January 26, 2012 in Donation Requests, iCareNOW, News & Views
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January 25, 2012 in iCareNOW, News & Views
Why chase glimmers?
The Great of All that is
Stoops to incline His ear
Reason with the child
Defiant
He reasons from the heart
of Love
All Knowing
Loving even the feet
of the muddy rebel
Sending
He Who Sends
His Son to guard the soul
His angels to keep you
in all your ways.
January 23, 2012 in iCareNOW, News & Views
There was a time when the cry of life was precious.
The blood and water soaked baby from a mother’s womb,
Awakens God’s creation given to man and woman, the beginning.
The breath of life in the midst of the new world that feeds a child,
The movements of it’s chest and all limbs in a life’s dance.
Was there a moment in this world of come and go,
The heart thumping loud, the racing of the pulse of life? In The Womb!
A baby’s cry shatters complacency, breaks the deafness of civility,
Reminds one of a voice that seems to disappear as we grow up.
The carry here and there, the discomfort of the hold, in joy.
The expectation of the womb that promises new hope.
How can a people laugh and cheer, drink in merriment?
Applaud the ones who glorify the death of life so dear?
How can a people come and go like death has no meaning?
That laws and acts of men and women make it so.
There is a foulness in the air, the womb of life compromised
The act of conception minimized.
The rational of inconvenience, money unavailable,
A people who vote 5 to 4 that death can be the life,
That fairness holds the floor,
One sided representations!
And burials are meaningless.
Disposed of in the fires of trash.
That sworn rights of those who gave their lives,
To break away from the Devils grip,
Whose ink on pen made indelible lines
And a paper enshrined in history decays before our eyes.
And the silence of the breaths of life are destroyed,
The new birth made a slaughter by the law of a land,
Where death is celebrated in constitutional law!
The leaders taking bows and bragging much,
”I made a promise and I now have earned your trust”.
~ Chaim
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men {humans} are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” {my add on}
by Bill Keller
January 18, 2012 in iCareNOW, News & Views
Back in 1992 as I was just starting out in full-time ministry, I was blessed to work for a time at TV 38, the Christian TV station in Chicago, Illinois. One of the first things I did at TV 38 was sit at a small desk and call all of the people who had donated to the ministry in the last year and simply pray with them. Every day I sat there for 6-8 hours praying for people’s needs, literally 90-100 people each day for months until I had prayed with everyone who had been a donor to that great television ministry the previous year.
I will never forget as long as I live walking out in the cold Chicago winter one night. I was tired. I was mentally and spiritually drained. The cold Chicago winter winds were actually refreshing. Then God spoke to me and told me that no matter what I would ever do in the ministry for however many years I would live, it would never, NEVER, have greater significance than what I was doing each day in making those prayer calls.
*Nothing I would ever do in serving God would be as important as what I was doing at that little desk, calling people up and praying with them for the needs in their life!!!
I have to tell you that in 20 years in full time ministry, the Lord has blessed me to preach in over 500 churches of all denominational backgrounds. But I have to tell you that Liveprayer has become my life’s passion these past 144+ months because it pure ministry. Reaching out and personally ministering to people’s lives all over the world through the Internet is what God has called me to do.
Sharing with the lost and hurting in this world the hope and love of Jesus Christ at a critical times in their life. Agreeing in prayer with people for the needs they are facing in their life. You see my friend, this is the ultimate ministry we can perform because this is the example we have from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry!
There are many examples where Jesus preached to and taught large groups of people. The Sermon on the Mount. The time when he fed the multitudes with the fishes and loaves. But as I studied over and over the earthly ministry of Christ, I saw the example of one-on-one personal ministry.
Jesus loved people. He didn’t need a stadium full of people, or an arena packed to the rafters, or a sanctuary that seated 4,000 to minister. Jesus loved people. He showed us through His ministry that while there is a place and time for a large gathering of people, some of His richest ministry was one-on-one, dealing with the specific, very real needs of someone God put in His path.
Let me speak for just a second to the many pastors and ministers who read this Devotional each day, as well as those who are in full-time service to the Lord. Never forget two things. First, those of us who have answered the call to serve God full time are SERVANTS. Our lives are to serve not be served.
Our greatest ministry is not in front of the TV camera, or when the spotlight of the auditorium is on us, but in the time we take to personally minister to someone in need one on one. If you ever, EVER get to a place where you are too busy, or view it as a waste of your valuable time to minister to someone in need, it is time to go back and remember that God has called us to serve others.
Secondly, never forget, that our ministry to others, flows from our own personal walk with Christ. If we are not plugged in, if we are not following Him in our own life each day, if we are not investing the time into our personal relationship with Christ each and every day through prayer and the Word, then we have nothing of any significance to draw from to give to others.
I love you, and care about you so very much. I want you to know today, anyone that is saved, has accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior has been called by God to minister to others. Our most effective ministry is that personal one-on-one time we spend with someone. It may just be a kind word, or doing someone an act of kindness. Just letting someone who is hurting know how much we care about them is often the hope they need.
Sharing the hope and love of Jesus Christ with others is not an option for a child of God, it is a responsibility. We have ALL been called to be ministers of the Gospel no matter what job we may have. Nobody is too young, or too old to share His love and hope with someone else. That is our greatest service to God!
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
by Create Now
January 13, 2012 in iCareNOW, News & Views
January is National Mentoring Month. Street gangs, drug addiction, child prostitution, homelessness, abuse and neglect are major concerns that affect millions of American youth. According to research, half of the U.S. youth population (17.6 million kids) is considered “at-risk” of getting into trouble with the law, or “high-risk” and already in trouble.
Our kids need help. Mentoring has been proven to work and January is National Mentoring Month. A study done by Public/Private Ventures in Philadelphia showed that children matched with mentors through Big Brothers Big Sisters were 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs; 52% less likely to skip school and one-third less likely to hit someone.
Check out my new book MENTOR YOUTH NOW: A Guidebook for Transforming Young Lives. It’s full of practical guidance, from the process of becoming a mentor to setting boundaries, teaching life skills and how to end a mentoring relationship. It includes solutions to challenges, sample templates, field-tested projects, inspirational stories about mentors, more than 100 places to visit and things to do, plus “The State of America’s Youth,” a 30-page cited report that’s a great tool for grant writers, teachers, students and individuals.
20% of the proceeds benefit vulnerable children through Create Now.
The book is $14.36 and available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. but visit www.mentoryouthnow.com to learn more and but it there since we get higher royalties. Contact me at (213) 747-2777 x 210 or jill@mentoryouthnow.com if you have questions.
Thanks and happy mentoring!
Jill Gurr
Founder and Executive Director
Create Now
