“THE TEACHER MUST REMAIN SILENT WHEN THE STUDENT IS BEING TESTED”
Last evening we went to watch this tremendous film. There are a lot of good Christian films coming out. All the films the Kendrick brothers have produced (Flywheel, Facing the Giants, Courageous, Fireproof, and now War Room) have each shared a unique and powerful Christian message. Would encourage you to get or borrow DVD and watch with your family and friends or re-watch if have already done so. The most recent, War Room, gives a powerful case for prayer especially in the midst of dark impossible circumstances with no hope of a positive outcome. Each Kendrick film seems to be better than previous ones, so I judge War Room to be the best yet, but Fireproof and Courageous are either equal or a very close second.
Encouraging and support production of such films in a world more visual and less word impacted has become a significant way of outreach. But impact of such films quickly fades and is forgotten if we, as Christians, do not live by example and share the reason for our confident hope. You and I live in a country sheltered from the persecution and suffering Christians in most of the rest of the world experience every day. But their example to us reminds us we also have a responsibility and calling to let His light shine through us too.
However, I am becoming more convinced freedom to worship is evaporating and is happening more quickly than we realize even in the United States. The consequences are and will continue get worse, so we need to prepare ourselves. We need to be alert and sensitive to Christ’s leading and prompting so we don’t run when challenged. Yet survival of our country and even you and me is linked directly to how faithful we are to Him in the coming days. Ref: II Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
That said, I would encourage you to go see “God is not Dead 2”. This is a powerful film showing what is happening more and more commonly, yes in the United States, but also across the globe. One statement Pat Boone, who played the elderly father of the teacher on trial for simply sharing Jesus’s words in her classroom, I thought was especially insightful. During the darkest part of the trial when that teacher was most discouraged and said God seems so far away and she was feeling so alone, Pat said to her to remember “THE TEACHER MUST REMAIN SILENT WHEN THE STUDENT IS BEING TESTED”. I almost made that the title for this blog, because I thought it to be so insightful and encouraging. So I did, however, add it as a subtitle at top of this blog because I want you to reflect on it and remember it. I thank God He isn’t always silent during testing, but I can relate to a few times when He was. In hindsight, when He was, I had to decide just how much I trusted Him and how willing I was to obey what I knew He wanted me to do. Can you recall a similar experience?
WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS IS? Is He a fictitious character from ancient mythology as the world wants us to believe, or is He God, the Messiah, who came to earth to live and show us how to live but also to die as the price God required for our sins AN THEN TO RAISE VICTORIOUS AS OUR SAVIOR AND KING.
Easter 2016 is history but Pentecost 2016 is coming. Memorial Day 2016 is also coming when we remember those who paid dearly for our freedoms. When we remember our loved ones before us who sacrificed for you and me and sacrificed by example to show us the way to Christ. Then there is the One who gave His life so we can be forgiven and live the Christain life with confident hope of an eternal home with Him.
I feel compelled to write this because I believe a time is coming when being a Christian anywhere on earth will carry a sentence of great persecution and even death. The time of Great Tribulation, I believe, is quickly approaching and how we live and respond will not only greatly impact our lives and our families, but the lives of others who desperately are looking for hope and a Savior but don’t know where to turn.
Go shine today, we just might not have much time left to do so!
In His love,
Don McDaniel
April 2, 2016
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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