What Does the Prosperity of the Proudful Sinners Mean?

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 wonder why those who sin openly and
proudly live in luxury?  Perhaps you also know a
devoted Christian who finds meeting her or his
bills to be difficult.  What does all that mean?

If you are curious about that irony, please read on.

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

DAILY DEVOTIONAL   SATURDAY MARCH 4, 2006
Jeremiah 12:1, Psalm 37 (entire), Psalm 73 (entire)

"Why does the way of the wicked prosper?  Why do all
of the faithless live at ease?"  If Jeremiah had a
computer back in his day, he may have sent Liveprayer
an email with these questions that we read him asking
in Jeremiah 12:1.  Not a day goes by that we don't
get hundreds of emails from people asking these very
questions.  A woman who loves the Lord and honors
Him with her life has a husband who cheats on her,
leaves her and their children for another woman, and
is now living a comfortable life while she and her
children struggle just to live day to day.

A man who faithfully serves the Lord gives decades
of his life working for a company that takes
advantage of him, operates with little ethics or
morals, and lets him go just before he is scheduled
to retire to save money while those who run the
company live extravagant lifestyles.  A young man
trying to follow the Lord and God's Word struggles
to buy a new pair of shoes while teenage thug
rappers glorifying and living lifestyles of sin
wear hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry
and drive new exotic cars.

There is an endless list of examples of those who
love the Lord, live for Him, yet are currently
struggling in their daily lives while those who
deny Christ and live in complete rebellion to Him
seem to prosper and live in great comfort and ease. 
So it becomes a legitimate question that the
prophet Jeremiah asks.  It is a legitimate question
that men who love the Lord throughout the ages have
asked.  It is a proper question for those who serve
and follow the Lord today to ask.  WHY DO THE WICKED
SEEM TO PROSPER?

The answer to this question, like the answers to
ALL questions, is found in God's Word.  You need to
take time to read the 37th Psalm, all 40 verses.
The answer to this age-old question of why do the
wicked seem to prosper is found in never losing
sight of the big picture of what this life is all
about.  First, it is God who gives us life and we
all have the same general purpose of serving and
glorifying Him with our lives.  Second, we are
all going to die one day.  As the Bible clearly
tells us, tomorrow is promised to none of us, so
that day is not as far away as many think it is. 
Third, when we die, our soul lives on for eternity. 
The only issue to be determined is do we spend that
eternity WITH God who created us or APART from God
who created us.  Each person makes that choice in
either accepting or rejecting God's ONLY plan of
salvation through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

So what is important to understand is that we
actually have a very limited number of days in this
life here on earth.  The most critical choice we
have to make during our life is what we do with
Jesus, since that choice will determine our eternal
home.  For those who have chosen to follow Christ,
their days on this earth are to be focused on
fulfilling our God-given purpose of serving and
glorifying the Lord with our lives in whatever
way God calls each of us to do that.

If you haven't noticed, I have not mentioned having
money, possessions, or any of the things of this
world.  You see, those are simply the temporary
things of THIS LIFE and are meaningless in light of
eternity.  What happens is the righteous, the followers
of Christ get caught up in measuring prosperity and
success the way the world does by the temporal things
of this world.  Real prosperity and success aren't
found in the temporary things of this world but in the
eternal things of God.  Things like peace and joy and
living an abundant life that don't come from this
world, but from a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ!

Let me ask you a very serious question.  This is
actually a question Jesus once asked.  He said," What
does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet
lose his soul?"  When Jesus was in the desert being
tempted by the devil for 40 days and 40 nights, at
one point satan showed Him all of the kingdoms of
the world and told him to worship him and they would
all be His.  Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship
the Lord your God and serve Him only.' " You see,
Christ understood that the things of this world are
but temporary.  The REAL Kingdom is not in this world,
but in Heaven.  The REAL riches are not in this world,
but in Heaven.

I love you and care about you so much.  It is natural
in our flesh to look at those who have chosen to
reject Christ and live their lives in complete
rebellion to God and His Word and wonder why they
seem to prosper while we may be currently struggling. 
While they may be enjoying the prosperity this
world offers, without Jesus they are SPIRITUALLY
BANKRUPT.  Actually, rather than envy these people,
they are to be pitied since when their brief
journey through life is over they will be spending
eternity in a place created for satan and his fallen
angels unless they come to know Jesus.  Bill Gates
may be the richest man on the planet, but the moment
he dies, all of his wealth is MEANINGLESS.  The ONLY
THING that will matter when he stands before God
is does he know Jesus as his personal Savior.

This is also the problem with the "prosperity gospel"
so many today preach in error.  There is NOTHING in
the Bible that says just because you know Jesus you
are guaranteed to have great wealth in this life. 
What the Bible DOES PROMISE is that if you know
Christ as your Savior, you are assured of everlasting
life and that during this life you will enjoy the
blessings and provision of God.  You see, God has
promised to meet your needs during this life, needs
like food, shelter, and clothing.  That is God's
promise to His children.  The true prosperity gospel
is not about dollars, it is about BLESSINGS!

God NEVER promised you would have a million dollar
home, a new Rolls Royce in the driveway, $5,000
suits, a Rolex watch, or any of the many treasures
this life can offer.  God may allow some to be
blessed to have those things during their life, but
the wealth of a follower of Jesus is not measured
in the temporary things of this world, but in the
eternal things of God!  God measures the heart of
His children not by their bank account, but by
their obedience, their faithfulness, and their
willingness to completely surrender all they have
to follow Him.

I will be praying for you today.  Praying that God
will speak to you through these words about how you
look on those who have chosen to live their lives
in rebellion to God, yet seem to be prospering. 
The fact is, they may indeed be prosperous according
to the standards of the world for a brief season. 
But whatever we have in this life will one day be
gone, and at that point, the only thing that will
matter is do we know Jesus.  Pray for those who you
may have been envious of for what they possess. 
Pray that they will come to know Christ as their
Savior since salvation cannot be bought, it is
only available through faith in Jesus.

I have dealt over the years with thousands of people
who had great wealth but when the real trials of
life came, they realized that all of their wealth
and possessions meant nothing.  When your spouse or
child or loved one has a serious illness and is
laying in a hospital bed, when you find out your
spouse wants a divorce, when you learn your child
is on drugs, when the doctor tells you that you have
a serious disease, when you face many of the major
battles in life we all face, at that moment your
money and possessions mean nothing.  Only a deep
abiding faith in Christ can sustain you through
those dark moments in life.

There is no amount of money that can buy God's peace. 
There is no amount of money that can buy God's
strength.  There is no amount of money that can buy
God's joy.  All of those things come from your
relationship with Christ and your faith in Him. 
The wicked my prosper for a season, but it is the
righteous who have true prosperity 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

***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

Let the Holy Spirit Enter and Guide You Always!

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote an good 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.

How many times have you found yourself so filled with
good, spiritual intentions that you could barely keep
your feet on the ground?  It's a wonderful experience,
isn't it?

Do you have the same spiritual uplift today when you
pursue those intentions?  If yes, great!  If not, you
may have yielded to "what's in it for me?" rather
than pursuing God's will.

Please read on.

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

DAILY DEVOTIONAL    FRIDAY MARCH 3, 2006
( Psalms 51:11, Galatians 5:16-25  )

"Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy
Spirit from me."  (Psalms 51:11)

A move of the flesh or the Spirit?  I believe in my
heart that this word today is going to help many who
read it stop struggling through life and start sailing
through life!  This message today is literally the
difference between living in defeat and living
victoriously.  It is the classic battle of the flesh
versus the Spirit, a battle that is impossible to win
without Christ in your heart and His strength to see
you through.  It is sadly a battle too many Christians
are losing each day, however, I am going to help you
focus on this spiritual war we all fight and give you
the key to insure you aren't living your life in the
flesh but in the Spirit.

On the day of Pentecost, the "promise," the Holy Spirit
of God fell and began to indwell men.  From that moment
on, every person who comes to know Christ as their
Savior by faith receives the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit.  It is the power of God that resides in a
Believer and enables men to do great things for God. 
The Holy Spirit is our guide throughout life,
showing us where to go, what to do, when to do it, and
how to do it.  It is that presence of the Almighty
that we must yield to afresh each day so that we
are living our life "in the Spirit" and not "in the
flesh."

For those who know the Lord, there is nothing more
comforting ( the Holy Spirit is often referred to
as "the Comforter" ) or reassuring than knowing
that the very presence of God is within you.  It is
the Holy Spirit that transforms mere men into
powerful men of God.  The Holy Spirit is what gives
men the boldness to proclaim His Truth to a world
that rejects that Truth.  The Holy Spirit is what
gives men the confidence to stand in the midst of
an unbelieving world and declare that Jesus truly
is "the way, the truth, and the life, and that
nobody comes to the Father except thru Him."  It
is the Holy Spirit that empowers men to literally
give their own life for their faith in Christ.

When David cried out to the Lord for forgiveness in
the powerful 51st Psalm, he begged God not to take
the Holy Spirit from him.  David knew that  without
the power of God in his life, he was nothing but a
mere man of flesh and blood and that was all.  It
was the power of God that enabled him to be more
than just a king, but an instrument of God to lead
his people.  Like David, when we sin and grieve the
Holy Spirit we should be driven to our knees asking
God to forgive us and cleanse us of our unrighteousness. 
Our sin hurts our relationship with God and neutralizes
the power of the Holy Spirit, since for the Holy Spirit
to be effective in our life we must yield to it, not
rebel against it.

Today, I know many people reading this are simply
struggling just to get through the day.  God promised
His children a life of abundance.  That doesn't mean
everything will go perfect, or that we won't have to
face trials and tribulations along the way.  What it
does mean is that by fulfilling our purpose in
serving and glorifying Him, we can know His peace
and joy despite the challenges of living in this
fallen and sin-filled world.  Even in the midst of
facing life's problems we don't have to struggle,
but can live our life in victory.  That is what I
want to help you do today.  I want to give you the
key to not struggle through each day but sail
through each day, and that is only possible by
living in the Spirit and not the flesh . . . .

This is also exactly where the VAST MAJORITY of
Christians are at in their life today.  Their lives
are led by the flesh and not the Spirit.  They
struggle because they operate in the flesh and not
the Spirit.  Life is hard because they are living
in their strength and not His strength.  They
can't get victory in their life because they are
trusting in their self and not in God.  This word
today can literally transform your life if you will
hear it.  As long as you continue to operate in the
flesh you will continue to live without the power
that is available to you through the Holy Spirit. 
You will be like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, having
the power of the ruby slippers but never using it.

A popular term in sports is "safe is death."  It
simply means if you play safe, if you play not to
lose, you will lose.  You have to play to win.  You
have to give it everything you have and not hold
anything back.  Life is the same my friend.  Only
instead of "safe is death," "flesh is death!"  If
you live your life in the flesh you can never win. 
You need to yield to the Holy Spirit and allow God
to control your life.  You need to get up each day,
treat each day like the gift from God it is and give
it everything that you have.  You will never see
victory in your life if you are operating in the
flesh instead of the Spirit.  Everyone wants to win,
but the only ones who do are those who yield their
life completely to the Holy Spirit.  You will never
win in the flesh, and you can't lose in the Spirit!!!

I love you and care about you so much.  I know the
difference in many of you seeing your life change
from one of constant struggles to constant victories
is to stop living in your flesh and start living in
His Spirit.  You do that by making the conscious
choice each day as you wake up to trust God with
your life that day.  You make the conscious decision
that you will seek after HIS will and your will. 
You give your life afresh to Him as you begin your
day.  You tell God that your life belongs to Him
and to use you for His glory this day.  This is not
something that you do once at an altar and never do
again.  It is something that we have to do at the
start of each and every day.  The difference in a
life of struggles and a life of victories is
whether you are living in the flesh or in the Spirit.

Let me give you a personal testimony from this
ministry.  God has blessed Liveprayer abundantly over
these past 78 months.  It would be easy, even natural
and many would say "wise" for me to exploit the
incredible work God has built and generate $15 million
a year through a myriad of business deals, build a
nice building, hire a big staff, and not have to
really depend on God any more.  We could still reach
millions, still make an impact in many lives, but it
would be more me than God at that point and we would
accomplish spiritually only a fraction of what we are
now.

God told me to trust Him to move on people's hearts
to support His work here, and for 78 months now, He
has not failed.  God said to go to secular TV and
trust Him to open the doors,  and we have the only
program of its kind on major secular network
stations reaching 1/4 million people every night,
soon to be millions all over the nation, that would
never be reached otherwise.  My friend, there is
NOTHING I would ever do in operating Liveprayer or
in my own life, that would possibly cause God to
remove His Spirit or lessen the impact of the Holy
Spirit in any way.  I know in my heart that
Liveprayer is not Bill Keller, it is God moving
through His Spirit.  The second it is anything else,
we cease to be the powerful, life-changing work we
have been over these past 78 months.

I will be praying for you today.  Praying that you
will hear this message and apply it to your life. 
You have to practice at trusting God.  Satan will
tell you that you can do it on your own, that you
only need God for the "big things."  LIAR!  YOU
NEED GOD IN ALL THINGS!  The goal is to be yielded
to His Spirit literally 24/7 so that it is not you,
but Him.  Yield yourself to the Spirit of the
living God that resides within you, let the Holy
Spirit have His perfect way with you, and you will
know the true peace, the true joy, and the true
abundance God has promised you in His Word.  You can
struggle through this life operating in your flesh,
or you can sail through life operating in the Spirit.

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

Put God First in Your Life

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote an important 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.

Most of us jump out of bed with a to-do list that's
pretty long.  If we work all day on doing our thing,
when we will do God's thing?  Perhaps those to-do
lists need to be reformed to put God first in our
lives.

Please read on.

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

DAILY DEVOTIONAL   THURSDAY MARCH 2, 2006
( Haggai 1:3-11 )

Living beneath God's blessings.  As I was reading the
Bible the other night, I was reading the Book of
Haggai and realized that people have never really
changed even after all of these years.  How much the
people of God spoken about in the Book of Haggai were
EXACTLY like the people of God today.  Let me set the
context for you.  The year is 520 BC.  King Darius,
the Medo-Persian king allowed a remnant of the children
of Israel to return to Jerusalem after being held in
captivity for 70 years by the Babylonians so that they
could rebuild the Temple.

However, the people of God were not as interested in
rebuilding the house of God as they were in building
their own houses.  God spoke through His prophet,
Haggai, to let them know that because of their
selfishness, they were missing the blessings of God. 
That is what I want to share with you today.  How
because of our selfishness, we are living beneath
God's blessings.  How we become so focused on OUR
LIFE, on OUR GOALS, on OUR DREAMS, on OUR DESIRES,
we have forsaken the work of God and are missing His
blessings.

There is not one person reading this today that
doesn't want God's blessings in their life.  Even
those who don't believe there is a God, still want
His blessings.  The reality is, GOD WANTS TO BLESS
YOU!  Jesus said, "it is your Father's pleasure to
give you the Kingdom."  But just like there are
natural laws that govern the earth, there are
spiritual laws that govern the Kingdom of God.  Let
me give you the key to God's blessings.  GOD CANNOT
AND WILL NOT BLESS DISOBEDIENCE.

Let me say that one more time.  GOD CANNOT AND WILL
NOT BLESS DISOBEDIENCE. If you want God's blessings,
the first thing that you must do is live in
accordance with His Word.  The Bible tells us that
"to obey is better than sacrifice."  God said, "Oh
that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and
keep all my commands always, so that it might go
well with them and their children forever."  GOD'S
BLESSINGS FLOW FROM OUR OBEDIENCE!!!

So let's go one step further and look at the very
first commandment. "Thou shalt have no other gods
before me."  Most of us feel pretty safe that we
obey this commandment.  After all, we don't worship
the sun, or the clouds, or a chair, or a tree.  We
don't have hundreds of gods that we pray to.  But
I want to tell you today that whenever you put
yourself before God, you have literally taken Him
off HIS throne and put yourself on it!  You have
said, "my will...not thy will be done."

How can we live in blatant disobedience to the very
first commandment and still expect God to bless us? 
He can't, and He won't! That is why the Bible says,
"you expected much, but see, it turned out to be
little."  If we truly want God's blessings, the first
step is to put God back in His rightful place, on
His throne as the Lord of our life and live in
obedience to what He calls us to do each day.

I love you and care about you so much.  Today's
scripture really shows us how empty this life can
be without God's blessings.  It is no wonder why so
many turn to drugs, alcohol, sex, food, money...
anything to escape.  It is frustrating to live
without God's blessings.  I am not talking so much
about the material blessings as I am the SPIRITUAL
BLESSINGS.  Don't you realize that there is no
amount of money to buy true peace, not enough gold
in the world to buy real joy, not enough real
estate on the planet to buy the abundant life that
God has offered us.  What price can you put on hope?
This world is lost, hurting, and without hope because
it is living without God and without His blessings.

I will be praying for you today to accept the same
challenge that the prophet Haggai gave the children
of Israel 2,500 years ago.  Start rebuilding the
house of God in your heart.  Take the focus off of
building YOUR HOUSE, and put it on building GOD'S
HOUSE.  Take the focus off of what YOU want to do,
and put it on what God wants you to do.  God wants
to bless you abundantly so that you eat and are
full, so that you drink and are never thirsty.  God
wants to bless YOU TODAY!  Isn't it time to stop
living beneath His blessings, and start receiving
all of the blessings that HE has for your life?

Thank you for your prayers, for your love and the
sacrifices you make to help me as we bring God's
Truth and the hope and love of Jesus Christ to the
lost and hurting in our world each day.

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

Heed God's Warnings

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote a powerful 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.

Many people describe their theology to me.  I
am always curious where the beliefs come from.
Often the answer is that "It's obvious."  No
scriptural reference is attached. 

Be cautious about trying to be your own
religious prophet.  You might make a mistake!

Please read on.

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

DAILY DEVOTIONAL   WEDNESDAY MARCH 1, 2006
(Hebrews 9:27, 2 Peter 2:9, 2 Thessalonians 1:7,8)

Will you ignore the warning?  In the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina, I listened with great interest to
the interviews with the people in New Orleans who
decided to stay, especially when they were asked why
they ignored the warning to leave.  The majority of
the people simply stated they didn't believe the
warning.  One after another, they shared how they
have heard these warnings over and over through the
years and nothing ever happened, so they decided to
just ignore the warning.  We will probably never know
how many people died from Hurricane Katrina, but
suffice it to say the vast majority of those who
perished lost their life because they ignored the
warning.

As you read the Old Testament, God sent His spokesmen,
the prophets, to warn the people from time to time. 
Sadly, in most cases the people ignored the warning
from God and ended up paying a HUGE price.  Today, we
have God's Word that clearly warns us what will happen
when we choose to live our lives in rebellion to Him. 
Unfortunately, most people in this world have chosen
to ignore those warnings.  Like many of the people in
New Orleans, they simply don't believe that God will
judge each person for their sins, that God will judge
nations who rebel against Him, and that ultimately God
will judge this entire world and bring it to an end. 
God has clearly warned us about His judgment in His
Word, but most people choose to ignore Him.

Many times over these past 78 months I have warned
you specifically about God's pending judgment on the
United Sates because of our rebellion to Him.  It is
a clear warning supported by God's Word that if we
don't turn from our wickedness, God will send down
His wrath upon our land.  I'm afraid that most
non-Christians laugh at such a notion, choosing not
believe it will ever happen.  Worse though, I am
afraid most Christians have heard the warnings so
many times and haven't seen anything happen, they
choose to ignore these warnings.

That is why our nation is now deep in rebellion to
God and there seems to be little desire or motivation
to change.  Heathen who openly live in rebellion to
God and Believers who don't really believe what God
has said.  We have embraced the false gods and idols
of this world, bowing down to and worshipping them. 
We are lost in every kind of sexual sin imaginable,
no longer having any shame but actually being proud
of our perverse choices. We watched in horror as
terrorists were responsible for 3,000 of our
citizens being killed on 9/11, deeply moved by those
who lose their lives in natural disasters . . . . 
Even though we have God's Word and have seen His
judgment on nations for their rebellion throughout
6,000 years of human history, we have chosen to
ignore God's warning about His judgment on our nation.

While God has called me in these last days to sound
the trumpet of warning to this nation and world of
God's pending judgment, my number one job is to warn
you of His pending judgment in YOUR LIFE!  God has
explicitly warned us in His Word that those who die
in their sin will be lost for all eternity. I want
you to know today that because of your sins, you are
separated from the God who created you and loves you
so much.  It is out of His infinite love for you that
He has made a way for your sins to be forgiven and
for you to spend all eternity with Him when this brief
life is over.

Let me be blunt with you.  One day, YOU will die. 
That is a fact.  At that moment, you will stand before
God and there will only be one question, "Do you know
Jesus as your Savior by faith?"  That is a "yes" or
"no" answer. You won't have the opportunity to stand
there and say, "no, but."  God is not going to be
interested in your excuses.  Each person in their
life is responsible for accepting or rejecting Jesus
Christ into their heart and life by faith and each
person will be held accountable by God for all
eternity for that choice.

Let me ask you a simple question.  If you died this
very moment, do you have the complete assurance without
any doubt that when you stand before God He will
welcome you into His presence for all eternity because
you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ?

I love you and care about you so much.  Sadly, many
people died in New Orleans because they ignored the
warning.  They chose to either not believe the
warning or because they had heard that same warning
before and nothing happened, figured nothing would
happen this time either.  This nation, this world has
been warned by God in His Word and by many of His
servants throughout the years of His coming judgment. 
Just like many of the people in New Orleans, this
nation and this world have chosen to ignore the
warnings from God.  One day, very soon, God's judgment
will be unleashed on this nation and on this world for
its rebellion exactly as God said He would in the Bible.

Today, maybe for the first time, maybe for the 100th
time, maybe for the 1,000th time, you are hearing the
warning from God that the moment you die you will
stand before God and be judged by Him.  If you die
having rejected Christ, your soul will spend all
eternity apart from the God who created you.  You
will be lost for all eternity.  God's desire is that
ALL come to repentance, that none be lost.  By putting
your faith and trust in Jesus Christ you can have the
assurance that at the moment you die you will be
forever with the Lord, spending all eternity with Him. 
That is the choice each person that lives has to make,
that is the choice that YOU have to make.

I will be praying for you.  Praying that you will not
be like so many in New Orleans who for whatever reason
chose to ignore the warning.  The warning I share with
you today concerns your eternal soul.  I am asking you
to not only HEAR this warning today, but RESPOND to
this warning today.

Let me ask you a simple question again.  If you died
this very moment, do you have the complete assurance
without any doubt that when you stand before God He
will welcome you into His presence for all eternity
because you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ? 
If you do not have that assurance, please 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.  Please don't ignore
this warning!!!

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

Make Your Relationship a Godly One before You Marry

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.

Many people marry without spiritual counseling.
That's a mistake.  God should be at the center
of your relationship before you are ready to
marry.  Put your faith in Jesus and come to know
the Lord together as one before you become one
in the flesh.

If you didn't take that step and are married
already, it's never too late to add Jesus to
your marriage and your relationship.

Please read on.

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

DAILY DEVOTIONAL   SUNDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2006
( Matthew 7:24-27, 2 Corinthians 6:14 )

***A HAPPY, CHRIST-CENTERED, BLESSED MARRIAGE STARTS
BEFORE YOUR WEDDING DAY!   You don't need to buy the
latest relationship book, you don't need to watch
the false-hope merchants like Oprah, Dr. Phil, and
the rest of the "entertainers" who only use this
issue to garner ratings, you don't need to spend
hundreds of dollars on the latest "conference," you
simply need to follow God's Word!  Get this
Devotional to your children and to every young
person you know who is not married.  Get this
Devotional to every family member, friend, and person
you know who is not married.  These words can save
someone the heartache and pain and consequences of a
bad marriage they will have to deal with for the rest
of their life!


Building a spiritual foundation to your relationship. 
Everyday, over 1/4 of the 40,000 prayer requests that
come into Liveprayer are regarding relationship issues,
the vast majority of those by people who are married
and having problems in their marriage.  The Devotionals
in the past on men and women leaving their marriages
solidified in my mind that the biggest problem there
is in marriage is people NOT taking the time and
effort to build a strong spiritual foundation to their
relationship prior to getting married.

A happy, Christ-centered, blessed marriage starts
before your wedding day.  Sadly, almost 100% of the
books and tapes and other resources on marriage
are geared to people AFTER they get married, not
before.  You will never hear this message by the
false-hope merchants like Oprah, Dr. Phil, and the
rest since these "entertainers" get their ratings
by showing you the sad, train-wrecked lives of people. 
Saddest of all, you will probably never hear this
message coming from a pulpit on Sunday, regardless of
the name of the church, to a congregation that
desperately needs to hear this important and life-
changing word.  Even those churches and pastors that
do offer pre-marital counseling, normally just gloss
over what I am going to share with you today instead
of forcing the man and woman to deal with the hard
questions and issues they will face in marriage.

MY FRIEND, MARRIAGE IS A LIFETIME COMMITMENT TO YOUR
SPOUSE AND TO GOD.  OTHER THAN YOUR SALVATION, IT IS
THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION THAT YOU WILL MAKE IN
THIS LIFETIME.  LISTEN TO ME CAREFULLY.  THE TIME TO
BUILD A STRONG, SUCCESSFUL, CHRIST-CENTERED MARRIAGE
IS NOT AFTER YOU SAY "I DO," IT IS BEFORE!!!

The key to a Godly marriage is to build a spiritual
foundation to your relationship before you even
consider marriage.  It is during this time of
"dating" or "courting," that the hard work of laying
the foundation for a successful marriage is done. 
In my vast experience in dealing with literally
hundreds of thousands of marriages, the biggest
mistake I see is men and women who did NOTHING to
build a real spiritual foundation to their
relationship prior to getting married.  Even Christians
fall for the lies of this world in regard to what
happens prior to getting married.  This is the exact
reason why such a high percentage of people look at
marriage as nothing more than a legal date.

When you first meet someone that you are attracted to,
there is that "magical time" when your emotions are
controlling you.  This is the most critical time in a
relationship.  However, instead of using this time
productively, it usually ends up being a period where
very little real work towards the relationship takes
place, and in too many people's lives, actually becomes
a destructive time.  This is the critical time when the
foundation of a relationship is being laid.  The
foundation ends up being built on pure "feelings,"
shared interests, having someone so you are not alone,
and so many other things, including the number one
foundation most relationships are built on, SEX.  Just
like the Bible teaches we have to build our home on a
rock and not sand, the foundation of most relationships,
even amongst Christians, is built on sand instead of
the ROCK, Jesus Christ!

So how do you build a spiritual foundation to your
relationship?  You do it by praying together.  You
do it by reading God's Word together.  You do it
by going to church and worshipping together.  You do
it by finding ways to serve the Lord together.  You
do it by sitting down and discussing spiritual things
and how they apply to your day to day lives.  You do
ALL of these things over a period of TIME!  How long? 
Every relationship is different but I counsel couples
on taking a minimum of a year to work DAILY on
building a spiritual foundation to their relationship.

I am always amazed at the number of people I deal
with who have slept together, engaged in every kind
of sex act imaginable, but have NEVER, EVER, prayed
together.  They have no problem engaging in the most
intimate acts a man and woman can engage in physically,
yet have never even once spent even a minute praying
together.  The sad reality is, this includes many
people who are MARRIED!

Let me help you understand what all of this accomplishes. 
First, we all know that God's Word warns us about being
unequally yoked with a non-believer in 2 Corinthians
6:14.  Someone who is not saved is not going to want to
pray with you, or read God's Word with you, or go to
church with you, or find ways to serve the Lord with you. 
You are going to know IMMEDIATELY if this is a person
you should even be trying to get involved with.  Please,
listen to God on this issue.  If you could read the
emails of horror I get daily from men and women who
ignored this warning in God's Word you would never even
consider getting involved with someone who is not
saved.  God said this to save you from incredible
heartache and pain.  Listen to Him!

One of the biggest problems I hear each day is men and
women who tell me that the one they married said they
were a Christian, they went to church with them a few
times, but 5 minutes after they left the altar they
found out they were into porn, they drank too much,
were on drugs, were having affairs, would beat them,
and all other kinds of sinful behavior.  Listen,
95% of these types of situations are avoidable by
building a spiritual foundation to your relationship,
over time, prior to getting married.  It is virtually
impossible for you to pray with a person day after
day, read God's Word with a person day after day, go
to church with a person and worship together week
after week, find ways to serve the Lord together,
talk about spiritual things and how they apply to
your life, do all of this over a year or more and
wake up the day after you get married with a person
who is into any of this type of sinful behavior.

One of the things that happens over this year plus
that you are building a spiritual foundation to your
relationship is that God begins to speak to your
heart about the person you are with.  Over that year
plus, God will clearly confirm to you both, over and
over in many ways that this truly is the person HE
wants you to spend the rest of your life with.  If a
person is involved in any type of sinful behavior,
it is virtually impossible to mask it or hide it over
a long period of time, especially when you are spending
that time in prayer, God's Word, and in church.  If
they have these issues in their life, God will show
you, IF YOU WILL KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!  What happens
is people close their eyes and refuse to see the
warning signs God gives you!

Please know that I am fully aware that each person
has the free will to make their own choices.  There
is nothing you can do to insure at some point, 1
year, 2 years, 10 years, or even 30 years later,
that your spouse will not choose to fall into sin
of some kind, sin that could greatly damage and
even destroy your marriage.  However, this is also
why you must pray for your spouse each day, continue
to build that spiritual foundation you both started
prior to marriage throughout the rest of your lives
together.   It does not insure your spouse will
never fall into sin, but it makes it so much more
difficult when they are walking with the Lord each
day, just like it becomes difficult for you to fall
into any sort of continual sin in your life when
you are faithfully serving and following the Lord
each day.

Another thing that you need to be doing during this
time you are building a spiritual foundation to your
relationship is to begin to talk about and work out
all of the real life, day to day issues you will be
facing once you are married.  How will the finances
be handled?  What are your goals and desires for
work and your careers?  What about children?  During
this year plus that you are building your spiritual
foundation, you also need to be talking through and
coming into agreement on the day to day issues of your
life together.  You have to COMMUNICATE!  A huge
problem in many marriages is that two people who have
committed their lives to each other have never had
a real open and honest conversation!

One other important issue that must be addressed are
people who have been married before.  Divorce is no
different than having a 2 foot gash in your stomach. 
It is a WOUND and wounds need time to heal!  You do
not heal the wound of divorce by immediately getting
married again.  Also, no matter how bad the previous
spouse may have been, there are always TWO PEOPLE
involved in every divorce.  People who get divorced
will jump right back into a new marriage and NEVER
even begin to deal with whatever issues they had in
their life that contributed to the divorce.  If you
are divorced, before you even consider a new
relationship, take the time to heal as well as to
reflect on the mistakes you made.  If you are getting
into a relationship with a person who is divorced,
understand that you need to take even more time
building that spiritual foundation plus working
through the issues you will be facing after you are
married, since there is the additional baggage a
divorced person brings into a relationship and marriage.

I love you and care about you so much.  The fact is,
the biggest mistake I see daily in troubled and
failed marriages happened BEFORE the marriage even
took place.  People meet, start a relationship, and
the foundation of that relationship ends up being
everything BUT Jesus!  I am amazed how people will
make a lifetime commitment to someone they really
don't even know, and then are totally shocked when
they come to find out this person is NOT the same
person they had that 2 hour date with a few times!

Over your lifetime, you will have a close intimate
relationship with only a handful of people.  Out of
the billions of people on this planet, you will
only have that close, intimate, life-changing
relationship with a handful of people.  These
relationships will greatly determine the course of
your life. The choices you make in these relationships
will follow you for the rest of your life.  You are
being an absolute fool, if you do not take the time
and effort and direction God will give you on who
those people are supposed to be.  THE COURSE OF YOUR
VERY LIFE IS AT STAKE!

I will be praying for you today.  For those who are
already married, it is never too late to start
building a firm, spiritual foundation to your
relationship.  I pray that you will start to do that
today.  For those who are not married, please
understand that the person you marry is the most
important choice you will make other than to accept
Christ as your Savior.  Please read and pray over
these words today.  They are coming right from God
to you.  He loves you so much and only wants the best
for your life.  Marriage is God's Holy Institution. 
Do all that you can to insure a happy, Christ-centered,
blessed marriage BEFORE you get married by building a
spiritual foundation to your relationship.

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