You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name. Psalm 61:5
RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE READING: 2 Timothy 1:3-15 “3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;4 Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.13 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”
COMMENTS: Knowing our family roots is important to us. Many spend many years discovering their family history. Today it is easier to do so with modern technology, but still incomplete. Learning the names of our long-passed relatives and some of the stories to help us understand what they were like. Most of us have some memory of grandparents and maybe great grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins on one of both sides of our parents. But for most the stories and memories of parents are of little or no interest to children growing up and by the time they are grown and desiring to hear those stories, their parents have passed
The sense of belonging and being connected to those before and those after us does help us sense purpose and a part of something greater and more enduring than our mortal lives. The impact of family can be powerfully positive or powerfully negative, but having Christ focused parents and grandparents directly impacting us and our children and grandchildren is a powerful positive influence. It is no accident that God enabled generations to overlap and have relationships with each other. It is powerful to meditate on that influence and how such relationships were critical in leading me to Christ, to many life changing choices, and following a life path positively impacting other’s lives going forward.
Today’s scripture verbalizes that truth in Timothy’s life. Impact of his mother and grandmother were tremendous on him. Their legacy was strong and true. I believe of the most wonderful experiences we’ll have in heaven will be meeting and getting to know our distant relatives of long ago as well as getting reacquainted with those we did know on earth. To discover, also, how the impact of the lives of faithful relatives long ago gave opportunity for you and I to learn and accept Christ’s redemption and forgiveness will fill us with awe and love and worship for Him.
I also believe our discovery will not only include our blood relatives but will include a multitude of spiritual ancestors who’s lives impacted others and set in motion a chain of events that also became significant in our salvation and salvation of those who impacted us and those we have and will impact.
The legacy of life eternal designed and enabled by Christ and the Holy Spirit’s work in the world, after that first Pentecost, will be revealed to us. We will discover and get to know a multitude of fellow followers who are all part of that legacy also marveling at God’s handiwork.
We all will be able to enjoy fellowship with each other and enjoy together all the beauty and vastness of heaven. We also be able to enjoy new and youthful and eternal bodies far better than even the bodies we inhabited at our prime. BUT MOST OF ALL WE WILL BE WITH OUR LORD AND SAVIOR WITHOUT RESTRICTION AND WITHOUT ALL THE DISTRACTIONS OF TEMPTATIONS AND FRAILITY AND PAIN AND FATIGUE AND DISCOURAGEMENT WE ENDURE NOW. WE ALSO BE ABLE TO WORSHIP AND SEE HIM FACE TO FACE. WHAT A TIME THAT WILL BE!!
In the meantime, I invite you to take some time to discover your spiritual family – those who have positively impacted you and were instrumental in our spiritual journey. Then to learn of those who so impacted their journey of faith and see how far back you can go. Discovering your spiritual family tree while still here on earth.
We will all be part of His family in heaven and will know Him as we are known by Him. So, in the meantime, we need to continue to do His will and writing our legacy that will be included on that wonderful day in heaven. AMEN? AMEN!
I am deeply indebted for the godly heritage I receive, and I pray that it will be passed on.
James Draper
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 460 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 69-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 4 years ago 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 and have just updated December 28, 2019 for republishing. Thus far I have published 530 posts automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me during past 7 years 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: dmcdaniel12@zoominternet.net
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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