[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR WEDNESDAY APRIL 20

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR WEDNESDAY APRIL 20

WORD OF WISDOM

Just because I cannot do everything does not give me the right to do
nothing.

___

DAILY DEVOTION

When You're Real


And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being
transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the
Lord, who is the Spirit.
(2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV)

	 The enemy would love for you to wear masks, hiding and not dealing
with the issues that are holding you back. The apostle Paul says that if
your face is veiled with masks, you won't see God's glory. If you're wearing
a mask of perfection, pretending everything is okay, or wearing a mask of
pride, worried about what others think, or wearing a mask of shame, feeling
guilty and condemned, that's going to keep you from God's best. You have to
take off the masks. Everybody is struggling with something. Don't be
embarrassed by it. Get honest with yourself, and be honest with God. You
don't have to pretend. When you're real, you'll see God's favor.
God doesn't change us from shame to glory, or from condemnation to glory, or
from pride to glory. He changes us from glory to glory. When you're not
wearing masks, God's glory is on you. When you're open, honest, and real,
God changes you and takes you to the next level.
	 
A Prayer for Today

"Father, thank You for the invitation to drop my masks and deal openly and
honestly with the hidden issues that hold me back. Thank You for the promise
that You are transforming me from glory to glory. I believe that You are
working right now to lift me to another level. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

___

DAILY BIBLE READING

2 Kings 22-25 New King James Version
Josiah Reigns in Judah
22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one
years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of
Bozkath. 2 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in
all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or
to the left.

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law
3 Now it came to pass, in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, that the king
sent Shaphan the scribe, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the
house of the Lord, saying: 4 "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may
count the money which has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the
doorkeepers have gathered from the people. 5 And let them deliver it into
the hand of those doing the work, who are the overseers in the house of the
Lord; let them give it to those who are in the house of the Lord doing the
work, to repair the damages of the house- 6 to carpenters and builders and
masons-and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. 7 However there
need be no accounting made with them of the money delivered into their hand,
because they deal faithfully."

8 Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the
Book of the Law in the house of the Lord." And Hilkiah gave the book to
Shaphan, and he read it. 9 So Shaphan the scribe went to the king, bringing
the king word, saying, "Your servants have [a]gathered the money that was
found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of those who do the
work, who oversee the house of the Lord." 10 Then Shaphan the scribe showed
the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read
it before the king.

11 Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law,
that he tore his clothes. 12 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest,
Ahikam the son of Shaphan, [b]Achbor the son of Michaiah, Shaphan the
scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king, saying, 13 "Go, inquire of the
Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this
book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused
against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to
do according to all that is written concerning us."

14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah
the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas,
keeper of the wardrobe. (She dwelt in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter.) And
they spoke with her. 15 Then she said to them, "Thus says the Lord God of
Israel, 'Tell the man who sent you to Me, 16 "Thus says the Lord: 'Behold, I
will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants-all the words of
the book which the king of Judah has read- 17 because they have forsaken Me
and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with
all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath shall be aroused against
this place and shall not be quenched.' " ' 18 But as for the king of Judah,
who sent you to inquire of the Lord, in this manner you shall speak to him,
'Thus says the Lord God of Israel: "Concerning the words which you have
heard- 19 because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the
Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its
inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore
your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you," says the Lord. 20
"Surely, therefore, I will [c]gather you to your fathers, and you shall
[d]be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the
calamity which I will bring on this place." ' " So they brought back word to
the king.

Josiah Restores True Worship
23 Now the king sent them to gather all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem to
him. 2 The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah,
and with him all the inhabitants of Jerusalem-the priests and the prophets
and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all
the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of
the Lord.

3 Then the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to
follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His
statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this
covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for
the covenant. 4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests
of the second order, and the doorkeepers, to bring out of the temple of the
Lord all the articles that were made for Baal, for [e]Asherah, and for all
[f]the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of
Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 Then he removed the idolatrous
priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high
places in the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem, and
those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the
[g]constellations, and to all the host of heaven. 6 And he brought out the
wooden[h] image from the house of the Lord, to the Brook Kidron outside
Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ashes, and threw
its ashes on the graves of the common people. 7 Then he tore down the ritual
[i]booths of the [j]perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord,
where the women wove hangings for the wooden image. 8 And he brought all the
priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the
priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; also he broke down the
high places at the gates which were at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua
the governor of the city, which were to the left of the city gate. 9
Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of
the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brethren.

10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the [k]Son of Hinnom,
that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to
Molech. 11 Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had
[l]dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the
chamber of Nathan-Melech, the officer who was in the court; and he burned
the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 The altars that were on the roof, the
upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars
which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king
broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron.
13 Then the king defiled the [m]high places that were east of Jerusalem,
which were on the [n]south of [o]the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon king
of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for
Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of
the people of Ammon. 14 And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut
down the wooden images, and filled their places with the bones of men.

15 Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the [p]high place which
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar
and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed
it to powder, and burned the wooden image. 16 As Josiah turned, he saw the
tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of
the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word
of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. 17
Then he said, "What gravestone is this that I see?"

So the men of the city told him, "It is the tomb of the man of God who came
from Judah and proclaimed these things which you have done against the altar
of Bethel."

18 And he said, "Let him alone; let no one move his bones." So they let his
bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came from Samaria.

19 Now Josiah also took away all the [q]shrines of the [r]high places that
were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke
[s]the Lord to anger; and he did to them according to all the deeds he had
done in Bethel. 20 He executed all the priests of the [t]high places who
were there, on the altars, and burned men's bones on them; and he returned
to Jerusalem.

21 Then the king commanded all the people, saying, "Keep the Passover to the
Lord your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant." 22 Such a
Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged
Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.
23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before
the Lord in Jerusalem. 24 Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted
mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations
that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform
the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest
found in the house of the Lord. 25 Now before him there was no king like
him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with
all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any
arise like him.

Impending Judgment on Judah
26 Nevertheless the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great
wrath, with which His anger was aroused against Judah, because of all the
provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. 27 And the Lord said, "I
will also remove Judah from My sight, as I have removed Israel, and will
cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I
said, 'My name shall be there.' "

Josiah Dies in Battle
28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 29 In his days
Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went [u]to the aid of the king of Assyria, to
the River Euphrates; and King Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh Necho
killed him at Megiddo when he confronted him. 30 Then his servants moved his
body in a chariot from Megiddo, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in
his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah,
anointed him, and made him king in his father's place.

The Reign and Captivity of Jehoahaz
31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned
three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of
Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according
to all that his fathers had done. 33 Now Pharaoh Necho put him in prison at
Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and he
imposed on the land a tribute of one hundred talents of silver and a talent
of gold. 34 Then Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in place
of his father Josiah, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Pharaoh took
Jehoahaz and went to Egypt, and [v]he died there.

Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah
35 So Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land
to give money according to the command of Pharaoh; he exacted the silver and
gold from the people of the land, from every one according to his
assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Necho. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years
old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His
mother's name was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 37 And he did
evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done.

Judah Overrun by Enemies
24 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became
his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 And
the Lord sent against him raiding [w]bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians,
bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against
Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken
by His servants the prophets. 3 Surely at the commandment of the Lord this
came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of
Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4 and also because of the
innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent
blood, which the Lord would not pardon.

5 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not
written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 6 So Jehoiakim
rested with his fathers. Then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

7 And the king of Egypt did not come out of his land anymore, for the king
of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook
of Egypt to the River Euphrates.

The Reign and Captivity of Jehoiachin
8 Jehoiachin[x] was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned
in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was Nehushta the daughter of
Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according
to all that his father had done.

10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up
against Jerusalem, and the city [y]was besieged. 11 And Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon came against the city, as his servants were besieging it. 12 Then
Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his
officers went out to the king of Babylon; and the king of Babylon, in the
eighth year of his reign, took him prisoner.

The Captivity of Jerusalem
13 And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord
and the treasures of the king's house, and he cut in pieces all the articles
of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as
the Lord had said. 14 Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the
captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the
craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.
15 And he carried Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. The king's mother, the
king's wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into
captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 All the valiant men, seven thousand,
and craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all who were strong and fit for war,
these the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.

