[The adulteress’] house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death. Proverbs 7:27
Recommended Reading 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “119 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. “
COMMENTS: Daniel is the Old Testament Bible Character I admire more than any other because he remained faithful at all cost from childhood to old age. His faithfulness not only resulted in transforming his life and future but also many who he influenced – even the powerful King Nebuchadnezzar. But the two characters I remain frustrated and puzzled by are David and Solomon and especially Solomon. David had a deep personal relationship with God from childhood and remained strong and faithful through many years of exile but yielded to temptations of fear and lust when he should have been at his strongest. The biggest puzzle for me was why anyone with any common sense would or intelligence think having hundreds of wives would be a good decision? I know, “the grass is always greener” mentality is all too common a human frailty status symbol and peer pressure of other kings who have many wives would be a great temptation as a sign of power and wealth and privilege and ??? When I look at Solomon’s life of luxury and privilege, I see a young man blessed with great wisdom and a deep personal relationship with God that enabled him to lead and prosper like none other. But he, like some many before and after him succumbed to constant exposure to temptations and began walking and then running deeper and deeper into sin as he gathered more pagan wives and then pagan advisers. But I just can’t understand how even in that time and circumstances God would tolerate such and remain in fellowship with such a king and why such a king would not wake up and repent and turn back to God at first sign of God’s spirit leaving him or at fist consequence of his sin becoming a reality?
Well, I do know and understand that repeated exposure to temptation numbs awareness of danger and repulsiveness of sin. I also realize that in God’s eyes my failings are just as sinful as David’s or Solomon’s or worse.
Such discovery helps me both understand David’s and Solomon’s failing while being humbled that I too must continually seek and keep my hand in His and my eyes on Him or I too will be vulnerable to such temptation and sin with all their consequences and death. That said, even though Solomon knew better and still failed, the wisdom he wrote in Proverbs and the wisdom David wrote in Psalms are still part of God’s Word still available to us and still God’s Wisdom valuable and true for today as much as then.
George Santayana, a philosopher from the 1800’s, said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. That quote has been modified slightly to a more familiar and more popular “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” The variation I remember and believe to be truer is “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Truth is it is important to study and learn history but lessons history teaches us are what are so valuable to teach us and keep us on straight and narrow life giving path God has for us. Scripture alone is sufficient to prove to us God’s way always leads to life and life eternal and way of sin always leads to disaster and death after a very brief period of fun and excitement. Jesus parable of the Prodigal confirmed Jesus agreed with this and gave a perfect example to teach and convince us of this.
So will you and I learn and follow God’s life giving path in 2019 or yield to temptation with all the consequences of sin? God does all He can to convince and prove to us that His ways are best but still allows each of us to make the choice of our own free will. He allows us free will to choose wisely or foolishly, but He does not allow us to choose what follows. He reserves the right to allow us to face the full consequences of our choices or restrains some of those consequences in His mercy. But He knows and loves us so much that He even uses those consequences to deter us from continuing on a disastrous path away from Him. So we march or run to damnation in spite of warning signs and roadblocks He puts on our path. I see this in the lives of some I know and love, even within my own family. Yet I still see some who still refuse to repent in spite of those deterrents. I continue to pray for a change of heart, while realizing we each must make our own choices, and I must be mindful of God’s example who trying to guide them back to wise choices.
No sinful act desecrates the body like fornication and sexual abuse.
R. C. H. Lenski
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 340 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
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