Daily Devotional for Saturday April 4, 2026

Exposing the “big lie” so many churches are telling people! and, Jesus or Barabbas?

DAILY DEVOTIONAL SATURDAY APRIL 4, 2026

(Matthew 27:15-21)

***NEW Liveprayer Prayer by Phone!!!***

Liveprayer founder Rev. Bill Keller is now making available a FREE daily personal prayer by phone! Each day at the time you designate, you will get a personal call from Bill with a special prayer for you. If you don’t answer, the special prayer will go to your voicemail or you can simply call back the number to listen to that day’s prayer for you. How encouraging will be it in the midst of your day to get a call from Rev. Bill Keller with a special pray for you that day! To sign up, go to: https://asterisk.liveprayer.com/index.cfm

***Personal Message For You From Bill Keller***

We weren't in the mob when Pilate gave them the choice between setting Jesus free or setting the criminal Barabbas free. We didn't get to have our voice heard that day. However, I tell you that how you live your life each day is literally you casting your vote for Jesus, or casting your vote for Barabbas. Remember throughout the day that if you would have called for Jesus to be set free, let your life show it!!!

*As people are already starting to receive their tax refunds, many receiving much more than expected due to the Trump tax cuts, please be praying about sending a tithe to God’s work here at Liveprayer to me save souls off of that tax refund! Amen!

***Prayer***

Lord, help me to not be like the people who called for Barabbas. Give me the strength to live my life for You today. The greatest way I can show my love for You, the greatest way I can call for JESUS and not Barabbas, is to live my life for You this day. May my thoughts, words, and deeds be pleasing and acceptable to You! In the name of Jesus...AMEN!

***The Daily Liveprayer TV Nugget***

More people that ever who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ are buying into the universalistic lie from hell that even if a person rejects faith in Christ, God will still “let them in Heaven!” This is a most dangerous lie since it completely negates God's one and only plan of Salvation. Even more egregious, it literally makes the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ completely unnecessary!

Thank about this for a second. If a person can make it to Heaven apart from Christ's finished work on the cross, than his death as the perfect one-time sacrifice for the sins of all mankind was really meaningless. Faith in Christ to be saved isn't required. It is a most damnable lie. It is the lie promoted by every new age guru like Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Eckerd Tolle, and a host of others who Oprah exploited in the last years of her TV program.

20 years ago, I was one of the only people in the secular media challenging Oprah on this lie she was telling to her vast audience. Sadly today, that lie is alive and well not just in the new age circles, but due to the watered down preaching in many Christian churches, amongst born-again Believers as well! If you have not accepted Jesus as your Savior, please go to this link: https://www.liveprayer.com/salvation.cfm

*Liveprayer TV Program airs “LIVE” every Monday thru Friday from 11pm EDT to Midnight! For details on viewing options for the Liveprayer TV program, “LIVE” or “On Demand,” go to: https://liveprayer.com/liveprayer-show-about.cfm

***April Financial Update***

Thanks to the prayers, a special gift and many others giving as they were able, we ended March down to the final $20,000 of our February shortfall that we require ASAP. That is now down to the final $10,000! AMEN! Once we clear up February we can work on the $55,000 we required for our March ministry operations and the $55,000 we will require during April. That is $10,000 to clear up the balance of February and $110,000 for March and April to end April with all of our finances current. OUR GOD IS ABLE!

The Bible teaches us to “give according to our ability to give.” For some that may be $10 or $20. For others it may be $50 or $100. Still others it may be $200, $500, $1,000, $10,000 or more. God will bless your gift no matter the amount.

Also, don't forget a gift of $1,800 covers one day of ministry at Liveprayer. I received this email recently, “Pastor Bill, My wife and I have just sold our last rental and God told us to tithe $1,800.00 to pay for a day of your ministry. Not looking for accolades, just that you know when you receive the check. Rest assured that we will still be making our regular weekly tithes."

To give a gift to Liveprayer you can use your major credit card at: http://liveprayer.com/donate.cfm or you can mail your gift to: Liveprayer, 6662 46th Ave. North, St. Petersburg, FL 33709. All gifts to Liveprayer are 100% tax deductible!

Stocks! A great way to help Liveprayer is by donating stock. The transfer can be made in a way you get the full credit for your donation without having to pay any of the taxes you normally would on gains your stocks may have enjoyed. Contact me for information about this incredible way to help God's work here at Liveprayer: bkeller@liveprayer.com

By the way I have been seeking the Lord since the start of this year for God to lead someone He has blessed richly to make a legacy gift of $15,000,000 to Liveprayer. That would insure that when God decides to call me home Liveprayer will continue to impact lives and lead lost souls to faith in Jesus for a minimum of 20 years. Please stand in agreement with me for the Lord to raise up that person!

Live on after you are in Heaven!!! By remembering God's work here at Liveprayer in your will/estate planning, you can still help me share His Truth with the masses, be here for people in their time of greatest need, and help lead the lost to faith in Jesus even after God has called you home!!! God has led many of our friends in the Liveprayer family to remember His work here in their will. Please pray about this opportunity to continue and partner with me in the Lord's work at Liveprayer, even after you are enjoying your rewards and the eternal peace of Heaven! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me at: bkeller@liveprayer.com

Even though Jesus never ran for political office, he was involved in one election during his life. It was actually an election where the winner would be allowed to live and the loser would literally be killed. It is clear that Pontius Pilate who ruled Jerusalem for Rome during the day of Jesus had no desire to put Jesus to death as the Jewish leaders wanted him to do. As a way of escape, Pilate used a custom at the time of the Passover where one prisoner would be pardoned for his crime and released.

Pilate brought before the people a criminal by the name of Barabbas. Most likely, Barabbas was not a common thief, but a violent political revolutionary. Next to Barabbas was Jesus. Pilate then asked the crowd to vote. Vote for the one he should have mercy on and release. I have no doubt Pilate expected the crowd to choose Jesus. The votes were cast and the winner by a landslide was Barabbas!

Afterwards, Pilate called on the Jewish custom of washing his hands, signifying that he was not responsible for condemning Jesus to death. The fact was, Pilate knew Jesus did not deserve death. He was warned by his sense of justice, he was warned by his conscience, and he had been warned by the dream of his troubled wife. But he did not have the guts to stand up against the Jewish leaders of the day, nor did he have the guts to stand up to the people that had chosen Barabbas.

Let me share this with you my friend. Washing your hands may be a nice symbolic act, but the one thing you can never rid yourself of is responsibility! Nobody, no act can take that away. Pilate is actually a very pathetic person, not one to be loathed but rather pitied for not having the guts to stand up for what he knew was right. I want to challenge you today. In your life, you are called from time to time to take a stand for righteousness. Often, that stand may not be popular. You may suffer personally for taking that stand. But never forget, it is God, not man, that you have to please. It is God, not man who will ultimately judge you.

A good question to ask is why did that crowd vote for Barabbas over Jesus? Why did they vote for a man of violence over a man of peace? Why did they vote for someone that had clearly chosen a life of rebellion to God over someone that had chosen a life of obedience to God? People have not changed since the Garden of Eden. They chose Barabbas over Jesus for the very same reason they would choose Barabbas over Jesus today!!!

Jesus believed God's Word to be inspired, inerrant, representing absolute truth and our final authority in all matters. Most people reject the Bible since it is the truth of God's Word that condemns them. Jesus called sin what it is, sin. Most people love their sin more than they love God. When confronting the people of His day with their sin, some repented, others mocked and rejected Him, and still others sought to silence Him. Most people today when confronted with their sin mock and reject Christ or do all they can to silence the truth of His message.

*It is not surprising that when asked to vote, the people voted for Barabbas over Jesus in a landslide. If that same vote would be held today, sadly the result would be the same.

I love you and care about you so much. In the day He lived, there were people that came to know Jesus for who He really was, the Son of the living God and the Savior of all mankind. However, the majority of the people rejected Him. It is no different today. There are those who acknowledge Him as their Savior, but the majority of the people today have made the choice to reject Him.

During the 2024 Presidential election cycle billions of dollars were spent. Add to that millions of man hours that was invested in electing the next President of the United States. As important as it is who the President of the United States may be, how much more important is a person's eternal soul? People give time and money to elect a person to a political office, but will they give that same time and money to see a lost soul won to Christ?

Even though Jesus is not on the ballot, how can YOU vote for Jesus? You cast your vote for Jesus each morning as you get up, die to self, and surrender afresh your life to the Lord. You cast your vote for Jesus when you spend that time each day in prayer and in His Word. You cast your vote for Jesus as you share His hope and love with those God brings into your life each day. You cast your vote for Jesus when you stand for Him despite what the world may say.

We did not get to vote when the people chose Barabbas over Jesus. We will never get an opportunity to vote for Jesus to be President. However, you can still vote for Jesus every day through how you live your life!!!

In His love and service,

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller