Daily Devotional for Monday August 11, 2003
When the people of God speak!
( Judges 20:11, 1 Cor 10:17 )
When the people of God speak! THANK YOU to everyone that voted in the CNN poll, and encouraged others to do so. As of 7am Saturday August 9th, it was 54%/46% YES over NO. AMEN! Just as encouraging, there were over 4.4 million YES votes!!! When I originally saw this poll on Wednesday afternoon, it had been up for 1 week. I was shocked that such a fundamental question was even being asked, and even more shocked that the vote at the time was 60/40, NO over YES. I also saw that there were only app. 300,000 YES votes. At that moment, God gave me a plan.
This Daily Devotional currently goes to a subscriber base of over 1.7 million people worldwide every day. We have conservatively figured that after people forward it to family, friends, co-workers, those who read or listen to it on Liveprayer.com, as well on other Internet sites and message boards I have given permission to post it, well over 3 million people read the Devotional each day. Only God really knows the actual number. I was very confident that we could add at least 500,000 additional YES votes to the poll.
I was more than pleased that in the first day alone, over 1.1 million additional YES votes were added and the YES votes were winning 57%/43%. The YES votes continued to pour in on Friday, over 2 million more! The funny thing was the NO votes all of a sudden started to pour in as well. I had my techs who are some of the smartest guys in the world do some research, and they were certain based on the voting pattern, someone was using robotic programs to force tens of thousands of NO votes at a time. Why was I not surprised. But the YES votes continued to stream in and as of Saturday morning, there were over 4.4 million and YES was winning 56%/44%.
In addition to hopefully making a statement on a website that is not friendly to the agenda of God, the Lord guided me to pursue this for a larger reason. I wanted people that are associated with Liveprayer to see what can happen when even a small group of believers come together in one voice. They CAN and WILL be heard even in the most hostile setting! I prove that point 5 nights a week on my television program.
I am on the UPN network, owned by Viacom, which is one of the largest media conglomerates in the world. They pump all kinds of unGodly content through that network 24/7, but every Monday thru Friday from 1-2am on the UPN affiliate in Tampa (go to www.liveprayer.com and click on the Liveprayer TV Program icon on the left menu bar for details how you can see the program) I bring the hope and love of Jesus Christ to an audience that is 95% unsaved and not in church. I take live calls every night in the most hostile setting there is. But just like God answered by fire on Mt. Carmel in 1 Kings 18, the glory of almighty God shines through on that program each night as people get saved LIVE on TV and the Lord works in the hearts of thousands of viewers each and every night!
When the people of God come together, GREAT THINGS happen. If you read in the book of Acts, there are a few places where it states that they came together in "one heart and one accord." Every time you see that stated, the power of God falls! God's people coming together in one heart and one accord CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. That is why even though we all have our own churches that we attend, to allow division in the Body of Christ based on where you choose to worship is falling right into the trap of satan to divide us. Trust me, when you die and stand before God, He is NOT going to ask you the name of the church you attended, only the name of His Son! God is not going to be impressed with the name of the building you chose to worship in, only that you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!
My friend, in case you aren't aware yet, we are in an all out war, a spiritual war that we are watching play out right in front of our eyes each and every day. Satan is NOT playing games, he is deadly serious. That is why in John 10 Jesus told us exactly what his plan is, "to kill, steal, and destroy." If you haven't noticed, satan is NOT afraid of God's people at all. Why? He knows they are lazy and divided. While we sleep, satan and his minions are busy destroying lives. While we are focused more on the things we want to do in life as opposed to what God wants to do through our life, satan and his minions are dedicated 100% to destroying people. While we argue amongst ourselves about what day of the week to worship, what hymnbook to use, and what kind of flowers to put on the platform, satan and his minions are 100% unified in their mission to take as many souls to hell as they can. The eternal souls of people is NOT a game.
I love you and care about you so much. I have never doubted for a moment the power that exists when the people of God come together with a common goal. Over the past few days, I got to see a glimpse of Heaven as people of like faith set aside their church affiliations, their doctrinal differences, all of the things that we have used to divide ourselves, and came together simply to vote YES on a simple poll. I pray that it was an exercise that helps you to see how powerful we really are. THAT is why I share with you so often that if we will just become more bold, be more vocal in standing for the truth of God's Word, GOD'S VOICE WILL BE HEARD. The only reason God is not being heard in our modern culture is because God's people are silent. We MUST take God out of the 4 walls of the church and take Him into the marketplace!
I pray today that God will use this exercise over the past couple of days to encourage you and to stir you to action. What can you do? Live a Godly life each day before this lost and hurting world. Never forget that you are His ambassador and always be ready to share Christ and His love with those you meet along your journey. DON'T BE AFRAID TO SPEAK OUT TO DEFEND THE TRUTH OF GOD'S WORD! Lastly, never forget that the Bible proclaims that when you accept Christ as your Savior, it is not your life any longer, it belongs to Him. God wants to use each and every one of His children to serve Him. After all, that is our purpose in this life, to serve and glorify God with our life. God has a plan and purpose for each one of our lives, and my prayer today is that you will fully surrender your life to Him.
I can honestly say that I would serve God even if I didn't know the final outcome. But if you take time to read the end of the book, GOD WINS! Sadly, when you look at God's people you would never know it. They are largely uninspired, apathetic, lazy, divided, and focused on everything BUT the work He has called us to do. That is why this lost world that rejects God's Word doesn't accept that in the end they lose and HE wins. May you never forget this brief and small glimpse of what can happen when God's people come together as one and make their voice heard. We already know we win, so let's start living like winners, acting like winners, and serving our God like winners. We are all on the same team. We are going to spend eternity together. Our Lord is returning any moment. Now is the time for God's team to come together as ONE and be heard!
In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller