Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Matthew 6:25
RECOMMENDED READING: Mark 6:7-9 “7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;8 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:9 But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.”
COMMENTS: How great is your faith? We tend to have more faith in things than we do in people or individuals. We trust a car to take us reliably from one place to another at high speeds in severe weather without thinking about it. We don’t think about a wheel coming off or car stopping in the middle of no-where. We don’t think about gravity failing, resulting in us floating out into space. We don’t think about the sun burning out or failing to come up in the morning. We may doubt if our mother or father can carry us as a grown adult like she or he could as an infant but wouldn’t doubt their faithfulness to pick us up at school or work.
So, how strong is our faith when it comes to God keeping His promises? How much faith did some familiar people from old testament and new testament times have? How does our faith compare to theirs and how do we develop such faith?
Faith sufficient to go into a lion’s den rather than deny your Lord. Faith sufficient to face danger in obedience to God’s call. Faith sufficient to visit or witness to someone who has mistreated you. Faith sufficient to forgive when we are bitter or angry. Faith like Christians in China or North Korea or in many Muslim dominated countries where Christians are persecuted. As we look more closely at the first century Christians, how they lived and conducted themselves as well as the persecution they endured, we discover their faithfulness in the midst of persecution strengthened their faith, strengthened their witness and impact on others, and was a great catalyst to strengthen and grow the Church in numbers and in confidence during those years.
Truth is, we believe what we choose to believe and who we choose to believe. We put our trust and faith in who we want, whether they are worthy of that faith or not. Consider how some put their complete faith in Jim Jones or Adolf Hitler or… The list is long and dates back to ancient times. People tend to trust and follow people they admire or like or who are charismatic or persuasive orators. Kings and rulers are more often tall and physically strong and good looking because people choose them before potential leaders who are short or less attractive. Israel’s first king, Saul was tall and attractive but failed and was rejected by God Saul was their choice, not God’s. David was God’s choice even as a small young inexperienced boy. God sees the soul and mind and weighs qualities hid there instead of outward appearances and gifts.
Well, who should we follow and put our faith in? Who has a track record worthy of our trust and faith? Who can we confidently rely on and lean on during crisis as well as in calm? Scripture doesn’t reveal those who blindly put their faith in Christ. Jesus proved His was who He said and worthy of their trust, but a response was required from them as from us. We need to seek Him and trust Him but often hold on to a safety net that is keeping us from trusting Him fully. What is your safety net? What is He asking you to give up in order to fully trust Him? Afraid to ask? Well, that is what faith requires. Consider what we lose because we don’t. Go ahead, ask. I am asking Him this morning…
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 286 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
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