““Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
Recommended Reading: Matthew 5:44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”
COMMENTS: Have you ever said “My way or the highway”? I’m sure you’ve heard others say that and probably said that to you one time or another. In times of conflict it may be a way of “drawing a line in the sand” in an attempt to persuade or demand someone comply with your instruction. Parents often take this approach with rebellious children.
Everyone at one time or another is hurt by someone by word or action. Sometimes, it is done accidently or thoughtlessly, but hurt is much worse when hurt was done deliberately. In today’s technology of worldwide media, damage done by spreading untruthful information or unproven rumors or gossip of often far worse and permanent since such is spread far more quickly than word of mouth and cannot be erased or stopped once sent. But such technology is accessible to children and teens and both irresponsible and malicious individuals with potential of destroying the lives of many innocent or even guilty individuals but without trial or opportunity of defense. The power of the tongue to do much good or much evil has always been understood and experienced. Scripture gives many verses dealing with the power of the tongue and council on its use:
Proverbs 12:18 “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
Proverbs 18:21 “The tongue has the power of life and death.”
James 3:5 “The tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do.”
Stop and reflect how important it is to keep the tongue silent during times of strong anger and other emotions and how important it also is to speak during times when God is leading and inspiring to give words of wisdom and encouragement and knowledge when such is needed to heal and help and bring light in times of darkness. Take some time to reflect and do some soul searching to learn from lessons learned from both. I am doing so as I write this realizing if have both experienced from others and given such evil and good many times.
In order to do better and be more proactive going forward, how about we plan on using prayer as a regular tool in making our tongue more a tool bringing life and good and less a tool of evil and hurt and suffering and disease.
A Covenant and commitment to respond in prayer seeking God’s influence and council and help before responding when experience hurt or offence or abandonment or rejection or mistreatment or abuse by another, causing anger to well up in our soul and mind. To pray for the offender as well as strength and wisdom and help to respond as Jesus would instead of as the devil is trying to make us respond.
Pray to forgive. Pray to love. Pray to show mercy and integrity. Pray remembering how Jesus responded to those who mistreated and even killed Him. To see ourselves and others as Jesus sees us and them. A daunting and formidable goal and commitment but one that can only achieve progress to if begins the difficult journey on. A journey Christ doesn’t want us to take alone but one with our hand in His through the abiding Holy Spirit available to us and His Word to guide us, but a journey to eternal life for both us and so many others lost Christ so wants to accept His gift or redemption and eternal life for them too. Stop and recall someone who hurt you and angered you in past who was restored and become a dear friend due to His influence and redemption.
Corrie TenBoom endured unspeakable torture and suffering at the hands of Nazi soldiers while emprisoned in their concentration camps during WWII. She suffering seeing her family endure this suffering too and grieve each of them dying . She survived that time but struggled with bitterness towards her captors, as we likely would too. But during one speaking engagement many years later, she gave an altar call and recognized one man kneeling at the altar. It was one of the guards at the concentration camp. Hatred for him welled up in her soul and mind but God spoke to her and confronted her to forgive him and release judgment and redemption into His hands. She did that and chose to forgive him in that moment and even lead him to receive salvation.
Could you and I do such a thing? How was she able to forgive Him and show compassion on him? Reflect on the words and picture from Corrie TenBoom at the time of this devotion. God not only commands us to forgive and to love, but then provides the capacity to love and the love in abundant measure to give. Corrie discovered but needed reminded that in God’s eyes her sins were just as far from God’s perfect standard as was that guard’s sins, but God loved him just as much as He loves her . That did not diminish His love for her but shows how much He loved her by wanting to carry her to a higher level of loving and compassion. HE ALSO LOVES US AS MUCH AND WANTS TO CARRY US TO THAT HIGHER LEVEL OF LOVING TOO! AMEN? AMEN!
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 403 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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