CELEBRATING PALM SUNDAY

Then those who went before [Jesus] and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He
who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Mark 11:9


RECOMMENDED READING Revelation 19:11-16 “11And I saw heaven opened, and behold a
white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth
judge and make war.12His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and
he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.13And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.14And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.15And out of his mouth
goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of
iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.16And he hath
on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”


COMMENTS: Palm Sunday is the day we recognize Jesus’ entry into
Jerusalem for the last time. He knew the cross awaited Him. He
knew the suffering and separation from the Father was awaiting
Him. He knew that Judas would betray him and Peter would deny
Him. But He also knew He was about to complete the mission He
came to earth to do. A mission He and the Father and Holy Spirit
had been planning and preparing for even before creation. They
knew what the cost of redemption would be even before they began
creating the universe and everything in it. They even knew that Lucifer would become satan even before they created him.
So why did they do so? Why did they create Lucifer? The answer
is a mystery. You and I would have likely not. But it was important
that all be given the freedom to choose.
When we study Revelation with all its yet to be fulfilled prophecies
and mystery behind way those prophecies are explained and described, we discover the time and way the future they describe will
remain obscure until that time comes. But what is clear is satan will
be stopped and defeated and judged when Christ returns.
Christ will return to defeat satan and all who follow him and restore
the earth to how God intended it to be and place inhabitants who are
as He intended them to be. Inhabitants forgiven and restored to
purity and immortality He intended living on a perfect world as He
intended. For an eternal perspective, satan’s time of influence is
brief, a few thousand years. Those who follow and support his destructive work will face God’s judgment with satan. But God will
prevail and will bring back His creation to become what He originally created and called “Good!” and manage and rule His restored creation and the inhabitance of His creation for eternity free of temptation and sin and the death and evil that result.
Sin and sickness and death will all become a forgotten memory. Satan will not be allowed or able to do his mischief again. Those who
followed him and rejected Christ will endure eternal judgment as
well. The tragedy will be their eternal future while the wonder will
be the eternal future of those undeserving souls who accepted
Christ’s redemption and took His hand and walked a different path
with Him.
Palm Sunday starts on Sunday continues through Maundy Thursday
when Christ ate His last meal with His disciples and when Judas betrayed Him and when Peter denied Him and when Jesus was arrested and judged. The Good Friday when Christ was crucified and died.
Finally, this Holy Week end on Easter Sunday with Christ’s resurrection.
Easter is the most important day for Christians because it is the day
when Christ finished His redeeming work that allows every human
opportunity to be forgiven and given eternal life and hope and fellowship with his creator.
Without Easter, no one has reason for hope. With Easter, no one
need despair or fear the future.
On this Palm Sunday, remember the good news that Jesus Christ is coming to judge
the nations and establish His Kingdom for all who believe in Him.
“The subject of the second coming of Christ has never been popular to any but the true
believer.” Billy Graham
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com”. There you will find
626 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 69-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 4 years ago 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 and have just updated December 28, 2019 for republishing. Thus far I have published 530 posts automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me during past 7 years 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: dmcdaniel12@zoominternet.net 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.

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