When he [the devil] speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
John 8:44
Recommended Reading John 8:42-47: “42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”
COMMENTS: We live in a world where lies are often more believed and are better known than truth. We also are living in a world with a growing world view that the Bible is obsolete or is just a book of ancient myths and legends and fairytale stories. It seems many are more willing to believe a fabrication on Facebook or other media than believe a reputable history book or especially the Bible.
News in our daily paper or on radio or television was once an unbiased carefully researched factual account of the day’s events. But today there is, in increasing evidence, a political and world view bias against Christians and towards Moslems and towards immoral behavior. This is especially evident in many dictatorship ruled countries but is increasing evident in democratic countries.
But the historic and present truth is God hasn’t changed His Word and His Worldview. He is still in control and has not relaxed His standard nor expectations from us. Christ’s redemptive sacrifice freely offers us forgiveness and redemption, but there is still a price He warns us required from refusing His redemption and continuing to follow satan’s lies and path to destruction.
God offers a way to life and joy. Satan advertises a better choice but can only provide a path to misery and death. History has always proved this over and over in every generation, so why would we believe our generation could have a different result? Insanity has one definition of doing the same thing over and over again hoping and believing in a different result. We are also told forgotten or ignored history is destined to be repeated. We are living in “insane times” when godlessness and immorality and pagan practices of days pasts are promoted as good and God’s commands and standards are promoted as bad or evil. God even warns us in His Word that in the last days before His return there will be a falling away and good will be judged evil and evil judged good.
So, God is not surprised or unprepared for the world’s defiance and rebellion and will only allow such evil for a time. The Word even says that He will cut short with Christ’s return those days to keep man from totally destroying himself.
Satan continues to use God’s compassion and delay in judgment to give every opportunity for repentance in order to prove his evil lies. Satan wants us to think God is indecisive or weak or passive or doesn’t exist or is dead. He wants us to think we can get away with sinful behavior without any consequences. He wants us to only think about ourselves and satisfy our own desires and passions and lusts without concerning ourselves about others.
Well, when we live a life of integrity where we keep our promises and tell the truth and live a moral life and show kindness to others, life gets a lot simpler. We don’t have to remember lies told to avoid giving conflicting information later. We may not be as popular in some circles but will be spared misery those circles inflict on themselves and others. We may not be as popular but will have God at our side and a confident hope of eternal life not known by others. Our lives will show a better way to live that will prevail when other’s lives are put to shame.
I am amazed how condemning public media is of sexual harassment while supporting immoral behavior and blatant sex constantly without condemnation. We are bombarded w with sex without restraint or a moral compass from birth while only condemning those act out what they are being taught. Please don’t misunderstand me, I completely oppose sexual harassment and any form it may have on anyone male or female. But also believe the guilt also lies on those who have removed a Christian moral compass from society and schools. I believe guilt lies with parents and adults who do not show and live by that compass. I believe it is insanity to think we can have our fun without facing consequences in conduct of children who grow up seeing immoral behavior as normal and good. Evil doesn’t stop when we say stop. It continues to pull us down to worse conduct and then convinces us even that behavior isn’t so bad in order to pull us down even further. Look back 30-50 years and ask yourself if that is exactly what is happening.
Oh, that we would wake up and realize the real villain is satan and the real Good Guy is Christ. Moral and sexual purity is God’s standard and expectation. If we return to that standard, all else would fall into place. II Chronicles 7:14 is how we can get there.
So what do we do if we haven’t lived a moral life? THAT IS THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL!! There is forgiveness at the cross and an opportunity to change and a God who so wants to help us change. His Holy Spirit is available 24×7 to empower and help that change. A wise man once said “We don’t go down a wrong path so far that is still is better to turn around and come back” AMEN?
“He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” Blaise Pascal
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 310 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 