“You will say in that day: I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, and you comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name” Isaiah 12:1-4
COMMENTS: Being thankful is essential to our mental health, maintaining a positive and productive attitude, and essential to our faith and living a daily Christian walk. The above comment asking why would God entrust greater blessing to us if we are not grateful in the smaller things. I am reminded of the parable of the servant forgiven of an extremely large debt by his master and then went out and put someone in debtor’s jail who owed him a very small amount. The parable tells us the master then took back his mercy when learned the servant he forgave did not forgive. Being grateful does change how we judge our daily walk and how we judge both good and bad things that come our way and can help us bring a positive conclusion to a bad situation. We can show mercy and gratitude to God without condoning actions that bring suffering in other’s lives or our own. Remember God is still in control and can bring good out of evil.
I never ceased to be amazed at the courage and boldness the first century Christians demonstrated in their faith and witness in the midst of terrible persecution and martyrdom. Nero burned 70,000 Christians alive in Rome as torches along main road for their faith. Today is no different. Christians are being tortured and killed in largest numbers ever in many countries around the globe. The 10 worst are: North Korea, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and Enitrea. 35 of the top 50 worst offending countries for persecuting Christians are driven by Islamic extremism.
Through my blog and distribution of this devotional journal I am in contact with a good number of Christian pastors and evangelists in many of those countries. I am discovering a much more open hunger for the gospel among people and pastors more willing to sacrifice their freedom and lives to share that gospel. I am also finding an greater eagerness to read and share my writings there than in the USA where little persecution of Christians is experienced. I believe that is no coincidence. Persecution and times of personal or national disaster and crisis has historically driven revival because Christ becomes the only hope and life line. Churches were packed in the US on September 11,2001; but within a month they were empty again. The desire to seek Christ evaporated when the crisis passed. Why is that and why were first century Christians then and Christians even now facing such persecution giving God praise and thanksgiving in the midst of such persecution and crisis and even death?
Well, I compare reason to my recovery of knee replacement surgery I had on my left knee in 2007 and on my right knee in 2012. The first two weeks after surgery were more painful than pain of enduring worn knees prior to surgery. However, after 2 weeks, knee pain and flexibility dramatically improved until I was able to walk and sit and climb stairs relatively pain free. I knew short term pain was necessary to bring long term healing. That made the pain of recovery much more endurable. Having family to help made time of recovery more endurable and quicker as well.
The hope and reason for praise and thanksgiving all Christians have, either during persecution but especially during times of peace and prosperity, is because CHRIST HAS REDEEMED US FROM THE PENALTY OF OUR SINS, THE HOLY SPIRIT ABIDES IN US AND PROVIDES DELIVERANCE FROM THE POWER OF SIN, AND GOD THE FATHER – SON – HOLY SPIRIT ARE PREPARING OUR ETERNAL HOME AND ETERNAL BODIES FOR US WITH HIM AND OUR LOVED ONES IN HEAVEN FREE FROM SATAN AND FROM THE PRESENCSE OF SIN. Sort term endurance of persecution and suffering will end and will dwarf compared with what God is preparing for us. But the Holy Spirit’s abiding presence is God taking our hand and walking through our suffering with us. Having His Holy Spirit and other Christians with us makes all the difference too. So, no wonder suffering Christians can endure all satan is allowed to throw at us. God also uses such suffering to draw many to accept Christ’s redemption who otherwise would not be motivated to do so. That alone is worth cost. But a deepening and maturing in our relationship with Christ is also worth that cost too.
WE NEEDN’T WAIT TIL PERSECUTION IS UPON US. GOD WANTS US TO EMBRACE HIS REDEMPTION ESPECIALLY DURING TIMES OF PROSPERITY AND PEACE TEMPT US TO BELIEVE WE CAN DO JUST FINE WITHOUT HIM. TRUTH IS WE ARE IN GREAT PERIL WITHOUT HIM. WE JUST DON’T REALIZE IT UNTIL DANGER AND DISASTER AND HARDSHIP ARE UPON US. AMEN? AMEN!
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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