My Lord and My God! John 20:28
Recommended Reading: JOHN 20:26-28 “ 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
COMMENTS: It was significant for Jesus to greet His disciples saying “Peace to you”. Remember, He was crucified and now was alive again. Also, remember one of His names is “Prince of Peace”. He is God, who conquered death and was resurrected. He is God with authority and plan to bring peace personally to each believer as well as to the whole world. But either peace is or will only be experienced by those willing to surrender to His authority and His plan and His Will.
Isaiah prophesied 700 BC that the Messiah would come (Isaiah 9:6) and He would be identified as: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
On Christmas, we remember the beginning of God’s fulfillment of this prophecy. He continues to fulfill that prophecy by giving mighty wonderful council in the recorded words He spoke (in Scripture) and in our hearts personally and through His Holy Spirit’s council. Why did He choose to come as a baby and take the time to grow through childhood to teenager to young adult but only to age 33 before submitting to crucifixion and an early death? Why did He wait to age 30 before starting His ministry and only minister 3 years before being crucified? Well, Mosaic Law required rabbi position be filled only by male candidates of at least 30 years. Christ honored that requirement.
I suspect, even though we are not told, that Jesus became responsible for providing for Mary and family after Joseph died, which was after Jesus’ temple visit at age 12 and before he started His ministry. Joseph may have worked through making arrangements for Mary before starting His ministry.
Christmas I a wonderful time of celebration and exchanging gifts and spending time with family and in God’s house, but truth is that it is Jesus’ birthday and is all about Him, not us. But what gives Him joy is our obedience as an expression of our love for Him.
Food and parties and decorations and church and family gatherings and days off work are all wonderful and something we look forward to all year long, the excitement and mystery of Christmas soon evaporates and Christmas Carols loose much of their mystery after Christmas.
Well, Christmas is not our birthday so isn’t about us, it is about Jesus and Who He Is! It is about how He lived and died and what He did and continues to do! We exchange gifts. Children gage Christmas by what they get and adults gage Christmas by what they give but the real mystery of Christmas is gaged by what we give Jesus.
He doesn’t want nor needs our money or possessions but may ask us to get rids of or give away much of them because they hinder us giving Him what He really wants and needs. Jesus doesn’t need our possessions. Afterall doesn’t He own them anyway and don’t we only have possession of them for a little time? I reflect on the house we have owned for past 36 years. My parents had owned it for the previous 44 years and my mother’s grandparents owned it 49 years before that. They all gave up ownership when passing into eternity or when signed away that ownership. We will do so one day too.
God chose to allow us all free will to choose good or evil. To choose following and obeying Him or not. Realize it or not, by not choosing Christ’s way, we automatically choose satan’s way realize it or not. Satan is very deceptive and knows he likely will not get followers without tricking and lying to them providing enticements and false fronts so his real motives and purposes are not exposed until he pulls you so far from God that evil is desired and good is unappealing.
God loves us so much that He came and lived as a human in poverty and with all human weakness and gave His human life enduring the great suffering that a cross inflicts. He enduring the guilt and separation from God the Father while enduring the punishment for our sins. But He didn’t remain in the grave and didn’t remain separated from the Father. The mystery of the Trinity and Triune nature of God is beyond us but scripture tells us God is One but revealed to us as God the Father and God the Son (Jesus the Christ) and God the Holy Spirit. What God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit desires and needs as His gift for Christmas is our heart – our love – our obedience and faithfulness. Nothing less will satisfy His desire and nothing else will bless us in return as much. We need to give Him worship and praise even more than He desires us to give it. BUT HE DESERVES OUR WORSHP AND PRAISE FAR MORE THAN WE IMAGINE FOR WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE HAS DONE AND CONTINUES TO DO!
There is still time. Spend some time each day praying and sharing our inner thoughts and minds with Him and then be quiet and listen to Him quietly speaking to our soul or heart in response. Spend some time looking to and reading scripture while seeking in that quiet time each day. I recommend early morning but some prefer evening. Anytime we get away and spend with Him is a good thing. Not every time will be inspiring and earth shaking nor equally impactful but each is important. Each involves “waiting on the Lord” be cause His purposes and plan is implemented in His time and in His way but always for our Best Good. Spend more time with Him in 2020 and less time on ourselves and on less important tasks and pastimes. LET HIM BE PRINCE OF PEACE IN YOUR HEART AND SOUL IN 2020! AMEN? AMEN!
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 528 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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