blessing and guidance, your heart must be
fixed on Him.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Genesis 4-6The Message (MSG)
4 Adam slept with Eve his wife. She conceived and had Cain. She said, "I've
gotten a man, with God's help!"
2 Then she had another baby, Abel. Abel was a herdsman and Cain a farmer.
3-5 Time passed. Cain brought an offering to God from the produce of his
farm. Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his
herd, choice cuts of meat. God liked Abel and his offering, but Cain and his
offering didn't get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk.
6-7 God spoke to Cain: "Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well,
won't you be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin is lying in wait for
you, ready to pounce; it's out to get you, you've got to master it."
8 Cain had words with his brother. They were out in the field; Cain came at
Abel his brother and killed him.
9 God said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?"
He said, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter?"
10-12 God said, "What have you done! The voice of your brother's blood is
calling to me from the ground. From now on you'll get nothing but curses
from this ground; you'll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms
to receive the blood of your murdered brother. You'll farm this ground, but
it will no longer give you its best. You'll be a homeless wanderer on
Earth."
13-14 Cain said to God, "My punishment is too much. I can't take it! You've
thrown me off the land and I can never again face you. I'm a homeless
wanderer on Earth and whoever finds me will kill me."
15 God told him, "No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times
over." God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him
would kill him.
16 Cain left the presence of God and lived in No-Man's-Land, east of Eden.
17-18 Cain slept with his wife. She conceived and had Enoch. He then built a
city and named it after his son, Enoch.
Enoch had Irad,
Irad had Mehujael,
Mehujael had Methushael,
Methushael had Lamech.
19-22 Lamech married two wives, Adah and Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal,
the ancestor of all who live in tents and herd cattle. His brother's name
was Jubal, the ancestor of all who play the lyre and flute. Zillah gave
birth to Tubal-Cain, who worked at the forge making bronze and iron tools.
Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.
23-24
Lamech said to his wives,
Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
you wives of Lamech, hear me out:
I killed a man for wounding me,
a young man who attacked me.
If Cain is avenged seven times,
for Lamech it's seventy-seven!
25-26 Adam slept with his wife again. She had a son whom she named Seth. She
said, "God has given me another child in place of Abel whom Cain killed."
And then Seth had a son whom he named Enosh.
That's when men and women began praying and worshiping in the name of God.
The Family Tree of the Human Race
5 1-2 This is the family tree of the human race: When God created the human
race, he made it godlike, with a nature akin to God. He created both male
and female and blessed them, the whole human race.
3-5 When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was just like him, his
very spirit and image, and named him Seth. After the birth of Seth, Adam
lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. Adam lived a total
of 930 years. And he died.
6-8 When Seth was 105 years old, he had Enosh. After Seth had Enosh, he
lived another 807 years, having more sons and daughters. Seth lived a total
of 912 years. And he died.
9-11 When Enosh was ninety years old, he had Kenan. After he had Kenan, he
lived another 815 years, having more sons and daughters. Enosh lived a total
of 905 years. And he died.
12-14 When Kenan was seventy years old, he had Mahalalel. After he had
Mahalalel, he lived another 840 years, having more sons and daughters. Kenan
lived a total of 910 years. And he died.
15-17 When Mahalalel was sixty-five years old, he had Jared. After he had
Jared, he lived another 830 years, having more sons and daughters. Mahalalel
lived a total of 895 years. And he died.
18-20 When Jared was 162 years old, he had Enoch. After he had Enoch, he
lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. Jared lived a total
of 962 years. And he died.
21-23 When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he had Methuselah. Enoch walked
steadily with God. After he had Methuselah, he lived another 300 years,
having more sons and daughters. Enoch lived a total of 365 years.
24 Enoch walked steadily with God. And then one day he was simply gone: God
took him.
25-27 When Methuselah was 187 years old, he had Lamech. After he had Lamech,
he lived another 782 years. Methuselah lived a total of 969 years. And he
died.
28-31 When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son. He named him Noah,
saying, "This one will give us a break from the hard work of farming the
ground that God cursed." After Lamech had Noah, he lived another 595 years,
having more sons and daughters. Lamech lived a total of 777 years. And he
died.
32 When Noah was 500 years old, he had Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Giants in the Land
6 1-2 When the human race began to increase, with more and more daughters
being born, the sons of God noticed that the daughters of men were
beautiful. They looked them over and picked out wives for themselves.
3 Then God said, "I'm not going to breathe life into men and women
endlessly. Eventually they're going to die; from now on they can expect a
life span of 120 years."
4 This was back in the days (and also later) when there were giants in the
land. The giants came from the union of the sons of God and the daughters of
men. These were the mighty men of ancient lore, the famous ones.
Noah and His Sons
5-7 God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil,
imagined evil-evil, evil, evil from morning to night. God was sorry that he
had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart. God said,
"I'll get rid of my ruined creation, make a clean sweep: people, animals,
snakes and bugs, birds-the works. I'm sorry I made them."
8 But Noah was different. God liked what he saw in Noah.
9-10 This is the story of Noah: Noah was a good man, a man of integrity in
his community. Noah walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and
Japheth.
11-12 As far as God was concerned, the Earth had become a sewer; there was
violence everywhere. God took one look and saw how bad it was, everyone
corrupt and corrupting-life itself corrupt to the core.
13 God said to Noah, "It's all over. It's the end of the human race. The
violence is everywhere; I'm making a clean sweep.
14-16 "Build yourself a ship from teakwood. Make rooms in it. Coat it with
pitch inside and out. Make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and
forty-five feet high. Build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen
inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three
decks, lower, middle, and upper.
17 "I'm going to bring a flood on the Earth that will destroy everything
alive under Heaven. Total destruction.
18-21 "But I'm going to establish a covenant with you: You'll board the
ship, and your sons, your wife and your sons' wives will come on board with
you. You are also to take two of each living creature, a male and a female,
on board the ship, to preserve their lives with you: two of every species of
bird, mammal, and reptile-two of everything so as to preserve their lives
along with yours. Also get all the food you'll need and store it up for you
and them."
22 Noah did everything God commanded him to do.
