(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.)
Numbers 12:3
SCRIPTURE: MATTHEW 5:5 “5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” COMMENTS: Arrogance and pride are common traits in leaders because they think demonstrating such is evidence of strength and being in control. But truth is such is more often evidence of weakness and insecurity in an attempt to hide those weaknesses. A common side effect of such is an unwillingness to solicit help and support of others. Team thinking. Likewise, leading others to work together and supporting each other becomes much more difficult.
Well, stop and think what characteristics the better leaders or bosses or managers have had. A willingness to recognize their own weaknesses and recognize and respect the strengths and weaknesses of others and seek ways of partnering both with those who have strengths to offset leader’s weaknesses but also to support weaknesses of others. Team leadership means working together to achieve a greater goal while building up individuals in team as well as team as a whole. The end result is both leader and team grow stronger as a team and as individuals. Humility ends up being an asset because it gives both each team member and leader an open mind and ears and eyes to see beyond selfish motives and self-interests. But truth is working hard to accomplish goals on our own or trying to take credit for successes of others or only for our own accomplishments at sacrifice of others never brings good results that last.
Christ is our perfect example of humility and meekness. Meekness is not weakness but “power under control”. Humility is also the opposite of pride. Stop and think of examples of others and from your own life of ways pride makes us blind and deaf to God’s nudging and, therefore, more vulnerable to satan’s temptations – deceptions. Such a path ultimately leads to a disastrous end because of the destructive nature of choices made to relationships and to achieving goals set. But even worse, such a path leads away from God’s goals and plan for us and towards God’s judgment on us. Yet most even run down that path believing they are in a good place or will overcome obvious obstacles just fine on their own but not realizing the dangers up ahead satan has planted.
Foolishness is continuing down the same path believing same choices will give different results. Foolishness is believing we know better than God and can live and sustain a successful – fulfilling – happy – long life without God’s influence and without obedience to His commands. Even if it were possible, would trading 60-70-even 100 years of success be worth giving up eternity in heaven to achieve? I know it isn’t worth that great a price. Yet, God so wants to give us a fulfilling life of eternal purpose and success we were designed by Him to live. So why does such a life seem so unappealing to most and maybe even us at times? Well, because satan is so good at influencing us, and he isn’t interested in our happiness and fulfillment. He is only interested in hurting God and hurting us is the only way he has to hurt God so uses that strategy all the time.
So why does God let him? That is a big question, but God only allows what our choices determine. Free will is a gift and a curse God has granted us. We get to choose wisely or foolishly. He offers to us all He can to encourage us to choose wisely, but when we still refuse and choose foolishly, the consequences are not His fault, but satan’s and ours too for making them. We are free to choose, but the consequences of those choices are out of our control and are limited by God mercies. Aren’t you glad His forgiveness also brings the opportunity to go a different path to a better conclusion and benefits instead of consequences. Yet the scars of past poor choices can and do linger. That is when we need to seek His help and follow His council to heal those wounds and erase those scars. Where scars remain may be His reminder to be and stay true to Him.
His Holy Spirit is God abiding in us to empower and guide us continuously so we can sustain a meaningful relationship with Himself and sustain the Christian walk He has planned and prepared for us. But even doing that requires daily choices to put and keep our hand in His and our eyes on Him. When we do that, temptation and distraction and poor choices satan will keep trying to pull us away with will have less power and appeal. Satan will become weaker to us and God will become stronger in our lives. Likewise, we will find ourselves not only becoming more humble and meeker and a better leader and friend and parent and spouse and example for others, but also find it easier to achieve the goals we set and find more support to achieve them from others. Relationships with others will also blossom and deep friendships that will become precious to us too.
Galatians 5:17-26 “17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” Do you want to be remembered for the works of the flesh underlined above in verse 19-21 or the fruit of the spirit underlined above in verse 22-23? Sounds like a “no-brainer”. Would you rather associate with and work with and work for someone who does the “works of the flesh” or someone who examples the “fruits of the spirit”? Ok, let’s resolve and seek God’s Holy Spirit to help us follow through and become people of integrity and love and meekness and self-control. To become people God will say, as He did about Daniel and David – “people after God’s own heart”. There is not short cut to becoming Christ-like. It is a lifelong endeavor and journey taken one step and one day at a time. But the journey is just as important as the destination because the journey is taken with our Lord and Savior with us. When we walk with the Holy Spirit, we are also walking with Christ and with the Father. We don’t have One with us without the Other. AMEN? AMEN!
“The surest mark of true conversion is humility. “ J. C. Ryle
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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