Daily Devotional for Tuesday August 20, 2002

Finding the One

(Matthew 18:10-14)

Sunday morning was a time of great concern for me. God has blessed me with an incredible staff of people that help make Liveprayer possible 24/7/365 for millions all over the world. I am grateful for their loyal service to the Lord. In times of emergency, they have never hesitated to drop what they are doing, leave their families, and work tirelessly to insure Liveprayer is up and running. Very few would ever comprehend the incredible technical feat it is to do all that we do each day with the 24/7 LIVE video prayer feed on our site, not to mention sending over 1.2 million individual emails worldwide. God has given us incredibly gifted people to make it all happen for HIS glory!

Sunday morning I realized that out of the approximately 31,000 emails that I received from the previous day, about 26 were accidentally deleted. These were emails sent to bkeller@liveprayer.com between Saturday the 17th between 11:00am and 8:00pm. I called my technical staff to come in immediately, and we spent hours on Sunday trying to locate the "missing 26". Now many would ask, "why be so concerned about 26 emails out of 31,000?" The exact same reason the shepherd who had 100 sheep got so upset when only 99 were rounded up for the evening.

ONE WAS MISSING!

The shepherd dropped all that he was doing to go out and search for the lost ONE. I stopped all that I was doing early Sunday and had my technical staff come in to try and locate the "missing 26".

Why? Because the shepherds job was to care for 100. He was responsible for ALL 100 sheep.

IT WAS HIS JOB AND RESPONSIBILITY TO GO FIND THE LOST ONE!

Likewise, God has given me a job to do. It is to provide spiritual guidance to those that God brings into the ministry of Liveprayer. God brings people to this ministry for a Divine purpose and reason . . . NOT by accident. Each person He brings is special to me. I love and care about each one because I know that it is a real person behind that email address, an eternal soul that Jesus Christ gave His very life for. The job that God has given me to do in this season of my life is to be here for those that He brings to Liveprayer with their hurts and pains and needs.

In the scripture today, the shepherd was successful in finding the one that was lost. Yesterday, we were able to find 24 of the "missing 26". If you sent an email to me on 8/17 between 11:00am and 8:00pm and did not get a response, please, re-send it. I am VERY CONCERNED about the two we could not find! Nothing has grieved me more as those who came to us and we had technical problems that prevented us from responding to them in their time of need.

I DO LOVE YOU, AND DO CARE ABOUT YOU MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW.

I take the work God has given me to do very seriously, and want you to never forget that no matter what, I am here for you! YOU are special to God, and you are special to me!

If God has given you a burden for others, here is a great way that you can touch their life. If you go to www.liveprayer.com/subscribe-devotional.html you will get the sign-up page to add someone to the Daily Devotional. You can only add one email address at a time, but can add as many as you want. Let me encourage you today to pray about who in your life could this daily WORD from God. Maybe it is a family member, or friend, possibly someone at your job, or a friend at school, many sign up their Sunday School class or group at church. The fact is that you know someone who could use this daily inspiration from God. Let me encourage you to be like the shepherd who went out to look for the one, and add those you love today to receive the Liveprayer Daily Devotional. It may be the way God speaks directly to their heart in a time of need, and helps them find the peace and contentment only God can bring.

I will be praying for YOU today. I pray daily for each person that God has brought to Liveprayer. You are NOT just an email address, but an eternal soul Jesus died for so that you could spend eternity with God! While over 1.2 million worldwide get this Devotional each day, you are not just one of a million, but you are special to me. I am here for YOU no matter what you are going through, what you are facing in your life. If you were the only person on earth, Jesus would have still died for you! THAT is how special you are to God, and how special you are to me!!!