Daily Devotional for Sunday July 19, 2020

Some REAL Godly men!!!

(John 15:16; 1 Corinthians 1:27,28)

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, Thank You for the strength You give me each day to be victorious over my enemies. I know satan is out to kill, steal, and destroy, but he is a defeated foe. Through You, I HAVE THE VICTORY! No matter what things may look like in the natural, let me never forget that there is victory in Jesus. Because You have won the victory, I have won the victory. Thank You Jesus! It is in your name I pray. AMEN!

***LIVEPRAYER CHURCH!!! Haven't been to church yet this week? Join me for this week's service at the LivePrayer Church. This week’s message is: “Who will Believe the Good Report?” Please visit the website at: http://liveprayerchurch.com and be part this week’s worship service. Each Sunday there will be a new service at 12:01am EDT

***THE DAILY LIVEPRAYER TV NUGGET: YOU...ARE...NOT...ALONE!!! In the craziness of these days we are currently experiencing, I want you to know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!! Less than 5% of the nation engaged in perverted sex with members of the same sex, and even a smaller % entered into a perverted marriage with someone of the same sex. Yet, that VERY SMALL MINORITY managed to mainstream homosexuality and gay marriage not to just the point it became acceptable and normative, but those who stood on God’s Word and opposed such sin and blasphemy were labeled bigots and hate-mongers! The Bible did say in the last days the truth would become the lie and the lie become the truth! Fast forward to today. If you don’t agree with race extortion, hatred of the police, and the anarchy of Black Lives Matter you can lose your job and career, be publicly ridiculed and shamed, and even beaten and killed! Once again, it is a minority of the population pushing this radical racial and anarchist narrative. It is being amplified by a few politicians who agree with this false narrative and the corporate mainstream media who is using the issue in their attempt to insure President Trump is no re-elected this November. Add to that so many people have been isolated from others during the Chinese Flu outbreak and I fully understand how many can begin to wonder if THEY are the ones who are wrong., if they are the ones who are crazy! My friend, take comfort in the fact that God’s Word is NEVER WRONG. It represents ABSOLUTE TRUTH! Ginning up racial hatred to advance an agenda, rebelling against the authority of those who give their very lives to serve and protect their communities, and supporting movements to literally overthrow your country ARE NOT OF GOD AND IN REBELLION TO HIS WORD!!! YOU ARE NOT WRONG BECAUSE GOD IS NOT WRONG!!! This is one of the key objectives for shutting down our churches. A big part of church is fellowshipping with other Believers, to bear each other’s burdens and encourage each other. Keeping the saints from the critical interaction is NOT an accident since in isolation without normal fellowship satan’s great trap of doubt can fester. So my friend, be of good cheer since Jesus has overcome this evil word and do not waiver in your Biblical beliefs. YOU AND GOD ARE ALWAYS A MAJORITY AND YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!

*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

Back in 2005, several people who were part of the Liveprayer family at that time were on the Professional Bull Riders Tour. I got an email that they were going to be in Tampa and wanted me to come as their special guest. As a huge sports fan since I was a child, I have been blessed over my life to go to the World Series, the Super Bowl, the NBA finals, a 7th game of the Stanley Cup finals, world championship boxing matches, NASCAR, the Indianapolis 500, the Rose Bowl, the US Open tennis finals, the Kentucky Derby, an NCAA Final Four, just about every major sporting event except the Masters.

However, this was the first time I had ever been to a professional bull riding event and really didn't know what to expect. By the end of the evening I was a big fan of not only the sport, but these athletes who ride bulls for a living.

I tell you all the time, there are no accidents and no coincidences with God! In May of 2005 I was put in contact with a man named Cody Custer who ran a ministry to the professional bull riders and to their millions of fans. What really excited me about what Cody was doing was not just the fact he was ministering to the riders and all the people necessary to operate the PBR events, but using those events as a vehicle to reach the fans of the PBR for Christ.

