Daily Devotional for Monday November 5, 2018

Salvation is not just about what you get...it is also about what you GIVE!!! Plus, special TV announcement!!!

(Galatians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Matthew 16:24-25)

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, thank you for your blessings. I admit so much of the time I take most of them for granted, but today, I want to acknowledge your love for me and the many blessings you bestow upon me each and every day. It is easy to say thank you, but more important to thank you in how I live my life each day. Give me your strength to live my life pleasing and acceptable to you during this day. In Jesus name I pray...AMEN!!!

***LIVEPRAYER TV ANNOUNCEMENT!!! It is critical in the ministry plans at Liveprayer to get the TV program back on ASAP. We have been using funds as we have been able the past few months for our techs to make this happen. Unlike the 13 yrs the Liveprayer TV program has aired on major various non-Christian stations and channels throughout the country, we will be re-launching on 30 of the top streaming platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire Stick and others LIVE Monday-Friday from 11pm-Midnight EST.

This how 50%+ of the people now watch TV, not just on their TV at home but also their tablet and phone, and where everyone will access TV within the next decade. BEST OF ALL IT WILL COST THE MINISTRY A FRACTION OF WHAT IS USED TO COST US FOR TV, WHILE REACHING MORE PEOPLE EACH NIGHT WITH THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD AND THE HOPE AND LOVE OF CHRIST EVERYONE DESPERATELY NEEDS!!!

We now need the final $3,000 for our techs to finish their work, plus $4,000 that covers our first two months of operations, a total of $7,000. That is right, $2,000 a MONTH for the TV program as opposed to the tens of thousands airing on traditional TV used to cost the ministry. That monthly cost will go up only based on number of viewers, meaning if we have to pay more it is because we are attracting a much larger audience that no doubt will also bring new friends to help support Liveprayer.

Please pray today about making a special one-time gift of $7,000 to Liveprayer specifically for the TV program. I would suggest that you make that gift in honor of someone in your life who has made an impact in your spiritual journey. If God is leading you to make this sacrifice, a foundation that will help impact untold millions of lives in the coming days, weeks, months, and years should Jesus tarry in His return, let me know at: bkeller@liveprayer.com

In our narcissistic, "What's in it for me?" culture, we have learned how to market salvation to the masses like we do cell phones, cars, and hamburgers. In our zeal to win people for Christ, we have been very careful to focus on the benefits of salvation, making sure people understood all the reasons why this is a good choice, while being too afraid to tell them the WHOLE plan of salvation. We sell salvation just like the late-night infomercials sell weight-loss pills, whipping people into an emotional frenzy by hyping all the benefits of getting saved, but never explaining to them the FULL COST of getting saved. The "fine print" in the salvation message is not what we get but what we GIVE!

I am saddened when I hear people share the Gospel, giving people an invitation to know Christ, but never really explain what a person is actually doing. Please don't misunderstand me, I am grateful for everyone who shares the Gospel, gives people the opportunity to come to know Christ as their Savior, but my point today is that we MUST tell them the complete truth about what they are doing. When a person makes the decision to accept Christ into their heart and life by faith, they are surrendering their life to Him. It is called giving your heart and life to Jesus because that is exactly what you are doing. From that moment on, your life no longer belongs to you, it belongs to Jesus. That is the critical part of the salvation message so many fail to tell people.

We are quick to point out that if you accept Jesus you will have the assurance of everlasting life with God your Creator. That is true. It is our faith in Christ, the One who died for our sins that allows us to be reconciled with a Holy God and know that when our brief journey through life is over we will be with Him for all eternity. We also make sure people understand the tremendous benefits of being saved. At that moment, the Holy Sprit indwells a Believer to supply them with the power of Almighty God. By accepting Christ as your Savior you have peace and joy in your life that is impossible to know otherwise. You come to realize that your life has meaning and purpose and experience the abundance of this life that Jesus promised. All of these things are true and need to be pointed out.

It is easy to see why people would want to be saved. Most people on the planet can accept that there is a Supreme Being or God out there. It is not hard for anyone who is honest to admit they have sinned, so asking for your sins to be forgiven makes sense. Even the heathen with the hardest heart will admit that one day he will die. Everyone knows that is a day each one of us will face. So, accepting Jesus by faith to have the assurance that when this life is over you will go to Heaven and not Hell is a logical choice to make. To also have the Holy Spirit living within you, know a special peace and joy, have a purpose in life and experience its abundance, all makes the decision to accept Christ very attractive and really something only a foolish person would turn down.

So people make that eternal choice to accept Jesus by faith and nothing really changes. They wake up the next morning in the same bed, the same house. They have the same family and friends. They go to the same school and have the same job. They have all the same problems they did the night before, and maybe even a few new ones. They do all the same things. Even though the Bible proclaims that they are "Born again," that they are a "New creature in Christ," that the "Old has passed away," their real, practical, day-to-day lives have not changed. This is why so many people who accept Christ are truly saved, but they never grow in their new faith and many of them see very little change in their life from BS (before being saved), to AS (after being saved).

The reason is when they got saved, what was left out or never really explained to them was the complete story of accepting Christ as their Savior. The part of the salvation experience that is often left out and never properly explained to people is the fact that when you accept Christ into your heart and life by faith you are giving your life to Him. It is an act of sacrifice and surrender, two words that most people want no part of.That is why this most critical element of what it means to be saved is never really spoken about. The bottom line is, when you get saved you are surrendering your life to Jesus Christ. Your life no longer belongs to you, it belongs to the Lord. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice when He literally gave His life in payment for your sins, and when you get saved, you are making a sacrifice of your life to Him.

This is so important since it goes to the very core of what being a Christian, a follower of Christ, is all about. We have sacrificed, surrendered our life to Jesus. Our life is no longer our own but now belongs to Him. All we do, where we go, everything regarding our life is now in the Lord's control. When you get saved, you are literally giving Him your life. That is why so many who know Christ live without His peace, without His joy, without any real purpose, without the victory, because they have refused to fully surrender their lives to Him. That is why most of the false religions of the world are so popular. You simply accept their false teachings but you can still live your life anyway you want to. When you become a follower of Jesus, your very life now belongs to Him.

I love you and care about you so much. That is why even though Liveprayer reaches a massive audience each day through the Internet and on TV/radio and we have people accepting Christ as their Savior every single day, we do our very best to first make sure they understand that in asking Jesus into their heart and life by faith they are literally surrendering their life to Him, that their life now belongs to Jesus. We send them a booklet that helps guide them in the basics of their new faith, things like reading the Bible and praying every day. We do our best to work with local churches to get people plugged in so they can be properly discipled and start to grow in their new faith.

When a person is saved, there is a supernatural change that happens to them spiritually. It is now critical for that person to understand that their life will never be the same again, that they are different now, and to help them begin the process of transforming their mind and day-to-day life to be a true follower of Christ. That doesn't happen overnight, but over time. It is that process of sanctification, or becoming more like Christ, that begins at the moment a person is saved and continues to their very last breath. It is vital that each person who knows Christ is not only being discipled by someone more mature in the faith at all times, but that they are giving of themselves to disciple someone who is younger in the faith at all times. We can only grow in our faith as we are helped along by those who are more mature, and we have that same responsibility to help those who are younger in the faith grow in their relationship with the Lord.

I will be praying for you today. Praying that as you share the Gospel with people like our Lord has commanded all of His children to do, that you will clearly highlight the benefits of being saved, but not leave out the fact that being saved also includes surrendering our very lives to the Lord. We are actually cheating people by NOT telling them the whole story, since our purpose in life, the fullness of our peace and joy in knowing Christ, the true abundance of this life, can never be fully experienced unless we have unconditionally surrendered our life to Christ. Getting saved is not just about what we get, but it is also about what we GIVE-our life to Jesus Christ!

In His love and service,

Your friend, brother, and co-laborer in Christ,

Bill Keller