I have exalted one chosen out of the people. Psalm 89:19
RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE PSALM 89:14-24 “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,who walk in the light of your presence, Lord.16 They rejoice in your name all day long;they celebrate your righteousness.17 For you are their glory and strength,and by your favor you exalt our horn.[d]18 Indeed, our shield[e] belongs to the Lord,our king to the Holy One of Israel.19 Once you spoke in a vision,to your faithful people you said:“I have bestowed strength on a warrior;I have raised up a young man from among the people.20 I have found David my servant;with my sacred oil I have anointed him.21 My hand will sustain him;surely my arm will strengthen him.22 The enemy will not get the better of him;the wicked will not oppress him.23 I will crush his foes before him and strike down his adversaries.24 My faithful love will be with him,and through my name his horn[f] will be exalted.”
COMMENTS: Why did God choose Israel (Abraham’s decedents thru Isaac) as His Chosen people? Why did He choose David over his other brothers as Israel’s king and David as the ancestor of Christ? What did He know and what motivated His choices?
The entire answer is too far beyond us, but we do have some clue and hints and partial answers in scripture based on common characteristics and attitudes of those who God honored. For example, Daniel was told by Michael that he was highly favored by God. Mary was told by Gabriel that she was highly favored by God when told she would be the mother of the Messiah. So when we look at their character and relationship with God and level of obedience, we begin to comprehend what it is God desires and dreams of us to become too.
Today’s scripture begins to give us a clue: Note the underlined characteristics of God and of those who He honors and favors. Then ask yourself if Daniel and Mary demonstrated these characteristics? Yes, they did all their lives. David did to but did wonder away from God for a time but did repent and return when confronted by Nathan. His son, Solomon, did too but unfortunately, we have no indication in scripture he repented. What a tragedy if that is true.
We have a far better example than even Daniel and Mary even though their examples far outside us or most we know. Our best and “perfect” example is Christ. He lived and taught the example God is and desires us to become. The closer we are to Him, the more like Him we will become. How? By imitating Him and walking with Him. By allowing His Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen and encourage and protect and warn – prepare and …. The list goes on and develops as we “Walk with our Lord”. Daniel and Mary knew that and enjoyed continual fellowship with God even before Christ and His Holy Spirit was revealed. For us that discovery and revelation is easier, more accessible, and freely available because of Christ’s sacrifice, because of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, because of greater accessibility of the Bible including both the Old Testament and New Testament, and because of His Church to strengthen and encourage and hold us accountable too.
Christ called his disciples, and us as His forgiven children, his friends (John 15:15). The path Christ walked is stained with bloody Royal feet. A path far darker and more painful than the path we are called to take. He suffered and died so we would not face His judgment and that dark path.
We serve and follow a Mighty God, a Wonderful Savior, an Eternal – Unchanging Creator, a Loving Father and Friend who will always be with us and care for us. We serve the One and Only God, not a god created by the imagination of someone who lived long before us. No one could have imagined such a Great and Mighty and Good God. Why? Because a human didn’t create God. God created humans and created us. GOD IS NOT DEAD AS SOME HAVE SAID. GOD IS ALIVE AND WELL AND STILL IN CHARGE. One day soon, HE will return as He promised and administer His justice. How terrible it will be for those who face His justice. Oh how much better it will be for those who have received His mercy and forgiveness. That day will not be one to dread but to anticipate with joy because we will see and enjoy His Goodness in fullness instead of satan’s evil corrupting God’s creation. The era of satan’s mischief will end and God’s judgment and justice will prevail. He tarries so more will have opportunity to share in His mercy. That is God’s passion and should be ours too. It will be as we get closer to Him and become more like Him. AMEN? AMEN!!
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 353 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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