Say "No" to satan and "Yes" to God

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote a devotional today that I
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.

Do you ever feel tempted to do something you know you
shouldn't do?  Of course, you're only human. 

Remember to ask what God would want you to choose
before acting on that temptation. 

Please read on.

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

DAILY DEVOTIONAL   THURSDAY MARCH 23, 2006
( Genesis 3:6, Proverbs 1:29 )

We can say NO!  Back during the Reagan Presidency, Nancy
Reagan came out with the infamous campaign against drugs,
"Just Say No."  It was simple but powerful since it zeroed
in on the fact that we all have the ability to say "no." 
This ability to say "no" is something the world has always
had a problem with.  The "deny thyself no pleasure" mindset
is not only straight from the pits of hell, but is embraced
and promoted by the media.  We live in a culture that makes
fun of those who say "no," a culture that has told the lie
long enough and loud enough that people have forgotten they
can say NO!

Have you ever been driving down the road and a voice inside
told you to make a sharp left into the car next to you? 
Have you ever been walking in the mall and didn't like the
way the person in front of you looked and you wanted to
tell them so?  Have you ever been in a meeting at work or a
class at school and wanted to start yelling at the top of
your lungs?  I can guarantee you that everyone reading this
today has had some kind of extreme thought to do something
completely bizarre, anti-social, potentially lethal, and
completely out of character.  For however long that
fleeting thought was in your head, quickly your brain said
NO!

Let's forget those extreme thoughts we all have from time
to time.  How about you are out of town on business and are
approached by an attractive person of the opposite sex? 
how about you are working on a deal at work and find a
way to overcharge a client in a way they will never know
about?  How about you are alone at home one evening and
get the desire to go look at porn on your computer or the
TV?  How about being out some night and decide to drive
home even though you have had too much to drink?  Now we
are talking about more realistic choices that most face
in their lives.  As you are presented with these choices,
does your brain say NO?  A more important question, do
you listen if it does?

The vast majority of the over 40,000 prayer requests we
receive each day here at Liveprayer are from people who
didn't say "no."  Again, this prevailing mindset that we
have to give in to every pleasure, every urge, is not
something new.  We see it in the Garden of Eden as Adam
and Eve both refused to say "no" when confronted with the
opportunity to disobey God.  We see it in the very first
sin when satan had the thought to be like God andhe didn't
say "no" to that thought.  Throughout human history man
has had a difficult time saying "no."

Some people have questioned God and why He just didn't
create us to always obey Him.  God created us with the free
will to make our own choices, otherwise, we would be little
more than pre-programmed robots.  I can't tell you why God
created us with free will, the ability to obey Him or rebel
against Him, but one reason I am certain of is that without 
free will we would be incapable of loving God on our own. 
The fact is He is God, our Creator, and we should do our
best each day to honor Him with our lives. That means with
the choices we have to make each and every day.

Throughout each day, we are all confronted with hundreds,
even thousands of choices.  Every time we make a choice we
have the opportunity to say to God, "I love you!"  When you
break it down, that is really what we are saying each time
we make a choice.  We are either saying "I love God," or "I
love myself more than God."  Now listen closely since I am
about to expose a great lie of satan.  Satan says if you
love yourself, don't deny yourself anything.  Don't forget
satan's stated goals, "to kill, steal, and destroy."

Satan wants to help you say "no" to God just like he did
Adam and Eve because he knows your rebellion to God will
hurt you.  I have told you before satan is the great
justifier. He will always help you justify saying "no" to
God.  The truth is, God loves you and only wants the best
for you.  When you say "no" to sin and follow God, you are
not only saying "I love you God," you are also saying you
love yourself.  The lie of satan is that by saying "no"
you are loving yourself when he knows you are actually
hurting yourself, but the truth of God is that when you
say "no" to sin you are not only honoring God but honoring
yourself since our blessings follow our obedience!!!

This is heavy stuff, so please, take a moment and go back
and re-read these last two paragraphs and digest them into
your heart.

I love you and care about you so much.  I know we live in
a world that tells the masses every day to never say "no." 
The world teaches that you only live once so don't ever
deny yourself whatever pleasure comes your way.  Like all
of satan's lies, that is partly true.  We do only live once.
However, not all of the pleasures that comes our way are
something that will help our life, in many cases it can
destroy our life.  That is why it is so critical to start
each day in prayer, in the Word, so that throughout the
day as you are making all of those choices we all make
each day, your choices will honor God.  Often, to honor
God we have to simply say "no."

I will be praying for you today.  Praying that as you go
throughout the rest of this day and are confronted with
the various choices you have to make, when confronted
with sin you will have the courage and the strength to
say "NO!"

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 2006, Bill Keller Ministries.
All rights reserved


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

May God bless you as you learn from this message!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2006 Donald W. Mitchell