First Responses

psalm 107,9

Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.  Daniel 2:19

RECOMMENDED  READING Psalm 107:1-8  “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,3 And gathered out of the lands,From the east and from the west,From the north and from the south.4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way;They found no city to dwell in.5 Hungry and thirsty,Their soul fainted in them.6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,And He delivered them out of their distresses.7 And He led them forth by the right way,That they might go to a city for a dwelling place.8 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,And for His wonderful works to the children of men!”

COMMENTS:  The norm for us humans is to go to God for help in prayer when all else fails.   When we’ve tried every approach to our problems or work and all failed.  Well, most of our daily duties and tasks and work are pretty routine, only demanding the skills and abilities and knowledge we’ve acquired from past experience and learned skills.  So why would it be wrong to only ask for God’s help when we need it and let Him deal with other’s problems and not be bothered with ours?  

Let’s dive a bit into this question and attempt to see from God’s perspective and His insights. 

First of all, our human limitations make us realize we can only do one thing well at a time.  Multi-tasking is a modern day necessity and desirable skill, but truth is we can only focus on one task at a time, resulting in going from working on one task and then stopping to continue work on another until all tasks in “Q” are completed.  That is only way multi-tasking is possible or can work.  But truth is each of those tasks takes longer because of inefficiencies of starting and stopping.  But the other reality is quite often our work depends on others to complete supporting tasks or information gathering needed for us to complete our tasks, so idle time waiting for them to complete their tasks can be used for us to begin other tasks needed while waiting.  Can you relate this in your daily work or obligations?  I can.  Our human limitations require us to depend on others for help and recognize and manage our own limits in order to complete tasks successfully.

Secondly, our ability to think and work effectively diminishes dramatically when we are tired or distracted by unplanned (or even known) personal or family or other issues or concerns, especially those outside our control.  Consider what “distractions” have or still do impact your ability to work and manage your day’s responsibilities and tasks.

Thirdly, we often make the mistakes of thinking God suffers the same limitations we do and doesn’t want bothered.

Well, let’s look at the lives of those in scripture first who’s experiences help us understand God’s perspective and desire for us. Then I invite you to also look at examples more contemporary in your family or church or even in your personal past.

God’s perspective is not limited by human limitations but is motivated by a passion to be in continual relationship guiding and encouraging and inspiring us with His strength and wisdom and knowledge and plan.  All for our best because His love for us is boundless.  He doesn’t have a “bad day” nor is distracted, nor weary from dealing with others at same time He is focusing on our needs and problems.  His Holy Spirit is totally God and was given at Pentecost in order to provide opportunity for God to be in constant and focused relationship with each of us all the time with no problem too little nor too great for Him anytime.

David made almost disastrous errors by going to the Philistines for refuge from King Saul seeking his death.  David had to lie and pretend to be insane in order to escape the philistines.

King Saul made a fatal misjudgment to make the required sacrifice when Samuel was late instead of delaying going into battle until Samuel arrived.  That error and sin resulted in God’s spirit leaving him and eventual judgment of God not only on him but on his son, Jonathan too.

Then consider Daniel who prayed about everything big and small all the time, even during peaceful prosperous times.   His relationship with God was so intimate and frequent that God called him “highly favored”, an honor only given to one other, Mary, Jesus’ mother.    Because of Daniel’s established relationship with God, Daniel could quickly and effectively go to God for help in interpreting the king’s dreams.  He also was confident in believing God’s answer would come because of that relationship.    He also was prepared for unexpected problems and dangers and choices that came quickly and unannounced, of which I’m sure scripture only records a very few examples. 

Joseph is another example.  How he dealt with slavery and enduring Egypt’s prisons proves he too had a daily personal and very meaningful relationship with God, which guided him very effectively to do great thinks well beyond his human abilities.

First responders must train and be part of a strong team and support system where all are of one mind and focus so can enter dangerous life threatening environments and respond correctly there saving lives, removing dangers, and avoiding unnecessary personal risks and harm.  GOD IS OUR SUPPORT SYSTEM AND A CRITICAL MEMBER OF OUR TEAM.   I wonder how these saints enjoyed such a personal relationship with God before the revelation of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  But they did.  After all, the Holy Spirit was still an integral part of the God Head in Old Testament times, just not understood nor explained as was revealed at Pentecost.   You and I can identify with and be comforted knowing the Holy Spirit is filling the intimate need for us  that Jesus did for the disciples during those 3 years of ministry and continual being with Jesus.  But even more, the Holy Spirit provides directly all the resources and attributes of God directly as God.  Jesus gave His attributes and access to God’s resources while on earth as a human and only provided what He received from the Father to Him.   I do believe the Holy Spirit was involved and enabled Daniel and Joseph and so many others to do extraordinary things then.   But I also believe the Holy Spirit will do even more with and through and for us if we simply surrender and  access Him more and more often  whether we are in need or not.  It is fellowship with God that He treasures most and we need above all else. 

So what does all this mean for you and me?  It means we need to spend more time with Him in His Word, In prayer, In meditating on Him and opening ourselves to hearing in our soul is soft whispers as well as the occasional shouts of urgency that can come.

We just entered the Lent season, a time of preparing for Easter.  A perfect to set aside time to do just that.   I invite you to join me in making a deeper and longer time with Him by setting aside additional time and more frequent times to Him and each and every day.  For some, the best time may be early morning and for others during a break time during day and for others evening.    I do believe, no matter which works best for you, we all should reserve at least a brief time in morning and noon time and evening just at least to  greet and praise Him and to remind us He is with us.  AMEN?  AMEN!!

“When all Thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys, transported with the view, I’m lost in wonder, love, and praise.”  Joseph Addison

If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 415 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

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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.

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