Daily Devotional for Tuesday August 21, 2007

Ministry

(Haggai 2:8)

"Dear Pastor Bill, I thank the Lord for bringing you to all of us. He has used you in my life in a powerful way. Two years ago I tried to take my life. I had left my husband for another man, returned home and felt I couldn't live with the guilt. You were there to listen and pray for me. My marriage has been restored and we just celebrated our 34th anniversary and he now attends church with me."

"...I am desperate need of some divine help and I would appreciate a prayer from you. Thank you for your help, and I heard from you on the Howard Stern Show, and I am glad you made it there because I would have never heard from you. "

"Mr. Keller I have recently starting again watching your show. I would watch infrequently when you first aired about five years ago. I would make jokes about you more than anything because of my own hedonistic lifestyle, which nearly destroyed my marriage. Because of you I have rededicated my life to Christ. I really appreciate your candid approach to the Gospel."

As we prepare to start the 9th year of Liveprayer, it is the nearly 3 million praise reports like the ones above, the over 190,000 people we know of who have given their lives to Jesus, that have kept me going. Every day, literally 24/7, Liveprayer is being inundated with prayer requests from people all over the world. Even though the only identification we have is the sender's email address, I never forget for a minute that behind each email is a very real person, with very real needs, that Jesus died for and loves. That is why Liveprayer does something no other ministry of this size even tries to do. We pray for and send a personal response back to every person who emails a prayer request to us.

For several years now, we average 40,000 prayer requests every single day, week after week, month after month. In 8 years, we have answered over 60 million emails for prayer. God has blessed me with a wonderful group of over 700 retired pastors nationwide that help me send a personal response back to each one. I personally spend app. 3 hours every day answering around 200 at random to keep my heart close to the needs of the people we minister to and never forget why I am here.

The internet and television are two of the greatest communication vehicles there are. They are also very impersonal. In using these great instruments of communication to reach the masses, I try my best to make each Daily Devotional and each TV program as personal to the reader and viewer as I possibly can. I know that every person who reads the Daily Devotional and watches the TV program has needs and issues they are facing in their life. I do my best to make the ministry of Liveprayer a very personal experience for each person we come in contact with, doing my best to help them in their time of need.

Unlike most major ministries I DO want to hear from you other than when you send money and am more interested in ministering to your needs than getting your money. Over 99% of the people we minister to every day in a personal way never give a dime to Liveprayer. Of course, it takes finances to continue to operate, but I learned early on in my ministry if we are about God's business, God will be about our business. My purpose and reason for being on the internet and TV is NOT to reach the masses for their money, but to reach the masses with the Truth of God's Word and the hope and love of Jesus Christ!!!

You see, I never forget that I am here for only one reason and that is to share the Truth of God's Word and the hope and love of Jesus Christ with those God brings to us. That is why every single email, every single phone call to the program is CRITICAL. I never know what that person may be going through, what their needs are, what is happening in their life. I make sure we do our very best to not just pray for them, but share with them the Truth found in God's Word and the hope we have in Jesus Christ. God has placed us in their life at a certain moment in time so they can find HIS truth and hope!