Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?”
Matthew 2:1-2
Recommended Reading: MATTHEW 2:1-12 “ Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.5 So they said to him“In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said,“Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.”
COMMENTS: “And by the light of that same star, the wise men came from country far; to seek for a king was their intent, and to follow the star wherever it went.” The Magi of the first Christmas get only 12 verses in Scripture (Matthew 2:1-12), but there is much we can learn from them. They were Persian so likely grew up believing in their pagan culture and gods but possible influence by writings of long before of Daniel, so read the old testament prophet writings and tied those prophecies to what they were observing in the way of a new bright star in the east. God used their knowledge and interest in astrology and astronomy to lead them to the Christ child. So, following the star to Bethlehem became a passion for them, which also required great commitment and sacrifice of time and money for them to do. Trip likely took several months in a caravan of camels across deserts, mountains, and plains—a sign of their commitment. As this Christmas Carol says, they were intent on following the star “wherever it went.” They overcame untold obstacles to display their recognition that something world-changing was happening in Bethlehem.
The star announced the birth of Christ, Israel’s Messiah, to the Magi. The birth of their Messiah too. The angels announced to the local Shepherds the birth of Christ, their Messiah too. King Herod, the Inn Keeper, could have come to see their Messiah too. But they didn’t bother to come and see. We are not told who else besides the shepherds and Magi came to see their Messiah. The Magi were told to leave another way so they likely left without telling others, following God’s instruction. That was because Herod had decided the Christ Child was a threat and sought to kill Him.
The Shepherds may have received similar instruction but we are not told. But they did visit the Christ Child before the Magi arrived and before Herod had made his resolve, so the shepherds likely did share their experiences and drew others to go see as well. In fact, Luke 2:15-18 tell use they did just that and many came and were amazed. Verse 19 then said Mary, Jesus’ mother, stored all these visits and stories in her heart and marveled too. It is because of her, we have these stories recorded in scripture because she shared them with Matthew and Luke and other disciples later.
John 14:6 is Jesus’ own words declaring that He is the only way to the Father – the only way of forgiveness and redemption and to an eternal personal relationship with God. But required is our willingness to believe in Him and follow Him, but first to go to Him. What star do we have to guide us to Jesus? The star served that purpose for the Magi. The angels served that purpose for the shepherds. Then the shepherds served that purpose to others. Jesus went to the disciples and to the crowds but crowds gathered wherever He went during His brief years of ministry.
How does God make Himself know today? What does He use today to lead people to Himself?
- The changed lives of other believers are their shining star of life change He does for those willing to change.
- Scripture giving God’s Words of Life and experiences of those long ago impacted by fellowship with God.
- The influence and work of the Holy Spirit not seen but known by subtle but persistent ways of persuasion and encouragement and even conviction as needed.
- By giving an unbiased insight into satan’s mischief and goals and legacy.
- By His Holy Spirit showing us our own sins along with harm they have done and potential will do.
- Crowds came to see and be healed by Jesus during His 3 years of ministry. You and I and everyone willing can come to Jesus for healing of soul but also of body any time and place. We do so in prayer with an open – believing – seeking soul and mind. We do so by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us to Jesus, who then goes to the Father as our Advocate and Justifier.
Jesus paid the price and penalty the Father required for our sins. The Holy Spirit points us to Jesus and prepares us to commune and communicate with Jesus and also opens our ears and souls so we can hear and understand His communication through prayer – through scripture – through other believers. They we too become those believers pointing the way to more to meet and know Jesus too. AMEN? AMEN!
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 524 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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