But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Matthew 6:33
RECOMMENDED READING: COLOSSIANS 2:1-8 “For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ..”
COMMENTS: Does being a Christian disrupt or enhance the work you are employed in? Does your faith in Christ make you a worse or better employee? Does Christ want you to leave your work or continue in the same work and employment with a different perspective? These are honest questions Christians (new and old) ask themselves and seek God’s answers to in every generation. There were numerous times in my working career when I sought God’s council when considering a career change. For me, His response was the same each time. The answer was, “If you can’t serve me where you are, why do you think you will serve Me better as a pastor? Let me guide you and help you serve Me where you are.” Retired now, as I look back over a 39+year career as an engineer working for a manufacturer of mining equipment, I can recall opportunities God gave me to witness, build friendships, and learn to work together with many good people I otherwise would never have crossed paths otherwise.
God does give each of us unique opportunities to be His ambassadors and evangelists. Often it is one on one but sometimes to groups. Most will do so where they are already working and living. Some He will call them to other communities and vocations. When I was a youth, I believed God would someday call me to be a pastor. Truth is, during difficult times with no solution, I would be tempted to look for a way out. But God had a better way. He would draw me to others with wish advice and ideas that contributed to a solution to the problem at hand. Relationships of respect and trust for each other. Most didn’t directly become opportunities to witness but some did. And others did later.
So, I can’t advise what God’s answer to you will be. But what I can attest to, when we let Christ be our employer and His Holy Spirit our immediate supervisor, then our work and motivation to do a good job will be to a higher standard. That standard includes working to a higher moral and ethical standard than dictated or expected by our employing company. Fortunately, I was asked by my employing company to make unethical choices or choices that would conflict with my Christian faith. Yet, I know some are confronted and asked to make such choices. But either way, seeking God’s council first and then responding with the Holy Spirit’s help is what God is calling us to do. That does not mean making viewing anyone as our enemy or adversary. It just means responding as God directs. Our one and only enemy is satan, who we dare not fight or confront alone. We only dare confront him with the Holy Spirit at our side.
Likewise, on less confrontational issues, the same God and same Holy Spirit is available to offer the same help and council and encouragement from the highest source of wisdom and strength but also from the One who loves us above all others and has so helped countless others before us. Once we learn to trust and rely on Him each day, our days take on a new purpose and deep joy because we are working for the God who made all and is preparing our final home and will one day return to redeem His creation and reign on earth as He already is in heaven. So, whether we work as a janitor or as king of a might country, whether we are in poverty barely making enough to provide for ourselves and our family or command great wealth and possessions, we will still be employed by our King and Savior. But the difference is all we have and do will be under His control. We will hold on to our possessions, large or small, more loosely and will be more open and willing to share with those in need but more specifically as He directs.
With wealth and possessions comes responsibility and I believe many with many possessions will be held accountable to God for wasting them. I have noticed a turning away from God does seem to accompany prosperity and peace while poverty and hardship and crisis tends to draw many closer to Christ and into a closer and more obedient relationship with Him. I also notice that to be true in experience of Israelites of the Old Testament. I notice that to be true in the USA while revival is happening more frequently in the hearts of people in countries with rampant poverty and widespread poverty and suffering by it’s people. I am also noticing a much more openness and hunger in those countries for God’s Word than in my own country.
So, we should all be careful and aware of the danger of wealth and peace while seeking to acquire them. Satan is a master deceiver convincing us we can deal with temptations on our own. Truth is we are all weak and easily deceived if we fail to make our relationship with Christ our first priority and focus each and every day. Few consider themselves wealthy, but by the world’s standards, most in developed countries live in poverty while most of the world in underdeveloped countries live above the poverty line.
Seeking God’s direction isn’t always clear or obvious, so waiting on the Lord in focused prayer and seeking help and confirmation in scripture and from trusted family and church members is an important and wonderful way of finding God’s direction. God timing and confirmation will always be reinforced in scripture but in a way that will draw us closer to Him and to each other. He always wants to draw us closer in relationship to Him and to other Christian family. Life will be so much better as we learn and practice this on major decisions but also in our daily lives as well. Granted, most choices are not life changing or significant, but involving God in more choices we make will draw us closer to Him, always a good thing. AMEN? AMEN! “I live in the spirit of prayer…. And the answers are always coming.” George Müller
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 139 blog posts i have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
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/Don1951
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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