There were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Hebrews 7:23-24
RECOMMENDED READING: HEBREWS 7:20-28 “20 And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:21 (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.28 For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.”
COMMENTS: We live in a time when expectations are instant and highly visual. Results are short attention spans and demands of instant gratification from both children and teens but also from adults. Planning and working towards long term goals is essential but that isn’t the case in all aspects of life. Training for careers and professions require many years of training and study. Those with chronic diseases suffer while hoping cures will be realized before they die. Researchers working on those cures endure countless failures before finally a cure is discovered. But even then, diligent testing and study is necessary to proof if cure is genuine and any side effects are known and managed.
That said, we should also realize how deliberate and diligent but also how faithful God is to prepare and follow through with the wisest and best plan for each one of us His followers. That likely means at times it seems He has forgotten us. That likely means we will be tempted to jump in and try to help or hurry Him up, like Abraham did in having Ishmael with Hagar or Saul did in having doing the sacrifice before battle instead of waiting for Samuel as he should have.
Results are never good when we proceed without God’s blessing and involvement, but waiting is so hard.
Yet we must not forget God is orchestrating a plan that perfectly reflects His love and faithfulness for you as well as me and as well as millions of other faithful followers while also working hard to encourage millions of those who don’t know or follow Him to do so.
Truth is God’s best is certainly worth waiting for but acting boldly and quickly when God opens door is vital too.
So how do we know when to wait on God and when to proceed with confidence?
The answer likely will vary on circumstances and even with magnitude of problems and consequences relate to those choices.
It doesn’t make sense to wait all day for God to speak to us telling us where to go or what to do. Much of our day is determined by commitments like jobs and appointments and regular duties like going to market or post office or doctor’s appointments and scheduled meetings. During those scheduled obligations, if we are open and mindful, God will and does often nudge us to stop and spend some time with someone on our path.
But other times waiting is important especially when seeking God’s input in making life changing decisions like a who to date and marry, jobs or careers or schools to pursue, what church to attend and where and how to serve in that church,
The answers to these concerns and questions like with having and maintaining an ongoing close relationship with Christ and seeking continual fellowship and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s presence and influence. God may seem distance at times, but we need to realize He always is near and wants us to give Him our full attention. So, at times He needs to wait for us to put aside distractions and give Him our full focus.
I think, if we reflect, we will realize the difference between proceeding with our day’s schedule open to His lead and waiting patiently in prayer for His lead before proceeding. There is a time to do both, but we should seek His help to both discern which to do and help to have courage and discipline to follow the Holy Spirit’s instruction and lead. AMEN? AMEN!
“Jesus, my great High Priest, / offered His blood and died;/ my guilty conscience seeks no sacrifice besides. / His powerful blood did once atone, and now it pleads before the throne.” Isaac Watts
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 177 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/Dondevotionals/
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 