The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former.
Haggai 2:9
Recommended Reading: Haggai 2:1-9 “In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying,2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts:5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not6 For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.”
COMMENTS: Discouragement is a common weakness of humans. Everyone gets discouraged now and again, needing encouraging words from others to lift them up and keep going. We want to be optimistic and believe things will get better but realize they won’t unless something or someone makes them better. Yet we have God’s promise that He will make things better for those who put their trust in Him. We have countless examples of such in scripture. During times of discouragement, God came to give encouragement and direction. Better times came but often not right away, but God always came giving encouragement and hope and a hand to give companionship while going through the remaining portion of difficult times. Unfortunately, turning from God when peace and prosperity came was also a common weakness that would come out as well. Robert Mills was the designer of the Washington Monument. In 1836, his plans were chosen but construction was delayed due to lack of funds to build it. Engineers also discovered the ground was too soft to support the structure so site had to be moved. To make matters worse, saboteurs destroyed a prize block of marble reserved for structure, and donations began drying up. Vandals defaced the unfinished structure and construction stopped. Mills died in 1855 only seeing his design unfinished as a stump and in disrepair and ugly. Millions have walked by and climbed the steps in this monument since both enjoying and marveling at its beauty and remembering the president it commemorates. Also, at the monument’s pinnacle are the words “Laus Deo” which is Latin for “Praise the Lord”. Others needed to come with Mills’ vision and passion to complete the monument. The waiting resulted in a monument that honored George Washington and not Mills. A monument that also honored and gave praise to the author of our country and God of George Washington too. The stories of miracles sparing Washington’s life during his life and devotion to prayer and God’s leading were evident in historical accounts of his life. Yet those accounts have been erased from school textbooks in recent years and mention of God’s intervention and influence erased as well. God is being ignored in present day prosperity but such will come to an end and one day crisis or disaster will force our people to once again admit and come back to God, our creator and redeemer and only source of help during crisis. History hasn’t taught us that and great effort has been made to erase documented history of past evidence of His intervention and help. BUT GOD IS STILL ON HIS THRONE AND HE WILL NOT BE MOCKED AND IGNORED FOREVER. HE PROMISED TO RETURN AND MAKE THINGS RIGHT. I believe that day of reckoning is near and those who have followed satan’s deceptions will be judged. So, who will we follow? Who will we believe? Discouragement pulls is to believe God has failed us, so we need to go another way. That is a lie satan tries to get us to believe. He tries to get us to believe his way is better and follow him. Well, millions have and are facing judgment today. Millions still are becoming deceived, and at times many of us are too. Yet, who will we believe and trust? The God who works in His time and way but always comes through, or the devil who promised great things and leads down a dark deadly path that seems good for a time until we come to a “dead end” that brings great disappointment and death.
We are still enjoying a great free country built on a foundation of trusting in God by those who did just that. It is no accident “IN GOD WE TRUST” is still stamped on our money. Efforts to have it removed have failed so far.
Israel had enduring 70 years of slavery in Babylon. It was due to their own sin and rebellion against God. But God sent Haggai and Zechariah to encourage them and point them back to God for hope and help instead of letting discouragement lead them back down the dead-end path they just came from. The rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem was difficult and people were getting discouraged, but Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the workers giving them hope and clear thinking but also God’s insight as to what to do.
Discouragement clouds our thinking and prevents us from thinking and doing logically. Discouragement drains our energy hindering us from being able to work efficiently and logically, but perseverance enables the job to be completed. A job with the words at its pinnacle “Praise be to Lord”. Consider the alternative and consequences of not following God against the bright future God is promising us. Are you willing to go through short term difficulty with the Holy Spirit’s promise to walk through it with you, or settle for satan’s short term distractions like alcohol or drugs or things to make us feel better for awhile and worry about our problems later. That is why all too many do, resulting in problems more difficult to solve later and us less able to do so. But God is faithful and His offers remain even when we delay a response. HE IS FAITHFUL, even when we are not.
“It is always hard to see the purpose in wilderness wanderings until after they are over.” John Bunyan
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 290 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 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 