| But the righteous shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4 (ESV) |
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RECOMMENDED READING: Habakkuk 3:17-19 , ” 17 Though the fig tree may not blossom,Nor fruit be on the vines;Though the labor of the olive may fail,And the fields yield no food;Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,And there be no herd in the stalls—18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,I will joy in the God of my salvation.19 The Lord God is my strength;He will make my feet like deer’s feet,And He will make me walk on my high hills.”
COMMENTS: We are living in times like no other time in history but similar to times long ago just before disaster. Times just before destruction of great modern empires like Babylon or Greece or Rome, and yes Israel at time after Solomon. Each experience times of great prosperity and modern technology and learning and comfort but also of moral depravity and total disregard for God and all His Laws and Commands and Teachings. A total disregard for the Scriptures and for those who teach or follow His Word.
Yesterday the US Congress voted to block a Bill to prevent killing of fetuses, preborn babies in third tri-mester up to and including time of birth and mandate to support that life if born if born in process of being aborted. Present was a woman who had been such a baby that was saved along with her medical records to convince congress to vote for life and to convince skeptics a fetes is a human being deserving to live. Opponents were able to block a vote. Over 50 million fetuses have been aborted since 1973 when Roe vs Wade was passed by the supreme court of US. But now pro-choice proponents are even pushing to allow baby to be aborted or killed even after it is born naturally. THE SLIPPERY SLOPE OF TURNING FROM GOD’S CONTINUES TO TAKE US FURTHER AND FURTHER FROM COMMON MORAL VALUES AND RESTRAINTS. 30 years ago, not even the most liberal pro-life advocates would have considered allowing a new born to die even if the mother didn’t want it to live. BUT NOW ONE GOVERNOR HAS SIGNED A LAW MAKING IT LEGAL TO DO JUST THAT AND THE PRO-LIFE COMMUNITY OF THAT STATE CELEBRATED THAT NEW LAW!!
BUT GOD HAS NOT CHANGED AND HIS LAW HAS NOT ETIHER. HE DOES MORE COMMONLY WHAT HE LOVES TO DO AND DOES RARELY WHAT HE DREADS. HE DREADS JUDGING AND LOVES TO CREATE LIFE AND FORGIVE AND SHOW MERCY!
Think about the above paragraph and conclude how often God has judged and how often He continues to create life and sustain life and forgive. BUT JUDGMENT DOES COME WHEN MAN APPROACHES A POINT WHEN HIS SELF DESTRUCTIVE PATH BECOMES SO BAD AND CONTAGEOUS, HE IS FORCED TO INTERVENE. God is slow to anger but such makes Him angry and His intervention urgent.
WE ARE QUICKLY APPROACHING THAT POINT AND ENTERING A UNPRESIDENTED TIME FORETOLD IN SCRIPTURE APPROACHING CHRIST’S RETURN TO STOP SATAN’S REIGN AND BEGIN HIS OWN REIGN!!
You and I must prepare for His return by proper and repentance and by being faithful in doing His bidding and sharing His Work and spreading His Good News of redemption just as His first century followers did some 2000 years ago. Those found faithful when He returns will be redeemed but those who are found unforgiven will be eternally lost. It will not matter if we don’t agree or believe in Him except the impact it will have on our future.
Habakkuk is a 3 chapter book written by the prophet Habakkuk. This prophet was very troubled by the turbulent times he lived in. His culture was crumbling and cities becoming lawless. Habakkuk expressed his anxiety in prayer (recorded in chapter 1-2), God’s response to Him was to trust Him and live by Faith because God was still in His Temple and on His Throne. Vs 20, 14 “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”
Habakkuk was encouraged and wrote a hymn of praise in response in the 3rd chapter “The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet, and He will make me walk on my high hill” (vs19). Habakkuk’s response is good instruction to each of us and encouragement for us as we too live through Godless sinful times and see persecution of faithful followers getting worse but also as we see God’s judgment approaching. God’s redemption is still enforce and available. The Good News is still our calling and our mission to share. God’s Law is still the prevailing Law God’s requires us to obey and we will be judged against. BUT GOD’S GRACE BASED ON CHRIST’S SACRIFICE ON THE CROSS IS AND WILL BE THE ONLY EXCAPE FOR GOD’S JUDGMENT for any and all, including you and me.
There is a difference between loving and accepting sinners and approving of their sin. To accept the sinners without accepting their sin is not intolerance as some would have us think. Afterall, isn’t that what Christ lives and taught and exampled? We can do no better than to treat sinners as Jesus did and as Jesus treats us.
AMEN? AMEN!
“May all bow to the scepter of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the whole earth be filled with His glory.”
John Hancock, in a proclamation to Massachusetts, October 15, 1791
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 407 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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