When they are in different cities over the weekend, on Sunday morning they actually have a church service in the arena where they perform for the riders and support personnel, but also for the fans! It was a tremendous way to use this rising sport that is attracting new fans every week as a vehicle to tell people about Jesus!

After we connected in 2005, Cody began to use the Liveprayer Daily Devotional as a tool to help the riders and support people who were on the road so much stay connected each day with the Lord. We had a chance to speak several times, finally meeting and spending some time together when the PBR was in Tampa.

Like in any profession, you have a percentage of people that know and love the Lord, some who are on the fence, and others who simply reject Christ and His love for them. As a former world champion who rode bulls for 19 years and is now a judge at PBR events, Cody was in a unique position to minister to the riders and support personnel as they are on the road each weekend.

Being with Cody that night and meeting many of the riders and the people who run the PBR, it was refreshing to see a sport focused on being wholesome family entertainment that is really gaining in popularity and becoming more mainstream all the time with major corporate sponsors and a contract with CBS sports. The show opened with a moving tribute to the men and women in our armed services, the National Anthem, and then prayer. Yes, prayer. I loved it! An arena full of people praying before a major sporting event!

Later that night, Cody and Cory Navarre, a 9-year veteran bull rider who loves the Lord, came on my TV program with me. It was powerful to not only hear, but see these men who are in such a dangerous profession where injury and even death are part of their world, humbly talk about their love for Jesus and all He has meant in their lives. I couldn't help to think of the contrast between the abominable movie "Brokeback Mountain" about gay cowboys, and these strong men I was that night who ride angry 1800-pound bulls for a living and honor the Lord with their lives!

My message to you men today is simply this. It is OK to love Jesus! I don't know if you could ever have a better definition of a man than these brave cowboys who ride bulls for a living. Loving Jesus does not mean you are a wimp. Loving Jesus does not mean you are weak. Loving Jesus does not mean you are less of a man. As a matter of fact, it takes a REAL MAN to surrender their heart and life to the Lord. Any coward can run from Jesus, it takes a REAL MAN to take a stand and live for Jesus!

I love you and care about you so much. I want to encourage you today, especially the men out there, that society gives us these stereotypical images of what men are supposed to be like. The reality is, men come in all shapes and sizes, with different gifts and talents, different desires and passions, but the common bond all men can share is their faith in Christ. You are not less of a man for following Jesus, you are MORE of a man for following Jesus!

You can't get any tougher than these men who ride bulls for a living. Having played sports all my life, been around athletes at every level, I can assure you that you have to be a man in every sense of the word to ride bulls for a living. It is possibly the most physically demanding and life threatening 8 seconds there is in sports.

Yet these were some of the kindest, most gentle, and caring men I have ever been around. Even though what they did for a living was highly dangerous and as physically demanding as any sport you can name, their faith in Christ defined who they really were.

I want you to know today that it is your faith in Christ that defines who YOU are as well. Whether you are a doctor, or lawyer, or CEO, working in a factory, selling cars, building homes, or whatever you may do for a living, what defines who you are is not your job but your relationship with the Lord. At the end of the day when the lights are turned out and you are laying in bed, you are who you are because of Jesus and nothing else.

I will be praying for you today to make that commitment to Christ. Not a half-hearted commitment, not a part-time commitment, but a fully surrendered give-it-all-to-Jesus commitment! Cody and those bull riders are unique men because of what they do for a living, but so are you! God gives them a great platform to share their faith in Christ with the world, but he gives you a platform in the things you do in your life as well. God has given you the talents and gifts you have, put you in the job you are in, not just to make a living but to serve Him!

As we live in these last days, now more than ever God is calling men to rise up and take their stand for Christ. I encourage you today to take a few moments and recommit your heart and life to the Lord and ask Him to use you as a vessel to reach lost and hurting people with the hope we have in Jesus!!!

In His love and service,

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller