Daily Devotional for Sunday September 27, 2020

Selling your soul to satan!!!

(Mark 8:36)

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, help me to get through this day and the challenges that I will be facing today. Guide me, strengthen me, and give me wisdom as I make choices throughout this day. Please watch over my family and those I love in this world, and keep them safe. I love You Lord, and depend upon You each moment of each day. Bless me as I go through the day, living my life for Your glory. In the name of Jesus 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: “Confidence in God!” 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: Recently in Idaho, at an outdoor church service, 3 men were arrested for singing without wearing a mask. Now, this particular county has had ZERO hospitalizations, and ZERO deaths! I am only sharing this incident with you because if I told you just 6 months ago that people would be arrested at a church service for singing you would have thought I was crazy. Of course, if I had told you 6 months ago that ALL of the churches in the country would be closed, and after 6 months 50% are still closed, well, you would have had me committed. Since the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, through the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, 2 World Wars, numerous pandemics including the deadly Spanish Flu from 1918-1920, OUR CHURCHES HAVE NEVER BEEN CLOSED!!! Over these past 6 months, pastors who have defied the state have been thrown in jail, many churches have been fined for not obeying orders to close, people across the country have been harassed by the authorities simply for going to church!!! We have taken our freedom to worship and share our faith for granted, freedoms many of our brothers and sisters in other countries don’t enjoy. I have often posed the question, will you still follow Jesus and proclaim Him Lord if your life, literally, was being threatened? No matter what the coming months and years hold, there is a purging in this nation of those who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ. The weak churches will be gone. Churches who are simply monuments to mammon, religious entertainment centers will be gone. As the cost of being a follower of Christ increases, those not serious will fall away. What will be left is a true church, made up of true followers of Jesus Christ...His remnant. Will you be counted as part of His remnant???

*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

***Action steps: 1) Pray for the nation to turn back to the Lord every morning for at least 5 min. 2) Share the Gospel every day with at least 1 person you know is no saved. 3) Every day share something Biblical with everyone you know via email. 4) Every day encourage at least ONE PERSON you know about the responsibility we have to VOTE in November. 5) GET ONE PERSON YOU KNOW TO DO ACTION STEPS 1-4!!!

Several years ago there was a comedy movie, Bedazzled. It was not a very good movie; however, for the more than likely unsaved Hollywood writers it had a great deal of truth in it. The premise was the devil, played by actress Elizabeth Hurley, granted an average young man 7 wishes in exchange for his soul.

Of course, the young man wished for what most 20-something young men would want. Lots of money, power, a beautiful wife, and intelligence. As he used up the wishes, the old adage, "be careful of what you wish for" became very real. In one line, he told the devil, "you don't play fair". All in all, it was a very average movie, not that I am a critic, but I would give it a C. By the way, it is rated PG-13, no sex though sexual situations, and the language was actually very tame. It actually isn't a bad movie to see if you try to view it from a theological perspective.

The point of the Devotional today is that while we can laugh at this Hollywood portrayal of "selling our soul" to the devil, the reality is we actually do it!!! How many times in our life have we literally sold our souls, turning from what we knew was God's will to fulfill our will. Every time you choose to rebel against God, you are selling your soul. The sad reality is that you always sell yourself cheap. What you give up, versus what you get, is never worth it.

I first heard this passage of scripture back in 1989. It was at one of the lowest points in my life. I had literally sold myself for the things of this world. I was driving down the freeway in Chicago at 3am. I was soon going to have to pay for all of my rebellion. As I flipped through the radio stations, I came across the booming voice of Dr. Joseph Stowell, president of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, who bellowed..."what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?"

Despite my rebellion, despite having turned my back on God for so many years, it was as if God himself was calling down from the Heavens to me!!!

To their credit, the Hollywood writers of Bedazzled did show in the end, that if we deal with the devil we lose. No matter what we may get, it is not worth our soul. Let me take it to the correct conclusion that, of course, they did not. Even if we had everything we wanted in this life, even if we had all this world had to offer, what is it worth in the light of eternity?

You see my friend, this life as we know it is very brief. It is but for a season. Eternity is for everlasting. Our focus, our goals, and our motivation should not be solely focused on this existence, but our everlasting existence. That is why the most important decision we will ever make in this life is where we will spend that eternity. If you do not know where your eternity will be spent, you can make that decision now. God loves you!!! Pray for God to open your heart, then go to: https://liveprayer.com/salvation.cfm

I love you. I care about you so much. Almost without realizing it, we often sell ourselves to the devil. The Lord told us clearly, you cannot serve two masters. Each time we make a decision, we are choosing which master to serve. We will either serve the god of this world or the God of the universe. When we choose the god of this world, we are never satisfied, never happy; it never really works. When we serve God Almighty, we then can know the true joy, peace, and abundance this life can offer. It works.

I will be praying for you to choose God. You see, when you choose the god of this world, it requires you to pay a price. When you choose God your Creator, the price has already been paid. He says "Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!" You see, Jesus already paid the price.

In His love and service,

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller