Daily Devotional for Thursday January 9, 2020

"Get a real job!"

(Matthew 6:21)

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, I have strayed from You and want to come home. I have allowed the daily life in this world to lead me astray, to allow me to drift from You, and I miss You dear Lord! Today, I recommit my heart and life to You and to serve You. Use me for Your glory Lord. Make my life count for Your Kingdom. Above all, bring to me Your PEACE and JOY! Give me the joy of my salvation again as I walk close to You each moment of each day. In Jesus name I pray...AMEN!

***THE DAILY LIVEPRAYER TV NUGGET: Please be in prayer for the people of Australia as they deal with the horrific fires in that nation. So far, 28 have died due to these fires, thousands more have had to flee for their very lives as their homes and everything they owned were burned up, and sadly an estimated ½ a billion animals have been killed. Worse, due to the lack of rain and winds there is no end to this disaster in sight. While the fear-mongers around the world are blaming the climate change hoax for the fires in Australia, it has been proven some of these fires were started due to nature, lightning strikes, while most were sadly started by arsonists. So far, over 200 people have currently been charged with arson regarding the fires. The bulk of this disaster seems to be man-made, just not due to people polluting the plane but committing criminal acts!

*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

"...you are nothing but a typical money-grubber...why don't you go out and get a real job?"

This is an excerpt from an email we got recently, in addition to the 40,000 we receive daily for prayer and counsel. To be fair, we have received emails like these for the over 20 years we have been online. They amuse me as I wonder if these same people think all that we in reaching millions worldwide 24/7/365 all happens by magic. I wonder if they are upset when politicians "beg" people to give them $50,000 for a chicken dinner to pursue their political ideology, or those commercials with sad one-eyes animals and the creepy music designed to induce you to give to some animal group, or the local zoo, performing arts council, or any number of non-profit organizations that depend on donations to fund their work.

The fact is, if I was a "typical money-grubber," I would have done what Hinn, TBN, and the rest of the major Christian ministries do and simply preach to the choir, use Scripture out of context to tell you why giving me money will make you rich, or other deception they use in order to guilt you into giving them money. If that was my goal, I would just be another "ear tickling" motivational preacher like Osteen and never mention sin, hell, or anything else that would offend people in order to amass a great following (and money!). I guess I was an idiot for not asking people to give me money for private planes, buildings, mansions, cars, and million dollar salaries like most of the big-time Christian ministries have done and still do today!

I remember several years ago when the ultra-liberal blog that has often hammered over the years, the Huffington Post founded by Arianna Huffington who was already rich after marrying and divorcing Michael Huffington, was bought by AOL/Time-Warner for $315 million. What a world we live in when a left-wing Christian-hating blog is bought by a major entity like AOL/Time-Warner, whose stock price lost over half a billion dollars in value after their purchase! Several years later they dumped HuffPo to media giant Verizon!

I remember over the years many offers by different groups and ministries to buy Liveprayer.com and the 20+ year “brand” it represents. Additionally, because of our Daily Devotional data base of apx. 2.5 million worldwide that I HAVE NEVER OR WILL EVER rent at well over $125,000 every time, numerous unsolicited offers over the past 5 years were around $10 million dollars. I guess a true "money grubber" would have sold the ministry, or used the website like most to sell books, tapes, resources, and fill the site with advertising that would make it look like a NASCAR while pocketing millions annually.

Instead, Liveprayer provides all of the incredible unique content we have produced over the past 20+ years and still produce every day for FREE since we are reaching out to the lost and hurting masses in the marketplace whose 1 and very often legitimate objection to Christian ministries is that it is nothing but a huge money hustle!!!

Since the financial hit the country took starting 10 years ago, we have seen a 65% drop in donations like most churches, ministries, and non-profits have. In difficult financial times, I had a wonderful group of 30 people I could call on to help with a gift of $5,000, $10,000, even $20,000. Most of that group has gone on to be with the Lord in the past decade and several others have had some difficult times with their businesses. We have only 2 those people out of that group of 30 that I could always count on for financial help in a time of real need.

HOWEVER, GOD ALWAYS HAS A RAM (OR RAMS) IN A BUSH! BY HIS GRACE THE LORD HAS LED SEVERAL NEW FRIENDS IN THE LIVEPRAYER FAMILY WHO HE HAS RICHLY BLESSED AND BURDENED WITH A HEART FOR HIS WORK HERE, SEEING THE FRUITS OF THE WORK WE HAVE FAITHFULLY DONE LITERALLY 24/7 GOING ON 21 YEARS NOW!!! THOSE NEW FRIENDS REALLY HELPED US IN 2019 AND I PRAY FOR SEVERAL MORE TO RISE UP TO HELP ME IN 2020!!!

To do my part, over the past 10 years I have not taken a regular salary, only what I needed to survive like electric, water, and food, despite putting in 16 hour days, 7 days a week as I have since day one over 20 years ago. Even when I did take a paycheck, my compensation was apx. $40,000 a year. For those who make the snide remark about "getting a real job," prior to going into full-time ministry 27 years ago when I had a “real job,” I was blessed and successful always making mid to high 6 figures, never really knowing what financial pressures were.

Since starting Liveprayer over 20 years ago, I have mortgaged my modest home 3-4 times to help fund the ministry, and like many people, it is under water from the 2008 real estate hit. I honestly doubt very few people could keep up with my current work schedule for a day, let alone a week. The reality is, I would be much better personally and financially having a "real job," instead of serving the Lord.

However, God has always used people who love Him to “give according to their ability to give” whether that is $5, $10, or $100. NEVER FORGET THAT THE AMOUNT IS NOT WHAT IS IMPORTANT, IT IS THE HEART AND OBEDIENCE OF THE PERSON WHO GIVES IT! He has also used hundreds of key people over these past 20+ years, who at critical times were in a position to step up and play a critical role in funding His work at Liveprayer.

It has been interesting to watch as a dear friend help with a special gift of $5,000-$50,000 at a critical moment to "save the day." I am always praying for those "day savers" to help me as we face the challenges of continuing our work for the Lord online, on TV, to reach the lost and hurting masses in the marketplace!

I know in my heart, like the Old Testament prophets knew in their hearts when God called them be faithful and serve Him no matter the personal costs. God has called me and this ministry to not only to save souls, but use this platform to lead our nation back to God and His Truth. The fact is, Liveprayer is an instrument for the Lord to help turn this nation back to God and His Truth!

As a man of flesh and blood, I can empathize with other men of flesh and blood like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, and so many others we read about in the pages of the Bible. You see, they all shared a deep and abiding relationship with God. They knew when God was speaking to them. They all took great steps of faith to accomplish what God had called them to do.

Over 20 years ago, God told me to start an internet site when there were only 2.7 million internet sites (there are 7.2 billion today), that would bring hope to the hurting, salvation to the lost, and God's Truth to this dark world we live in. I didn't even own a computer, the ministry had no money, yet BY FAITH, just like Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Paul, men of flesh and blood, I BELIEVED GOD AND BEGAN THIS WALK OF FAITH!

Here we are, in January of 2020. Tens of millions of lives worldwide have been impacted by Liveprayer over the years. Over 2.5 million souls worldwide are fed daily through the Daily Devotional. Every 24 hours we receive 40,000 emails for prayer and counsel. Most important, over 1.6 million souls we know of will be in Heaven due to our efforts and the prayers and sacrifices of those in the Liveprayer family like you!

Over the years, it has been millions of friends like you praying, thousands of friends like you making sacrifices, sometimes great sacrifices, to help Liveprayer accomplish all it has. Back in 2007, I told you in a Devotional that the world as we know it was going to change greatly in the coming years. God was no longer going to sit back and watch a nation slaughter 4,000 innocent babies every day, make a mockery of His holy institution of marriage, see every type of perverted sexual act promoted and glorified, have His plan for the family altered...while men worshipped and bowed down to every false god and idol they had created in their evil minds!

I could never ask you for a dime for myself, however if every kind of organization under the sun believes in what they are doing to ask people to support them, I certainly have no shame or hesitation to ask for your help in God’s work here at Liveprayer! THIS IS PROVEN FERTILE GROUND FOR PEOPLE TO CONFIDENTLY SOW THEIR SEEDS OF FAITH!

Our monthly budget is $55,000. In context, that is comparable to a local church with around 1,000 members meeting on Sunday’s and some other activities during the week. That is right at $1,800 a day! Just 30 people making a monthly commitment of $1,800 covers our basic monthly ministry operations!!!

The fact is, we do more with less than any non-profit, church or Christian ministry I know of. That is because I don't use your money for buildings, huge staffs, private jets, multi-million dollar salaries for me and family members, to buy 10 million dollar beachfront mansions, or new Bentleys. Listen, if you want to give ministries your money for those things that is up to you.

NINETY THREE CENTS OF EVERY DOLLAR WE RAISE GOES TO WHAT WE DO! THAT IS SAVING SOULS, BRINGING HOPE TO THE HURTING, AND TO CHANGE THE SPIRITUAL COURSE OF THIS NATION BEFORE WE SEE THE WRATH AND PUNISHMENT OF ALMIGHTY GOD UNLEASHED ON OUR LAND!!!

I need everyone today to pray! Pray for God to move on hearts who are able to help me at this critical time. I also need you to forward this Devotional to everyone you know who loves the Lord and wants to see God put back on the throne of this nation and His Truth proclaimed across the land. Lastly, even if you have to dig out some change from the couch, I need everyone reading this to pray about making the sacrifice to help me during 2020.

I love you and care about you so much. I have been on the front lines, taking the bullets, for over 20 years now. I refuse to retreat to the safety and profitability of the "Christian trough" while this nation is destroyed by satan and his minions and souls needlessly end up in hell. I have but one life, and when it was over, I want to be able to stand before God and know that I gave everything I had for the Kingdom. I want to take my last breath knowing my life's work is complete and I held nothing back in my service for the Lord.

I have only been able to fight this fight these past 2 decades because of dear friends like you. Now more than ever I need you to stand with me. Pray, give as you are able in accordance with what the Bible teaches, and take your stand with me. The time is short, the spiritual state of this nation hangs in the balance, the souls of hundreds of millions of people are at stake! It is time to act and lead this nation back to God and His Truth while leading the lost to faith in Jesus Christ!

In His love and service,

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller