Daily Devotional for Thursday January 9, 2025
The fleeting things of this world and even our lives! and, Keeping the big picture in focus!
DAILY DEVOTIONAL THURSDAY JANUARY 9, 2025
Luke 12:16-21)
***PERSONAL MESSAGE FOR YOU FROM BILL KELLER: Each day is a gift from God. All we have in this life is from the Lord. Be thankful for your life each day and for God’s daily provision!
***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Please Lord bless me and my family today. Help us to never forget to honor You and praise Your holy name. Thank you for Your blessings. Let us be good stewards of those blessings and never forget to reach out to others and be a blessing to those who cross our path each day. In the name of Jesus I pray...AMEN!
***THE DAILY LIVEPRAYER TV NUGGET: Our priorities and how fleeting the things of this world and our very lives really are. Jesus shared a parable of a rich man who was very successful and had built new barns to store all of his good, afterwards sitting back and stating it was now time to eat, drink, and be merry. Of course this parable ends with the man dying soon after that proclamation. This mindset is common amongst those who by societies standards have been very successful when the reality is the material things of this world can be gone in an instant and each day of life is literally a gift from God. The Bible clearly teaches tomorrow is promised to none of us.
Pray for the people of Southern California who are in a fight for their very lives, property, and literally every material possession they have in this life. The unique situation happening in Southern California involves the fact that a large percentage of those affected by these ongoing monster fires are multi-millionaires, people who have had very successful lives by the world’s standards. This is in contrast to the recent hurricanes in rural Florida, Georgia, and western North Carolina that affected people who were mostly poor, whose already difficult lives were made even more difficult in the aftermath of these hurricanes. The need of those poor people was obvious and despite the government’s pathetic response, millions of Americans gave money, literally went to those affected areas to work in order to help these displaced people through no fault of their own. The government neglect actually allowed for people to see the heart, the love of others so many people expressed in tangible ways. Continue to pray for these dear souls since they are still struggling to simply get their lives back on track.
Fast forward to the current ongoing California fires. Already social media has been populated with posts from people showing little sympathy for those affected because they happened to own homes, in some cases worth tens of millions of dollars. There is no doubt many of these people have the wherewithal and resources to recover in the coming weeks and months. That does not negate the fact that many have lost all of their earthly possessions, things that are irreplaceable. Thousands literally escaped with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. These massive fires spread so fast by the Santa Ana winds and hurricane gusts that there were traffic jams causing people to abandon their cars on the road and run for their very lives! Bulldozers were brought in to clear the cars blocking the roads. We are still a LONG WAY from seeing these massive fires brought under control meaning there will be continued threats to life and property.
Please be praying for those people who have been affected in California. Obviously not everyone is a multi-millionaire. These massive fires do not discriminate and thousands of average middle class and those working each day just to make ends meet have also been affected. Pray that God will not let there be any deaths, that He will calm the winds and allow the fire professionals to put out these massive fires, and that those lives affected will look to the Lord for their hope and strength in the coming days as they seek to being rebuilding their lives. Pray that insurance companies will be fair and quick to help out their customers while the state of California and Federal government provide much needed assistance without massive amounts of red tape. A side note. LA Mayor Karen Bass ignored potential fire warnings to take a trip to Africa as these fires exploded. It also must be noted that LA’s DEI Fire Commissioner is Kristin Crowley. Crowley is in a fake marriage with another woman and sadly have brought children into this perverse home environment. Crowley is obviously a big proponent of DEI programs and has been a huge advocate to hire people from the LGBTQ community regardless of merit. It has been proven over the years that the forest management policies in California have played a huge role in the fires that affect that state annually. Add to those failed policies the Santa Ana winds and other acts of nature and sadly these massive California fires are a part of life like hurricanes are a part of life for those who live in Florida. PRAY!!!
*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
**JANUARY FINANCIAL UPDATE: Praise the Lord! Thanks to the prayers and those who have been able to help Liveprayer with a special year-end gift and the first week of the new year we cleared up the final $5,000 from October AND now the first $30,000 of the $55,000 we required for our November ministry operations.
That leaves the final $25,000 of our November ministry operations and the $55,000 for December’s operations for a total of $80,000 to close out 2024 and begin working on the $55,000 for our January 2025 budget. OUR GOD IS ABLE!!!
The Bible teaches us to “give according to our ability to give.” For some that may be $10 or $20. For others it may be $50 or $100. Still others it may be $200, $500, $1,000, $10,000 or more. GOD WILL BLESS YOUR GIFT NO MATTER WHAT THE AMOUNT!!!
ALSO, DON'T FORGET A GIFT OF $1,800 COVERS ONE DAY OF MINISTRY AT LIVEPRAYER!!! I received this email recently, “Pastor Bill, My wife and I have just sold our last rental and God told us to tithe $1,800.00 to pay for a day of your ministry. Not looking for accolades, just that you know when you receive the check. Rest assured that we will still be making our regular weekly tithes."
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*STOCKS! A great way to help Liveprayer is by donating stock. The transfer can be made in a way you get the full credit for your donation without having to pay any of the taxes you normally would on gains your stocks may have enjoyed. Contact me for information about this incredible way to help God's work here at Liveprayer: bkeller@liveprayer.com
*LIVE ON AFTER YOU ARE IN HEAVEN!!! By remembering God's work here at Liveprayer in your will/estate planning, you can still help me share His Truth with the masses, be here for people in their time of greatest need, and help lead the lost to faith in Jesus even after God has called you home!!! God has led many of our friends in the Liveprayer family to remember His work here in their will. Please pray about this opportunity to continue and partner with me in the Lord's work at Liveprayer, even after you are enjoying your rewards and the eternal peace of Heaven! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me at: bkeller@liveprayer.com
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We all get so bogged down in the day-to-day activities of life, that we can lose sight of the big picture. One of the goals I have each day is to help you stay focused on that "big picture." The ultimate "American dream" for many is to win several million dollars, buy a huge home, new cars, quit your job. But what do you do after that? That becomes the big question. When you have all of those things that you ever dreamed of, when you have accomplished all of the things you strive for then what?
In today's scripture, we read about a man who could have easily been living in the year 2025. Obviously very talented. Obviously very goal oriented. He had his plan, he followed it through, and he achieved everything he wanted. But soon after that, the Lord says, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you."
"And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' " (Luke 12:16-21)
You see my friend, this Devotional in no way is meant to tell you that your goals are not important. It is in no way meant to tell you that you should not strive to have the best things that this life can offer. There is nothing wrong with that at all. What I am trying to get you to hear today is that you MUST keep your goals prioritized and in perspective. To simply let your goal be "get all I can now" is a bad goal.
The Bible says, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?" That of course is for an unsaved person who wants everything, but eventually must realize that there is an eternal life when this one is over, where all of those things you accomplish and gain in this life have no meaning. That is just as true for the Christian. While we work on our earthly goals, we MUST keep focused on, and never lose sight of, our eternal goals.
Those things that we gain in this life will be gone the instant our life is over and we pass into eternity. At that point, the ONLY thing that matters is our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I have said it often, and will continue to remind you of this fact. The ONLY thing we take from this life into eternity is our personal relationship with Christ.
That is why I harp constantly on our intimate, daily walk with Him. We do that through the Word and through prayer. At that instant when this life ends, that personal relationship with Christ is all that will matter. With that being the case, why do we spend so much time on striving to accomplish things in this world that will one day be meaningless, and so little time on our walk with Christ which one day will be all that we have?
I love you and care about you so very much. Each day I do my best to share my heart with you and allow God to pour through me meaningful things that will help you in your daily life. My challenge for you today is to not get so focused on the goals of this world, that you lose sight of your eternal goals. Work just as hard on your relationship with Christ as you do in your day to day work here on earth. Don't let the things of this temporary world consume you to the point that you miss the eternal goals we all should be working on.
We need to be careful. The media, our culture, pushes us daily to "have it all." We get so consumed with that message that we forget we can never have it all, unless we have Jesus. The greatest goals that we can have are not our earthly goals, but our Heavenly goals!
In His love and service,
Your friend and co-laborer in His work,
Bill Keller