Daily Devotional for Wednesday May 28, 2014
Naaman and Being Faithful
(2 Kings 5:19-40)
So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage. Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!" So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 2 Kings 5:9-14
How often are we like Naaman? We have a problem in our life and go to God in prayer. He gives us the answer to our problem in His Word. We then have the audacity to not only complain about the answer, but the fact God didn't just snap His fingers and fix our problem. Eventually, almost grudgingly, we follow God's instructions and lo and behold, our problem is solved! Like I say so often, our way never works, but God's way ALWAYS works! Rebellion leads to consequences and obedience leads to blessings!!! That is my message to you today, obedience brings blessings.
I have talked to you in the past about how to HEAR God. That is obviously very important. However, after we hear God, we then have to OBEY God! That can often be easier said than done. God speaks to us in many ways. Most times, He speaks to us through His Word, through our time in prayer, through others, and through our circumstances. As I have shared in the past, the more we practice "hearing God," the better we become at hearing His voice. The key is, God will never contradict His Word. When God speaks to you, it will always be in line with His Word. That is the major test to knowing if it is truly God's voice.
Again, hearing God's voice is important, but after you hear His voice you then need to obey His voice. This is where our commitment to the Lord gets tested. Many time, we hear what God is saying to us but we don't want to obey Him. This is usually the case when He is calling us to do something we dislike or calling us to make some sort of sacrifice. Sacrifice is really not something most people want to hear. We love to hear about blessings, but really don't want to hear about sacrifice.
We claim to love the Lord, but the true test of that love comes when He calls us to sacrifice something for Him. Sacrifice calls us to give up something precious. That something precious can be money, it can be possessions, but in most cases it is OURSELVES! You see, the greatest sacrifice you can make to the Lord is YOURSELF! You have nothing more valuable to give to Christ than your life.
The fact is, when you accepted Jesus into your heart and life by faith, part of that process is the act of giving your life to Him. The Bible says that we have been bought with a price, that it is no longer our life any longer, but that we belong to Him. So when the Lord speaks to you and you are faced with the opportunity to obey His voice, you are really only giving Him what He already owns anyway . . . YOU!
I know that this is a very challenging word today. We are all called each day to obey God's voice. Throughout the course of the day God will speak to us . . . and not just hearing his voice, but obeying his voice is what we are required to do as His followers. Obeying God often calls for sacrifice on our part. Whether it is sacrificing our time, talent, or treasure, ALL WE HAVE BELONGS TO HIM! So in essence, He is only asking us to give Him what already belongs to Him anyway.
I thank God for His Word that guides us through this life. One of the great challenges we have is obeying God's voice. The fact is we have the free will to ignore God or listen to Him. I can tell you without any hesitancy that ignoring God is just stupid since we know it is only going to bring pain and heartache. The reality is God loves to bless His children and God will always bless our obedience! Let me say that one more time, GOD WILL ALWAYS BLESS OUR OBEDIENCE!
I love you and care about you so much. I am praying for you today, that as you hear the voice of God in your life, that you will not just hear His voice but obey His voice. God has a purpose and reason for what He asks us to do. Rarely do we fully comprehend that purpose or reason, but that is not our job. Our job is to simply be obedient and do what God is calling us to do, no matter what that may be. May you take time each day to not only hear God's voice, but be faithful to obey God's voice and enjoy His blessings.
***Over these past 15 yrs...God has used people like YOU to keep His work going here at Liveprayer..a few times every year we find ourselves in a place where the work here will end simply because we don't have enough funds to cover the basic operational need..not for buildings..or to pay huge staffs...or for private jets..mansions..or Bentley's..but simply basic operations...
....today is one of those moments..when I need..a few of our friends who God has blessed and enabled to help me at this critical time to step up....I am simply operating now by faith..praying for that several of our friends to hear God's calling..and respond..it will be YOUR obedience today..that will enable another month of impacting lives and saving souls to continue..without your obedience..it can all end in a moment...
...please..will you pray..will you ask the Lord what he would have you do to help me..what He is asking you to SACRIFICE so others may find hope in their time of need and everlasting life through faith in Jesus......I am simply on my knees..trusting God..and the obedience of several of our friends to help me today...just as they have done each month over these past 22 yrs....blessings..bk
***MAY FINANCIAL UPDATE: As we are down to the final 3 days of May, we have taken in $12,000 of the $40,000 we require for our basic operations budget this month. $10,000 of our $30,000 balance are operational expenses from early in the month that are required to be paid immediately.
For Liveprayer TV, we are working on the $31,450 due next Friday May 30th for June's programs, a 5 week payment because of the way the weeks fall this month.
I am praying for 7 of our friends God has richly blessed to help me with a special one-time gift. 2 with a gift of $5,000 that will clear up the $10,000 we require immediately for LP.com operations, and 5 who can send a special gift of $6,290 between now and the end of the month for our programs in June on the Chicago station.
For those who can't send one of these 7 special gifts we require, if you will simply "give as you are able to give" as the Bible teaches I know God will come through as He has every month for 22 years and enable it to all add up to the $59,450 we require over the next 3 days to end May with our Liveprayer.com and Liveprayer TV budget's current!!!
--->If there is ONE of our friends that may have had a windfall from selling real estate..a business..or has been praying about sowing a significant gift into God's work..PLEASE PRAY about sending a gift of $59,450 to insure our required finances are current and we could use the gifts from the rest of this month to get a head start on June, a traditional slow month as the summer months are every year.
With the economic decline over the past 5 yrs, I have NOBODY I can call to help me would never share this need if it wasn't so critical to simply being here 24/7. I am counting on several of our friend who God has blessed to can help me today and over these last few days of May.
Please pray, and if God is asking you to step up at this critical time, contact me at: bkeller@liveprayer.com and we can discuss the quickest way to get those funds into our account by wire transfer, or even depositing the funds into our Wells Fargo account if you have a local Wells Fargo branch.
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. I am on my knees in prayer, in a place we have only found ourselves a few times over the past 15 years, totally dependant on several of our friends to be obedient and help me today. All I can ask is that you pray, and if God is speaking to your hear, be obedient and contact me and allow God to bless you and your family for your faithfulness as Liveprayer presses forward.
Thank you for being faithful and being OBEDIENT, since our blessings flow from our obedience!!!
In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller