DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR TUESDAY MARCH 23:
WORD OF WISDOM
Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the
impossible!
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DAILY DEVOTION
Exercise it to Increase it
"And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said,
If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine
tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it
should obey you."
Luke 17:5-6
The normal response of Jesus to His disciples when they asked Him for
something was to grant their requests. Yet in response to their plea for
increased faith, Jesus simply told them that a tiny amount of faith-mustard
seeds are very small-was enough to have a tree picked up and planted in the
sea. The problem was not that they needed more faith; the problem was that
they were not exercising the faith they already had.
We often think of people who see God work in amazing ways as if they had
some secret and superior level of faith that allowed them to accomplish so
much. Instead the key is found in their willingness to use their faith.
Think of the early church praying for the release of Peter from prison.
Herod had already killed James and was planning on killing Peter. As the
church met to cry out to God for deliverance, an angel came and freed Peter
from the prison.
When he knocked on the door where they were meeting, the young lady named
Rhoda who answered the door was so happy to hear Peter's voice that she ran
back inside, leaving the delivered prisoner standing in the street. But when
she told the church that their prayers had been answered, they did not
believe her. "And they said unto her, Thou art mad" (Acts 12:15). When they
finally did let Peter in, the Bible says they "were astonished" to see him.
Did they have great faith? No. They were surprised when the answer came. But
they did have enough faith to pray, and God answered their prayers.
The faith you already have is enough if you put it into action.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Joshua
Joshua 13 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
Land Not Yet Taken
13 When Joshua was very old, the Lord said to him, "Joshua you have grown
old, but there is still much land for you to take control of. 2 You have not
yet taken the land of Geshur or the land of the Philistines. 3 You have not
yet taken the area from the Shihor River[a] at Egypt to the border of Ekron
and the land further north. That land still belongs to the Canaanites. You
must still defeat the five Philistine leaders at Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon,
Gath, and Ekron. You must also defeat the Avvites 4 who live south of the
Canaanite land. And you must still go north to take Mearah, which the
Sidonians control. From there you must still go as far as Aphek on the
Amorite border. 5 You have not yet defeated the area of the Gebalites. And
also there is the area of Lebanon east of Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to
Lebo Hamath.
6 "The people of Sidon are living in the hill country from Lebanon to
Misrephoth Maim. But I will force them out for the Israelites. Be sure to
remember this land when you divide the land among the Israelites. Do this as
I told you. 7 Now divide the land among the nine tribes and half the tribe
of Manasseh."
Dividing the Land
8 The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the other half of the tribe of Manasseh had
already received all their land. The Lord's servant, Moses, gave them the
land east of the Jordan River. 9 Their land started at Aroer by the Arnon
Ravine and continued to the town in the middle of the ravine. And it
included the whole plain from Medeba to Dibon. 10 All the towns that King
Sihon of the Amorites ruled were in that land. He ruled in the city of
Heshbon. The land continued to the area where the Ammonites lived. 11 Also
the town of Gilead was in that land. And the area where the people of Geshur
and Maacah lived was in that land. All of Mount Hermon and all of Bashan as
far as Salecah was in that land. 12 All the kingdom of King Og was in that
land. King Og ruled in Bashan. In the past he ruled in Ashtaroth and Edrei.
Og was from the Rephaites. In the past Moses had defeated those people and
had taken their land. 13 The Israelites did not force out the people of
Geshur and Maacah. They still live among the Israelites today.
14 The tribe of Levi is the only tribe that did not get any land. Instead,
the Levites were given all the animals offered by fire to the Lord, the God
of Israel. That is what the Lord promised them.
15 Moses had given each family group from the tribe of Reuben some land.
This is the land they received: 16 It was the land from Aroer near the Arnon
Ravine to the town of Medeba. This included the whole plain and the town in
the middle of the ravine. 17 The land continued to Heshbon. It included all
the towns on the plain. Those towns were Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon,
18 Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath, 19 Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth Shahar on the
hill in the valley, 20 Beth Peor, the hills of Pisgah, and Beth Jeshimoth.
21 So that land included all the towns on the plain and all the area that
King Sihon of the Amorites had ruled. He ruled in the town of Heshbon, but
Moses had defeated him and the leaders of the Midianites. Those leaders were
Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. (They all fought together with Sihon.) All
of them lived in that country. 22 The Israelites defeated Balaam son of
Beor. (Balaam tried to use magic to tell the future.) The Israelites killed
many people during the fighting. 23 The land that was given to Reuben
stopped at the shore of the Jordan River. So the land that was given to the
family groups of Reuben included all these towns and their fields that were
listed.
24 This is the land Moses gave to the tribe of Gad. He gave this land to
each tribe:
25 He gave them the land of Jazer, all the towns of Gilead, and half of the
land of the Ammonites that went as far as Aroer near Rabbah. 26 Their land
included the area from Heshbon to Ramath Mizpah and Betonim, from Mahanaim
to the land of Debir, 27 the valley of Beth Haram, Beth Nimrah, Succoth and
Zaphon, including the rest of the kingdom of King Sihon of Heshbon, along
the Jordan all the way up to Lake Galilee on the eastern side of the river.
28 All this land is the land Moses gave the family groups of Gad. That land
included all the towns that were listed. Moses gave that land to each family
group.
29 This is the land Moses gave to half the tribe of Manasseh. Half of all
the families in the tribe of Manasseh got this land:
30 The land started at Mahanaim. The land included all of Bashan, all the
land ruled by King Og of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair in Bashan. (In
all, there were 60 cities.) 31 The land also included half of Gilead,
Ashtaroth, and Edrei. (Gilead, Ashtaroth, and Edrei were the cities where
King Og had lived.) All this land was given to the family of Makir son of
Manasseh. Half of all his sons got this land.
32 Moses gave all this land to these tribes. He did this while the people
were camped on the plains of Moab. This was across the Jordan River, east of
Jericho. 33 Moses did not give any land to the tribe of Levi. The Lord, God
of Israel, promised that he himself would be the gift for the tribe of Levi.
Footnotes:
Joshua 13:3 Shihor River Probably one of the eastern branches of the Nile
River.
