Good morning, Lord Jesus. King of Kings and Lord of Lords, come rule in reign in my heart and in our land on this 4th of July, when our nation celebrates our freedom, may we celebrate every heart in our nation and throughout the nations of this world who have freedom in Christ. ...
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).
I was actually moved and encouraged by the news! Our fellow citizens of the State of Tennessee Governor signed a Joint Resolution overwhelming approved in a bipartisan vote, calling its citizens for 31 days of fasting and prayer on behalf of their state and our nation. By a vote of 27-1 in their Senate and 82-6 in their House, signed by their Governor, the fast took place starting on July 1st. Their resolution proclamation declares in key points:
“We recognize that God, as Creator and King of all Glory, has both the authority to judge and to bless nations or states.…
“We, as public servants in the Tennessee General Assembly, seek God’s Mercy upon our land and beseech Him to not withdraw His Hand of blessing from us. …
“We recognize our sins and shortcomings before Him and humbly ask His Forgiveness. …
“We ask the Lord Jesus to heal our land and remove the violence, human-trafficking, addiction, and corruption. ...
“We ask the that Holy Spirit fill our halls of government, our classrooms, our places of business, our churches, and our homes with peace, love, and joy. ...”
To all of that, I say Amen! Hallelujah! I’m with you and God is with us!
My family, I pray God may bless America and may God bless every people of every nation who turn to You and declare Our God is the Lord! I pray your heart, your state, your nation, may be filled with the Holy Spirit in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, in Jesus' name. Amen. 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
Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community 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 Thank You!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
“He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.”( John 8:44).
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. (John 10:10)
I met Carla (not her real name) 12 years ago when she was 15 years old and a freshmen in high school and started waitressing at the Waffle House. Her family was dysfunctional and low income, so for her to be involved in any sports or any other activities at her school and pay the fees, and have a cell phone, she had to work to pay for them. Carla had a sweet heart and I encouraged and poured into her. She would come around the counter and give me a hug every time I walked in the restaurant.
Not having the a family to guide her, she began listening to and being influenced by the wrong voices, the wrong crowd, and the lies. Seeking love and attention, she received it from men who were abusive, manipulative, and controlling. Over the years I watched as those that prey on the naïve and speaks lies slowly destroyer her. She began using drugs, being abused by men, got pregnant, used, manipulated and caught up helping a guy in a drug deal and sent to jail for over a year, and lost custody of her child. Carla has shown up to the Waffle House with black eyes, bruises on her body from being beaten and neck from being choked. She would not however press charges against her “man that loved her” and said it was her fault. She went into coma’s and almost died twice from using drugs laced with fentanyl. Myself and others have tried to get her to go into rehab however she did not listen to us, but the lies of her “friends.”
Monday she was at some house and locked herself in a bedroom to get away from her boyfriend who was trying to hurt her. The man poured gasoline around the bedroom door and set it on fire, and burned the house down. It was in the news. She escaped out the window. Carla reached out to a a friend of mine who also loves and knows Carla history, and she went and got her. Carla finally agreed to go into a rehab. My friend found a rehab that ministers to pregnant women and they had an open bed. She told me the intake fee was $300 and I told her I would cover that if it would get Carla in. She had Carla in her car and was driving to rehab before Carla changed her mind and I told her I would meet her there.
When I got to the rehab my friend and Carla were already there. My heart broke inside as I saw Carla. It has been a year since I saw her. She was filthy and she black ashes on her from digging through the burnt house trying to salvage any of her things. She as thin. pale and the light in her eyes was gone. I hugged her, told her I loved her, and with tears in our eyes we entered the women’s home. To make this long story short, by the end of the conversation with the lady over the home who was admitting her, Carla changed her mind. She said she needed say good bye to her “friends”, get her “things”, and she would go in tomorrow. The lies in her head were what she was listening to. Even though she had almost been burned alive the day before, and the day before that she had been raped, she now refused to go into the home and wanted to return to her “friends” to say goodbye for one more night. Which means she will use. She called a friend who came and got her, and they drove off. And I drove home with tears in my eyes saddened, angry, hurt, just a mixture of emotions over darkness and deception that has control and is destroying this beautiful young lady, and I have daughters about her age.
Jesus said “Blessed are those that mourn” So I guess I am blessed. The “church” experience that day did not take place in a “sanctuary” from life with a cup of coffee in my hand and smiling faces around me in which I walked away singing a hymn and feeling good. It took place in place that ministers near the gates of hell, and I got to experience the pain of having someone I love and care for deny and walk away from hope and life and choose darkness. I got to experience having my heart broken by rejection. I got to experience in reality a small portion of the heart of Jesus.
My thoughts go to when Jesus’ disciples James and John asked Jesus, “Permit one of us to sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You donʼt know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I experience?” They said to him, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I experience” ( Mark 10:38-39). James and John were naive and did not understand what they were asking to be members in the kingdom of God. And when I accepted membership into the kingdom of God I was just as a naïve idiot as James and John of what I was getting into, even more because I know the whole story of the cross. And I got to sip and taste just a drop of the cup that Jesus drank, and only slightly be baptized into the rejection and suffering of Jesus. And it sucks, and hurts, and it makes me weep for those trapped in darkness. And it makes me more like Jesus. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy. Pray for Carla. Pray for me.
My family, I real do not know how to word this prayer over you as I struggle to find words to pray it over myself, however I pray somehow iin a situation you enter into drawn by love for God and your neighbor, you get to experience a sip from the cup and a glimpse of the baptism of Jesus, and in doing so have your heart formed more into the heart of Jesus, in Jesus name. I with apprehension ask you to 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
Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community 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 Thank You!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I seek to abide in You, as You abide in me--now in these focused moments and also throughout every moment of my day (John 15:4). ...
“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist”
(Isaiah 11:1-5).
And now Your Spirit abides in us--“the Spirit of Christ,” “the Spirit of God,” who “dwells in (us)” through the mystery of faith and the mercies of God (Romans 8:9). “Christ in (us), the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
We are to be “the Body of Christ” in our world (1 Corinthians 12:27). We are to be “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). We are to “live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit,” in all we do and say, in all You are in us and all we are in You (Romans 8:5).
So in humility before You, in worship adoring You, and in faith imploring You, I pray for the character and nature of Your sevenfold Spirit to be formed in me today, in the body of Christ today, more and more every day:
The Spirit of the Lord: May Your Spirit rest upon me and abide within me, guide and lead me, empower and encourage me, correct and shape me, in all I do and speak in the challenges I’ll face.
The Spirit of Wisdom: May You make me wiser is Your ways, with the desires of Your heart, with Your wisdom that comes from above.
The Spirit of Understanding: May You grant me understanding and greater revelation of who You are and how You desire to express Your will and Your ways in and through my life.
The Spirit of Counsel: May Your words of encouragement, comfort, exhortation, healing and hope that You would express by Your Spirit through me today be filled with Your Counsel, grounded in Your Word, and anointed with Your Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of Might: May Your power and might be released through prayers and proclamation in the authority of Your name in Your way, in Your time, according to Your will, as confirmed by Your Word in and through my life today.
The Spirit of Knowledge: May Your knowledge form the thoughts of my mind, that I may have the mind of Christ, as I come to know You more fully and know the surpassing greatness of Your power and wisdom.
The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord: May You keep my conscience tender and sensitive to Your conviction of sin, Your confirmation of mercy, that quickly leads me to repentance and keeps me in intimacy with You with the heart for holiness You desire by Your Holy Spirit who is alive and active in me.
Thank You for giving me this desire to pursue You, Your stirring in my heart and in the hearts of Your sons and daughters to passionately pursue You. As You said to Your first disciples who were desperately in need of Your Spirit--Your sevenfold Spirit of the Lord--You continue to say to every one of us who would be Your disciples and witnesses in our world:
“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Lord, let it be so in me this day and every day. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
My family, may the sevenfold Spirit of the Lord be upon you, rising up within you, and flowing through you this day and every day, in Jesus' name. Amen. 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
Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community 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 Thank You!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
Good morning, Lord Jesus. My human spirit arises to commune with Your Holy Spirit--“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with (us) all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). ...
When the Prophet Daniel was captive in Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar demanded that the wise men reveal and interpret his dream, Daniel prayed and “the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven” (Daniel 2:19).
“Daniel answered and said:
‘Blessed be the name of God forever and ever,
For wisdom and might are His.
And He changes the times and the seasons;
He removes kings and raises up kings;
He gives wisdom to the wise
And knowledge to those who have understanding.
He reveals deep and secret things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And light dwells with Him.
“‘I thank You and praise You,
O God of my fathers;
You have given me wisdom and might,
And have now made known to me what we asked of You,
For You have made known to us the king’s demand’” (Daniel 2:20-23).
As Daniel made known both the dream of the king and its interpretation from his revelation from God, he declared, “There is a God in heaven who reveals secrets” (v. 28). And the secrets revealed in the dream were of the governments of that day of all the governments to come on the earth afterwards (v. 36). Those kingdoms would come and go. But there would come a day when “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever! (v. 44)
It’s the same revelation given to the Apostle John, that there will come a day when this Word will be fulfilled: “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Revelation 11:15)
You are the God who reveals secrets. You are the God who answers prayer. You are the God who “removes kings and raises up kings” (Daniel 2:21).
In this season where there’s a shifting in the governments of our world, where the rulers of nations are being determined, where “kings” are being removed or raised up, I join in the prayers of Your people around the world, for You to establish those in authority--in our nation and in the nations of the earth--who seek Your face, listen for Your voice, pursue Your wisdom, and lead with Your heart in Your ways.
We know there are great battles in the heavenly realms over the nations (Daniel 10:13, 20). But despite the battles and even the outcomes that will come to pass according to the Prophecies of Your Word, our part is to pray, our part is to proclaim, “Your kingdom come! Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven!” (Matthew 6:10)
You’re the God who still reveals secrets. And You’re the God who still answers prayers. O God of heaven and earth, answer our prayers that we would be “one nation under God” and that the God of the nations would be glorified as You remove and raise up “kings.” In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
My family, may you be moved in prayer and proclamation that God's kingdom comes, that God's will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, as He removes and raises up "kings" in the earth, in Jesus' name. Amen. 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
Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community 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 Thank You!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
“You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit” (John 16:14-16)
As I have mentioned in other posts, I still work at Lowes one day a week on Monday evenings. I started working at Lowes in 2020 when Covid hit and the churches I pastored shut down. With no in-person services, Bible studies, or anything else, all I was doing was going in on Sunday mornings to record and stream a service then leave. So I applied at Lowes so I could still interact, talk to, and pray with the employees on the floor and in the breakroom, and the customers who came in which was much needed at that time. When Covid was over and I was going to leave Lowes, the store manager asked me to please stay at least one day a week to continue being there for employees and customers.
This past Monday evening while at work an employee came up to me and we began a conversation. He is going through some life struggles with his family and wanted someone to listen to him and offer advice. We talked for about 20 minutes. As we both went back to our departments he turned and said, “You know Gary, you are the only real friend I have.”
Also this week I went for a walk around my neighborhood. As I was walking I saw my neighbor outside working on his wife’s car. I walked up to see what was wrong and if I could help. While wrenching under the hood we had a conversation on life. As I was leaving my neighbor said the same words, “You are the only real friend I have.”
I have been reflecting on this and “a real friend” and “friendship.” I love the Lowes employee and my neighbor, as I try to love all people. However, as I stated I work at Lowes only one shift, Mondays 2pm-10pm a week. And during that one shift I see the employee several times as we cross paths at the store, and we may have a conversation for 15 minutes or so where we catch up on life. So I listen and talk to him only 15-20 minutes, one time a week, and he says I am the only real friend he has. The same with my neighbor. We see each other out in our yards, walking or driving down the street, and we really only talk once a week for about the same 15-20 minutes. And yet he again says “I am his only real friend.”
People today are starving for friendship. People interact all day on social media sights like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and others. They post videos, watch and read others posts, interact and post comments, and may interact with hundreds of people a day. However, they are still isolated and do not have a friend. These social media interactions cannot replace face to face, eye to eye, sharing of vulnerabilities, compassion, and real listening. Texting can not replace this either. Texting is great for short messages like, “Pick up a gallon of milk on the eay home.” Or “We are at the table in the back of the restaurant.” But texting cannot and does not honor deep and important conversations. I do not know how many times someone has sent me a long text on a situation they are going through wanting me to text the same reply that can’t honor their situation. I always reply let’s get together and talk or to please call me. And many times they do not.
Why are people these days afraid or uncomfortable with face to face conversations? They are far more comfortable and capable of communicating over their phone on social media and texts than over a cup of coffee or a beer. The millions of posts a day on social media shows there is a desire and a need in the heart of people to be seen, known, heard, and listened to, however true knowing of a person, a true eye to eye listening to a person cannot happen through a TikTok or a text. As with my personal interaction examples I shared above with my co-worked and neighbor. A 15 minute personal face to face conversation once a week is more connecting, fulfilling and needed to a person’s soul than hours spent daily on social media.
My family, I pray today you don’t pick up your phone to check on social media, but pick it up to call and check om someone to talk. I pray you don’t text someone unless to ask if they want to get together for coffee or a beer. I pray instead of spending your lunch break looking at your phone, you invite and spend it with a co-worker or classmate looking them in the eye and listening. I pray you understand that that 15 minutes of personal conversation is more impactful than hours of social media post, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God Bless you my friends!
And I would gladly make myself available to you if you want to be listened to and talk over the phone or coffee or a beer. Email me at garyl@onedirection.community, FB message me at Gary Liederbach, and let’s work out a time.
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
Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community 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 Thank You!
I walked into my office this morning, the low bar of the Waffle House, and began listening to the conversations of customers and waitresses. I had brought some boxes of food to a cook who works there who’s family is struggling. When he turned and saw me sitting there, he walked over and he said “Thank you for all your help pastor.” A man at the low bar where I was sitting said, ”So you are a pastor? I did not know that. :) I guess because he now knew I was a pastor, he changed his conversation. He said to me and those sitting there, I have been saved, I attend church regularly and I believe I am a good Christian.” Then as I listened to his conversations with others all he shared was how he was a victim, his brokenness, and areas that need healing in his life.
It is one thing to be saved. To believe in Jesus. It is another thing to be healed. Is it possible to be saved and miserable? Is it possible to be saved and not be a healthy, whole, life-giving person? Is it possible for the cross to have done something for the person but not in them? Is it possible to be a good Christian and go to church services and sing the right songs and jump through the right hoops and never let Jesus heal your soul? The man at the bar said he was “saved.” What does he mean when he says "saved"? What constitutes "belief in Jesus?" What does it mean to be "healed" and how is this separate and/or not included in salvation or belief in Jesus?
Is it possible to be saved and not be a healthy, whole, life-giving person? My reply is absolutely. There are times in my life, I would dare to say moments daily, that I am not a "whole, life-giving person." When my thoughts, emotions, or actions stray from being led by the Holy Spirit to being led by Gary. The same could be said about healing. Being completely healed is part of the process of becoming complete sanctified. Was my eternal destiny completely secured in Jesus when I fell in love with Him, absolutely. Was I completely healed at my moment of salvation, no. Did healing begin in me; yes. Healing of the relationship between the Father and I. Healing of sin in my body and its control of my life like a cancer immediately began going into remission. Healing in some way to the actual DNA of my body in that I have participated in the death and resurrection of Christ and I am not the same person physically that I was, that I am a new creation in Christ!
Is it possible for the cross to have done something for the person but not in them?
Is it possible for the cross to have done something for a person, but not completely sanctify them, completely heal them, completely restore them, I would answer definitely yes, As I am living proof. But is it it possible for the cross to have done something for a person but not in them, in my Biblical and Wesleyan understanding of salvation, I answer, no.
Is it possible to be a good Christian and go to church services and sing the right songs and jump through the right hoops and never let Jesus heal your soul? This question immediately brings two lines of questions to my mind, and both reflect on The Church. First, What does it mean to be a "good Christian"? How does the church define what is a "good Christian"? What is your church's definition of what is a "good Christian" in its mission, teaching and practice. What would you honestly say if you polled your congregation, what its understanding of being a "good Christian" is? Secondly, If it is possible for someone to go to church services, sing the "right" songs, and jump through the right hoops and never encounter Jesus in a way that healing flows out of it, what does this say about the ministry of the church? It programs? its discipleship? Maybe the "hoops" the church offers and avails them to jump through are not the right hoops. Are they shallow hoops that lack depth, lack a real accountability and questioning of "how is it with your soul?"
I hate this because, again my is passion kicking in as I write compelling me to write way to much then I need to. See, I went to church consistently for the first 18 years of my life. The church baptized me, taught me the creeds, taught me the liturgies, confirmed me, taught me the seasons and rhythms of the church, taught me when to stand up, sit down, and kneel. I was awarded for my ability to jump through these hoops. I knew the scriptures but I did not know Jesus. The church never discipled me, never invested the time walking me through my garbage, creating places where I had to confront Jesus, had to confront what need healed, so I never fell in love with Jesus. When I was 18 I chunked the church in the trash. It wasn't until 7 years later, around the age of 25 because of some "God" events, that I began returning to church again. And I once again began doing the "good Christian things" of going to church services, singing the right songs, jumping through hoops again. I was a "good Christian." An unhealed, white washed tomb. It wasn't until I was 34 that I encountered someone who made me realize that it is not about the service, the songs, the hoops, or my comfort but confronted me about becoming open and honest before God, confronted me like Jesus would.
Jesus, is constantly trying to find out who really wants his teachings and healing. And so he keeps pushing and prodding and questioning and putting it out there until some leave and the diehards stay. The churches I attended in my past did not do this, and I do not see most churches doing that today.
My wife Nancy and I used to go down to tent city, under the bridge in Huntsville, on Saturday mornings and just hang out with the homeless for an hour or so with a pot of coffee and drink our morning coffee with them. In the time spent with them I found out that they are ministered daily by churches. A church from Madison feeds them on Thursdays. One from Athens on Friday nights. A Baptist church comes right when we are leaving at 9:00am on Saturdays and feeds them breakfast. A church from Decatur feeds them on Sundays. Other churches come the other days of the week. It is a perfect arrangement, where those who want to be fed, and those want to feed come together. And yes, the church is called to feed the poor. But they bring by the food, spend a few minutes talking and leave. Those from the churches in their vans drive away feeling good that they fed them. Those in the tents feel good because they were fed. But there is no real healing taking place, no transformation, no new life. The vans pull away leaving behind people who need healing that are dying; spiritually, emotionally and physically. A few homeless people died while we were going, all the others were dying a slow death. And these homeless people are people who are ministered by the church not just on Sundays, but 5 0r 6 days a week! They all are coming in, "singing the right songs", jumping through the right hoops of ministering and feeding the poor, but no discipleship is taking place, no time spent in their garbage where confrontation with Christ will lead to healing or life. And watching people die sucks.