Zedekiah Reigns in Judah
17 Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin's[z] uncle, king in
his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned
eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of
Jeremiah of Libnah. 19 He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according
to all that Jehoiakim had done. 20 For because of the anger of the Lord this
happened in Jerusalem and Judah, that He finally cast them out from His
presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

The Fall and Captivity of Judah
25 Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month,
on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all
his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a
siege wall against it all around. 2 So the city was besieged until the
eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 By the ninth day of the fourth month the
famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the
people of the land.

4 Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at
night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king's garden,
even though the Chaldeans were still encamped all around against the city.
And the king[aa] went by way of the [ab]plain. 5 But the army of the
Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho.
All his army was scattered from him. 6 So they took the king and brought him
up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment on him. 7
Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put[ac] out the eyes
of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.

8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the
nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan the
captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9
He burned the house of the Lord and the king's house; all the houses of
Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. 10 And
all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke
down the walls of Jerusalem all around.

11 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest
of the people who remained in the city and the defectors who had deserted to
the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude. 12 But the captain of
the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers. 13
The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the carts and the
bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in
pieces, and carried their bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took away the
pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils
with which the priests ministered. 15 The firepans and the basins, the
things of solid gold and solid silver, the captain of the guard took away.
16 The two pillars, one Sea, and the carts, which Solomon had made for the
house of the Lord, the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. 17
The height of one pillar was [ad]eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was
of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and
pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. The second pillar
was the same, with a network.

18 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the
second priest, and the three doorkeepers. 19 He also took out of the city an
officer who had charge of the men of war, five men of [ae]the king's close
associates who were found in the city, the chief recruiting officer of the
army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of
the land who were found in the city. 20 So Nebuzaradan, captain of the
guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 Then
the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land
of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.

Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah
22 Then he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor
over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon had left. 23 Now when all the captains of the armies, they and
their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they
came to Gedaliah at Mizpah-Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of
Careah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and [af]Jaazaniah the
son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 24 And Gedaliah took an oath
before them and their men, and said to them, "Do not be afraid of the
servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon,
and it shall be well with you."

25 But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah,
the son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck and
killed Gedaliah, the Jews, as well as the Chaldeans who were with him at
Mizpah. 26 And all the people, small and great, and the captains of the
armies, arose and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison
27 Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of
Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of
the month, that [ag]Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began
to reign, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. 28 He spoke kindly
to him, and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were
with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and
he ate [ah]bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. 30 And
as for his [ai]provisions, there was a [aj]regular ration given him by the
king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.

Footnotes
2 Kings 22:9 Lit. poured out
2 Kings 22:12 Abdon the son of Micah, 2 Chr. 34:20
2 Kings 22:20 Cause you to join your ancestors in death
2 Kings 22:20 Die a natural death
2 Kings 23:4 A Canaanite goddess
2 Kings 23:4 The gods of the Assyrians
2 Kings 23:5 Of the Zodiac
2 Kings 23:6 Heb. Asherah, a Canaanite goddess
2 Kings 23:7 Lit. houses
2 Kings 23:7 Heb. qedeshim, those practicing sodomy and prostitution in
religious rituals
2 Kings 23:10 Kt. Sons
2 Kings 23:11 given
2 Kings 23:13 Places for pagan worship
2 Kings 23:13 Lit. right of
2 Kings 23:13 The Mount of Olives
2 Kings 23:15 A place for pagan worship
2 Kings 23:19 Lit. houses
2 Kings 23:19 Places for pagan worship
2 Kings 23:19 So with LXX, Syr., Vg.; MT, Tg. omit the Lord
2 Kings 23:20 Places for pagan worship
2 Kings 23:29 Or to attack, Heb. al can mean together with or against
2 Kings 23:34 Jehoahaz
2 Kings 24:2 troops
2 Kings 24:8 Jeconiah, 1 Chr. 3:16; Jer. 24:1; or Coniah, Jer. 22:24, 28
2 Kings 24:10 Lit. came into siege
2 Kings 24:17 Lit. his
2 Kings 25:4 Lit. he
2 Kings 25:4 Or Arabah, the Jordan Valley
2 Kings 25:7 blinded
2 Kings 25:17 About 27 feet
2 Kings 25:19 Lit. those seeing the king's face
2 Kings 25:23 Jezaniah, Jer. 40:8
2 Kings 25:27 Lit. Man of Marduk
2 Kings 25:29 Food
2 Kings 25:30 Lit. allowance
2 Kings 25:30 Lit. allowance