Christian Devotional Journal – Ministry Resource Source
THREE PLACES TO LOOK
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.Psalm 119:67
RECOMMENDED SCRIPTURE READING: EPHESIANS 3:17-19 “”17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
COMMENTS: How do you manage crisis and permanent loss? Well, dealing with a short term crisis like a hospital stay or surgery of yourself or loved one, who fully recovers, is one thing. A disruption in schedule or plans, if limited in duration, gives hope and ability to plan accordingly so life can return to normal. But what if a loved one dies or is permanently handicapped. Result is a permanent change in lifestyle and in daily routine. Loss of a job or source of income can be very traumatic especially when hopes of finding an equal paying job are remote.
Well, the world looks at and judges how Christians manage crisis and tragedy and loss. Do they become angry and bitter and take it out on the guilty in vengeance or take it out on innocent bystanders? Do they reflect the example Christ lived or are they hypocritical? Honestly, all too many who call themselves Christian are genuine. Not all Christians act and conduct themselves like Christ did. But there are also many that do. The difference is to admit sin, repent of it, and submit to the Holy Spirit’s transforming work and become obedient to God’s Will. Those who fail to repent and convince themselves a better way Is to fix themselves can pretend for a while and determine to do better, but scripture reminds us by example and by instruction that such approaches will always fail because we are no match for satan’s deceptions and schemes. We are too weak and inexperienced. BUT SATAN IS NO MATCH FOR GOD IN STRENGTH OR IN FORSIGHT OR IN WISDOM. God allows free will to but not without consequence. He is merciful but will limit or stop and judge when resulting harm become to widespread. Christ even tells us the time of His return will be determined by satan’s evil deeds becoming so widespread that man is going to exterminate himself.
Conversely, every generation has been and continues to be full of faithful Christians – God followers who were excellent examples showing the positive difference and impact Christ makes in the life of a sincere follower. The hope and peace they face suffering and tragedy and hardship and even death is profound and a mystery to the world. What do they have that the world lacks? 1. The confident hope of a heavenly home with loved ones, without satan’s influence, with Christ, in a new perfect body for eternity/
2. The Holy Spirit abiding with and guiding influence.
3. GOD’S FORGIVENESS AND OPPORTUNITY FOR A FRESH START
4. THE SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF A GENUINE CHURCH FAMILY
5. THE WISDOM AND COUNCIL OF ETERNITY PAST THROUGH SCRIPTURE, EXAMPLES OF FAMILY ANCESTORS, CHURCH FAMILY ANCESTORS, AND BIBLICAL ANCESTORS.
7. A “PURPOSE FOR LIVING” GOD PROVIDES TO THOSE WHO RECEIVE HIS FORGIVENESS AND BEGIN FOLLOW ING – OBEYING HIM.
God doesn’t intend for temptations and hardship and suffering, whether self-inflicted by our own sin and poor choices, or imposed on us by the poor choices of others; to weaken us. He intends for them to draw us closer and more dependent and more reliant on Him. To draw us into a more intimate and deeper relationship with Him so we are more open and willing to surrender to and follow His council and Will.
When we seek help and strength, we have 3 choices. We can look internally for direction, outwardly for direction in the world, or upwardly to God. Looking inwardly relying on our own experience and will and desires, we may gain benefit but all too often only repeat past mistakes and sins. Likewise, when we look outwardly, we are relying on the wisdom or weaknesses of others. To do so means it is important to seek out and discern and follow those who example wise and successful choices and results. But the very best and consistent place to go for wise and sound council is the Bible and to the Holy Spirit directly in prayer and study. To wait on Him for not only wise council but wise timing. Reflect on how much better life would be if we would always look upward when seeking a mate, a profession, a school, even our friends, … The list is endless. But, oh, how many regrets do we endure when we make these choices using only our thoughts and emotions and desires to guide us. Insanity has been defined as doing the same thing, making the same choices over and over again while expecting different or better results.
So, when we are facing major choices or when hardship comes, or when we need help, where should we go? God where good council and sound help is sure. God where past performance is sure and future performance is also sure. LOOK UPWARD INSTEAD OF INWARD. LOOK TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO LOOK TO GOD’S WORD AND UPWARD FOR COUNCIL. LOOK UPWARD YOURSELF AND WAIT TIL THAT COUNCIL COMES.
“Temptation provokes me to look upward to God.”John Bunyan
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
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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