Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29 SCRIPTURE: MATTHEW 23:1-5 “Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,2 Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,”
COMMENTS: Have you held by from surrendering to God or know of others because they feared what God would ask of them. They might have to go to a foreign country as a missionary and face dangerous or unwelcoming people. The news is full of those bent on killing Americans and especially Christians. Others may fear speaking in public or witnessing to others / sharing their faith. Some may be fearful they will fail in being the example they should be.
Well, Christ tells us He will lighten our burdens if we surrender to Him. Yet, when we look at the first century Christians, we discover those who faced great persecution and hardship and even martyrdom for sharing their faith. More Christians are facing severe persecution today than then. That doesn’t sound like a light burden. So how do we reconcile Christ’s promise with reality of how Christians are treated in the world today. Those of us living in the USA have been sheltered from such persecution and have enjoyed safety and respect but that is beginning to change. Christians are becoming less respected and popular by society and is conceivable hostility toward Christians could become a global problem within our lifetime. What will our children face? What will our grandchildren face?
The answers are found in scripture and in the lives of Christians themselves and impact they have on those who know them. The joy and hope and peace in their lives in the midst of persecution draws others to want to know what gives them such joy and hope and peace and fulfillment. Then desiring the same themselves. Christ enabled them, and us, to know our sins are forgiven with promise of an eternal home in heaven with new immortal bodies with family and friends and all the saints of old but most of all with our creator and savior. To know suffering on heart is temporary and our reward is eternal makes a huge different. But even more, God’s Holy Spirit abiding in us guiding and strengthening us gives us ability to be Christ-like and sustain such even in desperate situations.
Christ’s sacrifice freed us from the PENALTY OF SIN.
God’s indwelling Holy Spirit frees us from the POWER OF SIN.
When we get to heaven, God will bind satan and remove his influence over us.
We will then be freed from the PRESENCE OF SIN.
That realization and confidence generated such faith to face the worst satan could muster up then and still does for us now. Those who follow satan will be deceived to think they are doing good to destroy Christians but they, and we, are called to love and stay true to Christ no matter what. The legacy our commitment will be will build from the legacy those before us left, which inspired and strengthen us now. GOD LIGHTENS OUR BURDENS BY STRENGTHENING US!! HIS DESIRE IS TO GIVE US ETERAL LIFE AND ABUNDANT LIFE! TO TRANSFORM US TO BE LIKE HIM! There is no shortcut to being Christ-like, but the result will be so worth it. We will know that 100 years from now even if we have doubts now. Staying focused on the long term, which is God’s perspective, is key. AMEN? AMEN!
“Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not quiet until it rests in Thee.” Augustine
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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