Be Faithful to Your Spouse in Speech, Body, Mind, Soul and Heart

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote a wonderful devotional today
that I highly recommend to you.  He has given
me permission to copy his e-mails, and I'm sure
he would be happy if you would share this with
people you know as well.

Read on.

*********************************************

DAILY DEVOTIONAL   THURSDAY DECEMBER 29, 2005
(Hebrews 13:4, Matthew 5:28, Ephesians 5:22, 25)

***I BELIEVE GOD IS GOING TO USE THIS WORD TODAY TO
SAVE MARRIAGES FROM ENDING IN DIVORCE.  A MARRIAGE
DOESN'T END IN DIVORCE COURT OVERNIGHT, BUT OVER
TIME.  THE ENEMY ATTACKS A MARRIAGE IN MANY DIFFERENT
WAYS.  TODAY, I WANT TO EXPOSE ONE OF THE CHIEF WAYS
A MARRIAGE BEGINS TO UNWIND GIVING SATAN THE
OPPORTUNITY TO DESTROY IT.  PLEASE OPEN YOUR HEART
AND READ EACH WORD CAREFULLY.  IF GOD IS SPEAKING
TO YOU TODAY, LISTEN TO HIM.  ALSO, PLEASE FORWARD
THIS TO EVERYONE THAT YOU KNOW, IT MAY BE THE VERY
WORD TO SAVE THEIR MARRIAGE FROM ENDING IN DIVORCE.

Would you be concerned if your husband or wife read
your emails or Instant Messages?  What about listened
to your phone calls?  What about if they knew every
place you go each day?  How about the places you go
when you are out of town?  Would you worry if your
husband or wife heard a tape of all the conversations
you had each day with people of the opposite sex? 
For those who are still reading, you either have no
problem being this open with your spouse or you are
now under great conviction and God is speaking to you
today.

For those who have no problem being this open with
your spouse, praise God! A marriage centered in
Christ should include this type of openness and
transparency.  With Christ at the head of your life
and loving and honoring your spouse as the Word calls
for, there is no reason you should be afraid to allow
your spouse to read your emails or Instant Messages, 
listen to your phone calls, know exactly where you are
at, or hear any of your conversations with people of
the opposite sex.  I pray that you will continue to
love and honor your spouse so that you can always be
this open and transparent.

For those who are under conviction by these words
today, this could be the very tap on the shoulder
from God that will keep your marriage from ending
in divorce.  Satan is very subtle in how he destroys
marriages.  No marriage ends in divorce overnight,
but over time.  One of the chief ways people open
the door for satan to come in and destroy their
marriage is in their relationships with people of
the opposite sex.  If your heart began racing as
you read those questions, if you know deep down you
would never want your spouse to read your emails or
Instant Messages, hear your phone calls, know
exactly where you are at all times, or hear a tape
of the conversations you have with people of the
opposite sex, please hear what God is saying to
you today.  It may very well save your marriage!

Nobody wakes up one morning and decides to become
an alcoholic.  They have a few drinks, it becomes
part of their life, and over time they get into
bondage to alcohol.  Nobody wakes up one morning
and decides to become a drug addict.  They
experiment with drugs occasionally, begin to use
them more frequently, and over time they get into
bondage to drugs.  It is the same thing with someone
who is in bondage to food, shopping, gambling,
making money, sex, or any other type of bondage you
can name.  A person doesn't get into bondage to
anything overnight, but over time.

This is also how relationships outside of your
marriage develop, over time. You get friendly with
someone of the opposite sex at work, you see them
every day, you make sure you spend some time with
them every day, talk to them every day, you start
to develop that elementary school crush and
fantasize about them, pretty soon you create
opportunities to have lunch with them or see them
after work, and during this process the
conversation turns from work to your personal lives
and often to sex.  One thing leads to another and
one day you and your co-worker are in bed together.

Even if this relationship never culminates in having
sex together, never forget that Jesus said if you
lust in your heart you have committed adultery.  You
are giving someone else the emotions, feelings, and
attention that should ONLY be given to your spouse. 
When you got married, that is the person God gave you
for the rest of your life to pour all of your
emotions, feelings, love and attention into. NOBODY
ELSE!  That is the person who God gave you to enjoy
sex with.  NOBODY ELSE!

