Daily Devotional for Friday December 15, 2006

Being Faithful and Obedient to Serve the Lord

(1 Samuel 15:22; Exodus 19:5; 23:25; Psalms 2:11)

Being faithful and obedient to serve the Lord no matter what may happen. I get so much encouragement and inspiration when I read the Book of Acts and follow the ministry of Paul. God called Paul to take the Gospel to the Gentiles, those who grew up rejecting the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, rejecting the Truth of the Scriptures, and rejecting that Jesus had come as the Savior of the world. These were the lost masses who were going to die and spend eternity in hell unless they came to know Jesus as their personal Savior by faith.

Paul dealt with great opposition from the Jewish leaders of his day, he had to raise the money he needed to take his various missionary journeys to bring the Gospel to the world of his day, in sharing Christ he was beaten, thrown in jail, and nearly killed on many occasions, he preached to great crowds as well as shared the Gospel intimately with powerful leaders, he debated the Scriptures with those who lived in rebellion to the Truth of God's Word and embraced the philosophies and false religions of the day, he had several of his closest friends abandon him, yet over the course of his many years of ministry PAUL REMAINED FAITHFUL AND OBEDIENT TO THE CALLING GOD HAD PLACED ON HIS LIFE! PAUL REFUSED TO GIVE UP NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM!!!

The Wednesday night program proved to be our last nationwide broadcast on the "i" Network for this current run. You want to hear how busy satan has been? We were paid thru Friday, but at 2 p.m. Thursday, I received an email telling me that we were not allowed to do our final two programs and were being refunded our money from those two nights because of what I did on Wednesday nights program. What I did Wednesday night was simply let our viewers know Friday would be our last program and give out the "i" Networks viewer comment information and encourage the audience to take a moment and let them know how much they enjoyed the program and will miss it. That program is in our "Show Archives" and you can see it for yourself ( http://www.liveprayer.com/archvid.cfm?d=121306 ). I can only speculate that if they had as many people contact them as I did about the program going off the air, their viewer response system was probably overloaded. They were obviously upset that I asked our viewers to contact them. So I deeply apologize to all the viewers of the program for not being on last night or tonight to be able to say good bye for now properly, but it was out of my control.

So many have made great sacrifices over these past few months to enable us to do these 28 national programs. Their rewards will be waiting for them in Glory when their work here is finished for their sacrifice, FAITHFULNESS, and OBEDIENCE. Over 200,000 people watched us each night. That is apx. 6 million viewers! We received and responded to over 5,000 emails every night, over 140,000 during the past 6 weeks. Every night we had apx. 200 people we know of ask Jesus into their heart and life by faith. Over 6,000 souls we know of will be in Heaven when their brief journey through this life is over. For 28 hours over these past 6 weeks, the Truth of God's Word has been broadcast boldly and without shame over a major secular television network to this nation. Because of the prayers and faithfulness of so many, this nation and millions of lives have been impacted for Christ over these past 6 weeks!!!

My only regret is that we aren't able to continue. But like Paul when he was faced with adversity, he didn't go home and quit, he simply regrouped and kept pressing forward towards the prize until he took his last breath. I never forget that in all of this, God is in control and is guiding us each step of the way. For every door He allows to close, He will open a new one! The TV program has been on "live" for an hour every Mon-Fri since March 3, 2003. Even though tonight is our last nationwide program for now, we will still be on "live" from 1-2 am ET every Mon-Fri on CW44 in Tampa, the 12 television market in the nation, and also available "live" on www.liveprayer.com for FREE so that anyone in the world with Internet access can tune in. In addition, our last 5 TV programs can be found for On-Demand viewing for FREE on our "Show Archives" link on the www.liveprayer.com website.

I can assure you of this, just like Paul didn't come home after his first missionary journey, or his second, or even his third, and kick back and take it easy, neither am I. I am already working with our PR firm on several opportunities to get back on nationally as soon as possible. One thing I can assure you, however, the next time it will be with complete corporate backing in place up front. During the 4 weeks we were on in July and these past 6 weeks, God challenged me and many others to stretch our faith. However, for this program to survive long-term nationally in a secular arena, it has to be with corporate backing like all the other secular programs have.

Because of our 4-year-track record on UPN (now CW), having been on other major network affiliates all across Florida for a year, and seen nationally for 10 weeks during 2006, we have caught the attention of several major syndicators and will be in discussions immediately to look at what opportunities there might be for national distribution of the program. Even though tonight will be our last program on this current run, I can assure you without a doubt, Liveprayer will be back on a major secular television network nationwide in the very near future. IN THESE LAST DAYS, OUR NATION NEEDS THIS VOICE OF GOD'S TRUTH AND THE LOST AND HURTING MASSES NEED THE HOPE THAT IS ONLY FOUND IN JESUS CHRIST!!!

I love you and care about you so much. I want to challenge you today. God has called all who know Him to serve in different ways. Like Paul, there is nothing easy about serving the Lord. The greater your service, the greater the attacks will be. Those attacks are designed to distract you, to discourage you, and to cause you to stop serving the Lord. My word for you today is to be faithful and obedient in serving the Lord no matter what may happen. Don't let anything stop you from completing the work God has given you to do.

I believe Paul was a man who became more determined than ever to fulfill his Divine mission when the attacks came and he was faced with great challenges. I am the same way. I have vowed that as long as I have breath I will be bringing the Truth of God's Word and the hope and love of Christ to the lost and hurting masse throughout the world, and NOTHING WILL EVER STOP ME! My challenge to you today is to be faithful and obedient in your service to the Lord and don't let anything stop you!!

Let me say something from the bottom of my heart. Thank you so much for all of your many prayers. Without your prayers, I could have never made it through these past 6 weeks. God tests me just like He does you. I have to be faithful and obedient just like you do. Often, God allows things to happen in our life, even in our service for Him, to test us and to see how serious we really are. Even though He knows our heart and that we are sold out for Him, He will give us opportunities to prove it. Again, it is sometimes a test of our faithfulness and obedience. Will we stay faithful despite the attacks and challenges? Will we remain obedient when it is easier to quit?

Your love and prayers have kept me strong and focused over these difficult weeks and drove me to remain faithful and obedient to the work God has called me to. MANY of you made great financial scarifies to help me. Thank you! It was YOUR SACRIFICE that enabled us to be there each night to reach those we did. Many souls will be in Heaven because you were obedient! I can assure you that God was watching and saw your faithfulness and obedience as you gave some of what He entrusted to you to bring His hope and love to those who are living without Christ in their hearts. He is proud of you and I am honored to call you my friend and co-laborer in His work here at Liveprayer.

*FOR OVER 7 YEARS NOW, THE LIVEPRAYER FAMILY CONTINUES TO BOLDLY AND COURAGEOUSLY TAKE A REAL STAND IN THE MARKETPLACE FOR GOD'S TRUTH AND THE FACT JESUS IS THE ONLY HOPE FOR MEN NOW AND FOR ALL ETERNITY. VERY FEW BELIEVERS ARE WILLING TO TAKE SUCH A STAND TODAY. MAY WE CONTINUE TO BE UNWAVERING IN TELLING THIS LOST AND DYING WORLD OF OUR SAVIORS LOVE!

So we press on. When Paul came back from one of his missionary journeys, he didn't stop serving the Lord or retire, he kept pressing forward. That is what I am doing today. Liverayer.com continues to reach over 2.4 million souls daily with His Truth and hope and encouragement through the Daily Devotional. Every day we respond to over 40,000 emails for prayer. The TV program will still be on a major secular television affiliate "live" for an hour every Monday thru Friday. We will be praying for God to open the right doors, bring the right people into the life of this ministry as we press forward toward the prize, doing our best each day to be FAITHFUL AND OBEDIENT NO MATTER WHAT MAY HAPPEN!!!