Daily Devotional for Thursday December 12, 2019

Joyless Christians who tell you we should NOT celebrate the birth of Jesus!!!

(Luke 2:6-7)

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, please guide my steps this day. Help me to walk in Your light and strength and not in my own ways. Thank You for Your many blessings, most that I take for granted. Help me this day to acknowledge Your love, grace, and goodness as I live my life for you and do my best to glorify You in all of my thoughts, words, and deeds. This I ask in the name of Jesus. AMEN!!!

***THE DAILY LIVEPRAYER TV NUGGET: Complete saturation of programming geared towards young children that the sin of homosexuality is natural, normal, and perfectly acceptable. A new Disney channel program has two young teen boys in a romantic relationship. Another has a character who is a young boy who thinks he is a girl. These characters are presented as perfectly normal, and actually presented as “role models.” It is all part of the media’s role in normalizing sexual deviancy in our culture. By brainwashing young children, they are helping to insure they grow up and become adults who completely support such deviancy and actually will fight back against the “haters” who oppose such perversion on Biblical grounds. This sin is now so ingrained in the culture, you have what used to be family-friendly media sources like Disney, Nickelodeon, the PBS children’s block, all promoting sexual deviancy by children as perfectly acceptable behavior.

*Don’t miss the Liveprayer TV program, airing “LIVE” every Monday thru Friday from 11pm EDT to Midnight! For details on viewing options for the Liveprayer TV program, “LIVE” or “On Demand,” go to: https://liveprayer.com/liveprayer-show-about.cfm

***SINGLE MOTHERS CHRISTMAS!!! As we are under 2 weeks before Christmas, God has laid it on my heart to reach out and try to be a blessing to 30 single moms out there who can't afford to buy your children any presents this Christmas or have a nice dinner on Christmas day. Even though we still need to raise the final $47,000 to cover our December financial needs, God has blessed Liveprayer over the years because I have always been obedient to the Lord's voice and given into our own needs. The Holy Spirit has told me to give $200 to 30 single moms who otherwise won't have Christmas this year.

If you are a single mother and you have no way to provide some presents and a nice dinner for your children this Christmas, I want to help you make that happen. We will bless the first 30 single moms who contact us. You need to email me at: bkeller@liveprayer.com and in the Subject line, put SINGLE MOTHER CHRISTMAS. I need your name, your address, and your phone number so that someone on my staff can follow up with you. I am asking you please, don't ask for help if you have other places like your church or other groups in your area that can help you provide for your children this Christmas. This $200 is ONLY to be used to buy your children a few presents and have a nice Christmas dinner! *If you know of such a mother with children, please forward this message to them!

As you know, I have always led by example and have never asked you to do something I am not willing to do. I have committed to personally cover 15 of the gifts. Let me challenge those reading this today who want to help me be a blessing to a single mother and her children this Christmas. Pray today about being 1 of the other 15 people to make a special gift to Liveprayer by the end of the week of $200 to cover the gift we will send to one of the single mothers we are going to help this Christmas. If God is leading you to help me make this a special Christmas for a single mom and he children, make sure on your check you put SINGLE MOM, or if you give by credit card drop me an email that your gift is for one of the single moms and her children. THANK YOU AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU FOR PRAYING AND CARING!!!

Every year at this time, I get inundated with emails that read like 40-page doctrinal dissertations on why a Christian should NOT celebrate Christmas. They make very good arguments about the pagan celebrations at this time of year, the evils of the Christmas tree, lying to children about Santa Claus, how Jesus was not born on December 25th, and many other reasons why a Christian should not celebrate Christmas. To those people I have only one thing to say . . . BAH HUMBUG!

Please, don't send me emails why those who celebrate Christmas are following the devil. If you are led to not celebrate the birth of our Lord and want to miss out, that is up to you. Sadly, your misguided legalism has stolen your joy.

Listen, everyone understands that Jesus was not born on December 25, but according to most scholars, He was born sometime in September. I have yet to meet anyone who worshipped their Christmas tree; only decorated it. If you are old enough to be able to read this, then you are old enough to know that there is no Santa Claus and, yes, there are many pagan celebrations that occur at this time of the year and the Bible does not have the word Christmas in it. However, there is only ONE REASON that we celebrate Christmas and that is to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Christians SHOULD celebrate the birth of Jesus! It is right and good that we take time each year to remember that blessed event. It was foretold by the prophets of old. It is a well-documented, historical event chronicled in the Gospels and supported by the historians of that day. After His death and resurrection, it is easily the GREATEST EVENT IN HUMAN HISTORY!

Think about it. God Himself, the Creator of the heavens and earth, came to this earth as a mere man to live with His creation. He came as a baby, born of a virgin in a humble manger in an obscure little town. He would grow up to die on a cross as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. Three days after His death, God would raise Him from the dead as a sign to this lost and unbelieving world that He was exactly who He claimed to be . . . the SON OF GOD!

His life would literally transform the lives of every man, woman, and child for the rest of human history!!! THAT is why we celebrate Christmas. THAT is why, as Christians, we SHOULD celebrate Christmas!!!

I love you and care about you so much. I realize that people who say not to celebrate Christmas mean well and are trying to live their lives in a way pleasing and acceptable to God. Sadly, they are missing the great joy of this time of year. I know they are well intentioned and many of the things they point out about Christmas are true but they have missed the point of Christmas.

Christmas is about only one thing, celebrating the birth of Jesus. It is one of those times of the year that we gather with family and friends and share our faith in Christ. That alone is a great reason we should be celebrating Christmas.

Christmas is also VERY BIBLICAL. Luke Chapter 2 gives us the account of His birth. That was the very first Christmas. Of course, Mary was there, as was Joseph. We also read about several shepherds that God spoke to who were part of that first Christmas. Now, some 2,000 years later, we will set aside time in the coming days to do what they did at that first Christmas . . . to celebrate the birth of Jesus!

I pray today that you will never forget what Christmas is really about and why we celebrate this holiday. Of course, anything that the world gets involved with becomes perverted. The world has taken this sacred time of the year and turned it into a time of commerce.

We must never allow ourselves to get so caught up in the parties, the gifts, the food, and all of the other things associated with the Christmas season to forget what it is about . . . .a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. THAT is what Christmas is really about and THAT is why, as Christians, we SHOULD celebrate this wonderful event!!!

In His love and service,

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller