Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6
RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE: MATTHEW 23:11-12 “11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
COMMENTS: We are living in unprecedented times. Times knowledge has enable even the very poor among us access to global communication and personal conversation globally. Knowledge to also travel global at speeds even kings could not imagine 100 years ago. But the past 100 years also have also seen great progress in spreading the Gospel in remote and poorer areas of the world. The unfolding contrast currently is stagnation and indifference towards Christianity in prosperous countries and great revivals and increase in numbers of committed Christ followers in poorer countries, especially in Asia and Africa. By contrast Islam is spreading and gaining more acceptance and followers in those countries enjoying prosperity but also showing indifference toward Christ’s message.
But prophecy warns us the increasing numbers of people will judge evil and good and good evil, rejecting God’s commands and laws and teaching. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20.
Are we living in the last days? Is Christ’s return imminent? Every generation of Christians, including the first century church, believed they would witness Christ’s return before their death. So has mine and so did I as a young man. Now that I’m retired and seeing some evidence of an aging body, I’m not so sure. But I know Christ is delaying His return so more will have opportunity to accept His redemptive – life giving healing Grace. I am torn, wanting His return ASAP while praying He delay His return as long as possible so those I love currently living out of His Will repent and receive His redemption.
When God spoke to my soul to begin keeping this devotional journal and share it, He also spoke to my soul with insight that more would be impacted after I’m gone than during my lifetime. That could mean His return is a number of years yet, but wouldn’t need to be.
So how should all this affect how we spend our time and choices we make each day? What changes to our routine should we make and what priorities do we need to set and make.
Human nature results in nation leaders desiring and demanding the respect of his subjects or people. George Washington was a humble person and resisted, when he was elected USA’s first president, to be called “Your Highness” or “Your Excellency” as some wanted. He settled for “Mr. President”, a title and name that has continued from then to present.
Nebuchadnezzar didn’t learn humility easily and desired the adoration and worship and even fear of his subjects. He even demanded worship of his people. But Daniel 4 records the way God finally humbled him and forced him to live as an animal for 7 years before being allowed to live and rule as king again. The experience did teach him humility but also to worship God as only sovereign and ruler over all, including him.
God does oppose the proud and honor the humble. He still does. He exalts those, like Daniel and his 3 friends, who honor and are faithful to God no matter the cost. Far better to learn from wise and foolish choices of those before us, and heed instruction and council of scripture without delay or resistance. Far better than be out of God’s protection and vulnerable to God’s judgment and consequences of poor choices.
Far better to follow God’s wisdom than to oppose that wisdom and face regrets, eternal or even short term. God always has our best in His plans and desires for us to work with him to bring best to others, including our loved ones and friends too. But also best for those we don’t care so much for and those who aren’t so nice to us.
Jesus is our best example and His relationship with the Father also. In contrast, history is littered with biographies of leaders of nations who loved to be praised and exalted. Leader who became intoxicated with power and influence and wealth accessible with their office. Mebuchadnezzar was an ancient example of one so intoxicated. He saw himself all-powerful and unaccountable to anyone, even to God. But Daniel gave him a message from God that would humble him for 7 years until he confessed God as the Almighty. He did so, as recorded in Daniel 4.
God was faithful to Daniel but He was even faithful to Nebuchadnezzar by giving him what he needed instead of what he wanted. He taught Nebuchadnezzar humility and soften his will to see and worship God, a realization of repentance that would transform Nebuchadnezzar from a tyrant destined to eternal damnation to a forgiven humble servant of God destined to heaven to spend eternity with God.
Nebuchadnezzar is an example of what the Bible teaches throughout: God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Better to humble ourselves before God and others than for God to humble us Himself.
“God assists the humble but resists the proud.” John Blanchard
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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