[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR TUESDAY MAY 3

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR TUESDAY MAY 3

WORD OF WISDOM

Never be afraid to do what is right, even if all the others are doing what
is wrong.

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DAILY DEVOTION

The Faith Inheritance


And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from
transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with
them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have
put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of
thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from
henceforth and for ever.
Isaiah 59:20-21

Each person must make his or her own decision whether to trust Christ as
Savior. None of us can make that decision for anyone else, but we can do our
part to create an environment that will promote faith in Christ and faithful
living in those who come after us. This is the testimony that God gave to
Abraham: "For I know him, that he will command his children and his
household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice
and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken
of him" (Genesis 18:19).
Our homes and our churches should be that kind of place-a place that is not
just interested and invested in the present, but in the future as well. We
plant trees, not because they will primarily benefit us, but because future
generations will sit in their shade. Similarly, we plant the truth in the
hearts and minds of young people, not because we need a way to occupy our
time, but because we desire for future generations to experience the
blessings of living for God. There is no better way to change the future
than to build truth in the hearts and minds of young people.
God's Word is crucial because it is the guide which tells us how to live.
The precepts and principles of Scripture are our roadmap for the decisions
of life. The promises God's Word contains, when claimed and believed and
tested, will be signposts along the way for those who follow us.
We must do everything possible to pass on our faith to the generations that
will come after us.

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DAILY BIBLE READING

2 Chronicles 13-15 New King James Version
Abijah Reigns in Judah
13 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah. 2
He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was [a]Michaiah the
daughter of Uriel of Gibeah.

And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. 3 Abijah set the battle in
order with an army of valiant warriors, four hundred thousand choice men.
Jeroboam also drew up in battle formation against him with eight hundred
thousand choice men, mighty men of valor.

4 Then Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim, which is in the mountains of Ephraim,
and said, "Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel: 5 Should you not know that the
Lord God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him
and his sons, by a covenant of salt? 6 Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the
servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up and rebelled against his lord.
7 Then worthless rogues gathered to him, and strengthened themselves against
Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and inexperienced and
could not withstand them. 8 And now you think to withstand the kingdom of
the Lord, which is in the hand of the sons of David; and you are a great
multitude, and with you are the gold calves which Jeroboam made for you as
gods. 9 Have you not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron,
and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests, like the peoples of other
lands, so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and
seven rams may be a priest of things that are not gods? 10 But as for us,
the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests who
minister to the Lord are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their
duties. 11 And they burn to the Lord every morning and every evening burnt
sacrifices and sweet incense; they also set the showbread in order on the
pure gold table, and the lampstand of gold with its lamps to burn every
evening; for we keep the command of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken
Him. 12 Now look, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with
sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O children of Israel, do
not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!"

13 But Jeroboam caused an ambush to go around behind them; so they were in
front of Judah, and the ambush was behind them. 14 And when Judah looked
around, to their surprise the battle line was at both front and rear; and
they cried out to the Lord, and the priests sounded the trumpets. 15 Then
the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened
that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 And the
children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their
hand. 17 Then Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter; so
five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain. 18 Thus the children
of Israel were subdued at that time; and the children of Judah prevailed,
because they relied on the Lord God of their fathers.

19 And Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took cities from him: Bethel with its
villages, Jeshanah with its villages, and Ephrain[b] with its villages. 20
So Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the
Lord struck him, and he died.

21 But Abijah grew mighty, married fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons
and sixteen daughters. 22 Now the rest of the acts of Abijah, his ways, and
his sayings are written in the [c]annals of the prophet Iddo.

Asa Reigns over Judah
14 So Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of
David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet
for ten years.

Asa Reigns in Judah
2 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, 3 for he
removed the altars of the foreign gods and the [d]high places, and broke
down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images. 4 He commanded Judah
to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the
commandment. 5 He also removed the [e]high places and the incense altars
from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was quiet under him. 6 And he
built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest; he had no war in
those years, because the Lord had given him rest. 7 Therefore he said to
Judah, "Let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers,
gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the
Lord our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side."
So they built and prospered. 8 And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand
from Judah who carried [f]shields and spears, and from Benjamin two hundred
and eighty thousand men who carried shields and drew bows; all these were
mighty men of valor.

9 Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million
men and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah. 10 So Asa went out
against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of
Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 And Asa cried out to the Lord his God, and said,
"Lord, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who
have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name
we go against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; do not let man
prevail against You!"

12 So the Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the
Ethiopians fled. 13 And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to
Gerar. So the Ethiopians were overthrown, and they could not recover, for
they were broken before the Lord and His army. And they carried away very
much [g]spoil. 14 Then they defeated all the cities around Gerar, for the
fear of the Lord came upon them; and they plundered all the cities, for
there was exceedingly much [h]spoil in them. 15 They also [i]attacked the
livestock enclosures, and carried off sheep and camels in abundance, and
returned to Jerusalem.

The Reforms of Asa
15 Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. 2 And he went
out [j]to meet Asa, and said to him: "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and
Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He
will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 3 For a
long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest,
and without law; 4 but when in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of
Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them. 5 And in those times there was
no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great
turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 So nation was
[k]destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every
adversity. 7 But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your
work shall be rewarded!"

8 And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of [l]Oded the prophet, he
took courage, and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah
and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken in the mountains of
Ephraim; and he restored the altar of the Lord that was before the vestibule
of the Lord. 9 Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who dwelt
with them from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to him in
great numbers from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

10 So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the
fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 And they offered to the Lord [m]at
that time seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from the [n]spoil
they had brought. 12 Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God
of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; 13 and
whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel was to be put to death,
whether small or great, whether man or woman. 14 Then they took an oath
before the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and rams'
horns. 15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all
their heart and sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them,
and the Lord gave them rest all around.

16 Also he removed Maachah, the [o]mother of Asa the king, from being queen
mother, because she had made an obscene image of [p]Asherah; and Asa cut
down her obscene image, then crushed and burned it by the Brook Kidron. 17
But the [q]high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart
of Asa was loyal all his days.

18 He also brought into the house of God the things that his father had
dedicated and that he himself had dedicated: silver and gold and utensils.
19 And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

Footnotes
2 Chronicles 13:2 Maachah, 1 Kin. 15:2; 2 Chr. 11:20, 21
2 Chronicles 13:19 Or Ephron
2 Chronicles 13:22 Or commentary, Heb. midrash
2 Chronicles 14:3 Places for pagan worship
2 Chronicles 14:5 Places for pagan worship
2 Chronicles 14:8 large shields
2 Chronicles 14:13 plunder
2 Chronicles 14:14 plunder
2 Chronicles 14:15 Lit. struck
2 Chronicles 15:2 Lit. before
2 Chronicles 15:6 Lit. beaten in pieces
2 Chronicles 15:8 So with MT, LXX; Syr., Vg. Azariah the son of Oded (cf. v.
1)
2 Chronicles 15:11 Lit. in that day
2 Chronicles 15:11 plunder
2 Chronicles 15:16 Or grandmother
2 Chronicles 15:16 A Canaanite deity
2 Chronicles 15:17 Places for pagan worship