Over the past decade, another road to destroy
marriages satan has turned into a 12-lane super
freeway is the Internet.  I have warned you over
the years about Internet dating services, the danger
of chatrooms, and the other ways you can meet people
over the Internet.  Every time I see one of those
commercials with the elderly gentleman for a popular
Internet matchmaking site I cringe.  They make
millions selling people the "dream of a soulmate,"
but never tell you the horror stories of all of the
marriages that have been destroyed because of their
service.  I am very aware that people can and do
use these services successfully.  I am also very
aware of how dangerous these sites are from dealing
DAILY with men and women who have learned to use
Internet dating sites and chatrooms to carry on secret
lives their spouses never knew existed.

Satan has lied to people that there is really
nothing wrong with carrying on a relationship with
someone "online."  The reality is, you begin to
pour your heart, emotions, and feelings into this
person you are having the online relationship with
just like if you were with them in real time.
Ultimately, in most cases it actually does evolve
into meeting in real time and ends up being no
different than any other extra-marital affair.  It
all started so harmlessly.  A few innocent emails
and Instant Messages that became more frequent,
more personal, more sexual in nature.  The next
thing you know you are actually sitting side by
side with this person.

Again, even if this relationship never culminates
in having sex together, never forget that Jesus said
if you lust in your heart you have committed
adultery.  You are giving someone else the emotions,
feelings, and attention that should ONLY be given to
your spouse.  When you got married, that is the
person God gave you for the rest of your life to
pour all of your emotions, feelings, love and
attention into. NOBODY ELSE!  That is the person who
God gave you to enjoy sex with.  NOBODY ELSE!

I love you and care about you so much.  Today's
message is a warning that you must guard yourself
from opening the door to satan, allowing him to
enter into your marriage and destroy it through your
relationships with people of the opposite sex.  If
you are married, you simply cannot allow yourself to
get too close to someone who is not your spouse. 
You have got to be aware this is an avenue the enemy
will use to try and destroy your marriage.  The way
you judge if you are getting too close to someone of
the opposite sex is by answering the original
questions I posed.  If the answer to any of them is
"yes," you need to back off because you are too close
to that person.

I will be praying for those of you today who God
brought under conviction because you know that you
would NOT want your spouse to read your emails or
Instant Messages, hear your phone calls, know all
the places you go, or hear the conversations you are
having with people of the opposite sex.  Be like
Joseph and RUN from this relationship NOW before it
destroys your marriage. God is speaking to you today
and God is trying to help you save your marriage.  I
will be praying for you to listen to Him and cut off
ALL communication with this other person.

I already know many of you will email me and tell me
that your spouse doesn't understand you, that you
have "grown apart," and a whole plethora of reasons
to try and justify your involvement with someone who
is not your spouse.  SAVE IT!  Let me encourage you
that if you put the same time, effort, emotions,
feelings, and energy into your spouse as you do this
other person, you would be amazed at how different
your relationship with your spouse would be. 
Whatever the problems in your marriage may be, being
involved with someone else is NOT the answer.  I will
pray today for God to bring healing and restoration
to your marriage.  The first step, however, is to cut
off all communication with this other person you are
involved with.

I will also be praying today for those of you who
are dealing with a spouse who has become involved
with someone else.  Never forget, you are not
responsible for the actions of your spouse.  God
gave us each free will and only He can change your
spouse's heart.  Now is the time to make your
faith real and learn to trust God during this
difficult time.  Find your peace and strength in Him
each day and know that He is still in the restoration
business!  I will be praying for you and for your
spouse to turn their heart and life back to the Lord
and bring healing to your marriage.

Would you be concerned if your husband or wife read
your emails or Instant Messages?  What about listened
to your phone calls?  What about if they knew every
place you go each day?  How about the places you go
when you are out of town?  Would you worry if your
husband or wife heard a tape of all the conversations
you had each day with people of the opposite sex?  If
the answer to any of these questions is "yes," God is
speaking to you today.  Please, listen since your
marriage is at stake.

In His love and service,

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

***If I can help you in any way you can contact me
through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND
ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At
that moment, you will either spend eternity with
the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness
forever separated from God your creator.  To know
for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html

***GET YOUR FREE LPeMAIL ACCOUNT!  Never miss
receiving your Daily Devotional again.  LPeMail is
an effective email SPAM filtering application
that most ISP's charge $10/mo, for FREE!  Get your
LPeMail account now at: www.lpemail.com.

***I am excited to let you know that the Liveprayer
Daily Devotional is now available via AUDIO each
day.  Simply go to
http://www.liveprayer.com/DailyDevotionalAudio.html
Also, you can now listen to the Daily Devotional by
phone by calling  toll-free,1-888-382-4662, or
access it on your wireless device by going to:
http://wapdd.com

(C) Copyright 2005, Bill Keller Ministries.
All rights reserved

************************************************

May God bless you as you learn from this message!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell