Daily Devotional for Tuesday May 8, 2012

Praying for Your Finances

(Matthew 6:25-33)

For many people today, you are under much pressure because it is the first of the month. Many struggling with financial commitments they can't meet are dealing with much stress today. Giving up seems like the easiest thing to do, but my friend, that is a thought straight from the pits of hell itself. Praying doesn't seem to work. It doesn't look like any miracles are on the horizon. What now? What is the next move?

First of all, praying is NOT in vain and is the first step. The Bible tells us to ask God for wisdom and He will give it to us. Secondly, God has promised in His Word to supply our needs so we have to trust that promise and move forward. Third is the very real practical exercise of sitting down and dealing with our financial needs. Every situation is unique, but here is my counsel to you.

Get a legal pad and write down what is essential to your day to day living. Then write down the non-essential day to day living obligations. Lastly, write down all of the obligations you are delinquent on. On the other side of the legal pad, write down the income you have to work with and any income you will have during the month. The first goal is to make sure that your day to day essentials are met. After that, the non-essential obligations for the month. Lastly, you need a plan for your delinquent bills.

Your first goal is to contact the people you owe and explain your situation. Most creditors are only interested in getting paid and as long as you are making regular payments, they will usually work with you. You need to structure a payment plan based on your income to work down the past due obligations over a period of time.

The bottom line is it will take three things to get victory: 1) Wisdom from God, 2) Discipline, 3) Hard work. You didn't get into the problem overnight, and won't get out overnight, but God will see you through this difficult time and lead you to victory.

I love you and care about you so much. I pray that this has helped some of you focus on a problem we get thousands of prayer requests about every day. I will be praying for one hour today for those who need God's blessings in your finances. Taking the wisdom God can give you, being disciplined, and working hard each day, YOU WILL BE VICTORIOUS IN YOUR FINANCES!!!

***APRIL FINANCIAL UPDATE: Thanks so much for everyone who prayed and made the sacrifce to help me during April. We ended the month $20,000 short of covering all of our basic operations. We have made up $7,000 of that in the first few days of May. I am praying that we can cover that shortfall in the next day and being working on the $40,000 we need for our basic May operations. I am praying for one or two people can help me with a special gift to help cover that $7,000 shortfall today. Please take a moment and pray about how God is calling you to help me as we boldly and without shame share the Truth of God's Word and lead the lost and hurting to faith in Jesus Christ!

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.

Thank you for your love, prayers, and sacrifce as we press forward towards the prize!

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

Bill Keller