Daily Devotional for Tuesday April 7, 2026

The sacraments of baptism and communion CANNOT save your soul! and, Is it proper to baptize your baby?

DAILY DEVOTIONAL TUESDAY APRIL 7, 2026

(Psalms 127:3; 1 Samuel 1:11, 26-28; Deuteronomy 6:4-7)

***NEW Liveprayer Prayer by Phone!!!***

Liveprayer founder Rev. Bill Keller is now making available a FREE daily personal prayer by phone! Each day at the time you designate, you will get a personal call from Bill with a special prayer for you. If you don’t answer, the special prayer will go to your voicemail or you can simply call back the number to listen to that day’s prayer for you. How encouraging will be it in the midst of your day to get a call from Rev. Bill Keller with a special pray for you that day! To sign up, go to: https://asterisk.liveprayer.com/index.cfm

***Personal Message For You From Bill Keller***

Be thankful today for all of the goodness God brings into your life each day, so much of that goodness we simply take for granted!

*As people are already starting to receive their tax refunds, many receiving much more than expected due to the Trump tax cuts, please be praying about sending a tithe to God’s work here at Liveprayer to me save souls off of that tax refund! Amen!

***Prayer***

Deal Lord, please help me to be the man/woman of God You have called me to be in my home! I understand I have a spiritual responsibility to my spouse and children. Without You at the center of my home, it will not withstand the storms of life that are sure to come. Strengthen my faith this day and help me to take my stand for You, first in my home! May me and my family be living testimonies of Your love, mercy, and grace. In the name of Jesus I pray...AMEN!!!

***The Daily Liveprayer TV Nugget***

The Catholic Church has been on a clear PR strategy prior to Easter to promote their numbers showing over 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide have been baptized. Various Catholic diocese around the United States and in foreign countries also touted the number of Catholics who have been baptized along with the numbers who take communion. While it is wonderful to see the number of people taking part in these sacraments, the BIBLICAL FACT is that baptism and communion cannot and will not save your soul!

THE SACRAMENTS OF BAPTISM AND COMMUNION HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH HOW A PERSON BECOMES SAVED OR BORN AGAIN!

Let me say up front that those who claim the Catholic Church is the antiChrist or a cult are 100% WRONG! Likewise those who claim the Catholic Church is the ONLY church and there is no salvation outside of that church are equally 100% WRONG! The historic fact is what we know of today as the Roman Catholic church didn’t even come into being until the after 300 ad.

The first church is memorialized in the Book of Acts and met in the same Upper Room in Jerusalem that Jesus and His disciples shared the Last Supper. The Roman Catholic Church is a Christian denomination whose foundation is sola scriptura, Scripture alone, and sola fides, faith alone. Here is a link to help people understand the Catholic Church better: https://www.liveprayer.com/devotional.cfm?id=54729

God clearly and succinctly lays out in the Bible how a person is saved. First, it is a personal decision each person alone has to make for themselves. THERE IS NO SALVATION BY PROXY! You are not born “saved,” quite the opposite! We are all born with the sin of Adam and separated from God our Creator by that sin. It was out of God’s desire to see all “come to repentance” that He sent Jesus to be the one and only perfect sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.

It was Jesus who was born without the sin of Adam due to God’s miraculous conception of Mary who was a virgin. He lived a sinless life. That is why He alone was able to be that one-time perfect sacrifice on the cross for the sins of all mankind. THAT IS WHY THE ONLY NAME BY WHICH MEN ARE SAVED IS THE NAME OF JESUS!!!

Ephesians 2:8,9 is the salvation “formula” if you will. The Bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Salvation is by OUR FAITH plus GOD’S GRACE plus NOTHING! While being sacraments, baptism and communion are also “works.”

The sacrament of baptism has nothing to do with salvation. Being baptized DOES NOT save you! Baptism is an act of identification by a Believer of their life with Christ. It is a moving and lifetime memory every Believer should experience but has nothing to do with being “born again.” Again, it is an outward act of an inward work (salvation), identifying the life of a Believer with Jesus.

Also, baptizing a baby is NOT Biblical and contrary to false teachings it does not save the child. Dedicating your baby to the Lord IS Biblical, but like each person, that child as they mature must make their own personal decision whether or not to accept Jesus as their Savior by faith. Here is a link to a more in depth teaching on the sacrament of baptism: https://www.liveprayer.com/devotional.cfm?id=53006

Likewise, the sacrament of communion DOES NOT save your soul. Once again there is so much poor and even false teachings about communion. The Bible is clear that communion is for people who have accepted Jesus as their Savior by faith. IT IS FOR BELIEVERS! The Bible also teaches that prior to taking communion a Believer is to examine themselves so they are worthy to partake of the communion experience.

Communion is an act of remembrance by the Believer of Christ’s sacrifice for their sins. Taking communion CANNOT and WILL NOT save a person’s soul. Again, that only happens when an individual makes the conscience decision to ask the Lord to forgive their sins and accept Jesus as their Savior by faith. Here is a link to a more in depth teaching on the sacrament of communion: https://www.liveprayer.com/devotional.cfm?id=52294

I pray today for those in the Catholic Church to understand that their salvation is not found in being baptized or in taking communion, but in their personal decision to ask the Lord to forgive their sins and accept Jesus as their Savior by faith. If you want to make that decision today, please go to the following link: https://www.liveprayer.com/salvation-plan.cfm

*Liveprayer TV Program airs “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

***April Financial Update***

Thanks to the prayers, a special gift and many others giving as they were able, we ended March down to the final $20,000 of our February shortfall that we require ASAP. That is now down to the final $10,000! AMEN! Once we clear up February we can work on the $55,000 we required for our March ministry operations and the $55,000 we will require during April. That is $10,000 to clear up the balance of February and $110,000 for March and April to end April with all of our finances current. 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 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."

To give a gift to Liveprayer you can use your major credit card at: http://liveprayer.com/donate.cfm or you can mail your gift to: Liveprayer, 6662 46th Ave. North, St. Petersburg, FL 33709. All gifts to Liveprayer are 100% tax deductible!

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

*By the way I have been seeking the Lord since the start of this year for God to lead someone He has blessed richly to make a legacy gift of $15,000,000 to Liveprayer. That would insure that when God decides to call me home Liveprayer will continue to impact lives and lead lost souls to faith in Jesus for a minimum of 20 years. Please stand in agreement with me for the Lord to raise up that person!

*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

This is a question that I get every day so today I want to address this issue of infant baptism, and deal with baptism in general since there is some erroneous teaching on this wonderful experience every follower of Christ should enjoy in their life. Like many people, I was "baptized" as a baby in the church I grew up in. Even though I was saved in 1970, rededicated my life to the Lord in 1990, it wasn't until Good Friday 1994 that I was actually baptized.

A dear man, Dave Scott, who became my spiritual father in 1992 and went home to be with the Lord last year, donned a wet suit on that chilly Chicago morning in 1994. I was in just a pair of shorts as we waded out into the freezing waters of Lake Michigan off of Oak Street Beach. After we prayed, I went under the icy water and moments later came up, symbolizing the washing away of my sins and identifying my life with the life of Jesus. It was a special moment for me and one that I will never forget as long as I live.

So let's get back to the initial question, is it proper to baptize your baby? The answer is NO! There is NOTHING Biblical about baptizing a baby. Baptism is the act of someone who has accepted Christ by faith, identifying their life with the life of Christ in this symbolic act. It is the act of a person who has made the choice to accept Christ into their heart and life by faith, and is symbolic of going into the water a sinner, and coming out of the water washed clean by the blood of Jesus. Subsequently, since a baby is not yet at a place in their life to make the choice to accept or reject Christ, baptizing a baby is a meaningless act.

Please understand this important fact. BAPTISM DOES NOT SAVE YOU! You can't save your baby by having your baby baptized. Each person matures at a different pace, but at some point, every person with a sound mind reaches the place in their life where they are accountable for their decision to accept or reject Christ. A baby is clearly not able to mentally comprehend they are a sinner and make the conscious choice to accept or reject Christ in their life. The fact is God will hold each person accountable for the light they have had in their life, so if a baby dies they are without question forever with the Lord for all eternity.

What IS PROPER, is to dedicate your baby to the Lord. That is Biblical. We have the great example in 1 Samuel of Hannah dedicating her baby Samuel to the Lord. Every parent should have a time of dedication as they present their baby to God and dedicate that child's life to the Lord's service. As I have spoken often recently about parenting and a parent's greatest ministry being to their children, this is part of that responsibility as you offer up your child to God and ask for God's blessings on your child's life.

Let me quickly address the erroneous teachings of a few churches on the issue of baptism. The Church of Christ denomination and some other churches hold to the false teaching that you have to be baptized in order to be saved. This is NOT true and it is NOT Scriptural. Ephesians 2:8 and 9 clearly tell us that we are saved by 1) faith in Jesus Christ, and 2) God's grace. PERIOD! Nothing else.

No amount of good works can save you, no additional acts are required. Salvation is a supernatural spiritual experience that transforms the eternal soul of a person from being separated from God their Creator due to their sin, to being forever connected with God their Creator because their sins have been forgiven by their faith in Christ. Baptism is a physical act. THERE ARE NO PHYSICAL ACTS REQUIRED TO BE SAVED!

*Please do me a favor. I am NOT going to engage anyone in an email debate over this issue. If you are part of the Church of Christ denomination or another church that teaches the unbiblical doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration, you are free to believe whatever you want. I am well aware of the arguments those who hold to this erroneous teaching make to try and support their position. But a careful and complete study of the WHOLE counsel of God clearly teaches that baptism is NOT part of the salvation process, but simply an act of obedience AFTER a person is saved.

So why should a person even bother getting baptized if it isn't necessary for their salvation? Someone who has committed their heart and life to Christ by faith will have a deep desire to follow the life of Jesus, to identify with His life. Baptism is a public act of identification with Christ. It is the symbolic act of the washing away of our sins. It is a way for a follower of Christ to proclaim their allegiance to Him thru a physical act. I have had the honor to baptize hundreds of people over these past 16 years, and I would encourage anyone who has committed their heart and life to Jesus Christ by faith to have this special experience. It is one you will cherish the rest of the days of your life.

I love you and care about you so much. I know many parents are confused about whether to have their babies baptized and I pray this word today will help you understand that it makes no sense to baptize your baby, but is God's desire for you to dedicate your child to the Lord. I also want to encourage anyone who has accepted the Lord into your heart and life by faith and has never been baptized to do so. Not so that you are saved, you are already saved. But to enjoy that wonderful experience of identifying your life with the life of Jesus. It is a special experience in the life of every Believer.

I will be praying for you today. Praying that as you go through your day-to-day life you will never forget that you are a child of God, a blood-bought son or daughter of the Lord Jesus Christ. A wonderful way to never forget that great truth is by being baptized. Every time you remember that special moment when you went under the water and came up, you will be reminded that your sins have been forgiven, that once you were lost and now you are found, that because of your faith in Jesus Christ you have the assurance of everlasting life as well as the peace, joy, and abundance of this life. Baptism is a great reminder of your faith!

In His love and service,

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller