Daily Devotional for Wednesday August 27, 2008
The Cost of Truth
(Job 17:9; Galatians 6:9; Revelation 3:11)
"He replied, 'This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting.' " Mark 9:29
The cost of the TRUTH. There is a price to pay for sharing the Truth of God's Word with this world, and sometimes that price is your very life. We have numerous Biblical examples of those who gave their very life to tell the Truth. Throughout the history of Christendom, men and women have given their very lives for the Truth. After 5 years of the Liveprayer TV program on secular television and nearly 9 years of Liveprayer.com, I can tell you that there is indeed a price to pay for taking the Truth of the Bible into the marketplace, but it is a price well worth paying!
I'll give you a great example from just the past few months as I exposed the danger of Oprah for leading people to hell with these New Age teachings she is promoting to millions of unsuspecting souls, on FOX News, in the Daily Devotional, and on dozens of national and local radio programs. My PR firm will never be able to book any of their clients again on Oprah's program since she has blackballed them.
Many radio and TV programs I have appeared on in the past said they would not do the story since they didn't want Oprah upset with them. Bill O'Reilly who likes to promote himself as this fearless crusader, is more worried about staying in the good graces of Oprah so he can sell his next book on her program than he is the fact she is leading millions of souls to hell with her false teachings.
We have had more people than normal unsubscribe from the Daily Devotional, as well as emails from donors that they would no longer contribute to Liveprayer because of my "vicious attack on such a fine Christian woman who does so much good in the world." This story and the video of the FOX News appearance has been in the national media and all over the Internet, leading me to receive some of the most hateful and disgusting emails from Oprah "fans" I have ever been sent over these past 9 years, and trust me, that is saying something.
The deep things of God never come easy, are you willing to pay the price? I'm going to give you a heavy spiritual lesson today. I'm going to be very blunt with you. Most people are so bound up in their own weaknesses, get so distracted each day by the blowing winds of life, or just won't make the sacrifice to pay the price to ever get to a place where they can even understand this message. However, for those who do want more of God, do want all of God they can get, are willing to literally lay down their very life and give everything they have to the Lord, this word is for you today!
The word today is PERSEVERANCE. After serving the Lord for nearly 2 decades, I can tell you that it never gets any easier, the battles only intensify as time goes on, and the more you are doing for the Kingdom the more you will have to endure, and the more you will have to persevere. Why do you think so many opt out or take the easy road? Very few people enjoy pain, conflict, being a target and attacked constantly day after day, and run when confronted with these things. That is why most of the Lord's work is done in the safety of the Christian subculture we have created, behind the 4 walls of the church. That is also why we are having very little influence, and very little impact on this world we live in!
Look at the life of Paul. It would have been easy for Paul to sit back in the comfort and safety of the churches he pioneered and take on that apostolic role and live a life of honor, ease, comfort, and luxury. While Paul did oversee the churches he founded, he never stopped or slowed down in fulfilling God's mission for his life to take the Gospel to the lost and hurting outside the four walls of the church. He pressed forward, tirelessly, until the very end when he was martyred for his faith in Jesus Christ. Despite the great personal sacrifices, putting his life on the line each day, fighting all of the obstacles he had to face each step of the way, Paul PERSEVERED!
My word for you today is this. You are not going to ever fulfill God's plan for your life in serving the Lord without being able to persevere. That is because the things of God don't come easy, and won't come without a fight. There is a very real enemy who will do all he can to stop you. As I share with you often, this is ultimately a battle for the souls of men, and sadly, satan is willing to fight harder for souls than most of God's people. You can't persevere by giving God 25%. You can't persevere by giving God 50%. You can't persevere by giving God 80%. You can't persevere by giving God even 95%. TO PERSEVERE, YOU HAVE TO BE SOLD OUT, 100% TO THE LORD!!!
The fact is, it doesn't take too many men totally sold out for Jesus to turn this world upside down. The work of one man, Paul, is still being felt today. The disciples of Jesus, who after his resurrection and being filled with the Holy Spirit, were totally sold out to the Lord and laid the foundation that the Christian faith has been built upon these past 2000 years. During that time, it has been men and women of God who were sold out for the Lord, 100% committed to Him, men and women who PERSEVERED, that has brought the Gospel to the world and helped millions of people find everlasting life through faith in Jesus Christ.
I love you and care about you so much. We are in the last days and now God is calling on men and women like you and me to stand up, be counted, to sell out for him, and to persevere as we bring in that last great harvest of souls before our Lord returns and the last days of human history unfold. This is a clarion call to those who have ears to hear, that the time for playing games is over, the time for playing church is over, the time for being satisfied to live in the comfort of the "Christian trough" is over, the time for using the Gospel simply to generate money is over, IT IS TIME TO SELL OUT FOR THE LORD AND LET GOD USE OUR LIVES TO BRING HIS TRUTH AND THE HOPE OF CHRIST TO THE LOST AND HURTING MASSES WHO WILL DIE AND GO TO HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY WITHOUT JESUS!
To accomplish that, you will have to persevere. You will have to face the trials, the tribulations, the hardships, the attacks, the scorn, the daily battles, but it is the power of the Holy Spirit that will embolden you and strengthen you and allow you to PERSEVERE! When you get down and discouraged, the Lord will pick you up and give you all you need to keep pressing forward. The Bible tells us that many are called but few are chosen. The chosen are the ones who are willing to pay the price, do whatever it takes to persevere!
The deep things of God will never come easy. They require a total and complete sacrifice to the Lord, you have to be willing to pay the price. But when this life is over, the things of this temporal world will pass away and all that will be left are the things we did for Jesus!
One way you can help me is to by the end of this month, is to sign up at least 3 people to receive the Daily Devotional. If everyone would make this their goal we could triple the amount of people who get the Daily Devotional each day by the end of the month. All they have to do is go to the Liveprayer.com website, click on the "Devotional Sign-Up" link ( http://www.liveprayer.com/signup.cfm ), reply to the confirming email they will get, and they will be added to the list. Please pray about those you know who would be blessed by getting the Daily Devotional each day.
Thanks so much for your sacrifice to help me. We are here each day, pressing on in the work God has called us to do because of the faithfulness and obedience of friends like you who pray and make the sacrifice to give to His work. May the Lord richly bless you over and beyond all you expected as you serve and follow Him. Know that you and your family are in my prayers.
In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller