Daily Devotional for Tuesday September 16, 2008

The Fleece

(Judges 6:39)

"And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew." Judges 6:39

The fleece. I shared with you about 6 months ago how the Lord could easily use the economy as a form of His judgment on this nation. On Monday morning, the 158-year-old investment banking house Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection. Also over the weekend it was announced that the monster brokerage firm Merrill Lynch was going to be bought by Bank of America to save that company from having to file bankruptcy.

One of the world's largest insurance companies, AIG, is looking for a $40 billion bridge loan from the Federal Reserve in the face of a downgrade in their credit rating that could doom the company. Banking giant Washington Mutual's stock has lost 95% of its value in the past 52 weeks and banking industry experts see as many as 1,000 bank closures in the near future. This has all be on top of the fall out from the housing bubble bursting and the huge run up in oil prices, both having dramatic Effects on the economy and tens of millions of lives.

In addition to the economic woes, this has been an incredible year of natural disasters, with months still to go. From huge fires, to major floods, to an incredible amount of tornadoes, and now several hurricanes, hundreds of lives have been lost and over a hundred billion dollars of property has been destroyed. Of course we are still engaged in fighting those who seek to destroy our nation both here at home as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan, while dealing with other potential enemies like Iran and North Korea. Finally, in 7 weeks we will elect our next President, and whoever wins, it will clearly be a man who is no friend of God.

These are tumultuous times in which we live. Jesus is coming very soon. Now is the time to take action!

I came to you in early July with a vision the Lord gave me to lead this nation back to God and Biblical values. It is called the Jonah Project. To watch an 8 min. video of that vision, you can go to the Liveprayer.com homepage and click on the Jonah Project link. In addition to leading this nation back to God and His Truth, the Jonah Project is going to amass an army of 5-6 millionn followers of Christ to take decisive action and end abortion, gay marriage, cut back the availability of porn and gambling, as well as fight the other social ills of our day. I'm not talking about just making noise on these issues, but using our numbers and clout to see VICTORY over these issues! Along the way, millions will come to faith in Christ.

A byproduct of the Jonah Project will be the new Liveprayer Church, a new on-line church that will be like any other church except it will not have a building. The Liveprayer Church will insure we have a place to properly disciple new Believers, while offering an incredible array of outreach ministries and opportunities for people to be trained up to do the work of the Gospel. There are millions of people who have been hurt by the local church, disenfranchised from the traditional church for many reasons, and being online, we can offer a church home to people from all around the world making it A true snapshot of what Heaven will look like.

The key component to attracting the millions of people it will take for the Jonah Project to be effective as well as helping to populate the Liveprayer Church will be national TV and radio programs on major secular networks, live 5 days a week. The influence of Oprah over millions came 100% from her daily TV show. The influence of Rush over millions came 100% from his daily radio program. On a national scale, these two mediums can impact both now and for eternity millions of lives. I saw it for the 4 1/2 years we were on the CBS station in Tampa, the year we were also on all of the ABC stations around Florida, and the 10 weeks in 2006 we were on nationwide.

There are ministries with millions who could do this, but they have no vision to reach the lost and stay on the Christian networks because they have a model that makes them millions of dollars. On the Christian networks they can speak to an audience that is 98% Christian, and ask them to send money, buy resources, and come to events, thus being able to pay for the airtime. We were able to sustain our local TV program for years without ever asking for a dime, simply thru the sacrifice of those in the Liveprayer family. We were unable to make it nationally, because we could not get enough advertisers who were willing to be associated with a Gospel message.

However, this time we have the critical financial component through the Jonah Project and the Liveprayer Church. I have no doubt the Christians in the audience, and even many non-Christians who want to see this nation come back to traditional values, will not only sign up to be part of the Jonah Project, but support it financially. Also, many in the TV audience will be people who are looking for a church home, and no doubt many will become part of the new Liveprayer Church. A portion of the donations to the Jonah Project and the tithes to the Liveprayer Church will go to pay for the airtime for the national radio and TV programs.

Here is the fleece I have laid before God and what I need you to pray for. There are NO major secular TV networks willing to air the Liveprayer TV program live, 5 nights a week. We were told by one network after another that air the most disgusting programs you can imagine that our "content was too controversial." A few will let us air a pre-recorded version of the program at 4 or 5 in the morning, but that is it. I was getting very discouraged when last Thursday God opened a door. ION Media, formerly PAX TV, has agreed to air the Liveprayer program "live" every Monday-Friday from Midnight-1am EDT on their entire network that reaches over 93 million of the 100 million TV households in the nation.

It will cost us $45,000 per night for the airtime, and we have to pay each quarter (13 weeks, 65 programs) in advance. That is $2,925,000. We can start on Monday, October 20. This deal is only good thru Friday. My friend, I am certain that if we can cover this first quarter, we will be able to attract enough viewers to join the Jonah Project, as well as the new Liveprayer Church that is scheduled to start Sunday, October 5th, to generate the funds we need to keep the program on the air.

Listen, you know my heart after all of these years. I could have taken the easy road and simply become another occupant of the Christian trough, generating millions of dollars, living a life of ease and luxury like so many others. I could have become part of the "Christian elite," played the political games, run around with the "giants" whose name everyone knows. I am not interested in fame, or money, only SOULS! I am not interested in talking about souls, but SAVING SOULS! I am not interested in acting like we are doing something while men are dying and going to hell because nobody reached out to them and told them how to be saved, while our nation is in spiritual freefall. I am only interested in making sure ALL hear the Gospel and in turning this nation back to God. I don't have any desire to be part of the religious establishment, only serve the Lord!

I am coming to you today to ask you to pray for God to move on the heart of one person, maybe two, maybe three or four, who have the resources and the heart for God to make a bold move and help me put together $3 million dollars by this Friday. In addition to the airtime costs, we will need about $75,000 for the production costs for those 13 weeks. I am not going to worry about the radio program until after we get the TV program on the air for a couple of quarters. We will have much better leverage at that point to cut a deal with a national radio syndicator.

The Liveprayer TV program is not some "good idea." We have done over 1400 programs over the past 5+ years and have the track record to prove it is successful. We only need to have 100,000 viewers a night, a minimal number we averaged the 10 weeks we were on nationwide in 2006. Only 1% of those viewers needs to sign up for the Jonah Project and make a $40 donation, and only 1/4 of 1% need to join the Liveprayer Church with only 20% of those people tithing $100 a week, for us to cover our nightly airtime costs. That is why I am CERTAIN we now have the model in place to cover the ongoing costs of the program if we can raise the $3 million we need for the first quarter.

I know there are some very talented, gifted, and resourceful people who are part of the Liveprayer family. People God has gifted in the area of finances. I need your help! Some of you have the resources and contacts to put together a small group of 3, 5, 10, 20 people. Others have great contacts with people who love the Lord and would be excited about a real opportunity to make a difference with some of what God has entrusted into their care. IT IS GOING TO TAKE ONE PERSON GOD HAS GIFTED AND ORDAINED TO SHARE MY BURDEN, MAKE IT YOUR BURDEN, AND HELP ME PUT THIS $3 MILLION TOGETHER THIS WEEK. PLEASE PRAY AND SEEK THE LORD IF HE IS CALLING YOU TO HELP ME!

I am well aware that $3 million is an incredible commitment, however money is all relative. Barack Hussein Obama just raised $66 MILLION IN ONE MONTH! There are people willing to pour millions into a political ideology, I know there are those who can make that same financial commitment for the eternal souls of millions and to help lead this nation back to God. The fact is, there is NOBODY that has a live daily TV program on secular TV. It is hard to put into words the incredible impact such a program can have in the hearts and lives of the millions of people who will view it each day. I assure you that this TV program can not only help lead millions of souls to faith in Jesus Christ, but be a loud voice in the marketplace of God's Truth that can lead this nation back to God and Biblical Truth.

I love you and care about you so much. I realize satan will stop at nothing to keep this program from airing and will cause many to dismiss this message. That is OK. It takes eyes to see and ears to hear. I am asking everyone today to please pray for the Lord to send the person or people who can help me put together this $3 million by Friday. Nothing on Christian TV is going to impact millions of lost souls or this nation because very few lost souls watch Christian TV, and after 40 years, the nation is in a worst spiritual condition than it has ever been in. It is clear that Christian TV has had virtually ZERO impact on our culture!

However, I know the impact the Liveprayer TV program has had over the years we have been on in Tampa and around Florida. Even in just the 10 weeks we were on nationally in 2006, we still hear from people whose lives were impacted. It is a simple, yet powerful vehicle that can literally turn this nation back to God and His Truth. This is no doubt the last window we will have, since as the culture deteriorates, the ability to do such a program will be lost. As much money as $3 million is, it is nothing in the economy of this world. That $3 million can be the seed that helps to turn this nation back to God while helping to lead millions and millions of souls to faith in Jesus Christ.

Again, please pray and please stand in agreement with me for the Lord to bring the right person or people to help me by Friday. If God is speaking to you about this opportunity to use your life and resources to do something great for His Kingdom, please contact me at: bkeller@liveprayer.com

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller