Daily Devotional for Thursday February 13, 2003

Do You Honor God with Your Lips or Your Life?

(Isaiah 29:13, James 3:9,10)

Do you honor God with your lips, or your life? Several weeks ago I did a Devotional on how God calls what those who try to speak to the dead, those who are involved in fortune-telling and other psychic activities do, an ABOMINATION. I gave a mountain of scripture to support that God clearly says this is activity we are NOT to be involved in. I used Jonathan Edwards, this fraud who claims to speak to the dead as an example in that Devotional. At best, Edwards and those like him are highly polished carnival acts, at worst, they are operating with demonic powers. Every time I deal with this issue, the demons of hell come flying out of the woodwork. Those who defend Edwards, Sylvia Brown, and the rest of these deceivers all say the same thing. "They have to be of God. They pray, and they always talks about God".

The prophet Isaiah said it so well in the anchor verse for today. "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." It is not what you say that makes you Godly, it is what you do! These psychics honor God with their words, then proceed to engage in activity that is 100% in opposition to God. I read recently that a woman won an award for appearing in a pornographic movie and said that she wanted to thank Jesus for the award. I cringe as I watch an athlete give glory to God for what he accomplished on the field, then moments later proceed to take God's name in vain. Saying the word "God" does not make you "of God". It is your actions that make you "of God"!

Please don't get me wrong. I am not saying that we should not give God all of the glory, honor, and praise that He deserves. WE MUST! But God is more interested in how we honor Him with our lives. My mother use to tell me that actions speak louder then words. She was 100% correct as mothers always are. The greatest impact that we can have on someone we are close to is not by what we say, but how we live our life. Our most powerful testimony is not our words, but our actions. The greatest impact that you can have on unsaved family members, friends, those that you may see at school or work, is not what you will say to them about Jesus, but how you show them Jesus in YOUR day to day life.

I love you and care about you so much. I pray today that just because someone uses the name "God", or "Jesus" , or "Christian", that you just don't automatically accept all that they say and do. You can't be "of God" and then blatantly live in 100% opposition to God. The Bible, our final authority in all matters, the ABSOLUTE TRUTH that we base our very lives on, says that those who do what Edwards does, what Brown and the other psychics do, is a SIN. So they can invoke the name of God, pray all they want, that does NOT make what they are doing "of God" any more then what the porno actress does, even though she also gives glory to God. God is not impressed with our words, but our actions. My question to you today is this, do you honor God with your lips, or with your life?

Please do me a favor. As we head into the last 2 weeks of the month we still need $16,600 to finish the month with all of our financial obligations met. As you know, we need $30,000 every month to cover all of the monthly costs to operate this ministry. For only $1,000 a day, we minister EVERY DAY to just under 2 million people all over the world! Only God could do that. Only YOU make that possible! Please pray today about how God would have you help me this month and give the most generous gift that you can. For some that may be a gift of $20 or $50. For others it may be $100 or $300. Still others it could be a gift of $500, $1,000, or the entire $16,600. Simply pray, and give as God leads you to give.

You can put your gift on your major credit card on a secure server by going to my website, www.liveprayer.com under the "Donation" button, you can give via PayPal using my email address, bkeller@liveprayer.com ,or you can mail a gift to: Liveprayer 6660 46th Avenue North St. Petersburg, Florida 33709 All gifts to Liveprayer are 100% tax deductible.

Thank you for standing with me to make this ministry available 24/7/365 for so many all over the world each and every day. It is YOUR PRAYERS and YOUR GIFTS that make all that we do for so many possible. In closing, remember to honor God with your lips AND your life!

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

Bill Keller