Daily Devotional for Monday February 7, 2005

Picking your Battles in Life

(2 Corinthians 10:4; 2 Chronicles 32:8)

YOU are fighting battles in your life all the time. God is a God of victory. Please pray and ask God to open your heart as you read these words today. It is about fighting and winning the battles we face in life. The Bible proclaims that God is no respecter of person. That means the same God that has led YOU to victory, will lead ME to victory. Likewise, the same God that will lead me to victory, will lead YOU to victory. Be encouraged and know that our God is a God of VICTORY!!!

"I was in the midst of trying to kill myself just as your program came on. I am a victim of domestic violence for the past year and cannot go on. I was writing my suicide note as the program started. I have lost all my faith in God. Please help. I have never seen your show before as I am usually in bed by now. I want to die so bad. I am 49-years old and have congestive heart failure and have to be put on a list for a new heart. I cannot go on as I am all alone. Ruth" (a typical email we receive daily from the Liveprayer television program)

Last Thursday night on the Liveprayer television program, I received a call from a man named Leon. It was one of those moments only God could orchestrate. Leon is a typical young man who grew up in a non-Christian home not even really believing God exists. He had been watching my TV program off and on for many months, a typical viewer of our audience that is 95% nonChristian. Leon called Thursday night from a hospital bed as he prepared for major colon surgery the next morning. The amazing thing was, he was in a hospital that is just out of the viewing area of the UPN affiliate in Tampa our program is seen on each night, but had written down the phone number and had been trying for 3 nights to get through without success.

Thursday night he did get through, got on the air, and after spending some time answering many of his questions, I shared with him the fact that not only is God real, but He loves him and explained how Jesus had died for his sins. By the end of the phone call, Leon had asked Christ into his heart by faith and was born again! AMEN!!! That my friend is REALITY TELEVISION! Friday morning, I contacted a dear friend who pastors a great Assembly of God church in the town the hospital is in, and that pastor personally went to visit Leon to let him know that he was not alone, and that there are people who love him and care about him. ISN'T GOD AMAZING?

My friend, after doing the Liveprayer television program, "live" every Monday-Friday just 3 weeks shy of 2 years now, I have literally tens of thousands of real life testimonies like this. We have seen thousands of people accept Christ as their Savior, many of them "live" as they called in to the program like Leon. I commented to the viewers after ending the call with Leon, that the nearly $1 million it has cost to do the program these past 2 years, all of the time and effort and sacrifices that so many have made, were all worth it if it was only Leon who came to know Christ as His personal Savior. What price can you put on a human soul?

In our life, we all fight battles along the way. Some battles we fight harder than others. There are those sentinel moments in life when we have to decide to dig in, draw the line in the sand, and make our stand. Nearly 15 years ago in a Federal Prison cell, I rededicated my life to Christ and fully surrendered whatever time I had left in this life to serving Him. In these past 13 years of full time service to the Lord, there have been many battles and God has allowed me to see many victories as I have fought for His Kingdom.