Call on God in Good Times and Bad

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.

It's always been easy for me to shift my
attention onto new things.  In some ways, that's
good.  If that shift comes at the expense of
being in touch with God, it's not so good.

Please read on.

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL   SATURDAY FEBRUARY 11, 2006
(Judges 3:9, Judges 4:1, Judges 21:25,
The Book of Judges)

Do you only call on God in your time of need? 
People have not really changed since God created Adam
and Eve.  While billions and billions of people have
lived and died since the first man and woman, people
have not changed.  A great study in human behavior is
found in the Book of Judges.  I want to encourage you
today to take some time in the next few days and sit
down and read the entire Book of Judges.  It will take
you less than an hour, and be worth every minute. 
Sadly, the spiritual lives of most Christians are
exactly like the spiritual lives of the children of
Israel in the Book of Judges.  Here is how the pattern
goes.

While everything is going great in your life, God
slowly stops being your top priority.  Actually, He
often gets put far down the list of priorities. You
quit praying every day, having that meaningful time
alone, just you and the Lord.  You quit reading your
Bible every day.  Going to church is not a MUST any
longer.  Allowing God to use you to bless others with
your life isn't a burning desire.  If it happens,
that is fine, but it is not that important.

As God plays less of a role in your daily life, you
slowly start making choices that you would not make
when you are in that close, daily relationship with
Him.  At the time, they seem like harmless choices. 
But as the days go by, you are making more and more
choices that are NOT pleasing to God.  Deep down
you know this, but you justify it by telling yourself
that you deserve to have some fun, to do what YOU
want to do. Slowly over time, it is no longer what
God wants from your life, but only what YOU want.

One morning you wake up and your life is a mess. 
You see my friend, SIN ALWAYS HAS CONSEQUENCES. 
THERE IS ALWAYS A PRICE FOR SIN..A BIG PRICE.  The
Bible tells us that satan comes to "kill, steal,
and destroy".   When you forget God, when you quit
making Him the head of your life, when you put God
on the shelf because you think that you don't need
Him, you have opened the door for satan to come in
and destroy you!

Trust me, at first it won't be anything that bad. 
Satan is the great deceiver.  He will deceive you
into thinking that you don't need God.  He will
deceive you into thinking that it is YOUR LIFE, and
you should do whatever YOU want to do. The longer
that we live without God, the more choices that we
make without praying, the deeper in sin we get.  Sin
is like quicksand, we sink slowly, and when God
tries to get our attention, we ignore Him and sink
deeper.

It is only when we are facing insurmountable odds,
only when we have hit bottom, only when life is
crashing down all around us that we finally decide
to cry out to God.  Look at the Prodigal Son.  He
had to lose everything, and be living in the worst
conditions imaginable until he went home to his
father.  In our desperation we go to God, we repent,
we ask His forgiveness, and we re-dedicate our lives
to Him.  Does that mean all of our problems magically
go away overnight?  NO!  We didn't create our
problems overnight, and they rarely go away overnight.

But we do now have God back in our lives and He is
fighting for us, giving us the strength to get through
each day, giving us the hope we need to move forward. 
Having God back in our lives doesn't eliminate us
from having to deal with the consequences of our
ungodly choices, but over time, He will help us to be
victorious.  Our life will be great again!!!  We will
look forward to waking up each morning.  We will once
again know the peace, the joy, the abundance that
this life can offer.   Many however, like the children
of Israel in the Book of Judges, will sadly start to
forget God again, and the cycle will be repeated all
over.

I love you and care about you so much.  I pray today
that this message opens the hearts of many as this
trap satan uses so effectively is exposed.  Here
is the truth that I never want you to forget.  ***WE
NEED GOD ON THE MOUNTAINTOP...JUST AS MUCH AS WE NEED
GOD IN THE VALLEY!!!   Let me repeat that.  WE NEED
GOD ON THE MOUNTAINTOP...JUST AS MUCH AS WE NEED GOD
IN THE VALLEY!!!

We all know to call on the Lord in our time of
trouble.  My word for you today is to call on Him
ALWAYS!!!  In this life, we will always have trials.
No matter how close we are to the Lord, we all have
to fight the day to day issues of living in this
sin-filled world.  Nobody can escape that. However,
when we stay close to God each day, we can minimize
the problems in our life that WE CAUSE through our
rebellion!

Do you only call on God in your time of need?  My
admonition for you today is to call on Him EVERY
DAY.  Keep Him first at ALL TIMES.  God has
revealed to YOU today a common trap men and women
from the beginning have fallen into.  Receive this
word from the Lord today and walk with God every
day of your journey here on earth.  Call on Him in
your time of need AND in your time of plenty!!!

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

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(C) Copyright 2006, Bill Keller Ministries.
All rights reserved


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May God bless you as you learn from this message!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2006 Donald W. Mitchell