Daily Devotional for Friday September 7, 2012
Sowing Into Your Need
(1 Kings 8:1-24)
***ASK BILL: Pastor Bill, should all pastors and deacons have never been divorced or is it ok in some instances depending on the reason for the divorce?
ANSWER: It depends on if people believe the Bible. The Bible is CLEAR that the office of pastor, deacon, and elder is to be held by a MAN of ONE WIFE, meaning never divorced. This is why I would never pastor a church, I am not qualified. However, that does not mean a divorced man or woman can't hold any other office such as teacher, evangelist, and so many other ways to serve the Lord. Sadly, people have compromised Biblical Truth and that is why you now have churches pastored by women, churches that condone sins like homosexuality and abortion, and pastors who see nothing wrong with endorsing satanic cult members. Once you compromise the Bible, ANYTHING is open!
There is a Biblical principle that I learned many years ago that I want to share with you today. Biblical principles are like scientific laws. They work. The law of gravity works; there are no exceptions. Biblical principles work; there are no exceptions. One of those Biblical principles is sowing into your need.
Now trust me, many of God's principles don't make much of sense. But then again, when God gave the army generals the battle plan for taking the city of Jericho, I doubt that walking around the walls of the city and blowing trumpets was something that made much sense either. I am convinced that many things God does don't make sense to us, because we have to realize that only God could make something like that work.
This principle is very easy to understand. You give when you yourself have a need. Common sense says if I have a need, I hold on to what I have or my need becomes worse. I am sure that is what the widow of Zarephath was thinking when the prophet Elijah asked her for her last bit of food. This woman literally gave the man of God the last thing she had. Talk about faith.
Faith is not a word, but it is a belief system. Faith is easy to talk about, hard to practice. The problem with exercising our faith is our brain gets in the way. The enemy puts doubt in our mind. Living our faith becomes the test of our Christian experience.
>From the thousands of prayer requests we get here daily, I realize that so many of you are struggling with your finances. There are many great Christian financial ministries that can help people apply biblical principles to their financial life. I would encourage you to invest a few dollars and study their teaching and follow those biblical principles that can help you keep your financial life healthy.
I would encourage those of you today that are in the midst of a financial crisis to sow into your need. I have done this continually throughout my ministry. Even now as we work towards eliminating the debt of Liveprayer, each week, I sow a seed into people who are hurting and other ministries knowing that God will honor my faith and bless us in return.
My friend, it works! Look at the widow. She gives the man of God her last bit of food, and soon afterwards her son dies. God blesses her faith by using the man of God to bring that son back to life! Sowing into your need works. God's principles work.
I love and care about you so much. I will be praying for you today. I care about you deeply and will do everything I can each day to share the things God places in my heart to try and help you along this great journey we are on.
You are never too young to begin applying God's principles into your life. What happens is when we obey and God's blessings flow from our obedience, our faith is strengthened. The next time we have to exercise our faith, we do it more readily, since we already have seen God move before. We gain confidence that our faith is real, God is real, and His way does work.
I pray that you who are struggling today will give into your need. I don't care where you give, just give and show God you believe Him. God cannot lie, and His Word is the absolute truth you can stake your very life and eternal existence on. Trust Him today and watch Him work miracles in your life.
***PLEASE PRAY ABOUT SOWING A SPECIAL GIFT TO LIVEPRAYER TODAY. MANY HAVE BEEN BLESSED BY GOD'S WORK HERE, BUT HAVE NEVER GIVEN TO HELP US. ACTUALLY, LESS THAN 1/4 OF 1% OF THOSE WE REACH EVERY GIVE A DIME TO SUPPORT GOD'S WORK HERE. ALL WE HAVE DONE OVER THESE 13 YRS, IMPACTING LITERALLY TENS OF MILLIONS OF LIVES WORLDWIDE, HAS ONLY BEEN POSSIBLE BECAUSE FRIENDS LIKE YOU PRAYED AND MADE THE SACRIFICE TO HELP US BE HERE EACH DAY FOR THE HURTING AND LOST.
Thank You to everyone who prayed and those who were able to give to Liveprayer last month. As we celebrated the 13 year anniversary of Liveprayer going online, we ended the month $35,000 short of covering our basic August operations. We have made up $7,000 of that shortfall so far, and I am asking that everyone in the Liveprayer family who is able, please send the most generous gift they can so that by the end of the week the final $28,000 will be covered and we can begin to work on the $40,000 we need for our September operations. $20,000 of our August shortfall is weeks past due and I am asking for 4 people who can make a special one-time gift of $5,000 to help me today. This along with what others are led and able to give can clear this up over the next few days!
MOST EVERYONE CAN SEND SOMETHING. LET ME CHALLENGE YOU TO GIVE A GIFT OF $13, $130, $1300, OR FOR SOME, $13,000. THAT IS $1, $10, $100, OR $1,000 FOR EACH YEAR OF SERVICE. GOD WILL MULTIPLY YOUR GIFT EXPONENTIALLY IN THE LIVES AND SOULS OF THOSE WE REACH WITH HIS TRUTH AND THE GOSPEL OF 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, YOUR PRAYERS, AND YOUR SACRIFCE. THESE 13 YEARS HAVE ONLY BEEN POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF YOU, AND I THANK GOD FOR YOU EACH DAY. KNOW YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE IN MY PRAYERS. WE PRESS ON TOWARDS THE PRIZE!
In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller