I rejoice at Your Word as one who finds great treasure. Psalm 119:162
Recommended Reading: PSALM 119:161-168 “161 Princes persecute me without a cause,But my heart stands in awe of Your word.162 I rejoice at Your word As one who finds great treasure.163 I hate and abhor lying,But I love Your law.164 Seven times a day I praise You,Because of Your righteous judgments.165 Great peace have those who love Your law,And nothing causes them to stumble.166 Lord, I hope for Your salvation,And I do Your commandments.167 My soul keeps Your testimonies,And I love them exceedingly.168 I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies,For all my ways are before You.”
COMMENTS: This morning I was reading a true story of a volunteer for a charity in Arizona was sorting through some donated books. She discovered a badly worn and damaged copy of “The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire.” She was about to throw it out when she noticed a cut out section in the book that created a hiding place. In that hidden hole was $4000. Apparently a previous owner had used it to hide money and went to that point undiscovered. The story didn’t reveal any other details, but was used as illustrations that things are not always as they appear and “we can’t judge a book by its cover or condition”.
Well, how many Bibles sit on shelves collecting dust forgotten while their treasures of truth and life and God’s wisdom wait for discovery in its pages? Finding $4000 hidden in a book would be a wonderful discovery but find God’s words of life and using them to guide us in critical decisions can be and often is far more valuable than unexpected money or gifts.
Don’t take His Word for granted just because it is so available and accessible. Don’t take His Council for granted because it isn’t what you want to hear.
Granted, the hidden treasures of scripture are not always discovered instantly, but often more helpful than expected. Our Bible not only has God’s timeless wisdom, but He provides His Holy Spirit to motivate and inspire and guide us to just the right scripture we need.
Take some time to reflect on personal examples for your life experience. I can recall many examples of a verse discovered that became valuable later in the day or week. God’s timing and method often surprises us but is always perfect.
The treasury of Scripture will enrich your mind, refocus your goals, replace your doubts, and redirect your path—but only if you read it and heed it. Start today!
To get the best use out of [the Bible] for daily life, Give it the best and freshest, not the most tired and dull, hour of the day. M. S. Kimber in The Sunday School World, 1893
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 478 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. View all posts by donsdevotions
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