DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 27:
WORD OF WISDOM
"Heaven is full of answers to prayers for which no one ever bothered to
ask."
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DAILY DEVOTION
God with Us
"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for
he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they
shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."
Matthew 1:21-23
Dr. Lee Roberson told the story of a little boy whose mother died
unexpectedly. He was too young to understand everything about death and
Heaven, but he knew that his mother was gone. After the funeral, father and
son returned home. When it was time for bed, the little boy asked to sleep
with his father. But even that proved scant comfort when the lights were
turned off. Through the darkness his soft voice whispered, "Daddy, is your
face turned toward me?"
All of us have an empty place in our hearts that only God can fill. No
amount of success, money, fame, accomplishment or earthly love can supply
the need only God can meet. And so often in the darkness when no one else
can hear, we ask if God sees us and knows the burdens that we are carrying.
Jesus is the answer to that question-and the answer is YES! God sees and
knows every burden and heartache that we feel.
Yet so many times we do not feel a real sense of God's presence and care in
our lives. That is because of the effects of sin. Jesus came into the world
to bridge the divide that had existed between God and man since Adam and
Eve's sin in the Garden of Eden. We do not serve a distant God who is far
off and hard to reach. We serve a God who is present with us, and who
accepts us into His family through the blood of His Son Jesus.
Through the coming of Jesus into the world, the gap between us and God has
been filled.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Revelation 7-9New King James Version (NKJV)
The Sealed of Israel
7 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the
earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on
the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending
from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud
voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the
sea, 3 saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have
sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." 4 And I heard the
number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all
the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:
5
of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed;[a]
of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed;
6
of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed;
7
of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed;
8
of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed;
of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.
A Multitude from the Great Tribulation
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one
could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before
the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches
in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation
belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" 11 All the
angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures,
and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying:
"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom,
Thanksgiving and honor and power and might,
Be to our God forever and ever.
Amen."
13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "Who are these arrayed in
white robes, and where did they come from?"
14 And I said to him, "Sir,[b] you know."
So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation,
and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15
Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in
His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. 16 They
shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike
them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will
shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters.[c] And God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes."
Seventh Seal: Prelude to the Seven Trumpets
8 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about
half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to
them were given seven trumpets. 3 Then another angel, having a golden
censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he
should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar
which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the
prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand. 5 Then
the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it
to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an
earthquake.
6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to
sound.
First Trumpet: Vegetation Struck
7 The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood,
and they were thrown to the earth.[d] And a third of the trees were burned
up, and all green grass was burned up.
Second Trumpet: The Seas Struck
8 Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning
with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9
And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the
ships were destroyed.
Third Trumpet: The Waters Struck
10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning
like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of
water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became
wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.
Fourth Trumpet: The Heavens Struck
12 Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third
of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were
darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.
13 And I looked, and I heard an angel[e] flying through the midst of heaven,
saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth,
because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are
about to sound!"
Fifth Trumpet: The Locusts from the Bottomless Pit
9 Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the
earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the
bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great
furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the
pit. 3 Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was
given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were
commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any
tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
5 And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for
five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it
strikes a man. 6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it;
they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.
7 The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their
heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the
faces of men. 8 They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like
lions' teeth. 9 And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and
the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses
running into battle. 10 They had tails like scorpions, and there were
stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. 11 And they
had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew
is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.
12 One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these
things.
Sixth Trumpet: The Angels from the Euphrates
13 Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of
the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had
the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river
Euphrates." 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and
day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 Now
the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the
number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat
on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and
the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their
mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third
of mankind was killed-by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came
out of their mouths. 19 For their power[f] is in their mouth and in their
tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they
do harm.
20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not
repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and
idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor
hear nor walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their
sorceries[g] or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Footnotes:
a.Revelation 7:5 In NU-Text and M-Text were sealed is stated only in verses
5a and 8c; the words are understood in the remainder of the passage.
b.Revelation 7:14 NU-Text and M-Text read My lord.
c.Revelation 7:17 NU-Text and M-Text read to fountains of the waters of
life.
d.Revelation 8:7 NU-Text and M-Text add and a third of the earth was burned
up.
e.Revelation 8:13 NU-Text and M-Text read eagle.
f.Revelation 9:19 NU-Text and M-Text read the power of the horses.
g.Revelation 9:21 NU-Text and M-Text read drugs.
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.
