EPHESIANS 4:15 “15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”
COLOSSIANS 4:6 “6 Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”
COMMENTS : Today’s scriptures can be applied in a variety of different situations and circumstances and often are. Words are powerful and impact us is ways we can’t forget, especially harmful ones. Yet some words are cherished. The last words of someone we dearly love who passed on. I know of many who would not erase the last message a deceased spouse left them or the last letter or note left. These rememberances can be harmful if causes grief to linger too long and preventing healing. Same can go for hurtful words that can not be forgotten either. Thoughtless words or words said in anger can and do cause damage to others and even their relationships with more than just the person saying those words. Scars from those words can affect both parties in devastating ways for a lifetime and potentially eternally if affects their relationship with God. But healing and loving words can also have a lasting affect too. Those are the words Scripture provides for us – words to convict and draw us to Christ’s mercy. Words of encouragement and wise council. Words of healing and forgiveness. Word of hope and change. Words from God to us. Why is it easier to cherish the last words of a departed spouse but not God’s words to us? Well maybe for the same reason we neglect our spouse when he or she is here but when realize they are gone, they become more precious to us. That also applies to us. When God permits hardship or even tragedy into our lives, does it draw us back to Him and into His Word? That it should and for that such tragedy can bring much good. But we must not forget tragedy comes because we live in a sinful fallen world. Satan is responsible for that. But God can and does bring great good out of what satan caused and is responsible for. Those rare times when God brings judgment due to sin, as when Israel was in captivity in Babylon; He still is keeping an open hand of forgiveness open to those who will only repent of their sins and seek Him for forgiveness and restoration of a relationship with them.
I am convinced God gives us blessings and prosperity as a reward for faithfulness but with the responsibility to not let it affect our relationship with Him but with responsibility to share and bless others in need. Yet the more common result is not sharing but letting selfishness and greed result and even pride, which draws those blessed from God and at risk of other temptations and sins, thereby breaking their relationship with God and at risk of judgment. God may remove the blessings not because He is judging but because He cares enough for us to remove prosperities temptations before we become lost. A greater tragedy is for material things to have such a hold on us that they deprive us of family as well as a relationship with God. Judgment may indeed come, which has eternal consequences. Far better to endure material loss in order to gain eternal life and gain our families back. The price we must pay for what we seek all too often is not known until it is too late because commitment is made. We all need to take inventory of what God has given to us and judge what is most precious and what is just nice to have and decide what God wants us to use and how. Our families and our relationship with Christ is the most precious. All else will not last and must be weighed against what is most precious and eternal. Choices and actions and words then must comply too.
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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