I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. Psalm 84:10
Recommended Reading: JOHN 21:20-25 “20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?24 This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”
COMMENTS:
Learning to seek fellowship with God on His terms and not on our is a lifelong struggle. Yes, once we repent and accept His forgiveness, we open the door to fellowship and an ongoing relationship with Christ by the Holy Spirit’s presences in us. But we soon discover we still don’t nor will have a clue to figuring out God’s ways and the way He thinks and works. Christ knew Peter would deny and Judas would betray him but gave both the freedom to do so. Both had option of remaining faithful and both would have had opportunity for forgiveness and redemption. Peter enjoyed that redemption but Judas took his own life before could discover and receive that redemption. However, Christ’s loving hand and lifesaving teaching and instruction was taught to both during His 3 years of ministry. Both experienced 3 years of fellowship and instruction and both betrayed Christ but took very different paths after their betrayal. Both thought they understood Christ but discovered they didn’t understand Him or His ways at all. Judas thought he could expedite and force Christ’s hand but soon discovered he didn’t.
Jesus understood their lack of understanding. Verse 22, above, reminds us that we need to be and remain faithful especially when we don’t understand His ways. His ways and timing are so far above and better than our ways and timing. He also reminds us we need to trust Him and simply focus on obedience instead of trying to figure out His ways. I know, we feel the need to know and understand why. We don’t like to blindly follow without seeing goal or conclusion in sight. Sometimes He allows us good understanding but sometimes He withholds that knowledge. In those situations, our faith needs to dominate until we do understand. It is then our faith and level of trust in Him is tested and proved. That is when the Holy Spirit provides the help and focus we need to truly trust and have consistent faith in Him.
Receiving recognition and praise for faithfulness isn’t the goal. It is giving all the praise and worship and credit to Him.
Sybil Ludington was a 16-year-old British girl in 1777 in the American colonies. Her father, Colonel Henry Ludington, was the leader of a militia of 400 men on furlough on April 26th. When she learned the British were about to attack Danbury, she jumped on her horse and traveled 40 miles at night in pouring rain telling the soldiers to gather and prepare for battle. She traveled twice as far as Paul Revere but history says little of her ride and much about Revere’s ride.
Both made a history changing sacrifice of similar magnitude. That difference was used by God to help form a new country founded on a Christ centered world view. Such history and evidence of God’s influence and intervention have much to show and teach us. We miss out on much when their story and history is forgotten and untold to young generations. Just as much is lost when scripture is forgotten and untold too. When the stories of those before us both in scripture and in more recent history are left untold and unshared, much is lost as well. Those stories encourage us and strengthen our faith to trust God during uncertain times and to seek His Will and give praise to Him instead of seeking our own will and our own praise. When we are faithful to Him, we are ok in not taking the credit for wise choices. After all, we are simply following Him so He really need to take any credit due, not us.
Today in heaven, it doesn’t matter to Sybil or Paul Revere if history books do or don’t include their names. What does matter is if their faithfulness is recorded in God’s book of life. One day that will be what matters about us and our families and friends. Will our names be written in God’s book of life too? Choice is ours. God wants everyone’s name in His book. Do we? That is the real question. It is really up to us but on God’s terms.
Fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
“I’d rather have Jesus than anything / this world affords today.” Oscar C. A. Bernadotte
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 201 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 