Daily Devotional for Monday January 15, 2018

Dr. Martin Luther King Day and Racism

(Genesis 1:27)

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, this nation is under your judgment for our sin, wickedness, and rebellion. Help me to be courageous as I stand for you in these perilous times. Use me as a beacon of your light in the darkness of our world today. Though our enemies surround us, the world around me curses you, help me to stand for your Truth that will ultimately defeat the lies of satan. May the evil of this world become so apparent, people will begin to bow their knee to you in repentance knowing YOU are their only hope and only answer! In the name of Jesus…AMEN!!!

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Day today, I want to share this special Devotional. Racism is not something unique to the black/white issues we have here in the United States. Those who live in other countries or who have spent time in other nations around the world, know all too well that racism is not exclusive to the United States and is sadly alive and well in most places today. Dividing people due to skin color, money, societal position, or a myriad of other ways, has been around from the very beginning of time and is one of satan's most powerful weapons.

Most unfortunate is that the nation’s first black President, Barack Hussein Obama, did more to set back race relations in this nation over his 8 years in office than anyone could have imagined. It was really sad to see such an opportunity to heal this satanic inspired division squandered and actually made worse since the civil rights movement of the late 60’s!!!

Now, more than ever the Church must rise above these divisive tactics. Unfortunately one of the most glaring examples of racism occurs each Sunday morning at 11 a.m. in churches all across our nation. I applaud the many fine churches that have worked hard to tear down these barriers and are a snapshot of Heaven with people who are black, white, brown, red, and yellow all coming together to praise, worship, and glorify their God and His Son Jesus Christ.

I pray that as you read these words, you will ask God what role you can play in helping to tear down the walls of division. I am so thankful that Liveprayer brings together over 2.5 million people worldwide every day, bound only by the love of Jesus Christ. People of every color, from most every nation, from ages 12 to 96, from every walk of life, rich and poor, and FROM EVERY CHRISTIAN DENOMINATION AND CHURCH GROUP. They are all simply looking for the hope we all need in this life, the hope that can only come from knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

I guess I was very blessed growing up. My parents and church taught me at a young age that all men, that is ALL men regardless the color of their skin, are created equal and in the image of God. Going to high school in the early '70s, I was part of the new forced busing initiatives at that time in our country and ended up attending a school that was 90% African-American. I played sports, had a great time in high school and never even thought much about the skin color of the people who were part of my daily life.

After graduation, I went to college at Ohio State University which has a tremendous population of foreign students which made it possible to interact with people from many different cultures and backgrounds. I worked in high school and college in a Chinese restaurant and my best friend was Chinese.

After college, I married a woman from Korea and have totally enjoyed that culture, having visited Korea dozens of times. Currently 40% of the Board of Directors of my ministry are African-American. During the first years of my ministry when I was on the road holding evangelistic services all over the country, I preached in many Korean, Spanish, Romanian, African-American churches, as well as those of other ethnic backgrounds.

I have been blessed to have been exposed to many people of different races and cultural backgrounds in my life. That is why I have always been so disgusted when I see the racial divides in this country. You don't have to be much of an historian to realize that the racial tensions in this country are no different, actually pretty tame, compared to the racial tensions in other countries in the world today and throughout time.

The Bible is full of stories of racial tensions. Unfortunately, one of the enemy's strongest weapons is that of division. The ability to divide people by race, speech, skin color, finances, location, or anything else we can think of has been one of Satan's most effective tools of destruction. In our weakness, we fall into this trap so often.

Let me tell you right now, there is only one distinction that is going to matter for eternity. That is whether or not you know Jesus Christ as your personal savior. There are not going to be lines for Japanese, whites, wealthy, those with blue eyes, or for Baptists, Pentecostals, or Catholics. My friend, there are only going to be two lines when this life is over. The line for those who know Jesus Christ and the line for those who have rejected Jesus Christ!!!

My Bible says that God made man in His own image. Not white men in His own image, or black men in His own image, or Asian men in His own image....MAN. We are ALL created equal. GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSON! I want to challenge you today to quit looking at why the person next to you may be different, and start looking at the person next to you as to whether or not they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Their skin color is not important, but the condition of their heart is!!!

I love you and care about you so much. God sent His Son to die for the sins of this world, so that WHOEVER believes in Him may not perish but have everlasting life. Quit worrying about the nationality of your neighbor and worry about his eternal destination. Let me encourage you today to start looking at the people God places in your life in a different way. Don't dwell on how they may be different, but see how God may use you to open their heart to knowing Christ as their Savior.

Racism is a tool that satan used to divide people. My prayer today is that you will open your heart and look at your fellow man as God does....as a human soul made in God's image that has the same problem we all are born with, sin. Let God use you to reach people regardless of the differences there may be, because in the end all men will live for eternity. How they respond to this man called Jesus will determine where that eternity is spent.

***I HAVE SOME GREAT NEWS TO SHARE WITH YOU!!!

FIRST, THANKS TO THE LOVE AND GENEROUS SACRIFICES OF SO MANY OF OUR FRIENDS “GIVING AS THEY WERE ABLE TO GIVE” AS THE BIBLE TEACHES, WE ENDED 2017 JUST $50,000 SHORT OF COVERING 100% OF OUR MONTHLY OPERATIONAL COSTS. ADDITIONALLY, OVER THE FIRST 2 WEEKS OF THE NEW YEAR THAT AMOUNT WAS NOW DOWN TO JUST $20,000!!!

SECOND AND VERY CRITICAL, I HAVE RESTRUCTURED SOME OF OUR OPERATIONS WITHOUT COMPROMISING OUR DAILY MINISTRY TO PEOPLE WORLDWIDE, CUTTING OUR MONTHLY MINISTRY OPERATIONS BUDGET FROM $65,000 TO $50,000. THAT IS $180,000 OFF OUR MONTHLY BUDGET THE LAST 10 YEARS!!!

LASTLY, THE LIVEPRAYER TV PROGRAM WILL BE BACK IN NATIONAL SYNDICATION THIS SUMMER!

Many times we were several hundred thousand dollars in monthly shortfalls. However, through His wisdom, grace, and mercy, we were only interrupted in our daily ministry operations for apx 45 days. As we ended 2017, God moved on many hearts to help us, several people making significant sacrifices, and we were just $55,000 short of ending the year with ALL of our daily ministry operations current! That number is down to just $20,000 over the first 2 weeks of January!!! GOD IS GOOD!!!

It has been YOUR prayers and YOUR faithful generous sacrifices over the years that has made Liveprayer available tens of millions of people worldwide for nearly two decades, with over 1.2 million souls we know of coming to faith in Jesus Christ! That requires and AMEN!!! You will never fully know the impact of your faithfulness until you get to Glory!!!

***Please continue to pray for me and HIS work here at Liveprayer as we continue the work God called us to 19 yrs ago. We are now down to the final $20,000 from 2017. Seek the Lord about a special one-time gift to help me clean up the final $20,000 of 2017 by this Tuesday afternoon so we can begin working on our new reduced monthly operations budget of $50,000.

TO GIVE A GIFT TO LIVEPRAYER, you can use your major credit card or PayPal at: http://www.liveprayer.com/donation.cfm or you can mail your gift to: Liveprayer, 6660 46th Ave. North, St. Petersburg, FL 33709. All gifts to Liveprayer are 100% tax deductible!

Know that you and your family are in my prayers daily, and may HIS richest blessings be yours as together we serve and follow our Lord!!!

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