Be Prepared for Satan's Attacks as You Draw Closer to Jesus

Bill Keller wrote a devotional today that I recommend to
you for your consideration.  It has food for thought.  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.

Have you ever found yourself distracted by problems just
when you felt closer to Jesus?  That's one way that satan
attempts to distract our Christian growth and progress.
God's Word can cut through those distractions.

I would like personally thank Jesus for healing my ailing
right shoulder that has been very painful for 18 months.
I was scheduled to go the doctor on Monday, but on Sunday,
June 4, I listened to two healing services . . . and
during the prayer for healing in the second one my pain,
stiffness and loss of movement all disappeared.

Thank you, Jesus!

Since then, I had a dream in which I finally realized
how I had hurt my shoulder . . . so now I won't repeat
that mistake.

Thank you again, Jesus!

Please read on.

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL   SUNDAY JUNE 25, 2006
(Ephesians 6:11-17)

***8 DAYS UNTIL THE NATIONWIDE LAUNCH OF THE LIVEPRAYER
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***JUNE...A MONTH OF PRAYER AND FASTING!  I am asking
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each day in June to pray for me, for Liveprayer, for
everyone who works with us in any capacity, for our
advertisers, and most of all for the millions of souls we
will be reaching when the TV program goes nationwide on
July 3rd.  In addition to praying each day, as the Holy
Spirit leads you please fast during the month and spend
that time of fasting praying for the lost souls we will
reach to open their hearts to Christ's love.  May the Lord
guide us and lead us each day as we bring His Truth and
the hope and love of Jesus to the lost and hurting
throughout our nation.

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***THIS WORD IS FOR YOU!!!  Please, take a moment and ask
God to open your heart to receive this word of encouragement
for your life today!

WALKING ON WATER   PART TWO OF TWO

The price of walking on water.  I was greatly encouraged by
the incredible number of people who were challenged and
motivated by yesterday's Devotional on getting out of the
boat and WALKING ON WATER.  However, as I was about ready
to fall asleep last night, I immediately shot up, wide awake
in a cold sweat.  Have you ever been almost asleep when all
of a sudden you remembered something important?  You were
just about to fall into a deep sleep when you remembered
something important you forgot to do?  What caused me to
panic was the fact I forgot to mention in that Devotional
on Saturday that when you get out of the boat, exercise
your faith in the Lord and start to walk on water, you will
come under attack by satan.  Oops!  Sorry for forgetting
to mention that little detail.

You see my friend, the closer we get to the Lord, the more
we exercise our faith, the more dangerous we become to
satan.  A mere Christian does not intimidate satan, however,
a Christian fully surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ,
living in the Spirit and not the flesh, walking by faith and
not by sight is satan's worst nightmare.  Peter, the one who
walked on water was never much of a threat to satan during
the life of Jesus.  Peter's transformation into the powerful
man of God he became really happened during the time of his
greatest failure.  After denying the Lord, then being
restored by Jesus, it was clear that Peter was no longer the
same old inconsistent man he used to be.  During that
process was that special moment when the lightbulb went off
in his head and Peter fully surrendered himself completely
to the Lord and became the Peter we read about in the Book
of Acts.

It is that time in the walk of every Believer when you know
you are saved, when you are doing your best to live for the
Lord, when you know you need to fully and completely
surrender your life to the Lord, but you are still hanging
onto a bit of the old man.  You are following the Lord, but
you haven't really made that 100% commitment to Him.  Deep
down you know that you need to just sell out and trust the
Lord and not look back.  Each person comes to that place in
different ways at different times.  It rarely happens
immediately but is a process of events and experiences that
happen in your walk with the Lord that lead you to that
place of complete surrender.

One big reason it takes a while to get to that place is
because of the fact that every time you get close to the
Lord, you start to get serious about Christ, the attacks
start coming in waves.  To be blunt, you either get
overwhelmed in fighting the attacks or just plain scared
and back off of that total commitment to the Lord.  It is
like being excited about going to the beach.  You get
there, it is a beautiful day, you can't wait to get into
the water, and you rush in.  Within minutes you see a fin
sticking out only a hundred yards away and you run for the
shore as fast as you can.  Guess what.  Getting back into
the water really doesn't seem like such a good idea any
longer.  This is what happens  when you boldly step out in
faith to serve the Lord.  You will see sharks!

Sadly, most people are never really told anything about
spiritual warfare.  Paul, in closing out his letter to the
church at Ephesus, did his best to make sure they
understood that following and serving the Lord was not
going to happen without a fight.  Possibly a literal fight,
but for certain a spiritual fight.  You see he made sure
they understood that the real battle we fight is not
against flesh and blood, but it is a spiritual battle.
Satan is a defeated foe, but for this brief season that he
is loose, he is not just going to sit back and watch
someone serving the Lord without doing his best to take
them out.  The closer you get to the Lord, the more you
do for the Lord, the fiercer the attacks will get.

*PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT AS YOU EXERCISE YOUR FAITH AND GET
OUT OF THE BOAT TO WALK ON WATER, SATAN WILL ATTACK YOU!

However, God knew this and has given his children not only
the armor they need to withstand the attacks of satan, but
the weapon we need to fight with.  Did you think God would
ask you to follow Him and serve Him, knowing satan would
come after you and not take care of you?  He has given you
the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, our
feet have the gospel of peace, He has given us the shield
of faith, and the helmet of salvation.  If you notice,
there is something special about the armor God. THERE IS
NOTHING TO PROTECT THE BACK!

Do you know why?  (Good thing this is a written
Devotional, this is where I could break into about a 1 hour
"preach.")  GOD'S CHILDREN DON'T TURN AND RUN WE FIGHT
MOVING FORWARD, PRESSING FORWARD TO THE PRIZE.  COWARDS
RETREAT, GOD'S CHILDREN PRESS ON, KNOWING THAT WE HAVE
ALREADY WON THE VICTORY AND THAT SATAN IS A DEFEATED FOE!

Also, the child of God only has ONE offensive weapon.  The
sword, God's Word!  The Bible says that it is sharper than
any two-edged sword, penetrating even to the dividing of
soul and sprit, joints and marrow.  It is the only weapon
the child of God needs.  There is AUTHORITY in the Word of
God.  There is POWER in the Word of God.  When Jesus was
confronted by satan he didn't have a conversations with
him, he QUOTED THE WORD OF GOD TO HIM!

I love you and care about you so much.  I apologize for
challenging you and encouraging you to have the faith to
walk on water, without also warning you that when you get
on the water the sharks will start to circle.  My friend,
count it joy when you see the sharks since that means you
are a threat to the enemy!  Do not be afraid, but know that
God has provided you with not only the protection you need,
but the weapon you need to fight with.

Getting saved is the most important decision you will make
in this life since it determines your eternal home, but
once you are "born again," you need to then grow and mature
in your faith.  Getting to a place where you trust the
Lord enough to get out of the boat and walk on water is a
sign of that maturity.  I will pray for you as you take
that next step in the maturation process, and that is in
being able to stand and fight the spiritual battles that
come from serving and following the Lord.  After all, it
is easy to stand and fight when you already know..YOU WIN
BECAUSE HE WON!!!

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:
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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