There Is Only Victory in Serving God!

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.

Is it to avoid defeat?  Jesus wants us to do more.

Please read on.

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL   TUESDAY AUGUST 22, 2006
( I Samuel 4:2, James 1:5 )

Learning through defeat.  Show me a war general who never
lost a battle and I will show you a war general who has
never been in a battle.  Show me a football coach who never
lost a game and I'll show you a coach who has never coached
a game.  Show me a businessman who has never had a bad deal
and I will show you a businessman who has never been
involved in any deals.  As great as Tiger Woods may be at
playing golf, even he doesn't win every tournament.  Life
my friend is made up of winning and losing.  The only way
you can't lose is to not ever get out there and try. 
Today, I want to encourage and challenge you to learn from
those defeats you experience along your journey through
this life.

We live in a world, in a culture, that celebrates winning
no matter what is at stake.  Watching Tiger Woods win his
12th professional major yesterday epitomized the fact that
we love those who win.  Athletes and sports teams are
celebrated and adored for winning.  Winners in the
business world are measured by the amount of money they
make.  The business leaders of our day who we look up to
are those who close the big deals, create the cutting
edge technology, and end up on the Forbes list of richest
people.

Winners in the world of entertainment are the ones who
have the most successful movies, the most watched TV
programs, the ones who sell the most CDs, the ones who
are known by people throughout the world.  At the end of
every war there is a winner and a loser.  Politics at
every level is about one thing, getting elected or
winning.  Winning and losing is actually part of every
person's day-to-day life whether it is dealing with your
finances, what happens at school or on your job, or
something as mundane as getting the parking place right
by the door to the mall instead of 12 rows back.  We
live in a world and society that measures pretty much
everything we do in terms of winning and losing.

One of the cold realties of life is that you can't win
all the time.  Along the way you will suffer defeats in
everything.  While losing is never fun and nobody enjoys
losing, the key issue that I want to address today is
that you can learn much from those occasions when you
lose.  Rather than allowing the defeats you experience in
life to demoralize you, to depress you, to paralyze you,
take the opportunity to analyze why you lost so that you
can do better the next time.  We can often learn more
about ourselves in defeat than we can in victory.  Not
only does defeat keep us humble, but it forces us to do
better the next time.

This way society has of judging our lives in wins and
losses even carries over into our Christian life. 
Recently I did a Devotional on the fact that there is no
failure with God.  The only way to fail God is to do
nothing for God.  Even though the world may consider
something we do for the Lord a failure, the world does
not factor in things like our obedience, our faithfulness,
not to mention the spiritual things taking place that
only God knows about.  However, we can never lose sight
that even in our service for the Lord we are engaged in
battles, both in the natural and spiritual realm, that we
are trying to win to bring glory and honor to the Lord.

A great example of this has been the attempt by Liveprayer
to take the TV program nationwide.  Since we are doing
something nobody else has ever tried to do before, we have
had no practical roadmap and have had to take this walk
completely by faith.  The month we were on nationwide in
July was something we had to experience to gain a complete
understanding of what was involved to do this long term. 
Obviously it was my goal and desire to continue past July,
and the fact is I could have forced the issue and continued
into August.  But by the end of those 4 weeks in July I
realized that I had completely underestimated what we were
attempting to do spiritually, emotionally, and  financially. 
It was so overwhelming that I had to pull back just to
literally survive.  I'm not being dramatic, it was that
intense!

So, in what the world would label a defeat, here is what
I have learned. Despite having done 870 programs over 3 1/2
years, having been reaching an audience of 1/4 million
nightly throughout the State of Florida for the year
leading up to our national launch, I underestimated what
being able to reach the entire nation, "live" for an hour 5
nights a week on a major secular network would be like. 
I've spent the last 7 yrs of my life reaching a
predominantly non-Christian audience of millions worldwide
every single day.  I believed I was prepared but simply
never imagined the level of warfare that I would encounter. 
Let me tell you, satan is NOT going to just sit back and
watch someone proclaim Biblical Truth and the hope and
love of Jesus to the lost and hurting masses on a major
secular TV network without major opposition.  NO WAY!

Very few could ever understand the level of warfare I
have learned to assimilate in my daily life over these past
7 years as a result of bringing God's Truth to over 2
million souls worldwide every day through the Internet and
the tens of thousands more every night on secular television
via the TV program.  What I experienced in July was 100x, no
1000x greater than anything I had ever experienced before. 
In addition to the financial aspects, I fully understand why
other ministries stay in the safety of the Christian TV
networks, or the few who do air on some secular stations
simply preach a very non-confrontational pre-taped message
geared to a church audience on Sunday morning.

Financially, Liveprayer has been an absolute miracle of God. 
We never should have survived the first year after the
venture funds we expected 6 months in dried up as a result
of the dot.com bubble bursting in early 2000.  However, God
sustained the work, allowed us to expand and reach more
people each year through the Internet, add the secular TV
program to the mix which continued to expand, and over
time not only stay current with our financial obligations
but work down the debt we incurred surviving those first
2 years from over a million to right at $600,000.  Having
seen God work miracles time and time again in meeting our
needs, I underestimated the fact that this would become
our main battleground in taking the TV program to the
nation.  Satan knew if he could keep the finances dried up,
we could not stay on the air.  Despite years of financial
victories, we were now at an entirely different level in
going from a budget of $2 million a year to just over $10
million a year.

The reason the warfare was so intense, the reason satan was
fighting so hard was evident in those 20 nights we were on. 
An average audience of 300,000 people each night were
hearing the Truth of God's Word proclaimed loudly, boldly,
and visibly like nobody else was doing.  Being on nationwide
"live" for an hour 5 nights a week, people were able to call
in and have their faith rewarded as God met their needs. 
Each night over 5,000 emails for prayer poured in from
people who were hurting were reaching out in their time of
need, looking for answers and hope.  Most important of all,
over 2,400 souls we know of came to faith in Christ during
those 20 nights.  TWENTY FOUR HUNDRED!  Praise God!

Each night, I felt the incredible power of being able to
share with a lost and hurting nation the Truth of God's
Word and the fact He loves them so much.   I sensed the
hunger and desire through those cameras as people from
coast to coast tuned in to hear His Truth proclaimed and
the fact they could have a personal relationship with His
Son Jesus Christ.  Each one of those 20 nights as I told
the viewers how they could be saved, I knew there was an
all out war going on in the heavenlies.  Night after
night, the commitments poured in as people surrendered
their lives to Jesus!

I love you and care about you so much.  God clearly
honored our faith to follow Him in using that program
during those 20 nights to impact millions of lives,
transforming many for all eternity.  However, in the 
world we live in, the fact we were not able to sustain
the program past those initial 20 nights would correctly
be classified as a defeat.  It was in defeat that I
learned what it would take spiritually, emotionally, and
financially to sustain the program reaching the entire
nation "live" for an hour 5 nights a week on a major
secular television network.  It was in defeat that I
found the comfort of God's love and His strength to press
forward.  It was in defeat that whatever commitment I had
made to the Lord to boldly take His Truth and the hope of
Christ to the nation through secular television was now
solidified and I became resolute in fulfilling His call
upon my life.

*YOU CAN EITHER LET THE DEFEATS IN LIFE INTIMIDATE YOU
FROM EVER REACHING YOUR GOALS, OR YOU CAN USE THE DEFEATS
IN LIFE TO MOTIVATE YOU TO VICTORY!!!

Even though I understand that what we did those 20 nights
was clearly a victory in God's eyes and for millions of
people, satan has temporarily won since every night we are
not on, people are not hearing God's Truth and how they
can be saved.  I know that every day people who will never
go to church, never read the Bible, never watch Christian
TV, are dying and going to hell because the TV program is
not on.  I have learned the lessons I needed to learn in
defeat so that when we get the program back on nationwide,
this time it will be declaring God's Truth and bringing
people to faith in Jesus Christ until our Lord returns.

I will be praying for you today.  Praying that you will
remember that there is no failure with God.  Don't fear
stepping out in faith to fulfill whatever it is God has
called you to do with your life.  I will also be praying
that you will realize that we all win and lose along our
journey through this life.  Losing is no fun, but use
those moments as opportunities to correct your mistakes
and work on those areas you are weak.  Don't let the
defeats you experience in life get you down, but use them
as learning opportunities so that you can do better the
next time.  We all enjoy winning, but never forget that we
can learn the most from our defeats.

Of course, the one defeat you will suffer from for all
eternity is rejecting Jesus Christ as your Savior.  The
most important victory in your life comes when you accept
Christ into your heart and life by faith and have your
sins washed away and receive the free gift of everlasting
life.  If you have never experienced that victory, I
encourage you to go to: www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html  
Pray, ask God to open your heart to the truth of the words
there, and make the choice today to ask Jesus Christ into
your heart and life by faith.  Coming to know Jesus as your
personal Savior is the greatest victory there is, since it
is one you will enjoy for all eternity!!!

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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***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
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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