Jesus,, i want to begin my day breathing in your breath of life…
“Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)--Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia--who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.” (Acts 6:8-10)
Four words to keep in mind from this passage (at least 4). They reveal a pattern we have see as the Holy Spirit spreads.
NOW STEPHEN. . . OPPOSITION AROSE.
It’s critical to understand the bigger picture here. Were we to get a birds-eye view of the first century church, everywhere we spotted the activity of the Holy Spirit we would also witness the opposition stirring. The same remains true to the present day. We must understand the real enemy is not the Jews or any other human being. Listen to how the Apostle Paul will later describe the battle.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:10-12”
Human beings must indeed be held accountable when they serve as the willing yet often unwitting agents of darkness, but they are not ultimately responsible. Evil is real and everyone remains susceptible to being drawn into its strategies. While evil is no match for the Holy Spirit, only those who learn to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” have any hope of standing against and overcoming it. The Big Lesson: as much as people may willingly or unwittingly align themselves with the enemy, people are never the enemy. This is important to remember when ministering to and my prayer is "Lord, send me those no one else wants."
This core dynamic of Christian discipleship consists in the crisis and process of learning to be “strong in the Lord and in his mighty power,” who is the Holy Spirit. One more key piece of information: THE FULLNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL ALWAYS LOOK LIKE JESUS. We simply cannot learn or comprehend how the Holy Spirit works apart from keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. And this will not happen apart from immersing ourselves in every detail we can grasp from the inspired accounts we have of his life as revealed in the four Gospels.
Remember in Luke 12 when Jesus said, "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."
Read the passage above again. Stephen remembered. Ending where I began this post.NOW STEPHEN. . . OPPOSITION AROSE. . . .But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke!
My family, I pray you reflect today on your reliances and equipping, and empowering by the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit to anoint you right at this moment with his power and presence. Ask the Holy Spirit to anoint and empower our church strong in the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Begin The Year With A Gift!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning Father, Son and Spirit; speak to me God, your servant is listening..
“But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.” Acts 5:1-6
“Lying is a terrible vice. It testifies that one despises God, but fears man.” Michel de Montaigne”
Acts chapter 5 begins with the story of Ananias and Sapphira. In it Peter, who had so recently experienced the forgiving and restoring grace of God after his denial of Jesus in the high priests palace, in turn speaks un-gracious words of death of the couple. Try how we may, we cannot imagine Christ acting towards sinners as Peter here is represented as doing.
The selling and giving of goods to the community of the early church was voluntary. The piece of land belonged to Ananias: he could keep it or sell it as he pleased. When he sold it the money he got from it was his to use as he chose. Ananais and Sapphira retained part of the sale price for their private use, as they had every right to do, but he lied and stated the balance he gave to the church as the total purchase price that he received from the sale. He tried to lie and deceive them into thinking he was “All in” and had done an extremely pious act. A higher standardof character and honesty must prevail among the followers of Christ. Ananais, in an effort to gain a reputation for greater generosity than he had actually earned, tried to deceive the believing community. However, in trying to deceive the community he was really trying to deceive the Holy Spirit, whose life-giving power had created, flowed through, and maintained the community. If he had told a lie told to Peter on a separate private transaction, though it would be a sin, may not have been as condemning. But this act, whether Ananias knew it or not, was a lie told to God, something prompted as Peter said, by “Satan filling his heart” and he became an adversary to God and humanity.
The desire to gain a higher reputation than one is due for generosity, an act of humility, service, or some other virtuous act is not so uncommon among us that anyone of us can take a self-righteous attitude toward Ananais. Instead I believe from this story, we are called to deep self-reflection on how we may have or are currently lying, deceiving or exagerating to our community of faith, or more importantly ourselves personally about our level of generosity, tithing, giving, time spent in The Word and prayer, and our surrender to Christ. What ways are we building ourselves up in our minds and the minds of others of our level of generosity and obedience. How to build up or maintain a reputation, or rationalize and say we are a Christian when it has been a long time since we attended or actively participated in the life of a church, and even longer since we shared out faith with another and led someone to Christ. In reality with are exagerating, with holding, and deceiving others, deceiving ourselves, and more importantly trying to deceive God and the Holy Spirit. Like Ananais, we say we are “al in” with Christ when in reality in our heart we know we are withholding gifts and areas of our life from God. We too are lying to God.
Satan filled Ananais’s heart with a desire to be well thought of and known, a high reputation, a person of position, and to be thought of as special and important in the great movement of the Holy Spirit and movement in the church. His deception however was one that tried to cause the movement of the Holy Spirit in the church to stumble. How often do we see a movement of the church that is growing, revival and power of God being seen and present, be hindered or derailed by pride and deceit of a member.
We are reading and praying through the New Testament now seeking direction, vision and the revival of a movement of God. Take time today to pray into the honesty of your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal ways you are deceiving, others, yourself, and God. Don’t lie to yourself and take 30 seconds to glance at your soul then carry on your day and pretend you gave it your all. We are covenanting to read a chapter of Scripture each day and spend real time in prayer and reflection on the chapter over our lives and our church. Are you fully engaging in this time of the Word and prayer or are you deceiving yourself in you level of participation? If we want to see a movement of God, we need to be all in, not withholding anything. What is your true level of generosity and giving, not only financial, but time in service and opening your home to ministry.
My family, I pray this morning you take time in prayer to look at ways you are deceiving, exaggerating, and rationalizing the true level of of your obedience to Christ. I pray you will truly have a “Come to Jesus” moment of the clear assessment of your “all in,” withholding nothing in your life from the Lordship of Jesus. I pray then you will have a time of seeking forgiveness and recommitting your life to Christ and reconnecting to the life of your church, In Jesus. name.Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
For those near me, I am here if you need to talk about anything in your faith. For those who are not, seek out those who will listen to you and respond in the love and truth of Christ.
Your participation these daily reflections is important to me and others who read them. As we read our daily readings together, please share your reflections to my post or others from the chapter we are reading in the comments box below to bless myself and others.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Give A Gift!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
“Peter looked directly at him (as did John) and said, “Look at us!” So the lame man paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, stand up and walk!” Then Peter took hold of him by the right hand and raised him up, and at once the man’s feet and ankles were made strong.” (Acts 3:4-7)
This chapter contains one of the most amazing stories of healing post-ascension of Jesus to heaven. And it is followed by the amazing address by Peter to those who had witnessed the healed man.
The lame man cried out and asked Peter and John for money, and instead he received healing which source was from Jesus. I can’t blame the man for asking for money. From the day he was born he was physically lame, a cripple who lived day to day by the assistance of those who were willing to carry him and those who gave him funds for food and items to survive on.
Unfortunately many Christians when they pray their cries out to God resemble the of the lame man. We cry out for money, for things, in aid acquiring things like cars and houses, for comfort, and other “stuff.” What do you think Jesus thinks when he hears the prayers of a believer that goes something like, “Lord, if it is your will help me purchase this $250K or way more home with brick siding granite counter tops and hardwood floors.” Or,” Lord, if it is your will, please help me get a new car and afford the payments. And these prayers, these cries do not come out of a place of necessity for survival like the lame man, but out of a place of entitlement for comfort. I believe Jesus shakes his head, and His reply aligns with Peter’s, “Silver or gold or new house or cars is not what I died on the cross to give you, but what I do give you is all the life, hope, healing and peace that is available to you if you surrender all these other things, and simply seek Me.
Then we to will rise and receive as Peter declared, “The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete health in the presence of you all.” (vs 47-49)
Jesus, forgive me when the words of Peter’s address also apply to myself and my prayers. “And now, brothers, I know you acted in ignorance,”(v 49). Forgive me when my prayers and cries to you come out of a spirit of entitlement in me, out of American capitalism, out of a desire for more things and more comfort, and not from a place of surrender and cross bearing. I have been o blessed to be born in the USA. Yet, the wealth of this nation makes It is so hard Lord for me to not get sucked up into feelings I am entitled to more comfort, and sucking you up in my prayers to provide it for me.
My family, I pray over you a hard prayer, one that I need you to please pray over myself as well. That you will be freed from the entitlement in your heart, surrender all these things that try to control your heart, surrender it all to Jesus, and seek out not silver of Gold,but what He truly wants to give you, In Jesus; name.Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Give A Gift!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
http://www.easytithe.com/dl/?uid=onepob279
Good morning Father, Son and Spirit, speak to me as I speak to you…
“But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately. And the person who saw it has testified (and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth), so that you also may believe. For these things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled, “Not a bone of his will be broken.” And again another scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.” (John 19:33-37)
“They will look on the one whom they have pierced.” Here a single phrase is quoted from Zechariah 12, but the entire context is associated with the events surrounding the crucifixion. The "Spirit of grace and of supplication" is poured out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the first part of v. 10. A few verses later in 13:1 Yahweh says "In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity." The blood which flowed from Jesus' pierced side may well be what the author saw as the connection here, since as the shedding of the blood of the sacrificial victim it represents cleansing from sin. As Jesus hung on the cross, the author may also have in mind the second coming here. The context in Zech 12-14 is certainly the second coming, so that these who crucified Jesus will look upon him in another sense when he returns in judgment.
“ On that day the Lord himself will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them will be like mighty David, and the dynasty of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. …I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn…“In that day there will be a fountain opened up for the dynasty of David and the people of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and impurity... (Zech 12:5-13:1)
Holy Spirit, the water of these Scriptures are very deep waters. Continue to motivate me not to stay on the surface of what I read but dive deep to discover the treasures of Your Word of Life that lay there. Continue to call me to run and jump into the fountain of life which flows from Christ where I am soaked, laughing and splashing in the waters of Grace that cleanses me of all sin, impurities, guilt, shame, and depression. As I dive into your Word and prayer I want to to washed by the the river of the water of life that flows from Your throne today!
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 22:1-4)
My family, I pray you do not just read these Scriptures daily, staying on the surface of them to simply complete their reading to put a check by them on your daily check list. I pray you do not read them as something to do, but as the source of something to become as you allow the Holy Spirit to mold you and speak to you through the Word of God you are reading. I pray you will not just receive from these daily readings but begin to share what your hear the Spirit speak to you and reveal it to others. I pray you will today dive deep into the healing waters of life that flow from your Bible,: laughing, free, and joyful like a child of God splashing in the water’s deep love and grace., In Jeus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Give A Gift!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Light of the world you stepped out into darkness, open my eye let me see today…
“So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” (John 12:35-36)
Jesus, your warning “Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you” speaks on at least two different levels. To the Jewish people in Jerusalem to whom You spoke, the warning was a reminder that there was only a little time left for them to accept You as their Messiah. To me and you, all those later individuals to whom the Gospel of John was written, and to every person since, the words of Jesus are also a warning to us that there is a finite, limited time in which each individual has opportunity to respond to you Jesus, the Light of the world; and after that comes darkness. Through belief in the light and its salvation we enter into the infinite light and love of Christ, however we all have a finite time on this earth to make that decision. One's response to the Light made in time decisively determines one's judgment for eternity.
Our decision to believe in the light makes us, "sons of light" (v.36). This means essentially "people characterized by light," that is, "people of God." The expression sons of light does not just mean people who made a one-time decision of belief, but it refers to men and women to whom the truth of God has been revealed and who are therefore living according to that truth, living as people of light, thus, living as people of God. Being a person of light in their workplace, schools, family, and neighborhood. Jesus you explained “A lamp isnʼt brought to be put under a basket or under a bed, is it? Isnʼt it to be placed on a lampstand?” (Mark 4:21) If we have received the light of Christ’s salvation, yet “Hide it under a basket” and we fail to share this light with others, our life then is one of darkness. Our life is the same as those lives who do not know or are against Jesus and walk in darkness,. Our life then offers no hope or light to those around us who without receiving this light will perish in eternal darkness. They also have a finite time to believe, and if we withhold and do not share the Light with them, we are condemning them to eternal darkness.
My family, I pray you understand you have the light of the world in you. I pray you will choose to be a person of light today, living as a person of light, and sharing your light today with persons who are still living in darkness. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog or what your received from reading chapter 12 in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Give A Gift!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice. ...
"The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.... I am the good shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father" (John 10:2-15).
I open the gate of my heart to You today. You know me and I know You. I want to hear Your voice and sense Your leading, as You go ahead of me into every moment of my day. And at the same time, You not only go ahead of me, You also go with me because You're abiding in me and I in You. "Christ in (me)" (Colossians 1:27). By "the Spirit of Christ" abiding in me, You're "with (me) always" (Romans 8:9; Matthew 28:20).
Help me test and discern every word I believe I hear in my heart. I want to follow the voice of my Savior, not the voice of the stranger. Sharpen my discernment. Sensitize my spirit. Anoint me and empower me to "test everything" and "hold fast to what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Your Word invites me to listen attentively for Your words and also commands me to test carefully the words I believe I hear. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.... By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God" (1 John 4:1-3). ...
As I wait on You to listen for Your voice this morning, it seems I hear You saying: "My son, know My voice that always aligns with My Word, that reflects My nature, that bears good fruit, that leads you to Me. As you listen and hear, as you test and see, you grow in discernment and trust so that I can lead your heart by My Spirit."
Yes, Lord. The stranger doesn't lead me to Your Word, doesn't reflect Your nature, doesn't bear good fruit, and doesn't lead me to You. Let this test of discernment of the thoughts that come to my mind and the impulses that come to my heart be a plumb line of truth, so I can hold fast to what is true and reject what is not. Following You as we hear Your voice is one of the great blessings of the children of God. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God" (Romans 8:14). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you spend time in your Bible to know God’s Word so you have a base to test the voices you hear. I pray the Holy Spirit anoints you and empowers you to hear and discern the voice of God, holding fast to what is true in your journey with Him every day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Give A Gift!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Jesus, I begin this new day that is a gift from you, seeking a new and deeper revelation and intimacy of your presence in my life.
Do you also want to become his disciples?” (John 9:27)”
I pray that your first priority as you begin this day and every day will be a desire to be a disciple of Jesus. May you deeply abide in Christ, as He deeply abides in you, bearing much fruit as a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ (John 15:4). May you know and embrace the truths of God and be set free from everything that would hold you back from being all your Father created you to be (John 8:36). May you make it your aim to please God in all you do, doing all things to the glory of God, with a heart filled with joyful obedience in a life of praise (2 Corinthians 5:9). And may your joy be made full and complete, as you sense the pleasure and joy of the One who created you for joy (John 15:11).
May the holy angels of the Lord lift you up into His presence and surround you with His protection and war for you in the heavenly realms with His victory (Psalm 91:11). May the Lord stretch out your stakes and enlarge the site of your tent, with the wisdom and authority to prevail and prosper in all He has entrusted to you (Isaiah 54:2). May He bless you and increase your territory, with His hand upon you to protect and empower you, to express His heart and power and love and grace through you to the glory of His name (1 Chronicles 4:10). And may He give you as a possession of your inheritance every place where the soles of your feet may touch and where the prayers of your heart may reach, to the full measure of His plans and purpose for your life and through your life (Joshua 1:3).
May you hear the voice of God more clearly with more certainty than ever before (John 10:3). May you be renewed and restored in your journey with God to walk with Him and talk with Him in the coolness of the day and the intimacy of His garden in the depths of your spirit as deep calls unto deep (Genesis 3:8). May you be led by the Spirit of God as a beloved child of God (Romans 8:14). May you know the fullness of joy in the presence of God (Psalm 16:11). And may you know that you are not created and called to be merely an obedient servant of God, but a beloved child of God and a faithful friend of God (John 15:15).
May you prepare the way of the Lord in your heart and allow your words and your prayers and your life to help prepare the way of the Lord in the hearts of others (Mark 1:3). May you be sanctified in spirit and soul and body, sound and blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, wholly surrendered and wholly committed to the Lord your God (1 Thessalonians 5:23). May you be conformed into the image of Christ, free to be like Jesus, to allow Him to display His glory through your life (Romans 8:29). May you be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may know and embrace and live into the perfect will of God for your life (Romans 12:2). And may you be changed into the very image of God, from glory to glory, as you seek Him and behold Him and give yourself fully to Him, without reservation or hesitation (2 Corinthians 3:18).
May you be continually baptized with the Holy Spirit and the holy fire of the living God, set ablaze with a passion for Jesus and burning with unquenchable zeal to see God's kingdom come and His will be done here on earth, and here in your heart, as it is in heaven (Acts 1:5). May the anointing and power of the abiding presence of God be upon you and within you always (1 John 2:27). May you be one the Lord uses to turn this world upside down with the glory of God! (Acts 17:6) And when it's all be said and done, may you hear the words of your Father spoking into your spirit, "Well done, My good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your Lord!" (Matthew 25:21)
May you awaken this morning and every morning to the tender mercies and steadfast love of the Lord our God that never ceases and never comes to an end in His faithfulness for you (Lamentations 3:22-23). May you know and experience the unshakeable, unchangeable, unbreakable embrace of your Father's arms around you, with the fullness of His provision and protection, as He reveals and affirms the fullness of your identity and destiny as a child of God (Luke 15:20). May you hunger and thirst for righteousness as You grow in Your hunger and thirst for a deeper intensity and intimacy in Your personal relationship with Jesus, as Savior and Lord of every dimension of your life (Matthew 5:6). May you be filled afresh and overflowing with the Holy Spirit every day, as you keep surrendering your life and entrusting your heart to the One who fills your life with the righteousness and peace and joy of the fullness of the kingdom of God (Romans 14:17).
May the mighty right hand of the Lord be lifted high over every moment of your life and every encounter you face, with His power and love to uphold you and encourage you and empower you, as He does mighty things for you (Psalm 118:16). May the hand of the favor of God be upon you and go before you, to bless you and prosper you, as you flourish and thrive with the fruit of His righteousness for the glory of His kingdom (Proverbs 3:3). May the Lord give you the desires of your heart, as you humbly, trustingly delight in Him and allow Him to fashion His desires in your heart (Psalm 37:4). May you pray more boldly in faith, not doubting in your heart, but centered in Christ, to receive what you ask in the name of Jesus (Mark 11:23). And my the power of your words, flowing from the heart of the Father, speak spirit and life everywhere He sends you in the authority of His name (Ezekiel 37:10; 1 Peter 4:11; Mark 11:23).
May you prosper in all things and be in good health just as your soul prospers. May you prosper and flourish, producing good fruit, always green and full of sap throughout this year and season of your life. May you be passionately vibrant, fully alive, and faithfully true. May you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, that all these things that are in your Father's good heart to give you may be added unto you (Matthew 6:33).My family, by the power and the grace of God: "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace!" (Numbers 6:24-26) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you will fully embrace and desire to be a disciple of Jesus and passionately live into all the Lord has already done in your life and allow Him to fulfill in you all the kingdom shaking plans He created you for and all He wants to do new in you and and through you today and every day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Please set aside 10 minutes to sit, stand, kneel, or dance and receive the blessings of this song. Click the link below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Give A Gift!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
As a man who exists in the confines of time, I seek fellowship this morning with you, eternal triune of God that exists outside of time.
“Jesus stood up straight and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She replied, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” (John 8:10-11)
In this scene that takes place in front of the crowd ,stand two people who could not be more different from each other. One is a woman, the other a man. One who only minutes ago had committed a terrible sin, the other was sinless. One was completely human, the other was completely the eternal Son of God. And how does Jesus speak into this woman’s life, with words that can appear to be opposites as well, words of both of grace and truth. Words of grace spoken out of deep love, “I do not condemn you either” (v.11). I am not going to demand justice for your sin, the penalty of which was death by stoning. I am going to offer you mercy. Words of truth also spoken out of deep love, “Go and sin no more” (v11).What you have done and are involved in is a sin, stop doing it,
Jesus, your Gospel is one of grace and truth and you balanced and presented both grace and truth to everyone you encountered in a remarkable way. Salvation through grace is the gift you offered, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16). Yet, you also always presented the complete truth to everyone you encountered on any sin they were committing or was present in their lifestyle. “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:18-19).
Jesus, through your Holy Spirit help me also present this same Gospel. Help me not to demand justice when I encounter sin in a person’s life but offer grace. At the same time, help me to honestly confront the truth of sin I encounter in another’s lifestyle. This balance the church has always struggled to maintain, and I struggle with it as well. Help me to always speak truth into a persons life. Yet, remind me that though what I am saying is completely right, if I say it without love I am completely wrong.
My family, I pray today that you set aside time to listen to Jesus out of a place of deep love for you, speak both the grace and truth of His Gospel into your life. I pray you will receive them both, conform your life to them both, so you can balance and speak both grace and truth into the lives of those who’s paths you will cross as you go through your day, In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!!!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Give A Gift!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Speak to me Lord, your servant is listening..
“On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’” (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)” (John 7:37-39)
Certainly Jesus picks up on the literal water used in the ceremony and uses it figuratively. But then He goes beyond that and refers it to the coming of the Holy Spirit to dwell in the believer.
When anyone comes to believe in Jesus, all the scriptures referring to the activity of the Holy Spirit in a person's life are fulfilled. When the believer comes to Christ and drinks they not only no longer thirst themselves but they receive such an abundant supply of The Holy Spirit that abundant rivers flow from them. The believer themselves becomes the source of the living water.
Jesus crying out, “From within him will flow rivers of living water” ’speaks into the water brought forth from the rock in the wilderness by Moses striking the rock in the wilderness to bring forth water. Jesus is the Rock from which the living water - the Spirit - will flow.
“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.” (ICor. 10:1-3)
“Jesus answered her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water… Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:10,13-14)
My family, In our belief, faith, and Baptism we now have the light of the world in us. We contain fountains of living water. Our receiving Christin our hearts was was not only to revive and bring life to our dry, parched hearts, but also to fountains that renew, restore, and refresh the dry, parched hearts of our neighbors, co-workers and the nations. I pray you will splash and drench others today, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below with us from todays reading.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning Lord Jesus, as I awake physically I seek Your Spirit to awaken me spiritually so I can live out this day in Your Spirit.
If the first half of the gospel is John 3:16. We read it in today’s reading John chapter 3. It is the verse that is the most well-known, memorized and recited verse by Christians around the world. “For this is how so loved God the world: His one and only Son he gave, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”. (John 3:16)
However, John did not end his reflections, teachings and good news of Jesus in this Gospel we are reading. The second half of his gospel is in his letters that are also found in the Bible. The author John writes in 1 John 3:16, “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.” What if it was 1 John 3:16 and not John 3:16 that was the most well-known, memorized and recited verse by Christians around the world. How would Christians live and evangelize differently?
Then the whole gospel would be summed up in: show me, don’t tell me. John’s words would challenge us to not just know that God loves us and sent His Son to save us, but to put that knowledge into practice. John is using his authority in love to challenge us to rethink what it means to be a servant of Christ. The goal of the gospel that “So Love God the world” is to redefine our relationship to God, however also as importantly to redefine our relationship to others, and even to ourselves.
In other words: show me, don’t tell me.
Eugene Peterson says, “Every movement we make in response to God has a ripple effect, touching family, neighbors, friends, community. Belief in God alters our language. Love of God affects daily relationships… it all gets worked into local history, eventually into world history.”
Lord, as I read these words of John which are inspired by you I hear you also say to me, “I am confident as I write this letter that you will do what I ask and even more!” In other words you are saying to me as well, show me, don’t tell me. Show me in my relationship with you Jesus where I need to redefine and restore some of my personal relationships. Reveal to me where and how in my day to day life I can not only tell people Jesus loves them, but show it. Challenge me as well to rethink what it means to be a servant of Christ.
My family, I pray this morning the heavenly Father stirs up the gift of His Holy Spirit in your lives and challenges you to rethink as well what is means to be a servant of Christ, so loved by God. I pray today you will not only plan to tell people as John 3:16 states that Jesus loves them, but as 1John 3:16 states, you will show it too. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below with us from todays reading.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
“A man came, sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that everyone might believe through him.” (John 1:6-7)
“Witness” is one of the major themes of John's Gospel. The Greek verb for “witness” is μαρτυρέω (mature). It occurs 33 times in John’s Gospel. When compared to the other three Gospels we have read, it appeared only once in Matthew, once in Luke, and zero times in Mark. And the noun for “witness”, μαρτυρία (marturia), occurs 14 times in John as compared to zero in Matthew, once in Luke, and 3 times in Mark. So “witness” occurs 47 times in John’s gospel as compared to 6 times in all of the three other Gospels combined.
The witness of John’s gospel testifies to the deity of Jesus and that "He was the true light, who gives light to everyone who comes into the world." This witness has a world view in mind. As we will read later in John 3:16, “God so loved the world”
“He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him.” (v.11) His own people did not receive him. There is a subtle irony here: When the “Word” came into the world, he came to his own, literally "his own things" and his own people, who should have received him, but they did not. John does not say that "his own" did not know him, but that they did not receive him. The idea is one not of mere recognition, the people recognized Him, witnessed who he was in his teachings and miracles, but they did not acceptance and welcome that witness into their life.
“The Word became flesh” (v.14). This verse constitutes the most concise statement of the incarnation in the New Testament. John 1:1 makes it clear that the Logos was fully God, but 1:14 makes it clear that he was also fully human so that Jesus could witness to us in person.
We have just came through 40 days of Lent including Holy Week and Easter. For 40 days we focused inwardly on ourselves and our “receiving” of Him. We have personally meditated. We fasted, gave up and let go of things that were keeping us or are a distraction from personally receiving Him. We took on things that helped us personally receive Him. We stood up on Sunday morning and declared personally and collectively as a church that we receive Jesus as a resurrected Lord. Now it is time to witness to others what we received.
“On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”(v.29) This is now are calling if we are truly a people of Easter,; to go and witness to others through sharing our testimonies, our witness, and the Gospel of grace and open up to others and invite them into the living scriptures and testimonies of our and say, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
The one time in Luke’s Gospel that the noun “Witness” is used is at the very end of the chapter right before John’s Gospel where it states,“and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”(Luke 24:47-47)
My family, the “You” in Jesus’ words, “You” are witnesses to these things” is YOU! The person’s reflection you see in the mirror! I pray you will not set aside the 40 days of personal reflection and your witness to the risen Jesus on Easter and just continue in life, but embrace your call to be a witness and today! Seek out at least one person and share with them “The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Give A Gift
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Open the eyes of my heart to see You--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God--as I look and listen for Your leading today.
"Now on that day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.... So He went in to stay with them. When He was at the table with them, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. They said to each other, 'Were not our hearts burning within us while He was talking to us on the road, while He was opening the Scriptures to us?'" (Luke 24:13-32).
The two disciples who were walking to Emmaus after all the events of the cross, had known You and loved You. But in their grief and sorrow and disappointment, they couldn't see You. They "had hoped" that You were the Messiah, but now they thought all their hopes and dreams were shattered (v. 21). They had even heard stories of Your resurrection, but they were still "slow of heart to believe" (v. 22-25). Even when You came alongside them, they couldn't sense that it was You, they couldn't recognize Your voice, even though they had had such a personal relationship with You.
That may be a picture of many of us at times along our journey of faith. We know You, we have a real and personal relationship with You, we know the stories of Your resurrection; but at the same time, down deep inside, we still find ourselves "slow of heart to believe." When our dreams and hopes are shattered, when things don’t work out as we planned, when we find ourselves in those times of grief and sorrow and disappointment. We find it hard to see You and hear You and even recognize and remember that You are with us--that You're with us "always," just like You promised (Matthew 28:24), that Your sheep "hear (Your) voice," just like You said (John 10:3).
But even in those times--maybe even especially in those times--You'll come near and go with us (Luke 24:15). You'll come in and dine with us in the communion of our hearts if we'll invite You in to come abide with us (v. 29). Just as You did with those two discouraged disciples who desperately needed an encounter with You, You're ready to come and commune with all who would "urge (You) strongly" to come and stay (v. 29).
In the breaking of the bread with them, "their eyes were opened, and they recognized (You)" (v. 30-31). In the breaking of the Bread of the Word of God with them, "(You) interpreted to them the things about (Yourself) in all the Scriptures" (v. 27). Then their hearts burned within them in fresh fire and faith, in renewed hope and excitement, from their personal encounter in Your Presence with Your Word (v. 32).
Thank You for walking with me on my journey with You, Lord Jesus. Thank You for opening up the Word of God to me this morning and every morning, for revealing Yourself in Your Scriptures to me, "beginning with Moses and all the prophets" (v. 27). Thank You for coming to abide within me, for opening the eyes of my heart to see You, for making me more and more sensitive in my spirit to hear You. Thank You for the grace and faith to believe in my heart from my personal encounters in Your Presence with Your Word that "the Lord has risen indeed!" (v. 34) And thank You that every day You want to arise in me! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray following the joy of Easter your heart burns within you with fresh fire and faith, in the renewed hope and excitement that the resurrection of Jesus was meant to provide. I pray every day of your journey with Jesus, you will invest the time and invite Him to walk with you and encounter His presence in His Word, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Give A Gift
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning Jesus, I breath in your Spirit this morning, as you are my breath of life.
This morning, I am sharing a post from a good friend of mine who also writes a daily blog post. His name is J.D. Walt and he is the Sower in Chief at seedbed. https://www.seedbed.com He wrote this blog on Luke chapter 18 6 years ago in March of 2015. I saved it as it caused me to honestly reflect on understanding of following Jesus. and I pul it our and read it now and then to remind me of Jesus’ words and how I follow Him as a disciple. With today being my fiirst post of Holy Week, when we are to seriously re-structure this week to allow us as much time to reflect on Jesus’ saving works on the cross and our call to follow Him, this reflection fits in perfectly.
“A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'" "All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus replied, "What is impossible with man is possible with God." Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!"
"Truly I tell you," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life." (Luke 18:18-30)
I’ve thought about this a lot in recent years. Let’s say I was leading a church and this same rich young ruler came forward after a service and asked me, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” How would I answer that question. For that matter, what if this same person came forward at a Billy Graham Crusade and asked the same question. What answer would they get?
In both cases, the person would likely be led in a prayer that goes something like the following:
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name. Amen.
We would give them some literature and encourage them to become active in the local church and that would be that. Well, . . . . we would probably hit them up soon for a big donation to the capital campaign too. J. This has been the basic shape of evangelism and discipleship in the North American evangelical church for the past 50 years.
Notice how drastically different Jesus answers the question:
"You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
How do we reconcile such a disparity between what Jesus says and the conventional practice of today? I don’t think we can.
Doesn’t it strike you as a bit dangerous to depart so drastically from Jesus’ approach? All things equal, wouldn’t we be giving the rich ruler a profoundly false sense of security in their eternal salvation? At the same time, I can’t picture myself responding in the same way Jesus did.
So what if this entire “sinners prayer” approach to eternal salvation is all wrong? I mean, it’s not actually in the Bible anywhere, nor do we see it anywhere in the early church or church history for that matter.
On the other hand, surely salvation can’t come down to money and one’s relative attachment or detachment from it. Justification by grace through faith would go right out the window if selling everything one had and giving it to the poor were a requirement. So what gives here?
My take: I don’t think salvation is such a transactional reality. I think it’s far more relational. Can a person come to faith in an instant? Sure. “Love at first sight” happens. More often than not, though, I think it takes time. Maybe it takes following Jesus for more than a church service or two to be ready to offer up your entire allegiance to him. What if a little bit of discipleship (i.e. following Jesus) actually opens up the door for evangelism to happen rather than the reverse case?
Let me suggest a few assumptions that might change our take on the passage at hand. First, I think it’s fair to assume that the rich ruler was following Jesus. He was in the midst of the people that day and had the courage to bring forth his question. Chances are he had been there before. Second, we know he went away sad, but we don’t know how it actually turned out in the end. Maybe he came back around. Maybe he realized his wealth actually had him and that Jesus was right and he had to do something drastic to escape its gravity. Maybe he came to grips with the hard reality that his money stood between himself and Jesus.
That’s how I’m thinking about it. What if we didn’t feel like we had to soft-pedal Jesus when he says unreasonable things like this? What if we just let Jesus be Jesus? What if we just “listened to him,” instead of explaining how he couldn’t possibly mean what he said. What if we were willing to let people go away sad when something Jesus says makes them sad? What if we could let them sit in that sadness a bit? What if we could sit with them in that sadness a bit? What if that’s actually what real discipleship is all about; feeling the weight of the cross a bit, counting the cost, weighing allegiances, making hard yet life-giving choices?
I’m obviously still thinking this through. And the more I think about it, the more I am led back to the prayer. . . . .Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. by JD Walt
My family, I pray this morning as we enter the deep waters of Holy Week you take time to honestly reflect on the actual state of your relationship with Jesus. How are you really following Jesus? How are you a real disciple? In what ways are you shouldering and bearing the weight of the cross? What relationships,lifestyle choices and financial decisions are you making because of your relationship with Jesus? I pray today you ask Jesus the hard questions, and listen and obey his hard answers. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Though I ask each week, I get very few people who actually take time to share their reflections from the chapter we read that day so I and others can also glean from what the Holy Spirit reveals to them. I pray since it is Holy Week, you will please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Give A Gift This Christmas
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I want to begin my day with You -- meditating on the written Word, in the communion of prayer with the living Word. You are the Word of God; and I'm watching and waiting for God's Word to speak to my heart. ...
"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32).
You're a good Father. And it's Your good pleasure to give me the kingdom. What is "the kingdom" that You desire to give me, my Father? ...
As I sit and listen, this Scripture comes to my heart: "For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17).
Yes, Lord. Everything I need to experience Your righteousness, it is Your good pleasure to give me. Everything I need to experience Your peace, it is Your good pleasure to give me. Everything I need to experience Your joy, it is Your good pleasure to give me. And You do give it all to me through Your Holy Spirit -- the "Spirit of God (who) dwells in (me)" (Romans 8:9) -- the "Spirit of God" who leads me and positions me to receive everything it is Your good pleasure to give me (Romans 8:14). You know everything I need, so You invite me to ask and command me not to worry (Philippians 4:6).
Thank You, my Father. It's not prideful or selfish for me to seek and to receive all these things that it's Your good pleasure to give me. It brings You joy to bring me joy -- righteousness and peace and joy. It delights You to delight in me. "For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love, He will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs!" (Zephaniah 3:17 NLT)
So may it be my good pleasure to delight You this morning by graciously receiving from You all You're generously giving to me in Your good pleasure. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you'll ask for and receive everything it's your Father's good pleasure to give you, delighting in Him as He delights in you with gladness, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
You Can Help!
I could use you’re the gift of financial support reaching with the Gospel those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me start this day and every day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ the Son, and filled with Your Holy Spirit. ...
"Now as they went on their way, He entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha, welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what He was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to Him and asked, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.' But the Lord answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:38-42)
Martha was so sure of Your answer she didn't even wait to haer it. She asked, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?" But she didn't wait to hear what You would say. She assumed You would be saying, "Yes. You're right. Mary is wrong and you are right. Mary, get to work and quit wasting your time sitting at My feet and listening to Me." No, she just went right on with her assumption to say, "Tell her then to help me."
But You did not tell Mary to help Martha. No, instead You defended Mary. In fact, You insisted that what she had in those moments of waiting and listening in the intimacy of Your Presence would "not be taken away from her." Incredibly, You didn't just say it was the best thing she could be doing or the most honoring or most effective thing she could be doing. You said "There is need of only one thing."
So before I go about the work that surrounds me today, before I get busy doing all the things that need to be done, I choose to embrace Your truth that "There is need of only one thing." And by the grace of God, it was not be taken from me. In fact, I believe You insist upon it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family,I pray you will embrace the truth and the invitation of Jesus that there is need of only one thing, as you begin your day in the intimate presence of the Lord, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. I have to smile as I write these words this morning. II have to be at work early this morning at 5:30am and that almost convinced me to stay in bed and gave me an excuse to skip my time to pray and write my devotional to send out this morning. But I heard, "One thing" in my heart and knew I needed to take the time, that it is not a chore, but that it was a gift of God that would not be taken from me. Thank you for joining with me in the daily journey of prayer, our journey through the New Testament, morning by morning. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Give A Gift
Would you please consider giving the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in our path we refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donations checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758
Thank You!
Good morning Jesus, I begin my day opening my heart to allow you to pour your blood of the love, grace and mercy into my life.
“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Luke 8:5-8)
If you have been in the church for awhile, you probably heard many sermons on this text. They all focus on the different soils, which result in Sermons focus on which heart conditions which are yours:
Are you that thorny hearted person?
Are you that Rocky or Shallow hearted person?
Are you the hard hearted person?
Are you the good soiled hearted person?
Well if I took a spiritual snap shot of your heart right now, a spiritual photo, I guess it could be true that at this moment perhaps your heart is hardened now on some point or another. Or you may have a rocky heart, or a thorny, choking heart now, or a good heart now.
But life is not a static snap shot is it, it is a moving picture. There are times in our lives that we can’t hear God’s word, sometime we won’t hear it. Some times we hear it, and we lose it. There are times that anxieties and fears choke it. Sometimes we receive it with Joy..
When I hear this parable and read the story about the seed that falls on the path and is eaten up, when I hear it I say to myself, That’s me!
When I hear about the story of how the seed fell on rocky places and there was shallowness, and the first time, persecution or suffering comes they fell away I say to myself: That’s me too.
When I hear the story about how one receives the Word and lets the worries of the world and materialism choke it away, I say to myself: That’s me too.
And when I hear the story of the seed falling on the good soil and it produces fruit 30x, 60x, 100x, I say to myself: Praise God that’s me too!!! Because in so many ways these soil represents various times in my life.
Yet this parable has never been called the parable of the soils. It is of the sower. It is a parable about the sower. God is sowing his seed into the world, his sowing was behind all the past saints, and behind the present and future saints, and behind you and me, sowing into the world!
The real story is: That God’s sowing is more consistent than the Devil’s snatching. His sowing is more powerful than the devil’s eating. His sowing is more enduring than the devil’s tribulation. His sowing is more persistent then the devil’s choking. The real good news of this parable is that God is the great extravagant sower in all the world, including you and me.
My family, I do not know what the snap-shot condition of the soil of your heart looks like this morning. However, I pray you open your heart, open your Bible, open your hands in prayer, and receive the seeds of love, grace, mercy and hope your Father, the extravagant sower, who is madly in love with you wants to sow into your life today. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
You Can Help!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for reaching with the Gospel those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
It’s not to late! IF YOU HAVE NOT YET, JOIN IN!!
We started 10 weeks ago beginning the journey of reading through the New Testament in a year and we still have 42 weeks to go! This plan has only one chapter to read each weekday. There are no assigned readings on the weekend. The plan we use is from Bibleplan.org. Click the button below to go to the site, enter the starting date January 1,2021, enter your email, and a time you want to receive an email reminder, then click subscribe. Every weekday then you will receive an email reminder of the chapter reading for that day.
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Rule and reign in my heart and life today as King of kings and Lord of lords.
"Just say the word" and it shall be so” (Luke 7:7)
All that You've promised in Your Word and spoken in my heart will surely come. All will come in the appointed time. When You point, it will be time. When You speak, it will be done..
Sometimes it seems to me you delay speaking into my situation. You're timing is not always my timing, just as Your thoughts and Your ways are not always my thoughts and my ways (Isaiah 55:8). So Your Word reminds me: "Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with (us), not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:8-9).
As it turns out Jesus, as hard as it is to believe according to my flesh and desires it's not all about me. It's about me and so much more than me. It's about all You're doing every day, as You work in the heart of every soul, using everything that will happen in our broken, fallen world to bring us closer to You. You cause all things to work together for my good and the good of all who love God and are called according to His purpose.(Romans 8:29). So I shouldn't be surprised and I shouldn't get discouraged when that seems to take a little more time than I'd like to spend in the places and situations I find myself.
You give me the freedom to cry out, "How long, O Lord?" (Psalm 13:1) And at the same time, You've forever reserved the right to reply, "As long as it takes, My child."
Thank You for all Your patience with me. Give me the grace everyday to be patient in You. "For in hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience" (Romans 8:25). So with hope and patience, through the eyes of my heart, I look forward with vision for "the appointed time" to come, choosing to trust in You that you will not delay but be right on time. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you will know a deep peace in the patience God gives you in His grace. I pray for patience and faith in you to wait for His appointed time to fulfill every promise He's spoken to you in His Word and to your heart, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Give A Gift!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support reaching with the Gospel those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
“Then He (Jesus)looked up at his disciples and said:” In Luke 6 Jesus chooses 12 people to be His disciples. He then calls His new church He just formed together and preaches His first sermon to them. This is the first sermon Jesus preached to His new congregation as a foundation for His church.
“Blessed are you who are poor”
“Blessed are you who hunger now”
“Blessed are you who weep now”.
“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you” “
“But woe to you who are rich”
“Woe to you who are well satisfied with food”.
“Woe to you who laugh now”
“Woe to you when all people speak well of you”
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you”
“bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you”
“To the person who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other as well”
“the person who takes away your coat, do not withhold your tunic either”
“Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your possessions back”.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?”
“If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?”
“If you lend to those from whom you hope to be repaid, what credit is that to you? “
“love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back”
“He is kind to ungrateful and evil people”
“Be merciful”
“Do not Judge”
“Someone who is blind cannot lead another who is blind”
“You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye,”
“Each tree is known by its own fruit.”
“nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit”
“the evil person out of his evil treasury produces evil, for his mouth speaks from what fills his heart”
Say I planted a new church today. I walked the streets and reached out to people, and I invited neighbors, friends, co-workers and other to attend the first service. Then at the first service, for my first sermon, I preached the above sermon. No one would come back the next week.
Jesus talks about a house that is built upon a good foundation. The above sermon is the “good foundation” He preached His church would be built on. If this sermon would drive people away today, then what foundations are our churches built on today?
Jesus’ words haunt and convict me this morning both personally and as a leader in His church: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do what I tell you?”
My family, I pray this morning you will simply reflect on Jesus sermon which is the true foundation your life and “The Church”, and his words, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do what I tell you?” I know I will for a while. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.
“ I am asking you to please share your reflections and prayers with us in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/Toney UMC
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support reaching with the Gospel those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
