But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Daniel 1:8
COMMENTS: Daniel and his 3 friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), were young men enslaved in the country of an invading pagan country. Conquering King Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon had a reputation of brutality and death to those who opposed them, so danger of refusing was real. So being thrown in to a furnace and lion’s den was used to bring fear and submission. Difference was Nebuchadnezzar was now confronted with a God greater than he and with young men willing to follow the God greater than Nebuchadnezzar. Impact of following God changed history and every generation since as well as these 4 young men’s future for the good. Daniel’s influence lasted thru reign of 4 kings and impacted his generation for good and those in every generation since who study Daniel. Their example impacted me as a young Christian many years ago as well as is still impacting me and pray it will impact my children and grandchildren and their generation as well. Daniel is still telling us serving God may bring sacrifice but price of compromising and giving into temptation is far greater and too high.
A few years ago, two teens in Zimbabwe were rummaging through a town dump looking for anything they could eat or use to survive. They discovered 50 eggs thrown out by local chicken producers. They took those eggs home and hatched them. From those baby chicks they developed a business of more than 500 chickens which not only fed them and their families but provided money to pay for their school expenses. God honored their wise choices and hard work.
We have such examples of such teens, who faced dangerous and difficult times but remained true to God and followed a plan they could not understand but trusted God’s wisdom and faithfulness, in scripture who God used to do great things too: Joseph in Egypt, David in Bethlehem, Josiah as king in Israel, Daniel along with his 3 friends in Babylon, Jesus’ mother Mary, and Timothy in Macedonia are a few of those teenage examples recorded for us in scripture. They all demonstrated wisdom and faith far beyond their years because they trusted and obeyed God sincerely where they were and God then added to their faith and wisdom sufficient measure to complete His plans through and with them. He used the least gifted and noteworthy individuals to become great and most noteworthy. HE STILL CHOOSED TO DO SO! The difference between them and all their fellow teens was saying no to satan’s temptations and saying yes to God. Not just once but every day and every situation. Sure, they failed out of weakness at times, but did not venture far from that path of obedience and abiding fellowship with their God and our God. Their example needs to be our example and instruction book to follow too. IT WORKS AS WELL FOR YOUNG ADULTS AND FOR MIDDLE AGE ADULTS AND GREY-HAIRED SENIORS AS WELL AS IT DOES FOR TEENAGERS!! “And a little child shall lead them” is a quote from Isaiah that applies here.
But let’s read Isaiah 11:1-10 and glean the prophecy of Christ’s coming that will someday be fully fulfilled : And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.”
I know the underlined portion of this scripture doesn’t exactly apply to the thoughts of this devotion, but does reveals God’ heart and plan to make dangerous situations and dangerous animals and even dangerous people safe and to lead them, and us too, into living and following His perfect will using “little children”, the weak and vulnerable among us. Those who are the least likely and gifted but the most trusting in Him. The ones most likely to obey Him. We are told to come to Christ like little children (Matthew 18:3 and Matthew 19:14) …
Matthew 18:3 “3 And said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 19:14 “14 But Jesus said, suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
Saying NO to satan while saying YES to Christ is a lifelong challenge and struggle and choice. We start that journey at the Cross where we invite Christ into our lives and receive His forgiveness first for our sins. But then we must continue to say no to satan and yes to Him as we journey with Him and with His Holy Spirit guiding us from that day forward. When we look away and wonder or fall from that path, He is there to pick us up and put us back on that path of obedience. But when we walk that path with Him, amazing things happen. Things we might not even notice at the time but a chain of events and opportunities that God will use to transform us and enable us to be a part of His transformation in the lives of others. Things and events that will make an eternal difference. Christmas is a great time to come to Him and open ourselves for Him to do some course corrections in our lives and in our souls. Doing some “knee time” with Him. Giving Him the only birthday present He desires. Giving Him ourselves. 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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