Quote from Forum Archives on March 22, 2003, 3:39 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

Now that we're into the weekend and we can sit back to reflect,
not only on our week, but also on the events of our world, and
relate them to ourselves, this message from Bill Keller might be
useful to at least consider, and hopefully embrace.

I'm not one to scare people, yet at the same time, it is
important to remind ourselves, even warn ourselves, if we are in
harm's way or in danger. Bill does that in today's message. He
notes that our legacy that we leave behind depends on whether or
not we, both as individuals, and as a nation, and as a world,
genuinely humble ourselves, admit that we really do not have all
the answers, and that we need a Holy God and the gracious
provision of what His Son has done for us.

The message from the Lord is this:

If we do humble ourselves before God, confess our arrogance,
pray and seek God, turning away from our past misdeeds and
looking only to God for the answers, God will hear our prayers
and heal us (and our land). Bill shares the well known
scriptures that tell us this message.

The warning is that if we continually turn away from the God who
made us and offers to save us, there will come a time when the
patience and graciousness of God will be fully given to those who
earnestly seek Him, but the judgment and wrath of a righteous,
just, and patient God will come upon those who continue to either
minimize, trivialize, or ignore the God who sacrificed His very
own Son to save us.

Now people don't like to hear stern warnings, they love to hear
of blessings, and the blessings of God are wonderful. Those
blessings are intended for everyone and are available to
everyone, but the Bible also records that only some, whose names
are already known, will choose to accept and receive the grace of
God.

It is my deep heart's desire that every single person that reads
these messages will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they
are among God's chosen people, a holy nation, set apart for God's
eternal enjoyment and reward. How can we know that we are among
those people?

God's gracious gift of salvation is available to all. To all
who receive Jesus Christ. God's Son, we are His chosen people.
You see, we must recognize that we have a problem - we have a
sin nature, and only Jesus can atone (provide full payment) for
our sins. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive all of our sins, and not only that, He cleanses us from
all unrighteousness.

The issue is that we must first recognize and admit our
condition, and secondly, we must realize that Jesus' death was
the only perfect payment for our sins, for only God in the flesh
is perfect, and Jesus is God in the flesh. Once we accept that
we have a problem, and only Jesus can solve the problem, we can
accept His gift to us. Then we are freed from the penalty of
sin, and remarkably, we can begin to turn away from a life of
sin.

As weak people, prone to make mistakes, we still sin. But now we
have an advocate in Christ, so that we need not continually bear
guilt and shame. Once we free of guilt and shame, we can
actually turn our lives around and live for Christ, and that's
when we can make a difference for Him.

Will you call upon God, humble yourself, admit your need, turn to
Him, allow Him to heal the ugly secrets you hold closely within?
Will you give all that stuff to Christ, and allow His salvation
to make a lasting difference, not only in you, but in others
around you?

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian
____________________________
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DAILY DEVOTIONAL SATURDAY MARCH 22, 2003
(Proverbs 14:34)

***Become a LIVEPRAYER.COM DAILY SPONSOR AT:
www.liveprayer.com/liveprayerdailysponsor.html

***MONDAY FAST!!! Please join me this Monday in a day of
fasting and prayer for the war in Iraq.

The real problem's in the United States. God makes it clear in
His Word that it is no accident who our rulers are, and that it
is God who puts those rulers in office, and it is God who takes
them out of office. We are to honor, respect, and pray for
those God has placed in authority over us. Some may find this
hard. But praying for our enemies is hard too, but that is what
the Bible tells us to do. It was the example our Lord gave us
on the cross as He forgave those who nailed him to that tree.
Do you realize that it was God who allowed Adolph Hitler to
rise to power? It was God who allowed the Emperors of Rome to
hold office. Never forget, the New Testament was written under
the inspiration of the Holy Sprit during the time Rome was in
power and there was mass persecution of Christians. Yet God
clearly calls us to pray for our leaders.