I think almost all churches are good at the "feeding" of their congregation. Few however get personal and keep pushing and prodding and questioning and putting it out there until some leave and the disciples stay. Some may leave, but the alternative is the perpetual "feeding" of unhealed, dying people. And watching people die sucks.
What Most of the messages we receive are about how to make life easier. Very few people in our world are offering anything worth dying for. Most of my time spent in church has been listening to messages about making my life easier. Yet it wasn't until I was made to see that only in my dying, that healing and restoration could occur, that my life became easier, in Jesus name.
My family, I pray my reflection this morning encourages you to reflect on these questions yourself: What does it mean to be saved? What does it mean to be a “good Christian?” Are you saved but not healed? Are people who attend your church all coming in, "singing the right songs", jumping through the right hoops of ministering and feeding the poor, but no discipleship is taking place, no time spent in their garbage where confrontation with Christ will lead to healing or life? 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
Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community 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 Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Good Shepherd of my soul, help me get quiet as I wait on You to listen for Your leading and begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit.
“And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts… All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” (Mark 7:20-23) After reading this I was led to read from Hebrews.
"Christ, however, was faithful over God's house as a Son, and we are His house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors put Me to the test, though they had seen My works for forty years....' Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end" (Hebrews 3:6-14).
According to Your Word, an "evil" heart is an "unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God". And our hearts are "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" and in "rebellion" against the leading of Your "voice". So You encourage us to "exhort one another every day" to keep turning our hearts to You, to keep listening for Your voice, to keep believing in You.
So, Lord, I ask You to keep my heart sensitive to You, humble before You, hungry for You, available to You, and yielded to You. Let my words be full of grace to exhort others to enter that place of "rest" and faith in You, seeking to lead by example (v. 18). Let the daily rhythm of my personal, intimate relationship with You model my desire--as best as I can and all by the power of Your grace--to "Trust in the Lord with all (my) heart, and lean not on (my) own understanding; (but) in all (my) ways acknowledge Him, (believing He) shall direct (my) paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray this morning you will check your heart and asses if it is sensitive, humble, hungry, available, and yielded to God and the voice of His Spirit to lead you in the paths of His blessings and rest in Him every day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections 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
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please begin 2018 by a commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community 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 Father, Son and Spirit,
I give you my day, in every way,
Whether at work or play,
All I will do or say,
Lead and direct I pray.
“whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 9Mark 10:43-46)
I work one day a week, Monday nights 2-10 at Lowes. Last night I was helping a couple purchase items and answering questions they had with a bathroom remodel. In our conversation, somehow the conversation turned to the couples faith. :) ! The couple said they moved to Madison 4 years ago. They had visited over a dozen churches and they still have not found one that they liked or fitted them. In there explanation of churches they attended they listed: The way they were welcomed/greeted, church’s amenities, worship band, pastor, programs offered,. follow up invitations to return...ect. There remarks were all about what the “church” had to offer them.
I graduated from Asbury Theological Seminary in 2012 and church planting was the focus of my Master of Divinity. I saw a blog from someone who went to my seminary in the seventies. He stated, I don’t recall the language of church growth and church planting figuring prominently, if at all, in the conversations we had, and we certainly weren’t talking about “the decline of the mainline church” or “the end of the Protestant Reformation.” My classmates were a conscientious group and, in truth, I suppose we worried more about doing a good and faithful job than about the longevity of our congregations.
That isn’t the case any longer. Most congregations, regardless of their size all seem to be and need to be asking themselves questions about the future. But one of the most important questions to ask is, “Do you want your church?”
The answer to that question will probably depend upon what you think “your church” is.
For far too many, like the couple I talked to at Lowes, the answer is often that it is a place that my needs, and the needs of our family are met. It’s not uncommon for people to say that they have chosen a church because it had a program for their children or that the church had an outstanding worship service, that the time of the services fit with their lives, or that they liked the preaching. To put it bluntly, some people treat the church as an end-user of a product and, to be fair, most in the church often “advertise” their church in conversations with friends and to perspective new members as if that’s exactly what it is and that is the reason they need to attend.
But a better way of defining “church,” apart from the all important definition of it as “the body of Christ,” is to ask ourselves, “Where can I be equipped and made available for the work of Christ in the world?” Not what it has to offer me on Sunday mornings, but enables me to serve Monday-Saturday. Because, in the final analysis, it’s not all about us, about meeting our needs, or about meeting the needs of our families; The church is a living extension of the incarnation and is meant to be a living, breathing embodiment of Christ’s love in the world that draws and embraces a broken world, sharing the Gospel and serving (The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve..)
As an end user of “church”, the answer to the question, “Do you want your church?” is always conditional and it can be answered by asking the question, “What is it doing for me now?” Or your answer may change in a conversation as a friend “advertises” what a new or another church has to offer you that sounds like it can better meet your needs. For the Christians who have sought out a community were the focus is being a sacrificing, serving, living, breathing embodiment of Christ’s love in the world, the answer is never conditional, but always “yes.”
My friends, I pray today in the Holy Spirit you will seek to answer the question, “Do you want your church?” That’s not a question I, your priest, pastor, minister, spouse or parents can answer for you. However, the future of your church depends upon it. The embodiment of Christ’s church into the world depends on it. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections with us 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
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community 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!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
“and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”” (Acts 1:8)
One of the reasons ODC left Sunday mornings open was so we could spend time out in our community with those who do not attend church. Yesterday morning left my house and prayed God would lead me to people needing to hear the Gospel. Went by the Publix grocery store where I pick up the unsold baked goods, loaded them in my truck and headed out. I drove down to the Waffle House by Jordan Lane and spent 30 minutes there. I sat at the counter and started a conversation with a waitress. In our conversation she told me 2 weeks ago she lost her 2 month old daughter to S.I.D.S. She found he'd dead in her crib.She was broken. I got to spend time ministering and praying with her.
I went then to the WH on University by the boardwalk for 30 minutes. In another conversation with a waitress she told me she had a 3 month old daughter she wanted to be baptized. We talked and prayed over it and are going to do it next month.
I then went to the WH by Hughes for 30 minutes. Walking in the door I was approached by a regular customer who told me that another regular customer we are both friends with had passed away. We talked about it and thence prayer over the mans’s family who we also know. I then sat at counter between 2 men that did not know each other. After introducing myself to both of them, we discovered that all three of us who randomly sat there were from Cleveland and Browns fans, God is good! We had a great conversation about life and I invited them to our Thursday night mens group, Boithers, Bibles, and Beer. At all three Waffle Houses, I handed out bread and baked goods to the waitresses and cooks who worked at them.
Yesterday morning I attended amazing 1 1/2 hour of "church" services, at 3 different campuses. It did not look anything like what you picture “church”, but it felt more like than ever.
My family, I pray this week you plan to pray to God to lead you to those who need to hear the Gospel and then go to “church” at a couple different campuses in your community, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections with us 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
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community 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!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me begin my day focused on You -- embraced by the Father, centered in Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit.
"Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field of everyone" (Zechariah 10:1 ).
Yes, Lord. Let it rain! Let showers of rain come down -- everywhere we are weary and dry, thirsting for more, yearning for You. Let there be an outpouring of Your Presence -- here in my heart and here in our land!
"O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory! Because Your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You! Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips!" (Psalm 63:1-5 )
You're awakening a fresh hunger in my soul, a fresh thirst in my spirit. It's a fresh hunger and thirst that won't be contained or restrained, that won't be silenced or shut away or hidden out of sight. And it won't ever be fully satisfied because You are making me hungrier and thirstier still. In the mystery of my passionate pursuit for Your Presence, the more You let it rain, the dryer I become. And the dryer I become, the more my heart cries out, "Let it rain!" In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you keep growing hungrier and thirstier in your passionate pursuit for the Presence of the Lord. I pray you cry out to Him this morning in your heart, "Let it rain!", in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections with us 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
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community 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,
With the election coming up and talk or politics, policies and our nations finances, my post today is flowing out of a conversation I had yesterday at the Waffle House low bar on which candidate for president and their policies would be more detrimental to the church. My reply focussed as much on the direction of status of the church and what the changes of impact the political policies I see on the horizon will have on the church.
Imagine you are a character in a Sci-Fi film on some strange magical planet and you are captured for the entertainment of the gods who inhabit the planet. You will fight like a gladiator against a wild beast. You may choose your weapon:: a machine gun or a bazooka. You can also choose your foe: An angry mutant grizzly bear twice the normal size of a bear or an ordinary swarm of agitated killer bees. What choices do you make?
Even though the fierce bear may be terrifying in appearance and a single bee may seem small and insignificant, a swarm of bees is something you cannot stop with such weapons. The choice should be an easy one.
I do not think persecution is so far off. What would it take for culture to shift? Not much. I believe the pieces are already on the board and being pushed into play. Truthfully, however, I think most churches can be taken out before any persecution ever occurs.
The large churches in the West are far more vulnerable than most care to admit. With the rapid rise of the mega church we have been watching the church become more centralized, more expensive, more personality-driven and consumer-oriented. In fact with the closure of so many smaller churches and their people being assimilated into the larger ones, we have actually concentrated all our people, resources and ideas into a few large targets(mutant bears) rather than many smaller autonomous ones (killer bees). We have also seen that the church is more dependent upon a single charismatic leader. Take him/her out (or compromise this person) and the whole church suffers greatly. We are regularly seeing some of these large “successful” churches struggle after the departure of their dynamic leader. It’s becoming a weekly occurrence.
At the Waffle House low bar for discussion I mapped out a few feasible steps that would permanently alter church as we have known it. In fact, it wouldn’t take persecution to close many churches down or cause them to struggle, just a few legal changes that are already being considered by senators and congressmen.
If the following benefits were revoked many churches would be seriously negatively affected: the tax deduction for contributions, property tax exemptions and the parsonage allowance. I say this because the way we do church today is so expensive that we rely upon these special privileges to survive. This is especially true in a struggling economy where our government is looking for ways to reduce its deficit and increase tax revenue to provide more services for its constituents––services, by the way, that churches no longer supply to the community.
I suggest that that you ask yourself how your church would survive if these three tax benefits were revoked. Crunch the numbers. Do the math. It will be scary but may lead to some good sound steps to be better prepared.
Removing the Parsonage Allowance
Few ordinary citizens know about this special perk that pastors get. I have enjoyed this benefit and to be honest, I don’t even know why it is afforded to me. All money spent on housing (rent/mortgage, utilities, furniture, home improvements/repairs/upkeep/supplies) can be taken off the salary of a paid church leader even up to the entire amount they are paid in salary. I actually feel like I am betraying our “special club” for even speaking of it publicly…like I might jinx it. Add to that the fact that church leaders are able to opt out of social security and you can easily see how pastors are able to get by on much less than the rest. If you don’t think churches rely upon this your head is in the sand.
A pastoral staff can literally double with this benefit allowing a church to maintain a professional staff twice the size that it can actually afford. There are not many churches in the West that feel like they have more staff than they need. Most churches have far more ministry than they have leaders. The more a church relies upon professional staff the more vulnerable it is.
Removing Property Tax Exemption
What would happen if our churches were forced to pay taxes on their property? This would push many churches over the edge of viability, at least in their current form––especially if the other perks mentioned above were also removed.
Most cities are already openly hostile to churches and trying to prevent them from acquiring property because there is no income from these organizations. I cannot imagine that the city of Houston isn’t glaring at Lakewood Church’s $32 million/yr income and wondering what the property taxes should be. This is how the world sees our special perks. I live off of Hughes Road in Madison. Hughes Road is a prime street running through the middle of Madison. Hughes Road is also the “Large church” street. Located on Hughes Road are the largest churches of almost all denominations and Non-denomination churches in Madison: Methodist, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Church of Christ, Baptist, and several various large non-denomination churches are located along this major road. When a person with a government eye drives the miles down this road with all these huge churches on prime property they realize, not one penny of property or sales taxes is going to the city on this road. Most city officials see the local Denny’s as more beneficial to the community than the local church. Why? Because the restaurant provides meals, jobs, sales and property taxes. The local church usually provides none of those things. No wonder there is an unapologetic hostility toward churches looking to purchase property increasing in neighborhoods across the US.
Removing Tax Deductions for Contributions
If people could no longer write off their contributions to churches I am sure that many churches would see their annual income drop severely. I would like to think it isn’t so, but why else is it that churches count on larger gifts at the end of the year? It’s because churches know people are looking for a tax benefit. Granted, this is likely the last perk to be removed because so many other non-profits benefit from this.
How Will the Church Respond?
We already have earned a reputation of being intolerant in our society. Evangelical and fundamental expressions of Christianity have consistently decried those who have what we call “special entitlements.” This will set us up for public mockery…something we should be used to by now. When these laws take our own entitlements away and we are found complaining louder than all others, our reputation as hypocrites will be confirmed in the eyes of the world and will only expedite passage of these laws.
It’s a simple scenario and as you can see it is not only possible, and there is movement in state and federal governments to already enact some of these plans. Are your churches getting ready?
Like the Russian church prior to communism, our churches are dependent upon holy buildings (remove property tax exemption) and holy men (remove parsonage allowance) that perform holy practices in those buildings (remove tax deductible donations). Our vulnerability is quite obvious. These three areas of dependence of our current church structures would cause severe financial difficulties for churches if removed. We must decrease our dependence upon buildings, budgets and big shots. We must also respond to our society with love rather than with lobbying for self-interested legislature.
Churches and leaders need to be considering these possibilities and take steps to be prepared. I firmly believe that the more we move toward an incarnational, missional and movemental expression of ecclesia the better prepared we will be. We must be aware of our vulnerabilities and shift toward a form of church less dependent on government subsidies that are easily removed. We must adopt more of a swarm mentality to survive and thrive in the coming days. Then no weapon fashioned against us will be able to stop us.
Please post your comments and reflections below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
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!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE
Father, Son and Spirit fill me afresh with your presence as I begin my day.
“Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters. Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position. But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, so that no one can boast in his presence. He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1:26-31)
The other day i was down at my neighbors house. He has a son that is going into the first grade and has an amazing, wide-open, spirit. We were talking and he looked at me and said, “You know Mr. Gary, if instead of Jesus being the savior or the world, you were the savior, we would be calling you Lord Father Gary!” I burst out laughing thinking, Where did that come from?” And ny young neighbor, delighted he made me laugh joined in my laughter.
i walked away toward my house with a smile on my face thinking if the young boy only know who I was… But Jesus knows who I am. He knows who you are too. If you look throughout history when there was a situation, event, problem that God needed to call someone or something to intervene in on His behalf, who did He call? He did not call the powerful kings and emperors. He did not call in military generals with armies and chariots. He did not use people with amazing renown and influence or celebrities. Who did God call and use as His representatives? “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.: (Matthew 5:5). He called in the meek, the lowly, the common, the humble, the ones who say to themselves as they walk away, “If they only really knew who I am.”
God called Abraham and Sarah who were an old, elderly couple in their 90s to birth Him a nation. He called in David, the runt of his family to be the greatest king. He called a nobody teenage girl named Mary and simple trades man named Joseph through which Jesus, the Messiah would come to earth. He called smelly fisherman and scum bag tax collectors to be His Son’s disciples. And the list goes on and on of the meek, the lowly, the common and humble God called in to advance His kingdom on earth. And you and I are added to His list, as God called us as well.
Into all the pain, brokenness, evil, and poverty in the world today God has called you and me, all those common and lowly people that struggle to be loving, gracious and merciful, but who still call upon the name of Jesus as their Lord, to usher in His kingdom of love, grace and mercy. It is not presidents, kings, armies, popes, gifted pastors, priests, and Christian leaders who can stop the advance of evil and hate, repair the brokenness, and bring hope and life into death and darkness. It is many small, simple, ordinary. humble people, in many small, ordinary cities and neighborhoods, doing many small and unnoticed acts of love and kindness that can usher in the Kingdom of God. It is many small people, in many small places, doing many small things that can launch the unstoppable movement of God in this world. The church was designed to be God’s unstable movement.
My family, I pray this morning and throughout your day you will take time to pray and meditate on Paul’s words to you “Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters.” (v.26). You were called by God in the same powerful way as were the meek and humble, and unqualified saints before you that you read about in the Bible. Pray over your simple yet powerful call by God and what small thing, in your small neighborhood you will join in or start up to be part of the movement of God. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
I would love for you to 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
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!
“Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-4)
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:6
I woke this morning in a spirit of prayer for revival. Revival is God's strategic way of working in the earth between the resurrection of Jesus and his coming again to keep us moving towards Him. In Acts 2 and passages following is wave after wave of outpouring of the Spirit. In Joel 2 are massive outbursts of revival before the end of the age. In Romans 11 it speaks to the revival and the fullness of the Spirit to come in the nations that will be so powerful it will turn all to Jesus to accept Him as their Messiah
So if revival is the strategy of God leading to all nations accepting Jesus as their Messiah, why does he wait around for us to pray? Only as you give yourself to prayer are you transformed in your heart to be a determined seeker of more of God. And God will only trust a revival to determined seekers of more of Him. All those in the past who God has entrusted to revival are those who have dedicated themselves to long periods of prayer. Early Methodist revivals came because of a gathering of people who expected to see God move among them. Revival occurs out of Determined Seekers of more of God. Here is the thing though, you can't make yourself a Determined Seeker of more of God, you can only pray yourself into one. You have to give yourselves to something you do not see and can’t control. God doesn't want you to be confident in yourself, he wants you to be desperate for him and find your confidence in him. This thing is, revival is not something that is a peripheral of our faith, but needs to be at the heart of what we are after. Ask the Lord in prayer to give yourself over to this.
What is the essence of true revival? It is an intense experience of the presence of God in and among the people. The peculiar and mighty sense of the presence of God which is manifested.
4 thing happen when a revival happens.
• Restoration of love and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Re-falling in love. Song of Psalms
• There is a restoration of Jesus' Lordship. What does Jesus want me to do in my life and the life on His church.
• Restoration of Holiness and zeal for God's glory. How do you want to use me? Revivals always lead to a releasing of people into ministries.
• Restoration of Boldness.
We were not designed to be carriers of Covid. We are designed to be carriers of God and to be carriers of God to others. If instead of taking a Covid test, if in your heart you honestly took a “Determined Seeker” test, would your test results be positive? And just like we can’t give someone the Covid virus if we ourselves an not contagious with it, we cannot give someone and spread God if we are not contagious with Him, if we ourselves are not carrying Him to others.. We do not have a problem with prayer, we have a complacency with prayer. We can't get people to pray if they are not hungry for it. When people and churches quit praying, then God withdraws from them, then they find themselves in trouble, then they cry out.
How do we provoke hunger if there is a lack of hunger to pray? I wrestle with this, as much of it is out of my control. First, you must teach on prayer. In prayer we are invited into the throne room of God, we are privileged to enter into kingdom making decisions. However, everyone at some time feels disappointed with prayer. Each one of us has had a prayer that has not been answered. Take this cup from me. Lord let them be one. We must minister to the disappointments in prayer as much as we celebrate the answer of prayer. Second, we must de-clutter our programs and calendar if we want to prioritize prayer. We need to be seekers of more: more power of God, more revelation of the Spirit. Third, you need to set times for simple gatherings for prayer. Some people miss the sparks because they are always looking for the big flames. Driving to this big event or conference: IHOP, Passion, Catalyst, New Room..ect. or chasing after "gifted teachers and prophets." These events and people are all good and holy, however they are not meant to be our focus or highlight, and they cannot be the source of revival for your church. The source is Determined Seekers of more of God. We are called to start a spark, to look for where the sparks of God are working among us, and then a pour gasoline on it.
Many people are leaving the church because they have not seen the power of God moving in the church. Yet God's desire at creation, in the Jesus death and resurrection, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit's in dwelling, in us, was for the creation and existence of a church full of the presence and fire of the Holy Spirit. A "supernatural church" that is unstoppable. Churches today are so easily "stoppable." A talented leader leaves, a donor dies, a strategic plan fails, and now Covid, and church doors close or its ministries become ineffective. In order for a church to be an unstoppable, supernatural church, it has to rely and be surrendered to our unstoppable and supernatural God. There is only one way you become a supernatural church, and that is by spending hours doing what does not come natural to us, hours spent together on our knees in prayer.
My family, I pray today for something that I, your pastor, your spouse, your parents, nor anyone else really has any control over, that you re-commit to become a Determined Seeker of more of God. Here is the thing though, you can't make yourself a determined seeker of more of God, you can only pray yourself into one. So I take time today to pray that you will take time to pray today. I pray today you give yourselves to something you do not see and can’t control and become desperate for God through prayer, 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.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Please support and partner with my self and my family as we serve as local missionaries to those in our community with and end of year one-time or monthly financial gift by clicking link below. Donations can be sent by check to ODC PO Box 1293, Madison, Al 35758
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)
For the past two weeks my wife Nancy and I have been helping clean out our neighbor’s house. Our neighbor passed away a few months ago. He had two sisters that both live out of town several states away. When they went into their brothers house they discovered he was a hoarder.. To clean out his house in the beginning they literally had to use rakes and shovels. I had to use my truck and trailer to haul away loads of large black garbage bags full of trash, magazines, expired food, and old, broken, and none-working items piled around the house. And then we had to help clean, dust, sort through and separate all the thousands of dollars of items that will sold at his estate sale. We finished the house, however the garage which is packed with items also needs to be gone through next.
Nancy and I knew our neighbor. He actually lived a street over and up the road a little ways. However, we hand out invitations to over 400 homes around us in our in our neighborhood to our annual Neighborhood Halloween Gathering and Easter Sunday service we hold in our front and back yard. He was a nice elderly man, who would come to our gatherings with his little dog, sit around the fire pit in our yard, grill a hot dog and talk. However we did not know of his hoarding.
He lived alone, and in his isolation he turned to “stuff” to fill the whole in his life that family, friends, and human contact was designed to fill. The stacks of Playboy Magazines we hauled off were a “fake” way he attempted to replace his desire for real intimacy, love and sharing his life with a wife. He wanted happiness and connection, and spent thousands of dollars filling his home with “stuff” as a the source of both of these, but “stuff” is always only a temporary fix.
When I returned to my home after a day of cleaning his, the “plank in my own I” prevented me from any kind of judgement. As I looked around the “nice” items I have filled my house with for my happiness and comfort. Items and resources that I “cherish” that I think are necessary for my happiness and my kingdom, but in reality cannot bring me any true happiness or impact the advancement of Jesus’ Kingdom. But in the end will be simply be dusted off and sold at an estate sale for pennies on the dollar. Sometimes it takes attending a funeral to realize life is short and time is precious. Attending a wedding to be reminded how blessed I am for my wife. Sit with a person battling cancer to be truly grateful for my health. Or clean out a house full of “stuff” of a hoarder to open my eyes to ways I am hoarding myself. And remind myself that no matter how nice, expensive, a good deal I got it for it, or rare it is, that item in my house is just “stuff.”
My family, I pray as you begin a new week you will reflect on, as I am, what your treasures are, what are you storing up, and begin to seek out the things that can truly bring happiness, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share with us your thoughts and reflections with us this morning 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
I could use your financial support for myself, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commit to partner and support myself and One Direction community 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.
TO GIVE, CLICK HERE
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Make me more like You today.
"We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love" (Ephesians 4:14-16).
"No longer children ... we must grow up." Give me grace to grow up, Lord. From every place where I've been stuck in the development of my mind and will and emotions, help me grow up. From every place where I allow myself to be tossed to and fro by the winds of doctrine or the will of others trying to impose their will or their sense of truth or their plans for my life on me, help me grow up. From every place where my selfishness and my self-centeredness and my self-righteousness wants to rear its ugly head in pride rather than humility or insisting on my way rather than fully surrendering to Your way, help me grow up. From every place where I'm tempted to compromise with Your truth out of some sense of false compassion or settle for something far less than Your very best out of complacency, laziness, lukewarm-ness, apathy, or self-pity, help me grow up.
There's not a spiritual gift of spiritual maturity; it must be developed and deepened on the daily journey of faith. There's not an anointing or impartation of spiritual maturity your pastor can pray over you. And you can’t gain it by searching “Spiritual Maturity” online and reading a social media post on it. Spiritual maturity comes out of your personal decision to put in the time seeking God. Iit must grow from seed to harvest, through every season along the way - both the good and the bad, the easy and the difficult. But it does come to those who seek it, to those who seek You God, to those who embrace the call and command of Your Word that "we must grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:15). It does come to those who spend time daily searching the Scriptures. It does come to those who spend time daily in prayer. It does come to those who invest time weekly in deep accountability with one or two others. It does come to those who serve and love their neighbors. It does come to those who are willing to step out of their safety and comfort and pick up their cross and follow You.
The Apostle Paul expressed his spiritual journey like this: "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became and adult, I put an end to childish ways" (1 Corinthians 13:11). He did that by growing in love (1 Corinthians 13:1-13). He did that by embracing and "speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). And he grew in love and truth because he grew in grace -- the power of Your grace alone that can grow us up into all You've created us to be in You -- by grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:8).
