Daily Devotional for Wednesday November 28, 2018

"Son of dirt"

(Ezekiel 14:12-13)

***LIVEPRAYER TV IS BACK!!! We re-launched the Liveprayer TV program with a LIVE Thanksgiving Day special broadcast! You can watch the Liveprayer TV program LIVE every Monday thru Friday from 11p-Midnight EST on all major streaming services on your TV, computer, tablet, or phone!!! You can also watch the program ON DEMAND on your schedule!!! For all details go to: https://liveprayer.com/liveprayer-show-about.cfm

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, please help me to live this day honoring you in my thoughts, words, and deeds. Help me this day to live my life pleasing and acceptable to Jesus. Allow me to use my life to help someone else during this day, and be kind to everyone I come across no matter how they may treat me. Let Christ shine through me throughout this day oh Lord, be glorified through my life! In Jesus name I pray...AMEN!!!

The prayers by a "son of dirt" and millions of others from nearly 15 years ago!!! Fifteen years ago this coming May, Liveprayer undertook a 40 day prayer effort for our nation. To launch this effort, God told me to fly to Washington DC, get in sackcloth and ashes, LITERALLY, and pray in front of the White House. It was one of those moments when you seriously question if you are hearing from God or not. However, I didn't question what God called me to do, and along with a dozen or so friends of Liveprayer who joined me, some flying in from other states, obeyed His command.

Now, nearly 15 years later, this "son of dirt" can look back and can see how the obedience of those 40 days of prayer are being answered. The message of our nation turning back to God and His Truth is one I have shared virtually since the beginning of Liveprayer nearly 20 years ago now. That 40 days prayer effort launched in front of the White House on May 1st in 2004, was followed by the launch in 2007 of the Jonah Project ( http://www.liveprayer.com/jonah ). The Jonah Project is a bold and clear clarion call for our nation to repent and turn back to God our Creator and Biblical Truth.

Enjoy, and even be a bit amazed at the words I wrote in May 2004 as I shared that great experience, which today I can clearly see was the prayer foundation for what we will be experiencing in this nation. As I share these words with you today, I see a mighty move of God’s Holy Spirit coming to this land, and a mighty harvest of souls won to faith in Jesus Christ! The prayers, the generous sacrifices by so many of our friends in the Liveprayer family over the years have not been in vain! Unlike many of the great heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11, we may actually get to see and experience the fruit of our prayers, sacrifices, and efforts for the Lord!

SHARE THIS MESSAGE TODAY WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW, AND POST IT ON ALL OF YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA!!! It's a great lesson for all who love the Lord in obedience, trusting God no matter He is calling you to do, and knowing as the prophet Isaiah stated, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." AMEN!!!

(from May 3, 2004)

With the launch of the new daily Liveprayer radio program last week and preparing for the start of the 40 days of prayer, fasting, and repentance for our nation on Saturday, I really had little time to dwell much on, what going to our nation's capital meant other than God told me to go. I spent most of the evening Friday in between the radio and TV programs reading God's Word and praying, rather than sleeping which is what I normally do during that time each day. I was in the Book of Ezekiel, reading about God's faithful prophet to the children of Israel who were in captivity to the Babylonians.

"The Word of the Lord came unto me," occurs 49 times in the Book of Ezekiel, as God spoke to his servant about what to say to the people. In reading and studying some of these messages from God, they start with God calling Ezekiel "son of man." But in one common translation, it reads, "SON OF DIRT!" Could there be a better reminder of who we really are? It was from the dust of the earth that God created us. My friend, if there is ever a time that we get full of ourselves, full of pride, thinking more of ourselves than we should, may we always be reminded that we are "sons of dirt."

Throughout the book of Ezekiel, God speaks to the people though His servant reminding the children of Israel why they were in captivity . . . their evil hearts, chasing the false gods of the world, ignoring the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, simply living their lives in rebellion to His Word. Over and over again God was showing me that if He spared not His judgment on His own children for their sins, we have no reason to expect Him to spare His judgment on our nation today. Sin is sin in God's eyes, but the United States has taken sin and rebellion to God to levels I doubt has ever been seen in human history.

I CAME UNDER GREAT CONVICTION THAT THIS 40 DAYS OF PRAYER, FASTING, AND REPENTANCE FOR OUR NATION WILL BE CRITICAL TO HOW GOD DEALS WITH OUR NATION IN THE COMING DAYS.

The Liveprayer television program comes on at 1 a.m. EDT, so my Friday night program began one hour into the 40 days. It was a great way to launch this special time, and God had convicted me a week earlier to do the program that night in sackcloth and ashes, symbolic of the repentance for our sins against God. Just an hour before we went on air, right at midnight, I got the word that we had received a little over 3 million names from people throughout the nation and around the world who had committed to be part of this 40 days of prayer and fasting for our nation. I did my very best to do what God had called me to do, it was now up to the people to respond.

The last phase of the launch was Saturday at noon in Washington, D.C. I did all I could for over a month to encourage President Bush to see the gravity of the spiritual state of our nation, and issue a proclamation to the people to pray, fast, and turn their hearts back to the God of the Bible from May 1st to June 9th. I was blessed to have three different, very well connected sources make that appeal to him. I am also aware of the tremendous efforts many of you made as well. For reasons only he knows, President Bush chose to not respond. But God spoke to me clearly and said He put this on my heart, I needed to go to Washington DC, put on sackcloth and ashes, and pray for our nation in front of the White House.

After the TV program went off the air early Saturday morning, I drove home, rested for a few hours and got on a plane and went to Washington, D.C. I found there was much construction all around the White House especially right on Pennsylvania Ave. where I told people to come if they wanted to join me in prayer. So I ended up across the street in Lafayette Park directly facing the front of the White House. I was joined by 6 people from Liveprayer, one lady actually flew in from Chicago just to be part of this time of prayer. At noon, I donned the sackcloth and ashes, we formed a circle and prayed for our nation, and then for the next 3 hours prayed for this nation to repent of its sins and turn its heart back to the God of the Bible.

I later learned that about two dozen other people had shown up, one man driving in from Pennsylvania, but due to the construction they were in other locations around the massive White House compound. But God had already orchestrated this better than any man could have. While we were praying, there were other groups from Liveprayer actually praying in various locations around the White House. We had the White House circled in prayer! I want to thank those who came out Saturday, as well as so many of you who I know wanted to be there but were praying during that time from their homes.

As I flew home late Saturday night, totally exhausted, I couldn't really sleep. I was thinking how much I would love to be able to talk with Ezekiel, Jonah, Isaiah, Elijah. I wanted to know if when they spoke to the people, when nobody seemed to be listening, if they ever wondered if they were wasting their time. As I prayed in front of the White House Saturday, there were lots of tourists in Lafayette Park, a group of demonstrators for immigration rights, and I wondered if praying for this nation would mean anything since most people could care less. They were happy in their sin, happy living lives void of God. If they didn't care, why should I?

Then the Holy Spirit brought to my mind that powerful passage from Hebrews Chapter 11, "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance." God reminded me that most of the time, we will NEVER see the results of our labor for the Kingdom. As a matter of fact, God uses us in many ways that we don't even realize. The key is not for us to see the results or to always know what God is doing, it is TO BE OBEDIENT AND FAITHFUL! That is what God calls us to be, OBEDIENT AND FAITHFUL. God honors our obedience, and God honors our faithfulness.

I love you and care about you so much. I pray for you EVERY DAY. I love and appreciate you more than you will ever know. In praying near the end of my flight home, I was thinking about how many of the men who served God in the Bible did so alone. They would cry out to God out of frustration because they were all alone. God has RICHLY blessed me to have you! I deeply appreciate more than you will ever know your love and prayers for me and this ministry.

I am grateful that those God has called to give, have been faithful to support His work here at Liveprayer which makes all that we do each day for over 2 million people worldwide through the Internet, television, and now radio possible. I am honored how you heard God's voice and helped me to mobilize over 3 million people, 1% of this nation, to participate in these 40 days of prayer, fasting, and repentance for this country. Only eternity will show us the fruits of our labors here in this life.

Let me leave you with this one special word. We walk by faith, NOT by sight. God does not call us to know and understand everything He asks us to do. He only calls us to be obedient and faithful. In the end, there is only one reward the child of God should be looking for. That is to stand before our Creator when this journey is over and hear Him say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant!" There can be no greater reward for a "son of dirt."

In His love and service,

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

Bill Keller