DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 9:
WORD OF WISDOM
2020 is considered perfect vision. Maybe God is using 2020 for us to see
clearly that He's in charge and the only one who can help us!
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DAILY DEVOTION
Seeing God
"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,
and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"
Hebrews 1:3
I distinctly remember sneaking around the house as a young boy in search of
a highly coveted Christmas gift. I was praying to find a BB gun hidden
somewhere in my house, and there was something exciting about the prospect
of being able to capture a quick and hopeful glimpse of that highly
anticipated Christmas gift!
I am thankful that when it comes to the greatest Gift ever given to man we
don't have to hope for rare moments of secrecy to catch a glimpse of Him. He
is the "brightness of [the Father's] glory and the express image of his
person." Contrary to my childhood experiences of quickly peeking at gifts,
Christ calls us to fix our gaze on Him!
It is vitally important that we have a clear picture of who God is. Our
society portrays a god who is a joke-a distant, distracted comic figure. But
the God of the Bible revealed both His power and His love when He entered
our world through a manger.
John 1:14 captures the heart of the Christmas message: "And the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." When Mary and
Joseph and the shepherds looked into the face of the infant Christ child,
they looked into the face of God. What an awesome and humbling thought!
In the pressures of daily life and the busyness of a holiday season, it is
easy for us to take our eyes off the Lord and to begin to focus on
ourselves. Resist the pull to become so wrapped up in the intricacies of
daily living that you miss taking time each day to seek the face of God.
Spend time meditating on how Jesus Christ is the revelation of God to us.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Romans 8-10 New King James Version (NKJV)
Free from Indwelling Sin
8 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
who[a] do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the
law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak
through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the
righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live
according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those
who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be
[b]carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the [c]carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to
the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh
cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of
God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is
not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but
the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who
raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead
will also give life to your mortal bodies [d]through His Spirit who dwells
in you.
Sonship Through the Spirit
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors-not to the flesh, to live according
to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if
by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you
did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the
Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba,[e] Father." 16 The Spirit
Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if
children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we
suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
From Suffering to Glory
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest
expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of
God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but
because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also
will be delivered from the bondage of [f]corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation
groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but
we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan
within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our
body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope;
for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we
do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what
we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession
[g]for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the
hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He
foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He
predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified;
and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
God's Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us
all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall
bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he
who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is
even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is
written:
"For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved
us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor
height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Israel's Rejection of Christ
9 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief
in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren, my [h]countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites,
to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the
law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and
from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the
eternally blessed God. Amen.
Israel's Rejection and God's Purpose
6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not
all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are
the seed of Abraham; but, "In Isaac your seed shall be called." 8 That is,
those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God;
but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. 9 For this is the
word of promise: "At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son."
10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even
by our father Isaac 11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
not of works but of Him who calls), 12 it was said to her, "The older shall
serve the younger." 13 As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I
have hated."
Israel's Rejection and God's Justice
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
15 For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion." 16 So then
it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have
raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be
declared in all the earth." 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and
whom He wills He hardens.
19 You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has
resisted His will?" 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?
Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like
this?" 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump
to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known,
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us
whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As He says also in Hosea:
"I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved."
26 "And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
'You are not My people,'
There they shall be called sons of the living God."
27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:
"Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved.
28 For [i]He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth."
29 And as Isaiah said before:
"Unless the Lord of [j]Sabaoth had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah."
Present Condition of Israel
30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness,
have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but
Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law [k]of
righteousness. 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it
were, [l]by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.
33 As it is written:
"Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
Israel Needs the Gospel
10 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for [m]Israel is that they
may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but
not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not
submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone who believes.
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, "The man who
does those things shall live by them." 6 But the righteousness of faith
speaks in this way, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into
heaven?' " (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, " 'Who will
descend into the abyss?' " (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8
But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your
heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess
with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised
Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11
For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over
all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For "whoever calls on the name of
the Lord shall be saved."
Israel Rejects the Gospel
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
As it is written:
"How beautiful are the feet of those who [n]preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!"
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has
believed our report?" 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God.
18 But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed:
"Their sound has gone out to all the earth,
And their words to the ends of the world."
19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says:
"I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation,
I will move you to anger by a foolish nation."
20 But Isaiah is very bold and says:
"I was found by those who did not seek Me;
I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me."
21 But to Israel he says:
"All day long I have stretched out My hands
To a disobedient and contrary people."
