Praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ.
Colossians 4:3.
RECOMMENDED READING: COLOSSIANS 1:2-6. ” To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. THEIR FAITH IN CHRIST 3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; 5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;”
COMMENTS: Praying for each other is important and needed. You may wonder why prayer is important. Doesn’t God know everything, so there is nothing more we can say that He does not already know? That much is true as well as God is not limited on what He can do but there are limits and restraints.
- Prayer is a vital way He responds and prepares both those praying and those being prayed for to receive His answer. Often His answer is delayed or different depending on our faithfulness and motives behind our prayers. Selfish prayers do not get a favorable answer while prayers in harmony with God’s will and long-term plan are answered favorably. However, timing is impacted by how willing those praying and those receiving are willing to do His bidding to implement His Will. He doesn’t need our help but we need to do our part in order to all He intends when He answers our prayers.
- Prayer is key but only one component of a viable relationship with our Creator and Savior and Lord. Jesus prays for us to the Father. He prays for our Willingness to follow His example and submission to receive His Salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He prays we be strong and keep our hand in His during temptation and trials. He prays we be faithful in witness, worship, and service. The Holy Spirit also prays for us with words and passion we are not capable of but desirous to do in order to commune with the Trinity.
- Prayer is where we battle satan and open God’s opportunities to gain strength and power and become a better reflection of Christ to others.
- Prayer is where God becomes real and close to us. Prayer is how scripture becomes alive to us because the Holy Spirit guides and instructs us as we stay focused in prayer.
- Prayer is work, which means it requires focus, time, and sacrifice in order to be worthwhile. Work can be uncomfortable and sometimes unpleasant but worthwhile in order to reach the desired goal.
- So how do we discover how and when and what to pray for? I think the answers become more obvious and easier the more we pray and more often, we pray. Granted, we can’t pray with full focus when focus is needed for other important tasks, but we can be in an attitude of prayer seeking God’s help and direction as we do even focused work. However, there is much of our day when we waste idle or less focused time on worthless or unproductive things. Granted, we need down time to relax and rest but fellowship with Christ is a refresher as we become more skillful in focus and being in relationship with Him. Often just thinking about Him and listened with our spirit can and does draw us closer and refreshes us infinitely better than internet browsing or messaging or gaming ever could or often promises. Satan wins when he draws us into sin but he also wins when he pulls us away from regular fellowship with God. He can’t force us but he sure can tempt and distract us. However, it still comes down to what we willingly do or don’t do. God will respond to us favorably or unfavorably depending on our willingness to obey or disobey His commandments and instructions to us. The rewards and blessings of obedience are eternal. That is good news to embrace and enjoy but good news to share. AMEN? AMEN!
“Share His love by telling what the Lord has done for you. Share His love by sharing of your faith”. William J. Reynolds
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 582 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.
My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement
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
donsdevotions 