There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24
Recommended Reading: John 15:13-15 “ 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
COMMENTS: Have you ever had a close friend? There are a few such friendships revealed in scripture. David and Jonathan is such a friendship. David was the youngest of 8 sons (I Samuel 16-17). We are not told how close David was to his brothers or of any conflicts with them like Joseph had with his brothers. But the experiences and character David experienced won him the respect and devotion of King Saul’s son, Jonathan. As we look at their friendship, we discover how well their friendship aided each other. Jonathan provided a shield and Intel to David that saved David from his sinful father’s obsession to kill David out of jealousy. Jonathan could have aided is father since God had chosen David to succeed Saul as king instead of Jonathan. David provided an example and link to a personal relationship with God to Jonathan that his father had lost and could no longer give to his son.
The tragedy of this story is Jonathan and David’s friendship was cut short when Jonathan was killed in battle with his father, King Saul. His father’s sins brought death to him as well as to Saul. Jonathan was faithful to David as well as to his father and seems to find a good balance of doing both until that fateful day in battle. Jonathan never becomes jealous of David’s favor with God. We have no indication that Jonathan ever became rebellious to God.
Well, we have hope that David’s faithfulness to God did impact and make an eternal difference on Jonathan and both he and David are enjoying fellowship with each other and with God in heaven today. But their friendship still serves as an example to guide and encourage every generation since because their story is recorded in scripture. Obviously, God viewed their faithfulness to each other, and their faithfulness to God’s will worthy of becoming a good example for us by making it part of scripture.
I had such a friend from 1st grade. We share a common faith in Christ and likes and dislikes. He was physically stronger than I so often shielded me any school or class bullies. I sometimes would help him with his homework and we would often study together. But our life paths started to gravitate apart in high school since we started preparing for different career paths so took different optional subjects in high school. He ended up going to Oral Roberts College preparing for a career in ministry and I went to Grove City College preparing for a career in engineering. We would meet once or twice on summers when home from college but I clearly remember the day I learned he had drown. It was the summer of 1972 and I was working for the summer earning money for my senior year at Grove City College at Cooper Bessemer, a local manufacturer of locomotive engines.
Why did God take such a strong young man committed to serving Him as Everett was and leave me? This and so many other unanswered questions can only be partially answered at best over time here but all questions will have clear answers when we enter heaven’s gate. We will see and understand clearly how God’s perfect Plan was implemented. We will be in awe and overwhelmed at the wisdom and marvel of seeing and knowing what God has done why both blessing and tragedy were part of that plan.
Well, as special as some friendships are, especially with our spouse and others God may put on our path, the important thing we should not forget is friendships, for us, should be viewed as a way of being a blessing and helpmate for others and not seeking what we can gain. What we gain is in God’s hands and comes to us as we become a blessing and give to others. Truth is, the spouse God gives us blesses us in proportion to how much a blessing and helpmate we are to them. That is how God intended for us to be blessed.
But Christ is the Greatest and Best Friend we can possible ever have and does not become jealous or discourage close developing close friendships with others too. In fact, He shows us how to be a good friend to others and blesses us as we become a blessing to them. But Jesus conveyed to His disciples and to us too, that He is not only our friend but we are His friends too. John 15:15 “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
Our Best Friend is none other than the Creator and Lord and Sustainer of all but also Our Savior and Redeemer. He is none other than Christ – The Almighty God. A friend like none other and faithful to us like none other can.
So Christ’s love for us needs to be the example and set the standard for us to love each other and all we cross paths with. To be a friend to others like Christ is to us – closer than a brother.
“Jesus takes to heart the sufferings of His friends.” William Hendriksen
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 348 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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