And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19
Scripture Reading: PSALM 119:105 “105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path..”
COMMENTS: The Bible is still the most printed and popular book ever printed. It is accessible to more people in the world and in the most languages than any other book. It provides life changing wisdom and direction and so much more. What other book can connect us with the Creator and Savior? What other book gives life? So many have experienced Christ’s forgiveness and a sustained life changing relationship with Him solely by reading the Bible. The Bible gives amble instruction and guidance to the sincere seeker. The Bible’s words are God inspired and even have God’s spirit in them. That is how life is imparted to seeking readers.
The evidence that the Bible is all this and more is overwhelming both within its own pages and in the lives of Christians who lived by its instruction over the centuries since that first Easter.
The Second Coming of Christ is identified in 1845 passages in the Bible and over 300 are in the New Testament, not only does the Bible give vital instruction and insight of how to live in the present but how to prepare for the future. The future of when it was written but even the future of the readers even today. The Bible is timeless and just as valid today as it was in the days first written. It will be just as valid tomorrow too.
It may be human nature to neglect or take for granted that which costs little to obtain or replace if lost. The Bible is precious in countries where government hinders or prohibits possession and reading of the Bible. But in USA and other free countries, bibles are available for as little as an hour’s wage and free from many churches, the value of scripture is diminished by the typical or average believer. BUT THAT IS NOT TRUE EVERYWHERE NOR BY EVERY BELIEVER. With access to scripture comes the responsibility God places on believers to study and share the life-giving verses God graces us with in His Word. Likewise, The responsibility of shares those verses with others comes with access and knowledge too. That responsibility increases with access but even believers with one verse hand written on one scrap piece of paper provides opportunity by God to know and gain life from even that one verse and responsibility to share that knowledge too.
God blesses us with life and in order to share and point others to source of that life too. He doesn’t make sharing a condition to receiving His life giving forgiveness and redemption but that redemption is completed as we share it, much like a beautiful sunset or wonderful experience is fulfilled and made richer when shared. We are not designed or meant to be alone but in community. The community we are designed for includes our Lord and Savior and Creator, which is One and the Same God, but also with each other as His body of believers. That will be the case in Heaven but He desires for us to enjoy this community while on earth. He desires that all would join this community of believers and desires for that to become our passion and goal too.
The deeper we get into His Word and the more obedient we are in following His guide and Will, the more passionate we become in going deeper and in sharing. That is the natural progression but not always the path we take due to distractions and discouragement and temptations satan torments and distracts us with. God is willing to forgive when we yield but far better for us and others when we become and stay focused on Him doing His Will. That is the best way to prepare for an uncertain future because He not only knows the future, He is already there as well as here too. AMEN? AMEN!
When you don’t know what the future holds, remember Who holds the future. God’s fulfilled prophetic Word gives assurance from the past, peace in the present, and hope for the future.
“An interest in prophecy which is merely speculative and sensational comes perilously close to being sinful.” William Graham Scroggie
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 553 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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