Daily Devotional for Thursday July 25, 2013

A Royal Baby, A Sexual Deviant Running to be Mayor of NYC, and Top Baseball Stars Cheat

(Deuteronomy 8:10; Psalm 100:4, Psalm 107:22)

***ASK BILL: Pastor Bill, when attending church last Sunday I found out that my church is promoting Rick Warren's "40 Days in the Word" program for our church home study groups, After hearing all the New Age heresies he's bringing to the churches this got me pretty upset. Then I was watching Jack Van Impe and he showed a news report about Rick Warren calling God Allah and cozying up to Muslims. What should I do?

ANSWER: I have been warning people for the past decade about Warren's man-made Purpose Driven marketing scheme and subsequent "plans" that have destroyed many churches and is designed to fill pews with warm bodies, not converts. I have also detailed over the years his unGodly associations to enable him to pursue his global social agenda, including his fear of telling the truth about Islam. I find it sad that ANY church has to use materials from someone else. It simply tells me the pastor and staff are too lazy to get their own vision from God for their church. A church is NOT a McDonalds franchise, though people like Warren would like you to think so, and that they are the owner of the franchise! Pray, I know God will guide you what to do.

A royal baby, a sexual deviant running to be the mayor of New York, and top baseball stars are proven to be cheaters! In the midst of the problems so many people are facing today, it is easy to get lost in the distractions the media push upon us on a daily basis. Why would anyone other than the parents and those who live in a nation that has a monarchy, care about the baby born to Prince William and his wife Kate? WHO CARES IF IT IS A BOY OR A GIRL!!! WHO CARES WHAT THE NAME IS UNLESS YOU PUT MONEY ON IT!!!

In the midst of this royal frenzy that means nothing to anyone in this nation (if you took American History, we are no longer subject to the King of England), what, other than distracting people from their own lives, did this new born child mean? My only prayer is that at some point this child accepts Christ as his Savior, since even if he does rise up one day to be the King of England, like all he will one day bow his knee to the true King of Kings!

Taking a break from the royal baby infatuation, we had the new details of Democratic candidate for the Mayor of New York Anthony Weiner's latest sexual perversion. Was anyone really shocked? Most sickening was his wife Huma, once the top aid to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the daughter of a family with ties to terror groups, defending her husband's deviant behavior. Of course, when you might become the first lady of the nation's largest city, you will say anything.

If you have had enough of the royal baby and Wiener, go to a sports station and it is non-stop conversation about some of the game's top players who are being suspended for cheating by using performance enhancing drugs. As someone who grew up in the 60's listening to Joe Nuxhall calling Cincinnati Red's games on a cheap transistor radio under my covers at 11pm when they were playing on the west coast, I have had little intrest in baseball since the steroids scandal many years ago. It sends a horrible message to society that cheating is the way to the top.

You cannot turn on the news or pick up the newspaper without being bombarded by the distractions and all of the problems and evil that exists in our world. Each day you are confronted by family members, friends, those you work with or go to school with, that are hurting and going thru a difficult time in their life. Ninety-nine percent or better of the over 40,000 prayer requests that come into Liveprayer every single day are people who are in pain, fighting the battles everyone fights during the course of their life. The fact is, we are all dealing with problems every day, that is simply part of life.

Never forget, no matter what your problems may be today, without God you would have no hope. He is your source of strength when you feel like you can't go on. He is your source of encouragement when you don't see any answers. He is your source of hope that tomorrow will be better than today. It is God who loves you when nobody else does, and it is God who will never leave you when everyone else has. In the midst of whatever your battles may be today, don't forget to simply say, "Thank you God!"

No matter what may be going on in our lives, God deserves our thanks because of who He is. He is God! He is the Creator of the heavens and earth. He is OUR CREATOR! He loves us unconditionally and cares about us so much. He has given us so many wonderful and special promises in His Word that we can count on. So never let the cares of this brief life keep you from taking the time each day to thank Him.

I realize as you read this, you may be facing a serious health issue, or your marriage may be in trouble, or you are dealing with a huge financial problem, or you need a job, or someone you love has recently died, or you are battling with some sort of addiction, or a myriad of other problems. It doesn't matter what your problems may be. Take a few minutes right now, don't get distracted by the media, forget about your problems, and simply focus on God. Now, say THANK YOU GOD! Say it again. Again. Again. Tell God you love Him. Tell God you worship and adore Him. Forget about everything else for a few moments and simply concentrate on God and thank Him!!!

Listen, thanking God is not going to make all of your problems go away. What it will do is bring joy to your heart, peace into your life, and give you a renewed sense of hope as you face the day to day trials life may bring your way. Facing your problems, dealing with your problems become 100 times easier. You get blessed when you thank God! By getting so wrapped up in your problems and not taking the time to thank God you are missing blessings.

I love you and care about you so much. There will always be new distractions to take our focus off of the Lord. I am guilty so often of not taking the time I should each day to simply stop what I am doing and just spend some time thanking God. It is so easy to focus on what is wrong with our life, that we often forget how much is right with our life. We get so bound by our problems that we forget the simple act of saying thank you to God. Without Him, there would be no answers, no solutions to our problems and this life would have no purpose and be meaningless and hopeless.

I will be praying for you today. Do me a favor. No, do yourself a favor. Stop whatever you are doing right now. Take the next 3 minutes. That is 180 seconds. Use those 3 minutes to do nothing else but say thank you to God. Thank Him for His love. Thank Him for all the wonderful blessings He bestows on you each day. Thank Him for caring about you. Thank Him for all that He does for you each day. I can assure you that you have MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR! Take the next 3 minutes and spend it thanking God.

The distractions of this world will soon be gone. The Bible only gives us a brief glimpse of what our eternal existence will be like. One thing we know is that we will be worshipping God our Creator. Now is a good time to start doing that. Each day, we must take time out of our busy lives and simply spend it thanking God. We will always have problems in this life. That is simply a fact of living in this dark and evil world where so many people live their lives in rebellion to God.

The Bible tells us that when this brief journey is over, "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Make sure that no matter what your problems may be, that you never forget to take the time each day to say thank you to God!

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

Bill Keller