Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.
Hebrews 5:8
RECOMMENDED READING: HEBREWS 5:1-14 “ For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:2 Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.13 For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
COMMENTS: The great mystery is how Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit can be One God but Christ can also come to earth as a human with human limits. While on earth as a human, His insights and revelations were only as the Father revealed to Him. Yet He fully fulfilled His mission while living the perfect sinless life. But fact is, God can do anything His Will dictates, including separating and taking on human form while continuing to manage the universe from His throne. His Will also including leaving after His resurrection so His Holy Spirit would come and abide with believers. The Holy Spirit came with another purpose, to abide with and comfort and council and strengthen and give insights to each believer. Jesus, as a human, was limited to only be at one place at a time. He is no longer limited in that way. Likewise, the Holy Spirit also has all God’s attributes so He can abide with every believer and interact personally with each believer at the same time and uniquely.
Jesus had to leave before the Holy Spirit would come to help and provide what believers would need in the midst of unbearable persecution and temptation they would endure. John 16:7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”
God has thought of and provided for everything the believer needs because He has already seen and been in the future so is very prepared for it. We, however, have not so we desperately need to draw close to Him so we can take advantage of His help and wisdom and knowledge and abilities.
His promises are sure and can be trusted, so when He said He is preparing a place for us and will come back to take us there and abide with us there forever, we can trust He will keep that promise. Keep that promise even if we must endure persecution like the first century Christians did first.
“IT WILL BE WORTH IT ALL WHEN WE SEE JESUS!” So, when we have days when nothing seems to go right or when tragedy darkens our life, remember we are not alone and this earth is not our final home. Tragedy and hardship either draws us away from God, making us bitter. Or Tragedy draws us closer to Him, making us stronger and more depend on Him. God wants our dark days to draw us to Him while satan will do all he can to use dark days to pull us away from God. We’re in a war for our souls, and we have freedom to choose who will win that war. Satan can’t win if we let God go to battle for us. When we keep Christ out of our lives and keep the Holy Spirit at a distance, we face satan alone and are defenseless against him.
Well, as foolish as that is, our Bible is full of stories of those before us who knew better but repeated that foolishness until they the consequences were so bad, that they were compelled to repent and turn back to God for help. That they did and God was waiting to forgive and help. We need to learn from their experiences and avoid that foolish rebellious period they chose.
Imagine what their lives would have been like if they had chosen more wisely. Consider how much better your life would be if you had chosen more wisely in the past. We can’t change our past but we can choose a much wise and better future. Today is the day to do so. Today is the day to do so by seeking Christ’s forgiveness and the Holy Spirit’s help – His council – His strength and wisdom and encouragement. Living a life without regret is what He desires for us. We do to, so let’s starting preparing for such a life by going to the only One who can provide such a life for us. AMEN? AMEN!
The next time you suffer, look first to see if your obedience is being tested. Then, like Jesus, submit your will to God’s.
“Obedience is the hallmark of faith.” Charles H. Spurgeon
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 181 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 