Daily Devotional for Friday October 15, 2010

Not A Day Goes by that I Don't Receive Emails Asking If God is So Good then why do People do Evil Things

(Mark 7:21)

Not a day goes by that I don't receive several emails asking if God is so good, so powerful, then why do people do such evil things. Rather than going into a complicated theology lesson, let me try to help you understand the evil men and women do this way.

For those who have been raised in Christian homes, made the decision to come to know Christ at an early age, and have lived your life for Him from early on, God bless you. You have missed out on much of the pain and heartache sin and rebellion cause people. For those who came to Christ later in life, or perhaps lived in a rebellious state like the prodigal son, then you will be better able to understand what I am going to say today. The bottom line is that when a person is without Christ, ANYTHING is possible.

I think back on rebellious periods of my life and am ashamed and saddened by things I have done before. I can't even imagine that I was the one that did them. Thus the scripture, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature". You see, when a person accepts Christ into their life, they actually become a new creation. The old is passed away and they become new.

Prior to that new birth experience, in the old state, there are no rules, no laws, other than those each man puts upon himself. There is no absolute truth as we find in God's word, since the only truth is what each man believes in his/her heart at the time. You can understand that under these conditions, people are capable of anything, including the incredible evil that we see each day in the world we live in.

The answer to why God doesn't do something about it is also found in scripture. We know that there is a coming day of judgment. There is a day coming when everything we know will pass away. There will be a new heaven and new earth.

Part of our problem is that we are so conscious of time, we fail to comprehend that to God, a thousand years is as a day. We want everything now. We want our food now, our mail now, our phone call now, and our money now. We are into instant answers and instant gratification. God is not bound by time, and while we may think He isn't acting on the things we see as wrong, He is, but it is happening in His time, not ours.

The Bible is clear to point out that every one of us will one day stand before the Judgment seat of Christ and give an account for our life. That is not a fairy tale, there are no special passes to miss this event. We will all stand before that seat of judgment one day. Evil will be judged, maybe not at the exact moment we would like to see, but the Bible is clear that there is a day of judgment of each one of us.

I love you and care about you so much. I pray today that this has helped some of you better understand the never-ending question, especially among nonbelievers as to why God allows evil to exist. Evil exists because the heart of a man or woman without Christ is filled with sin and capable of anything you can imagine.

Maybe this will also better help you understand my passion, my drive, my desire to not only help people in their time of need, but help those who are lost find Christ. That is why I continually challenge you to stretch your faith and challenge you to do more each day to serve God, because it is in our service that lives our touched and hearts are changed. Evil exists because men and women without Christ have sin-filled hearts.

I pray today that you will make it a renewed priority in your life to step forward and let God use you to touch people. He uses us as His instruments in the lives of people to help those who are lost find Jesus. That and that alone is the ultimate answer to the problem of evil in this world. Helping the lost find Christ and become new creatures is the only way people who do bad things will ever change.

*As we enter into the last few weeks of October, we are moving forward in all we do each day, trusting the Lord to provide for our needs. We still need $8,000 to cover the balance of our September operations, plus $40,000 for this month. In addition, we need just 3 more people to send a special one-time gift of $5,000 to pay off the balance of our 2009 operations shortfall. Lastly, we need 3 people who can help us cover our $7,000 weekly expenses for the last two weeks and for this coming weekend at the new "9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero." That is a total of $84,000 we need to bring in over these final 16 days of the month. OUR GOD IS ABLE!

--->I am praying thru today for the Lord to provide at least 5 people who can send a gift today of $1,000 or more to help me thru this difficult time. Is what we do for you each day, worth the sacrifice if you have the funds to help me?????

--->I really need several people who have the ability to help me today. If you can overnight or wire to our bank $5,000 or more, please contact me for the instructions at: bkeller@liveprayer.com

--->You can make a gift to Liveprayer on your major credit card at our website www.liveprayer.com under the "Donation" button, or you can give from your PayPal account by using my email address, bkeller@liveprayer.com , or you can mail a gift to: Liveprayer 6660 46th Avenue North St. Petersburg, Florida 33709 *For a gift to the 9-11 Christian Center, please mark 9-11 on your check, or put (9-11) next to your name on the credit card or PayPal form. All gifts to Liveprayer are 100% tax deductible.

Thank you for standing with me and for your love and prayers. Together, we are reaching and impacting lives, many for eternity that nobody else is reaching out to. The greatest mission field in the world in 2010 is right here in the United States. People are needlessly dying and going to hell for all eternity every day, the cast majority, simply because they never knew they could be saved through faith in Jesus Christ.

May the Lord continue to open the doors so we have the platform to tell this nation and world Jesus is our only answer and hope now, and for all eternity!

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