Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it. Colossians 4:17
Recommended Reading: Colossians 4:7-17 “7 All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord:8 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts;9 With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister’s son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)11 And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellow workers unto the kingdom of God, which have been a comfort unto me.12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.13 For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis.14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.15 Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.16 And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.17 And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.”
COMMENTS: Consider with me some of the most amazing, and most common, ways God reveals His Mercy and Faithfulness to each and every one of us. As I reflect on work I did yesterday and people I crossed paths with and talked to, recalling the details of how I spent the last day’s 24 hour; I realize everyone had the same 24 hours to use as they wished. Granted jobs and many obligations fill that time, but none the less God gave each of us that same 24-hour day to live. When He decides to stop, it will not matter what we planned to do. Our lives will end and we will face Him in eternity when that time for each of us comes. Right now, it is still dark and 6AM as I write this journal entry. I am reflecting on work an obligations I accomplished yesterday and things I am hoping to accomplish today, but I also am seeking His council so at end of day I will accomplish His Will over mine. Much of the time both match mostly when I take time to seek His Will. All too often what I thought was His Will, which I was planning to do, was not or at least not in His planned time schedule. I am amazed how different His ways and thinking are different than mine.
Yet, now I am praying and reflecting and seeking His direction as I get ready for another day. Each morning He gives us another 24-hour day to either build off of previous day’s accomplishments or progress or to do over or try to fix errors or mistakes or poor choices or sins of yesterday. He is there and ready to forgive when we seek and ask, but often wrong choices require time and energy to correct. Such delays progress but is necessary so a proper foundation is laid to build another day’s work on.
Making wise choices each day, building off wise choices and good work completed the previous day, becomes a blessing to us and also to those we serve and interact with. Doing so also blesses and pleases God as we involved and follow His council. His ways are always best but likely much different than ours. Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
God’s ways and plans are far better and above ours, so why not seek to know and follow His ways and plan. That is my goal and quest and pray is yours too. Sometimes I prefer mine over His. Sometimes I struggle to discover His ways and plan, but mostly because I’m not as open to risk giving up my plans. But times like 6AM on a Saturday morning I have opportunity to lay down my plans and seek His.
Tomorrow morning, I begin playing our church organ for worship. I previously have only played the piano, but have been practicing the organ for some time now. Granted the differences in skill needed are minimal, but are note worthy differences and challenging. But God has been nudging me to invest the effort and now to use this neglected instrument. It hasn’t been used for many years and neglect means risk is greater it will not be functional.
What is God nudging you to do that has been neglected or postponed? Ignoring or putting off isn’t God’s will nor best choice, so why not just do it? You’ll have fewer regrets and do-overs later. Agree? AMEN!
“Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever our lord the king shall appoint.” Amy Carmichael
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 281 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 are, 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 69-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 4 years ago 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 and have just updated December 28, 2019 for republishing. Thus far I have published 530 posts automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me during past 7 years 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: dmcdaniel12@zoominternet.net
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 