DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR WEDNESDAY JANUARY 1:
WORD OF WISDOM
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I pray that Donnie Daily Gems will be a blessing to you each
and every day in this new year of 2020.
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DAILY DEVOTION
Diligent Service
"For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our
daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in mine heart
to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may
turn away from us. My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen
you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him,
and burn incense."
2 Chronicles 29:9-11
When King Hezekiah decided to seek God's help after a period of national
judgment, one of the things he did was call for those who served God not to
be negligent in fulfilling their duties. He recognized that God would not
honor halfhearted or indifferent service. God is looking for dedicated,
faithful, diligent servants for His work.
Every day we face a choice of how we will spend the twenty-four hours we
have been given. Our answer to that question determines what we will
accomplish. Adoniram Judson said, "A life once spent is irrevocable. It will
remain to be contemplated through eternity. The same may be said of each
day. When it is once past, it is gone forever. All the marks which we put
upon it, it will exhibit forever. How shall we then wish to see each day
marked with usefulness! It is too late to mend the days that are past. The
future is in our power. Let us, then, each morning, resolve to send the day
into eternity in such a garb as we shall wish it to wear forever. And at
night let us reflect that one more day is irrevocably gone, indelibly
marked."
The reality is that 366 days from now, unless the Lord returns or we meet
Him in Heaven, we will be looking ahead to the start of another year.
Whether we do that with gladness or regret will be determined by how we use
those days.
We owe God our diligent service, and we will give an account to Him for how
we served Him.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Genesis 1-3 New King James Version (NKJV)
The History of Creation
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was
without form, and void; and darkness [a]was on the face of the deep. And the
Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 And God saw
the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5
God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. [b]So the
evening and the morning were the first day.
6 Then God said, "Let there be a [c]firmament in the midst of the waters,
and let it divide the waters from the waters." 7 Thus God made the
firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the
waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the
firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into
one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. 10 And God called
the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas.
And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields
seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed
is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth
grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that
yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw
that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and
for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the
heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 16 Then God made two
great [d]lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to
rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of
the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and
over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that
it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living
[e]creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the
[f]firmament of the heavens." 21 So God created great sea creatures and
every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to
their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it
was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and
fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." 23 So
the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according
to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each
according to its kind"; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the
earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything
that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was
good.
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air,
and over the cattle, over [g]all the earth and over every creeping thing
that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the
image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God
blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the
earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds
of the air, and over every living thing that [h]moves on the earth."
29 And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is
on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you
it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird
of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is
[i]life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so. 31 Then
God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the
evening and the morning were the sixth day.
The Garden of Eden
2 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.
2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested
on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed
the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work
which God had created and made.
4 This is the [j]history of the heavens and the earth when they were
created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5
before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the
field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth,
and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the
earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Life in God's Garden
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man
whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree
grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was
also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil.
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it
parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it
is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12
And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around
the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel;[k] it
is the one which goes toward the east of [l]Assyria. The fourth river is the
Euphrates.
15 Then the Lord God took [m]the man and put him in the garden of Eden to
[n]tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of
every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of
it you[o] shall surely die."
18 And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will
make him a helper comparable to him." 19 Out of the ground the Lord God
formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them
to [p]Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each
living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to
the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there
was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and
He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the
rib which the Lord God had taken from man He [q]made into a woman, and He
brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said:
"This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called [r]Woman,
Because she was taken out of [s]Man."
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be[t] joined to his
wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
The Temptation and Fall of Man
3 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the
Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You
shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of
the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the
garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest
you die.' "
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God
knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will
be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was
[u]pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of
its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves [v]coverings.
8 And they heard the [w]sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the
[x]cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence
of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"
10 So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I
was naked; and I hid myself."
11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the
tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?"
12 Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of
the tree, and I ate."
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:
"Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel."
16 To the woman He said:
"I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be [y]for your husband,
And he shall rule over you."
17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife,
and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall
not eat of it':
"Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18
Both thorns and thistles it shall [z]bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19
In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return."
20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve,[aa] because she was the mother of
all living.
21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed
them.
22 Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to
know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the
tree of life, and eat, and live forever"- 23 therefore the Lord God sent
him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden
of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the
tree of life.
