The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!”
Proverbs 22:13
RECOMMENDED READING: 2 TIMOTHY 1:3-7 “3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;4 Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind..”
COMMENTS: Faith makes the difference between overcoming dangers and unpleasant work and being overcome by those dangers and work. How often have you put off doing tasks you didn’t like or tasks that were difficult to do? I dare say waiting only made those tasks more difficult and time consuming to complete. May so difficult they required the help of others. Same is especially true if delay causing greater harm and grows larger so becomes more dangerous and more difficult to overcome. Treating illness or disease is much like that. Extinguishing a fire is another example. Another example is dealing with sin. The longer sin continued unchecked or dealt with, the worse it gets, the stronger it gets, and the more severe the impact and consequences.
All too often the news tells us of a shooter entering in a school or pubic building reigning terror shooting and killing at will. They are only stopped with brave action from police or private individuals who find a way to stop the shooter, putting themselves at great risk. But fear and delay only allows the shooter to kill more people.
So how do these brave individuals overcome their fear and respond? Do you know someone who responded with an unusual act of bravery? Have you ever had such an opportunity and did so? Maybe it was administering CPR on someone who stopped breathing or came to aid of someone chocking on a piece of food.
When we face life and death situations knowing someone will die if we don’t come to their aid. Such realization is compelling to get involved.
If we are in fellowship with Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us daily, we will discover opportunities to make an eternal difference in the lives of others in ways we would not think of nor maybe even find that significant. That likely will not include confronting a terrorist or shooter. It likely will not mean giving CPR to someone in distress. But one thing will be needed when we are called into action. We will need to be ready and prepared. Knowing and being skillful in CPR is needed to be ready to administer CPR when needed. Likewise, being in close fellowship with Christ enables us to be prepared also. Prepared to listen, prepared to share a word of encouragement needed. Truth is we don’t know what circumstances or mindset others face but God knows and has a wonderful way of guiding His people to those in need equipping them with what to say and do that is exactly what is needed. So often we avoid people and circumstances because we don’t know what to say or do, but the only right way to prepare is to put ourselves in God’s hands and seek His help to guide our words and hands. He will if we seek His help. Stop and consider a time when you were helped by someone. God promises to guide our words and actions when we trust Him and reach out to others in need. That takes faith and courage too.
Can you also think of a time God was nudging you and you went the other way, and God used someone else instead? Reflect on the regret you felt. God will accomplish His will, either through us or someone else. The loss when we say no to Him is ours.
Let’s prepare so next time opportunity calls, we will be ready and say yes to Him. There is no better place to be than next to Him with our hand in His. We can do so and still accomplish our daily tasks and obligations. In fact, my experience is I accomplish far more with less effort when I face the day with my hand in His. Is that your experience too? AMEN.
“Faith, which is trust, and fear are opposite poles. If a man has the one, he can scarcely have the other in vigorous operation. He that has his trust set upon God does not need to dread anything except the weakening or the paralyzing of that trust.”
Alexander Maclaren
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 246 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/ 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.
My hope and prayer is, my blog and devotional materials 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
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