But if [God doesn’t rescue us], let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up. Daniel 3:18
RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE READING: JOSHUA 24:14-15 “ 14 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
COMMENTS: These words of determined faith recorded in Daniel 3:18 give us a powerful and clear picture of the level of faith tempered with a clear understanding of the real danger Daniel’s 3 friends were facing. They were not forced into a fire that would cause unimaginable pain before certain death, without a way out or a way of escape. All they needed to do is deny God and worship the idol statue of Babylon’s king. Apparently everyone else complied and were spared. But they missed opportunity Daniel’s 3 friends chose. The opportunity to tell the entire empire of God’s power and faithfulness.
So where was Daniel? We know years later Daniel had his opportunity when he faced a lion’s den. We can only speculate knowing Daniel would certainly had been in the fiery furnace with his 3 friends if he had been “in town” with them when the edict was given to worship the king’s image. Maybe he was away commissioned by the king. That was most likely the case. I often wonder if the king, knowing Daniel’s convictions, valued Daniel as an asset too much to let him die so sent him out of town to spare him. Well, that probably was too much planning to be accurate answer, so we will just have to wait until heaven to discover the truth. I can live with that. Hope you can too.
Anyway, Daniel’s 3 friends didn’t have a certainty that God would spare them death. They accepted that as a possible result but knowing God would usher them to their eternal home if that happened. Their trust and faith made it possible and even logical and obvious that following God no matter the cost was far better than facing God’s judgment from disobedience. The Israelites had to learn that lesson the hard way and even then each new generation consistently would follow the foolish path of rebellion again and again. History was not enough to convince them. BUT HISTORY CONVINCED DANIEL AND SHADRACH – MESHACH – ABEDNEGO ALL TO FOLLOW GOD AND TRUST HIM COMPLETELY!! They did and were honored and blessed and enabled to be prophets of God’s salvation in their generation but also to every generation since. We have no idea how many millions are in heaven and continue to be saved even today because of their story of faithfulness.
The common belief, in Old Testament times, was that the heart was the seat or source of emotions. To refer to a person having “heart” meant they had compassion. To “take heart” meant to have courage and character and ability to intelligently reason to make correct choices and decisions. Bottom line was to have these qualities meant to have courage. It took great courage to step out alone against the most powerful king who had a reputation of being a brutal tyrant. Joshua also showed great courage in leading the Israelites into Canaan, the land God promised them (Joshua 24:14-15). Joshua confronted his people to decide if they were going to follow God or not, to make a choice and stick with that choice. Joshua told them that he and his family have resolved to follow God and invited them also to do the same. He led by example but made sure God was on his side and that he was committed to follow.
Joshua had a lot of years to decide. He was one of only two spies who witnessed the richness but also the powerful people and giants that inhabited that land 40 years earlier and refused to doubt God’s help and protection like the 10 who doubted. They all had witnessed God’s hand parting the Red Sea and Fiery pillar protecting them against Pharaoh’s great powerful army. They had all witnessed the plagues God used to force Pharaoh to let them leave. But they forgot quickly God’s faithfulness and immediately fell prey to doubt and complaining. Joshua saw Moses endure that lack of faith and complaining for those 40 years while wondering in the wilderness. I can sense that experiences clear in Joshua’s mind as he delivered this challenge to Israel. They were all young and don’t remember the distant years past but possesses the same tendency to doubt and complain when danger comes as did their parents.
Joshua didn’t want to endure what Moses did and knew the consequences of not obeying God’s commands all too well. I am also certain his message to them told in scripture was the message God put on his heart to give them.
So, how do we become men and women of courage like Daniel and his 3 friends and Moses and Joshua, to mention a few examples? Since we are living on this side of the cross, we have a much easier task because we have more helpful resources.
We have the New Testament added to the scripture in the Old Testament. We have God’s truth and added examples of Jesus and his disciples and early Christians recorded. We have Christ’s redemption and forgiveness to give us a fresh start and beginning. We have His Holy Spirit given at Pentecost to council and strength and guide and encourage and empower and befriend us and mentor us on the journey of obedience. He provides the needed courage to make wise choices and courage to stay true to those choices.
How do we gain strength of mind, heart, and soul? How do we become a person of courage? By feeding on, and standing on, God’s Word in every circumstance.
“I will not flee, much less recant, so may the Lord Jesus strengthen me.” Martin Luther
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 426 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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