Lord, help me "grow in grace" so I can grow in truth and love (2 Peter 3:18). I want to grow "to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ" through every opportunity You set before me on my journey of faith through this world. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you seek spiritual maturity and desire above all else to keep growing in grace, growing up into Christ, more like Jesus each day, into the spiritual maturity of the child of God and disciple of Christ you were created to be, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. And remember I am here for you to help encourage, equip, mentor, and walk with you to grow spiritually mature. Please use me! God bless you, my friends!
Please share with us your thoughts and reflections with us this morning 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
I could use your financial support for myself, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commit to partner and support myself and One Direction community 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.
TO GIVE, CLICK HERE
Good morning, Lord Jesus. It's all about You. So I seek to begin my day and week centered in Your Word and filled with Your Spirit. ...
“For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his treachery, your minds may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 13:2-3)
Jesus, I hear you ask me this morning, Do I "have first place in everything"? Do I seek You first? Do I put Your first? Do I live my life throughout the moments of my day with no other gods before me, with no idols in Your place, with no compromises in my "sincere and pure devotion to Christ"?
Jesus, As I sense Your leading to honestly lay the question before You this morning, it seems I hear You speaking in my heart, "Honestly, no. You do not. Nor can you completely, sincerely, purely, and fully. No one can by themselves. Even in this, you need My grace. Especially in this, you need My power of My grace to be at work in your heart and your mind to seek Me and surrender to Me, to passionately pursue Me and allow Me to make your heart more pure and more wholly devoted to Me. But is it My great desire and delight to answer your prayer and move in your heart every time you turn to Me and invite Me to move in you. This is a life-long journey, with breakthroughs along the way. And I breakthrough more deeply as you surrender more deeply to Me." ...
Yes, Lord. I want to love You and surrender to You and Your love for me with "an undivided heart," with "my whole heart" so "turn to me and be gracious to me" (Psalm 86:11-16). I want to "love the Lord (my) God with all (my) heart, and with all (my) soul, and with all (my) mind, and with all (my) strength" (Mark 12:30). I want to hold nothing back from You, wholly devoted to You, completely surrendered to You. I want You to be first, to "come to have first place in everything" in me -- all by the power of Your grace at work within me.
You are "the Alpha and the Omega, the Frist and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (Revelation 22:12). You are my "All in All," as All in One -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 15:28). So as best as I can and all by Your grace, I choose to keep turning my heart to You and inviting You to keep moving in me on this life-long journey of faith in You and Your love for me, with breakthroughs of deeper surrender all along the way. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you keep turning your heart to Jesus and inviting Him to keep moving in you. I pray you trust Hm more fully and surrender more deeply to Him as the One with first place in everything in you -- all by the power of His grace, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share with me and others your reflections and what God is speaking to you from todays reading 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
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. Lead me in the ways that lead to life in You today -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
"Since, then, we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have One who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace in time of need" (Hebrews 4:14-16).
In our weakness but also boldness, in our humility but also faith, we come to Your throne of grace in our time of need. You invite us to come boldly because You're able to sympathize with our weakness, because You have been tested in every respect as we are being tested now. Before You "passed through the heavens," You suffered through every testing of the trials and tribulations of our world we have ever faced and that we are facing now, "yet without sin."
You're a God who understands us. You're a God who is not distant or detached, not uncaring or unavailable. You're a God who is right here with us through it all and who has already been through it all -- through it all for us.
If we feel afraid of what might happen, You've been through it. If we are feel worried about what we're already experiencing, You've been through it. If we feel confused about what to do, You've been through it. Even if we feel frustrated or angry in a moment for what seems unfair or out of control or overwhelming, You've been through it. "Yet without sin" -- as You suffered well, persevered well, lived out Your identity and calling in the midst of all that was wrong in a broken, fallen world well, You went through it all in human flesh and blood to model well an example for us (Philippians 2:5-11).
Lord God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- this is our time of need. We come to You in our weakness and neediness; we come to You on behalf of our neighbors and their weakness and neediness. These problems we face are over our heads. So we come humbly and boldly to Your throne of grace in our time of need, just like You invited us to do. As You have promised: "My grace is sufficient for you; for My strength is made perfect in (your) weakness.... For when (we) are weak, then (we) are strong" in You (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NKJV). "Therefore (we can be) content (through) weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ" for You are with us and You will get us through it all, as we call on Your name and trust in Your grace, no matter what we face (Corinthians 2:10).
You see us. You hear us. You understand us. And You are here with us to help us get us through this. You'll even turn it all around for good in ways we can't even see or imagine right how. Just like You always do. You always have and You always will. So we thank You now, even before we see it come to pass (Mark 11:22-24). "This is the boldness we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of Him" (1 John 5:14-15). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, may you come boldly before our God's throne of grace in your time of need for yourself and for your neighbors, trusting our God who has already suffered through whatever you face without sin so we could look Him and know He understands and know He will respond in His grace, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I would appreciate your prayer and also any support for support myself as we reach our neighbors with the gospel 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!
TO GIVE, CLICK HERE
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me hear Your heart and let my heart be one with Yours--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
"In accordance with His promise, we wait for a new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by Him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.... Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen" (2 Peter 3:13-18).
This morning I will walk out my door surrounded by your grace. Help me keep growing in grace your today. Show me where I'm not a peace within my soul, where I'm not yet without spot or blemish, where righteousness is not yet fully at home here in my heart.
As I sit here and close my eyes, I don't have to wait very long for the answer or look very deep for some hidden secret sin. I'm aware of my struggles and so are You. And at the same time, You help me to be just as aware of Your grace and the power of Your love that never leaves me as I am but always empowers me to keep growing in grace, growing in my sanctification everyday of my spiritual journey with You, as I "pursue righteousness and a godly life" (1 Timothy 6:11).
I hear you speak Paul’s words over me, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set (me) free from the law of sin and death." So in Christ I can go out my door and "walk not according to (my) flesh but according to the Spirit.... (I am) not in the flesh; (I am) in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in (me).... for if (I) live according to the flesh, (I) will die; but if by the Spirit (I) put to death the deeds of the body, (I) will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God" (Romans 8:1-14).
Your will for me and for all who are called by Your name is that we would come "to maturity, the measure of the full stature of Christ"--to Christ-like-ness (Ephesians 4:13). "For this is the will of God, (our) sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
My family, I pray you keep growing in grace every day, growing up in spiritual maturity into Him who is our head, into he full measure of the stature of Christ, as best as you can and all by His grace at work within you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections 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
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commit to partner and support myself and One Direction community 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!
