Daily Devotional for Thursday September 27, 2012

The Economic Crisis and Its Impact on the Gospel

(Jonah 3:10)

***ASK BILL: Pastor Bill, since we only have one Holy Bible how can so many denominations claim different meanings? You can take the same verse and each group says it means a different thing.

ANSWER: That is why it is CRITICAL for people to read and study the Bible, so they can spot bad doctrine, or man-made traditions that have no Biblical support. On all of the main issues of faith, who is God, who is Jesus, the Holy Spirit, what is sin, our purpose, and most important, salvation, are not disputed. They are clear enough for a 3rd grader to understand. Sadly, it is on many non-critical issues that men have fallen into satan's trap of division, mainly in order to create their own separate churches. The motivation is usually to have earthly power and wealth. The good news, when a person dies, it won't matter the name of the building you chose to worship in, only if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior by faith or have rejected Him.

The economic crisis and its impact on the Gospel. I need your prayers and your help today! As we wind down the last few days of this month, Liveprayer has finally covered the balance of our August operations. While we are thankful for that, and those who gave to help make it happen, we are now just a few days from the end of this month and need to cover the $40,000 we need for our operations this month.

After 13 yrs, those in the Liveprayer family know I don't play games, and other than for the fact it is a necessary part of being able to reach people could care less about money. However, over these past 13 years in those times where we had a great need, those in the Liveprayer family have ALWAYS responded. In January, we will finally have the final piece in place to enable us to fulfill God's ultimate plan for this ministry as we lead this nation back to God and His Truth.

My concern today is getting through these final 96 days of 2012. Satan is doing everything possible to stop us now, before January. I am calling on everyone in the Liveprayer family to pray today, and for everyone, even if it is $1, to give as you are able to help me. I don't cry wolf, I don't play games, we are in a serious crisis and I need your help today. Please make the most generous sacrifce you can. God will show you what to do. Please help me!

$25,000 of that is several weeks past due and I am in prayer today for just 5 friends of this ministry who can send an immediate one-time special gift of $5,000. That will cover the seriously delinquent portion of our monthly budget, and with everyone else giving as they are able, $10, $20, $50, $100, $200, or more, we can have this entire need met over the last few days of the month and start October with all of our needs current!!

*If you have the ability to help me today with a gift of $1,000 or more, please email me and I can get your our bank info so you can deposit the funds into our account, or our FedEx account info so you can overnight the gift to us!

One of the sad byproducts to the economic crisis this nation has been experiencing in full force these past 3 years, is the impact it has had on the Gospel. The Gospel is free, but there are costs involved in taking that free message of Christ to the lost and hurting. Jesus had a treasurer, due to the fact that He and His disciples had to have funds to meet their daily needs as they ministered during those 3 years. In Paul's letters to the churches you will find some of the best fundraising challenges ever given as he took the Gospel to the world of his day.

Sadly, every day I get emails of churches and ministries closing due to a lack of funds. Liveprayer has also been adversely affected by the economic crisis. Over these many years, we have built up a wonderful group of approximately 30 people who not only gave significant amounts each year to help God's work here, but they were people I could call in an emergency and they could immediately send $5k, $10k, even more if the need existed. That group of 30 is now down to 1. This has not only affected our ability to raise what we need to operate each month, but when those times arise when we need funds quickly, there simply isn't a place to go any longer.

One dear man whose family God richly blessed, loved our work here and was able to give over a million dollars, passed away several years ago. I know there are several who are part of the Liveprayer family who have those types of resources, and am asking them to pray about stepping in to fill the critical role that dear brother played for many years. We are doing what nobody else is doing in boldly, visibly, and without compromise taking God's Truth to this lost world through the secular media. God gives us all jobs to perform, and for some, He has blessed you with resources so that you can help finance His word

One of my prayers each day is that the Lord will raise up NEW people for this special group of large donors that is critical to every ministry. God always has a ram in the bush, and I know that despite the economic crisis, there are still many out there who He has protected, who have resources, and can step up and carry the banner others have carried over these past 13 years of Liveprayer! Please pray about being one of those special people I can call on in times like today when we desperately need funds.

PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE AND HEAR MY HEART! I didn't get into the ministry 20 years ago for money or for fame, but to simply serve the Lord. I could have easily taken the path everyone else takes, go into the Christian media, preach to the choir, have huge buildings, a new Gulfstream private jet, multiple huge homes, brand new luxury cars, and lived a very simply, easy life.

Instead, I have worked the past 13 years out of the back of a used-car lot, I haven't taken any salary the past 3 years, only basic living expenses, my home has been mortgaged 2-3x to meet the ministry's financial needs, and drive a care with 110,000 miles on it. I have always led by example and would never ask you to do what I wasn't willing to do!!!

OVER THE PAST 3 YEARS DUE TO THE FINANCIAL CRISIS, WE HAVE CUT EVERYTHING POSSIBLE DOWN TO OUR BASIC OPERATIONS, LEAVING US WITH A MONTHLY OPERATING BUDGET OF $40,000. THAT IS THE SAME OPERATING BUDGET MOST LOCAL CHURCHES WITH APX. 500 MEMBERS MEETING ONCE A WEEK HAS!

That includes our head tech and 2 assistants, down from 4, and their office in a special location for security. My office manager and accounting clerk. I have not taken any salary for the past 3 years, only basic living expenses. We have cut our fundraising costs down to just postage and printing each month. Our biggest expense of course is the bandwidth required to operated the Liveprayer.com and sister sites and support the thousands of audio and video files. Our main office is donated by a board member, our extra office work is done by volunteers, our audio/video production is now done by volunteers, and our legal and accounting services are donated.

This enables us to continue to minister 24/7/365 to 2.4 million worldwide, respond daily to 40,000 emails for prayer, and offer all of the unique daily audio/video content no other minsitry produces to minister to people in a personal way while bringing God's Truth into the marketplace most have abandoned.

This January, we have several financial backers who will be supporting the new Liveprayer 24-hour prayer channel on TV and available to people worldwide on every type of mobile device. The program will be a place for people to come 24/7 and find a "live" prayer partner to pray with them, in addition to the Liveprayer program dealing with the issues of the day from a Biblical worldview. It is the missing piece I have been praying for years now, in order to have the presence to help turn this nation back to God and His truth, our only hope!

Those program will allow us to attract and entire new audience to Liveprayer, and will absorb our monthly operational budget of Liveprayer.com in addition to the TV program. For the first time in over 13 years, I won't have to worry each day about raising what we need just to go from one month to the next! I am asking you today to be praying. We still have the $40,000 we need for September, as well as the operating budget for October, November and December. That is $160,000 over the next 96 days. That is just 160 people making a one-time special gift of $1,000. Will you pray about being one of the 160???

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.

I love you and care about you so much. Our work here at Liveprayer is not quite finished yet, however, I can't do this alone. I need people who want to make an impact with their life for God. This is the time for true men and women of God to step up. This is not a drill, the soul and future of this nation is hanging in the balance. God has given us the tools and the ability to lead this charge back to His Truth. I will pay the personal price to lead this charge, but I can't do it alone. I need you!

This is the one area satan has battled me fiercely, since he knows that with just a fraction of what most major ministries take in, we can lead this nation back to God and millions to faith in Jesus Christ. I can't tell you how much time and energy I have had to invest in keeping the ministry alive financially that I could be using to save souls!

Additionally, everyone knows someone. Please pray about who you know who God has blessed financially who love the Lord and probably don't know about Liveprayer. Very few in who stay in the Christian circles and who give to ministries know about us since our work is exclusively in the marketplace, reaching the lost masses. People give tens of thousands, millions to build buildings and other efforts that will have little impact. This is about changing the spiritual direction of this nation while saving souls in the process.

Throughout these past 13 years, the Liveprayer family has answered the call, and because of our faithfulness, tens of millions of lives around the world have been impacted for Christ and over 600,000 souls we know of will be in Heaven. God has one last job for us before our work here is over, and that is to lead this nation back to God and to Biblical Truth. There is nothing we will ever do greater than to serve the Lord. This is our opportunity. This is our time. God is calling us. I have answered His call, will you???

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

Bill Keller