Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.
Isaiah 43:1
Recommended Reading: ISAIAH 43:1-7 “ But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.3 For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.5 Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”
COMMENTS: Our name is important to us. Our name identifies who we are, that we have value and are unique, that we are connected to family and gain meaning through our connection with family. Orphans or children in abuse families are drawn to gangs or other groups to find that connection. Have you met someone with your name? It is one thing to know people with your first name but is noteworthy to meet those with have your full name. You immediately look for similarities and differences in appearance and in character and conduct and finally differences and similarities in background. Unfortunately, our human nature will likely not rest until we then judge if we are better than they in accomplishments or status or even character.
Well, when we accept Christ, we are part of His family with His name “Christian” added to our name. He shows and teaches us that accepting His name gives us great value and great privilege. But also, great responsibility. He tells us that He requires much from those who have been given much. That certainly applies to material things and finances and power and influence. Poor often convince themselves the responsibility of tithing lies with the rich since they have resources the poor doesn’t and can be generous and make a greater difference out of their abundance. They also convince themselves their modest tithe will make little or no difference and that their needs exceed what income they have.
But what does Jesus teach and scripture teach? Tithe was an Old Testament obligation expected of Jew and converted Jew. The New Testament covenant does not free the Christian of the law of the Old Testament but gives the freedom of giving based on gratitude for what Jesus provides instead of out of obligation. Love always motivates greater kindness than commands dictate. Gratitude always motivates greater giving than paying tithe or taxes of obligation require.
Jesus’ example of the widow giving her mite shows us giving to God even the smallest amount is of greater value and importance to Him than the large gifts of a rich man. Why? Because sacrificial gifts motivated out of love and gratitude carry more impact than large gifts with little sacrifice or love. God uses those mites of poor to do miracles of eternal impact by inspiring others to do the same. He often grows those small gifts into larger resources than the gifts of the rich.
Scripture tells us God loves and blesses the cheerful giver. He blesses them by letting them partner in the eternal work and fruit their gift supports.
In heaven seeing the impact those before us had on us and showing gratitude to them will be a rich time of celebration. But then again, seeing how God used our acts of kindness on those who come after us will make us rejoice too. Yet we are told we will all lay any crowns given us at His feet. His Name and His Presence will receive all worship and praise and awe filled adoration.
Meeting our ancestors and hearing their stories, meeting the greats of the old testament like Daniel and David and Joseph and Noah and Jonah and Job and Esther and Ruth and …. The list goes on. Then the greats of the New Testament like Peter and Paul and Luke and Matthew and Mary & Joseph and Timothy and Mark and …. The list goes on. Then the greats in centuries since like Martin Luther and John & Charles Wesley and Billy Sunday and DL Mooney and Billy Graham. How about the patriarchs and matriarchs of our own personal families? We will need eternity to work our way through the long list discovering how their lives impacted ours and brought us closer to accepting Christ. To discover how God designed and orchestrated all their lives so you and I could hear about and know Christ’s redemption too will be an awesome discovery. Take time to let this concept soak into your soul and be thankful. Your story and impact of your life and mine is still being written and impact of those before us is still aiding in writing that story. But He is returning soon to take us home. Some of us have lived more years than left and some are just in infancy of their lives. Age is making me discover what elderly before me said. Life is brief and passes so quickly. It certainly does for me especially since retiring. Writing this journal and experiencing fellowship with the Holy Spirit as I write this journal has become a rich and joyful experience. I have to confess it is still tempting to put it off some days so can finish some pressing work or duties, but the habit and joy of writing and fellowship makes it easier to resist that temptation. I encourage you to find the way God is calling you into fellowship each day too. We all are called to study His Word and pray and ponder with Him each day. Some of you may also be called to write and share like me too. Don’t miss that blessing even if just for yourself and possibly sharing with your family. When I started this journey, I didn’t expect it to spread beyond my own wife and children. It would have been worth it and blessing enough if that only would have been the result. A legacy to minister to them with words living beyond me would be blessing and of enough importance. AMEN? AMEN!! What is your name? My name is CHRISTIAN!!
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 218 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 