Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. Proverbs 3:7
RECOMMENDED READING: 2 Corinthians 10:1-11 “By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” toward you when away! 2 I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world.3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.7 You are judging by appearances.[a] If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. 8 So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. 9 I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. 10 For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.” 11 Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.”
COMMENTS: We have never heard Paul preach nor know what he looked like. Scripture gives us a hint that he wasn’t tall or impressive in stature and today’s scripture hint Paul was bolder in writing than was in speech. That may be Paul’s perception but I, for one, find it easier and more effective for me to write than to speak. I tend to leave some thoughts out or forget when speaking that come more completely when writing, probably because it takes longer to write and can see as I write so have more opportunity to think through and more completely logically. That may be true of Paul and fortunate for us since we have a permanent record in our scripture of the letters he wrote to the churches he planted in Asia Minor during his ministry. Each church had its own strengths and weaknesses, which John documented in Revelation. So Paul’s letters written to some of these churches, John’s comments and insights help us understand the subject of Paul’s letters and insights Paul shares in those letters. Well, Paul’s letters and John’s revelation are in our scripture because they were judged to accurately convey God’s intended message for the first century church but also for the church in every generation since.
Today’s scripture is a portion of Paul’s second letter written to the church in Corinth. Paul is assuring them that the message he preached to them is identical to the message in his writings and message preached wherever he goes. Paul was a profoundly effective and insightful as a preacher and as an author. Paul, as Saul, was passionate and dangerous in persecution of the church, but Christ stopped that persecution by changing Saul into Paul instead of killing Saul as he deserved. Why? Because he loved even Saul so gave him the same opportunity for forgiveness and redemption that he gave all who heard the Good News. Paul knew that and used that passion previously used to stop Christianity to spread this new faith and religion. To try to convey this Good News to everyone everywhere. Paul could have remained Saul and faced God’s judgment. He could have encountered Christ as his judge instead of as his Savior. But then the letters Paul wrote would have been written by someone else. But Christ knew Saul would repent and be transformed into Paul. Who knows, Stephen may have been stoned to open the way for Paul’s ministry to come into focus. We will not know until we enter heaven, but I wonder if Stephen would have been spared and taking up Paul’s ministry and writings if Paul would have refused Christ’s mercy? I do not know what might or could have been. But I’m sure Paul’s ministry and letters are in line with God’s Will and enlightened and gave opportunity to transform millions of that day. Paul’s letters helped in that enlightenment but not exclusively. The witness and example of Christians in the first century time of peril and persecution was hugely impactful in the epidemic transformation and spreading of Christ’s Good News in the hearts and minds and lives of millions of lost Jews and Gentiles during that time. The impact of the lives of those early Christians not only powerfully impacted all they interacted with but was passed on from generation to generation. Paul’s letters and recorded scripture passed on kept the message pure and unchanged from one generation to another. Distortions of the Gospel developed and grew even in that day. Paul even addressed such distortions in his letters and corrected such before damage was allowed to spread. His letters continued to accomplish such generation after generation too.
But we must not forget to also give the Holy Spirit credit for keeping Christ’s message true and pure and unchanged too. The Holy Spirit inspired and empowered Paul to preach and write and live. The same Holy Spirit also inspired Peter and Timothy and Luke and Matthew and John and … all the other disciples and countless Jews and Gentiles also converted and filled with the same Holy Spirit. The one thing they all had in common was surrendering to Christ’s call and obedience to His bidding. We need do as much but no more too.
The key to godliness is not more knowledge but more obedience. Woodrow Kroll
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 363 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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