[The crowd] took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!” John 12:13
RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE: JOHN 15:9-13 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends..
COMMENTS: We are living in a dangerous world. Dangerous because of the natural disasters that seems to seek us out in our own communities and homes. Disasters like massive fires and earthquakes and tornadoes and hurricanes and floods and unheard of diseases like “coronavirus” and deadly illnesses like cancer AIDS and even “flesh eating bacteria. But every generation has had dangerous circumstances.
Even Christians have always experienced dangerous environments and persecution at the hands of evil and misguided people. The first century Christians endured death by lions and gladiators and being burnt alive as torches to light the roads in Rome during tyrannical rule of Emperor Nero. Since then every generation of Christians have endured equally severe persecution somewhere in the world. Why? Satan hates God and hates those who love and obey Him. Satan knows the only way he can hurt God is to hurt the creation He loves. When satan deceives humans to hurt and kill other humans, especially those who are faithful to God, then he has accomplished his sinister goal.
BUT GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE! HE ABIDES WITH AND ENABLES HIS FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS TO ENDURE UNJUST PERSECUTION AND SUFFERING FOR A TIME FOR A DIVINE PURPOSE! That purpose is likely unclear but past evidence reveals others are more impressed and persuaded to follow Christ too when Christians show hope and courage and LOVE instead of hate when unjustly treated. Likewise, when those Christians share the reason for their courage and hope and joy, the scales tip toward Christ and to His ultimate goal – for His sacrifice and blood to redeem more of His beloved children.
If Christ had returned in the middle of WWII, I would never had been born. Most of you wouldn’t have either. So for Christ to delay His return to stop satan’s evil schemes and work, gives opportunity for millions more of lost to come to the cross for redemption and life and joy that only Christ can give.
Christ will return before man destroys himself. Man has the capability of destroying all mankind and that capability is finding its way into the hands of more radical groups and people who are not afraid to use them and who insanely are not inhibited about destroying mankind.
But what is God calling us to do? TO LOOK TO HIM INSTEAD OF TO THEMSELVES AND TO THE WORLD. TO SEEK AND BE SUSTAINED BY CHRIST – LOOK DEEP INTO HIS WORD / HIS LIFE / HIS EYES AND THEN TO SHARE THAT LOVE SO OTHERS ARE DRAWN TO HIM TOO….
Take advantage of the extra time at home and opportunity to do things together with family with you to draw closer. To take advantage of staying in contact with others by phone and other means that doesn’t put ourselves and others at risk. To be that light of hope to others and let them be that light to us in this time God wants to use to help us reset our priorities and focus more to His priorities and focus.
Every missionary has to make the decision to exchange a familiar, secure, and probably safe environment for an unfamiliar, insecure, and possibly dangerous new environment. That decision is a choice, an act of the will, made on the basis of sacrificial love for those who need to know about Jesus. That decision reflects Jesus’ own words: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Jesus demonstrated that same choice, that same sacrifice, and that same decision when He “set [His] face like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7) and went to Jerusalem knowing that His death would shortly come. He entered into the praises of many who welcomed His arrival, but He soon found Himself the object of His opponents’ plans for His demise. Yet, His love for us overcame His knowledge of what He would face. This is the love of God that knows no bounds and is extended to all.
God’s love falls gently like April showers. Don’t fail to receive the refreshment He offers you today. Then share it!
The true measure of God’s love is that He loves without measure.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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