We have many problems in the United States today. Most of those
problems like Social Security reform, gas prices, employment,
health care, prescription drug benefits for our senior citizens
are all in the news and will be debated at length in the coming
weeks, months, and years. However, these are political
problems. The real problems that we face in this nation are
spiritual. The practical application for your life today is
this. Whatever problems you are facing in your life are NOT the
real problems. Your finances may be a major issue today.
Addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex may be a major battle
you are fighting. Your marriage may be in trouble. There may be
health issues you are being confronted with. All of these
issues my friend are life problems. Practical day to day real
life issues that we have to deal with. But the real problems in
your life, just like the real problems in this country, are
SPIRITUAL!

Anyone with common sense can look back on the brief history of
the Untied States and see the Biblical principles upon which it
was founded and set up to operate under. There can be no doubt
that the greatness of this country, in spite of its' very young
age compared to countries in the rest of the world, are because
of this personal relationship with God and His Word. The
problems we face today are because we have forgotten God, tossed
His Word to the side, and decided to do it "our way". No more
prayer in school. The legalized killing of millions of babies
every year. God's plan for the family perverted. The bold and
shameless marketing, making easy access to, every kind of sin
imaginable. Our great country, founded on Biblical principles,
has misappropriated the freedoms God gave us. We have used our
freewill to consciously ignore God, to turn our back on Him.
God gave us the ability to make that choice. But never forget
that there are consequences for our choices. There are
consequences for rebelling against God!!!

This country has lived off of the obedience to God of our
forefathers. We have enjoyed the blessings of their
faithfulness. Unfortunately, the legacy we will leave to our
children and grandchildren, should Jesus tarry, will be the
consequences of our rebellion to God and His Word. 2 Chronicles
7:14 says, "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble
themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked
ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin
and will heal their land." Deuteronomy 8:19 says, "If you ever
forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and
bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will
surely be destroyed." It is not too late. However, we need
spiritual leaders, who under the power of the Holy Spirit will
call the people of this great land to repentance. IT IS NOT THE
POLITICIANS JOB TO DO THIS. It is the job of the spiritual
leaders, and only a spiritual revival will solve the real
problems of this country!!!

In the Bible, there were kings, the political leaders, and there
were the priests and prophets, the spiritual leaders. DON'T
LOOK TO POLITICAL LEADERS FOR SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE. THAT IS THE
JOB OF THE MEN AND WOMEN GOD HAS RAISED UP TO BE THE SPIRITUAL
LEADERS OF OUR DAY!!! God is saying to those leaders today, to
you pastors, to you who have been given a position of
leadership, to those who have been blessed with a national and
international platform..."quit building a kingdom to yourself,
and focus on building my kingdom...my people are perishing for
lack of knowledge...give them the knowledge and lead them out of
the darkness and into the light...come down from your self-built
ivory tower that has been lavishly made with the blessings I
have bestowed upon you...and feed my sheep...then LEAD my
sheep...thus sayeth the Lord God of Israel...."

My friend, I love you and care about you. The relevance this
word has to your life today is that the same problem the country
has is your problem. You are focused on the external problems in
your life, when the real problems are spiritual. Focus on that
side of your life. Get back to the basics. Pray daily. Read
the Word daily. Get in church. Find ways to serve God. Set
your spiritual base, since everything in your life, who you are,
flows from there. As you solidify your spiritual base, you will
find the day to day problems easier to handle. I am praying for
you. I am praying that just as this country needs a spiritual
revival, you have a spiritual revival in your own life. That is
the answer to building the foundation on which your life is
built.

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

***I am excited to let you know that the Liveprayer Daily
Devotional is now available via audio each day. Simply go to
www.liveprayer.com/DailyDevotionalAudio.html Click on
"Search by Category", then locate DAILY DEVOTIONAL. I want to
thank Ed Morando for making this service available for FREE to
Liveprayer.com.

=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

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