Daily Devotional for Saturday August 20, 2011

Your Real Legacy

(2 Timothy 1:5)

As I have gotten older, each passing year makes me realize all the more how brief our journey here really is. It is only natural that we think about how we might be remembered after we are gone. I don't want to sound cold, but the fact is, other than our family and possibly a few close friends, the memory of our life will fade quickly. Once we are gone from this life, there is very little left to remind people that we were even here. Some people may be memorialized by having a building or road named after them, others may have their memory honored by having an event named after them, but for most there will be little evidence of this life once it is over. My purpose today is not to discourage you, but to challenge you in regard to how you CAN live on long after your life here is over.

I have often talked about leaving behind the temporal things of this world when we die. How the only thing we will take from this life into eternity is our relationship with Christ. That our works will be tested and much of what we do in this life will be burned up as wood, hay, and stubble. The works that will stand the test of fire are those eternal works. So it is with our legacy, what we leave behind. We leave behind our name, which may or may not continue. The most visible thing we leave is our children, but they too will one day die.

What we do leave behind that will NOT pass away are those souls who will live for eternity because we were obedient to God. Understand that only the Holy Spirit can bring a person to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. However, God uses human instruments to affect a person's life and bring them to that point. Your prayers, your kind words, your acts of charity, your unconditional love for others during your life will live on in that person for eternity!

The point I want you to understand today is that it is never too early in life, or too late in life to impact someone for eternity. It is after all our purpose in this life. Our purpose is to serve and glorify God. Our service to God comes in the service to others. Our service to others has ETERNAL consequences. It is our greatest legacy. It is the part of us that WILL live on for eternity. We live on long after we leave this life, in the lives of those we touch along our journey.

I love you and care about you so much. I pray today that you will take these words and meditate on them throughout the day. This is one of those Devotionals that you should print out and keep with you. We all go through those times in our life when we wonder what it is all about, if it really matters. The answer is a resounding YES! We need to be reminded from time to time that we are significant because God uses us in His plan and purpose to touch other lives at every step along our journey.

I am humbled each day as so many of you share what Liveprayer and these Devotionals have meant to your life. I am so appreciative to God that He has given me this wonderful opportunity to share the love and hope that we have in Jesus Christ with millions worldwide each day. I am clearly focused now more than ever, that the best way I can make my life count, is in serving those the Lord allows me to minister to along the way. It is the greatest way I can imagine to live my life.

My challenge to you today is to make sure you leave an eternal legacy, that you live on after your death in the lives of those the Lord allows to cross your path. Let me also challenge you that if at this moment, you are not 100% sure that if your heart stops beating this very second, you will immediately and forever be with Jesus, then please take a minute now, pray for God to open your heart, and read the words at this link: http://www.liveprayer.com/plan.cfm

Let me also share with you that a way you can touch the lives of people is in giving to the work God is doing every day here at Liveprayer. By sacrificing some of the resources God has entrusted to you for His work here, you are reaching people all over the world that you will never meet in this life, but will in Glory!

I am sure each person who is reading this today, has had a special person in your life that has impacted you for Christ. It may have been your mother or father, possibly a grandparent, someone in your family or a close friend, maybe it was a pastor or Sunday School teacher, or it could have been a classmate or co-worker.

*** "Mr. Keller, Some time ago, I read your statement calling spiritual leaders to account for having Glenn Beck on their programs as a guest. Anyone knows that it doesn't necessarily mean they are supporting that persons lifestyle or what they believe. Biblically, we are suppose to be kind to all people. I felt you were judging Pat Robertson & John Hagee. I was just getting ready to write out a check to mail to your ministry, when I read the paragraph you had put in your daily devotional judging these men. Needless to say, I stopped in the middle of going for my checkbook when I read that, & decided if a person is going to use what appears to be a daily devotional on the net to tear down other spiritual leaders, this not my idea of a Christian man."

Every day, no matter what the subject, we get emails like this. I guess this man never read the Bible where the OT prophet exposed the priests who led the people astray for their own gain, or Jesus tore into the spiritual leaders of his day for compromising the Truth for financial gain. Sadly, I am one of the few people with a large presence holding accountable those "spiritual leaders" who compromise Biblical Truth, putting innocent souls at risk for their own financial gain, since it would hurt their opportunity to make millions in the world of "professional ministry." I am well aware that if I simply "didn't rock the boat" like the rest, I would never worry about finances. But I REFUSE to sit back and see souls led astray, some ending up in hell, because I was intimidated into silence! THERE IS NO AMOUNT OF MONEY WORTH CLOSING MY EYES TO PEOPLE HELPING LEAD INNOCENT SOULS TO HELL!!!

As we head into the last 11 days of August, please be in prayer with me for the operational finances we need to bring in right away. We ended July $25,000 short of covering our July operational budget, and have made up $10,000 of that in the first 16 days of this month leaving us still $15,000 short to cover the balance of our July operations. Also, we still need the final $30,000 of the $150,000 I asked the Lord to deliver by the end of April so we could catch up all basic operational expenses we are in arrears. That is $50,000 we need right away, plus the $40,000 we need for our August operations for a total of $85,000 we need over the next 11 days to have all of our basic operational expenses covered.

I am asking you to pray, pray hard, about allowing God to use you to help me today. Obviously anything you can do is greatly appreciated, but I desperately need 1 or 2 people who are willing to make the sacrifce of $5,000 or more right away to help me cover the last $15,000 of our July budget immediately. You can overnight a check today to our office in St. Petersburg, or wire your gift to our bank. If the need wasn't critical, I would not bother you. If you can help me with a special gift of $5,000 or more, please let me know right away at: bkeller@liveprayer.com

Please take a moment and pray for theses needs to be met, and for what the Lord is speaking to YOUR heart to do to help me today. As we prepare to take advantage of new doors the Lord is opening for us to have a highly visible place in the marketplace to help lead this nation back to God and His Truth, I'm simply asking you to pray today and seek the Lord what He is calling you to do to help me to cover the $85,000 balance to insure all of our basic operational needs are met by the end of the month. Never forget that God will honor your heart as you obey His voice. Will you help me today? Will you please take a minute today, and pray, seek the Lord what He is asking you to sacrifce.

Also, on the 31st, we celebrate the 12 year anniversary of Liveprayer. If you have not given to His work for a while, or never given at all but God has blessed you through Liveprayer, please pray about sending a gift of $12, $120, or $1,200 this month. That is $1, $10, or $100 for every year Liveprayer has been sharing His Truth and the hope and love of Jesus Christ with the lost and hurting around the world. It is friends like you who have enabled us to

TO GIVE A GIFT TO LIVEPRAYER, you can use your major credit card on our secure server at: www.liveprayer.com under the "Donation" link, you can give using your PayPal account using my email address: bkeller@liveprayer.com,or you can mail your gift to: Liveprayer, 6660 46th Ave. North, St.Petersburg, FL 33709. All gifts to Liveprayer are 100% tax deductible.

Know that you and your family are in my prayers each day. Thank you for your love, prayers, and support as we take our stand in these last days. The time is very short, our time is now!

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

Bill Keller