Now it came to pass in those days that [Jesus] went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. Luke 6:12
RECOMMENDED READING Daniel 2:16-18 “16 So Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the interpretation. 17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 18 that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon..”
COMMENTS: Daniel is, in my opinion, the best Old Testament role model in scripture. Even more than Abraham or Joseph or Job or Noah. They are all good role models and have to admit Joseph, for me, is a close second. Daniel is far greater than David and Solomon and Abraham because he was faithful all his life from his youth. Job and Noah and Joseph were all faithful all their lives and enduring real faith tests and remained truth, which makes them worthy role models to follow.
What makes Daniel stand out, for me, is the depth of his wisdom and spiritual maturity and convictions at a young age in spite of being taken to a pagan land away from his family and synagogue family. He remained faith in midst of real threat of being eaten alive by lions. He remained faith in midst of treats of death and torture from the worst tyrant king in ancient history, Nebuchadnezzar. He even remained faithful in the midst of prosperity and status and wealth living a life of integrity and faithfulness to God. There was no doubt who his God was or the impact his relationship with God made in his life.
But the biggest reason I put Daniel top on my list is importance he put on prayer and urgency he had to be and stay in constant contact with God in prayer. He prayed each day without hiding even when it was illegal in Babylon. He relied on prayer to open himself to God’s council and empowerment. He relied on prayer especially and first before making choices or speaking his mind. He did not assume or rely on past wisdom but always sought fresh wisdom each day and before each decision. He always blanketed himself in prayer and sought supporting prayer from his faithful friends.
His faithfulness supported God’s intervention that humbled Nebuchadnezzar (even thought took 7 years) to repent. His faithfulness enabled God to work in Babylon with both Jewish and pagan people. His faithfulness also enabled seekers in every generation since his, by recording his story in scripture, to find Daniel’s God and make relationship with God theirs. Stop and consider the growing number of millions either in heaven or will be who will be eager to meet Daniel and thank him personally for his example and faithfulness. Then again, the prophecies and revelations God gave Daniel because of his faithfulness continue to encourage and council current generations to prepare for His return and end time judgment. For God to judge Daniel greatly beloved: “Daniel 10:11 (KJV) and he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this world unto me, I stood trembling.” The only other created human that received this honor was Mary, Jesus’ mother. I believe there are many very good reasons for that, which should seek to discover and make ours too. Of course, our best and more important and more perfect example is Christ Himself. But when we consider Daniel and Mary, we also discover many qualities and attributes Christ demonstrated in their lives too. The most significant attribute was importance and time each put to prayer all their lives. AMEN? AMEN!
Also, let’s consider the 7 ecumenical church councils held in early Christian Church history. The first held in AD325 was the First Council o Nicaea. Its purpose was to bring a united agreement and create a statement of faith on the nature of Jesus as God’s Divine Son as well as the Son of Man – fully human as well as fully divine and not a creation but the Creator.
As fully human, Jesus relied on prayer to His father to sustain Him and give Him divine direction. Mark 13:32 reveals that Jesus did not know when the end time prophecies foretold by Daniel and other prophets of old will be fulfilled. He said only the Father knows. When Jesus gave up His Divine abilities and attributes to become human, He also relinquished that knowledge. BUT HE KNOWS NOW BECAUSE HIS DIVINITY HAS BEEN RESTORED. HE AND THE FATHER AND HOLY SPIRIT ARE ONE OF MINE AND ACTION.
Jesus repeatedly said that He only did what the Father showed Him (John 5:19) since prayer was His link to the Father. He solely relied on that link to sustain His perfect obedience to the Father and sustain being a perfect example and role model to us.
Daniel was able to stand out as a noteworthy role model due to his commitment to prayer (Daniel 2:16-18) too.
If Jesus, the Son of God, needed to go to His Father in prayer for strengthening and guidance, how much more do we (Psalm 32:6)?
“Prayer and a holy life are one.” E. M. Bounds
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 414 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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