Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. Ephesians 5:10
.RECOMMENDED READING: EPHESIANS 5:8-16 “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil..”
COMMENTS: Being a missionary has always been a dangerous occupation but is becoming more so, especially as Muslim religion spreads into more countries gaining converts and as militants gain influence and control. 1949 was such a dangerous time in China as Communism gained control. The first century was a dangerous time to be a Christian. Some hid. The catacombs of Rome, tombs, were where many hid and worshipped and lived. To be a professing Christian likely meant prison at least but execution commonly. Whole families were killed. Parents were forced to watch as their children and spouses were executed. But the amazing result was the Gospel and number of converts exploded and spread cross the Roman Empire. God used severe persecution and suffering to strengthen and anoint His Gospel. The persecution gave authenticity to the Message and gave fresh hope to all suffering under Roman rule. The hope of heaven made even death judged as a way to freedom.
Truth is the Gospel hasn’t changed and hope Christ gives is still in force and available.
Crisis and persecution has always been effective motivation to repent and turn back to God. Prosperity and peace have always been an almost irresistible door to self will and rebellion against God’s Will and way. The Israelites couldn’t resist their neighbor’s gods and sinful lifestyles during prosperous times and would only repent when they could no longer survive without God.
God desires for us to live in peace and prosperity, but He wants us to use His blessings effectively in ministry. He doesn’t want us to use wealth for our own selfish desires but for His purposes. Wealth comes with great responsibilities and accountability. Ephesians 5:10 “And learn in your own experiences what is fully pleasing to God.” Learning to use resources God puts in our hands, both great and small, wisely and in a way that honors Christ and effectively ministers to our neighbor.
Well, Christ has a mission and calling tailored for each of us. For some it involves being a missionary in a foreign land. For others, it is supporting work they’re with money and prayers and scripture and edifying messages. But the one thing we all need to be committed to is prayer. It is thru prayer we fellowship and draw closer to Christ and it is through prayer we open ourselves to let Him draw us closer to each other. That was true 20 centuries ago. It is still true in many countries where Christians endure great persecution. Christ wants to bless us with a deeper relationship with Him and each other too if we let Him. If we seek Him. Seek Him willing to surrender to His Will and direction. He is not intending to do us harm or cause misery on us, but to give us joy and fulfilment. Genesis 50:20 gives us Joseph’s response to evil his brothers intended and did to him. Gen. 50:14-22 “14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.15 And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.”
We are at war against an enemy bent on destroying us and hurting God. He will use others to harm us believing they are serving God doing so. He will also do some only interested in their own selfish wants without regard for how their actions will harm us. But God only has motives of love and good for us and has the wisdom and insights and knowledge of past and present and future events and power to implement that good. Job discovered that even though God allowed a time of suffering to teach him a deeper level of obedience and faith in and love for Him. Job came out of the other side of suffering stronger and better prepared for greater obedience and better prepared to use God’s blessings and prosperity to do great good.
Do we trust the Great Surgeon to cut out the cancer and dead flesh from us so we can heal and be in health? Then we need to submit to His skillful knife and instructions too. I am still discovering what this means for me and am sure you are too.
“Pray on for all of us, that wherever and in whatever circumstances, it may be true that for us to live is Christ. That’s all that matters.”Arthur Mathews, quoted in Green Leaf in Drought Time
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 151 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
My hope and prayer is, they will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
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
donsdevotions 