Daily Devotional for Wednesday October 27, 2010

Each Day is Precious

(James 4:4)

Each day is precious! Most people, most of the time, take their life for granted. If you aren't battling a life threatening disease or know someone who is, death is not something you probably even think about during the course of a given day. However, every day people wake up and are going through their day, and in an instant are dead. That is why the Bible teaches tomorrow is promised to none of us, and that each day is truly a gift from God.

This past weekend, I was staying in New Jersey right across the Hudson from New York City with a dear husband and wife who have been such a blessing to Liveprayer and God's work here for many years. Sunday morning, as we were getting ready to head to the city and our service at the "9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero," the husband and wife as well as myself were not feeling well. We figured out that it must have been something we had eaten at dinner the night before at a local seafood restaurant. But we were not going to let anything stop us and got ready despite not feeling well, heading into the city for our 11am service.

As we were a few blocks from the George Washington Bridge, a small truck ran a stop light and crashed into the car ahead of us. There was no place our car to go and we ended up crashing into the car in front of us that had been hit by the truck. It all happened very fast. It was over very quick. By the grace of God the driver of the car who ran the light was injured, but not seriously. Everyone else seemed to be OK. Again, it was the GRACE OF GOD since this could have easily ended in one or more people losing their life!!!

It was several hours before the police cleared the accident scene, so unfortunately I missed our service, though Pastor Danny who does the praise and worship was "instant in season" and did a great job. The couple I was staying with and I went back to their home, and for the rest of the day we were all in bed feeling the effects of a minor case of food poisoning from the dinner the night before. I had no choice but to get up early Monday for my flight back to Florida even though I was still not feeling well.

Listen, in the scheme of things, a car accident, minor food poisoning, missing a service, having to travel when not feeling well, are all fairly minor issues. I am certain many of you had much more difficult issues to face over the weekend. The key point I want you to understand is that while we do our best to plan out our day each morning, often we are faced with things that happen during the course of the day out of our control which can range from being a nuisance to actually taking our life!

We can not and must not take our life for granted. We can not and must not take each day for granted. As the Bible proclaims, life is like a vapor, a mist, and it is over in a second. Sadly, when it is over, it is over and is not coming back. That is why we must embrace each day and treat it like the gift from God that it truly is. Life is so short. It is a special one-time journey that we need to enjoy and make special each moment.

Of course, our ultimate goal in life is to serve and glorify God with our lives. Every day when we wake up we must not only take care of all of the things we need to take care of that day for our earthly life, but we must take care of the things we need to take care of our spiritual life! That is why we need to pray, read the Word, spend the quality time with the Lord, and find ways to allow God to use our life that day.

Our service is our ultimate gift to God for His ultimate gift to us....our life!!!

I love you and care about you so much. In the midst of our busy life, we can never lose sight each morning when we wake up how special each day is. It will be over sooner than anyone of us can imagine. It is a special one-time journey, a gift from God that we must not only embrace, but make special each day. The greatest way to do that is in our daily service to the Lord.

I thank God every morning for allowing me to wake up each morning. Days like last Sunday remind me of how special this life is and that I can never take, even one day, for granted. In addition to simply enjoying this wonderful journey through life despite the challenges we all face, I do everything I can to insure that with every 24 hours God blesses me with, I find ways to serve and glorify Him.

I know that when I take my last breath, when I stand before the Lord, the only thing that will matter for eternity are those things I did for the Lord. That is why I could care less about building an earthly kingdom, the trap so many have fallen into. I don't need buildings, or mansions, or private jets, or any of the temporal things of this world. What I do need, is to store up treasures in Heaven which will stand for eternity! I am challenging you today to make this your life's goal as well!!!

As we head into the last 5 days of October, we currently need to bring in just under $34,000 to cover the balance of our October budget. We were blessed to have one family send a gift of $7,000 to meet our second week of expenses at the new "9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero," meaning I need 2 more people to make a sacrifce of $7,000 to cover the last 2 weeks of October. Lastly, we need just 3 more to make a special one-time sacrifce of $5,000 to finish covering the rest of our shortfall from 2009. That is a total of $63,000 to end the month with all of our basic operational costs covered.

The Bible teaches us to give according to our ability to give. For some that may be a gift of $5 or $10. For others that may be a gift of $20 or $50. Still others can give a gift of $100, $200, or $500. God is calling a few people who He has richly blessed to make the sacrifice to be on of the 3 people I need to make that one-time special gift of $5,0000 and the 2 I need to make a special one-time gift of $7,000. All I ask is that you pray, and than be obedient to give as the Lord gudies your heart to give!

--->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