Good morning, Lord Jesus. O Lord, my God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--take hold of me and every dimension of my life--spirit, soul, and body.
"They said to him, 'Where is your wife Sarah?' And he said, 'There, in the tent.' Then one said, 'I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.' And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, 'After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?' The Lord said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh, and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son'" (Genesis 18:9-14).
Last night God’s grace came to me in a rather strange place, a craft brewery in Huntsville. sitting around a table with other men who attend our weekly Brothers, Bibles and Beer gathering. We spent 2 hours honestly sharing the challenges, struggles, and successes in our lives, marriages, families, work, and spiritual life. We read from the Bible and discussed its application, and we shared prayer requests and prayed over each other. This time we spent together was set by God. The passage above from Genesis came up in our prayers so this morning I turned to it and read it again.
Reading the passage, I was reminded that there is a "set time ... in due season." And God You're the One who sets the time and the season, not me. Sometimes Your promises seem "too wonderful" and even impossible. Sometimes when I look at my life through my eyes it seems my chance has passed, I missed the moment, my ship has sailed, my window of opportunity has closed. Sometimes it even seems likes the door of destiny has been slammed in my face. "But God..." (Genesis 8:1; 20:3; 21:12; 31:7; 45:8; 48:21; 50:24; ect., ect., ect. throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelations; over and over and over again; more than I could ever ask or imagine...).
"But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love which He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-7). To which I say praise God!!!
Give me grace to firmly believe and patiently wait for the "set time ... in due season" for every promise You've spoken to my heart by Your Spirit and through Your Word. Whenever I'm tempted to be the setter of my times and seasons; whenever I am tempted to question or laugh, to scoff or doubt, remind me of every time it looked so impossible and unbelievable "but God...." For this saying is sure and this Word is true, "For God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27). "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him" (Lamentations 3:25).
There is a time and a season for all things, according to Your will and Your ways for every one of us (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). You make all things beautiful in Your time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And You have shown Yourself so worthy so many times of my patience and my trust. So as for me, I will put my trust in You--in the God whose promises are always Yes and Amen (2 Corinthians 1:20). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray today you begin your day by looking back in your past and remember every time something seemed impossible, “But God…” I pray you see every promise of the Lord to you by His Spirit and through His Word come to pass and make all things beautiful for you in His time and in His way, 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 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 Lord Jesus, rule and reign over my day and domain today…
“But as God’s servants, we have commended ourselves in every way, with great endurance, in persecutions, in difficulties, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in troubles, in sleepless nights, in hunger, by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by benevolence, by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love, by truthful teaching, by the power of God, with weapons of righteousness both for the right hand and for the left, through glory and dishonor, through slander and praise; regarded as impostors, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well-known; as dying and yet—see!—we continue to live; as those who are scourged and yet not executed; as sorrowful, but always rejoicing, as poor, but making many rich, as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” (2 Corinthians 6:4-10)
I read Paul’s words above and say to myself, “Wow!” In this paragraph above Paul describes the characteristics, motives, and identity of a follower of Jesus in their daily walk with Christ. Read them again. If I were to write a paragraph to describe my characteristics, motives, and identity as a follower of Christ I could begin it with the same introduction as Paul, “As a servant of God, a person who attends church and claims to be a Christian, I have commended myself in every way…” But that is it. When I honestly read through the list of characteristics, motives, and actions that are required in a person’s life style to be identified as a Christian, a follower of Jesus, not many or any of them could I list in my paragraph following my introduction.
Monday evening I was taking a break in the break room at Lowes and reading 2 Corinthians chapter 4 on my phone. A co-worker, came in and said hey, walked around me to a seat and sat down. He must have glanced at my phone and he asked me what I was reading. I read chapter 4 to him. After I finished, he thought for a minute and shared how things have changed and are so different today than what I read. People’s beliefs in God are decreasing and even among ”those who attend church,” they have become complacent in their faith, are not active anymore, and have watered down their beliefs. They asked, “How did we get this far away to where we are today?” They went on to name some external causes. However, when we read Paul’s description of the Christian lifestyle of a person’s daily walk with Christ, and look at the Christian lifestyle of a person’s daily walk with Christ today, it is evident that the cause of change is not from external factors, but internal.
If we honestly read Paul’s words above and compare them to our personal faith walk, and find there are few similarities and many differences, then the question we need to reflect on is not an external one looking outward, “How did we get so far away”; but an internal question looking inward, “How did I get so far away.” If I have personally changed so that my life and lifestyle no longer resembles and looks like that of a Christian described by Paul, I have no right and it is complete hypocrisy to look outward and point fingers if the world and life around me does not resemble what it is supposed to look like. It is the familiar “plank in your own eye” as Jesus points out in Matthew 7:3. I can only change myself.
My family, the good news is that you do not have to continue living a life that does not resemble or contain characteristics described by Paul. You can repent, and turn, and change your life: character, motives, passions, endurance and re-commit in your daily walk of faith. I pray you ask the Holy Spirit to help you read Paul’s words again, then honestly discern what you would write after your opening introduction about your Christian life, and ask for the strength to change your life where needed, all through the strength of Jesus who makes all things possible, 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
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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. Here’s my heart Lord, speak what is true….
“But the aim of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Some have strayed from these and turned away to empty discussion… But we know that the law is good if someone uses it legitimately, realizing that law is not intended for a righteous person, but for lawless and rebellious people, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, sexually immoral people, practicing homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers - in fact, for any who live contrary to sound teaching. This accords with the glorious gospel of the blessed God that was entrusted to me… even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I was treated with mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and our Lordʼs grace was abundant, bringing faith and love in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” - and I am the worst of them! But here is why I was treated with mercy: so that in me as the worst, Christ Jesus could demonstrate his utmost patience, as an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life. Now to the eternal king, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.” (1Timothy 1:5-17)
As I read these words of Paul the Holy Spirit stirs in me and reminds me that I could be saying these same things about my life. For many years of my early life I lived “contrary to sound teaching” and rebelled against God. When my daughters were young they were were watching TV and the news was showing criminals who hurt people. My daughter asked me “Why does not God immediately get rid of those people?” I answered her that if he did, you would not have a father now. Jesus Christ demonstrated “His upmost patience” with me. I was “treated with mercy.” And His patience and mercy continues over me today, as I am far from complete obedience to my Lord and repent of sin daily.
And as Paul confirms, why was I shown mercy and patience? Why was I saved from myself by His works of grace on the cross? To use me and my life “as an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life.” Jesus’ mercy, patience, and salvation was not simply to give me a “get out of hell card.” My salvation has to be more than my personal knowledge that I am not going to hell, which has no impact on my neighbors or co-workers. There was an plan why I was shown patience and mercy and it was not simply that I rest silently in my good gift of grace of salvation over my life, Jesus never intended that. He intended His gift of salvation to be shared by me with others “as an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life.” And Jesus intended the mercy, patience and salvation given to you for the same reason, to share the gift with others. “But I do not consider my life worth anything to myself, so that I may finish my task and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of Godʼs grace.” (Acts 20:24)
My family, I pray that as you reflect through the Holy Spirit on all the ways and times in your life Jesus has lovingly shown mercy and patience over you, and saved you from hell into eternal life through the suffering love of the cross, you will be compelled and motivated to show mercy and patience today, and share “the good news of God’s grace” with those you encounter today, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!!!
Please share your reflections, comments 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
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. Be at the center of all I am and all I do, with me always in every moment of every day. ...
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He will stand at last on the earth” (Job 19:25).
Yesterday morning, I served at the Manna Houseunloading trucks of food to get the line ready for food distribution to the week. I go there to help bless, encourage, tangibly help, and love my neighbors who are in need. Yesterday, morning, I was blessed and received encouragement from one of those neighbors. I talked with a man living in physical poverty. He rides an ld bike, lives in a low rent, “slum” apartment, wears clothes from the donation bin, and eats hands mouth. Though he lives in physical poverty, he is rich ispiritualy. As we talked about our faith his eyes lit up as he shared with great joy his love for Jesus, all He has done for him and all He continues to do for him. He is poor and lives in poverty, yet speaks of being blessed, favored, and grateful. He intimately and personally claimed many times it is because he has been redeemed and that his redeemer lives!
Jesus, You are my Redeemer.
You’re the One who causes all things to work together for good for me, as You keep giving me the grace to keep trusting in You. You’re the One who turns it all around and sets all things right--all in Your time and all in Your way--as I keep entrusting all things to You.
Even what was intended for evil, You turn it for good. Even what was hard and painful and challenging, You use it for Your purposes of changing me and conforming me into all You have for me. You don’t waste a moment of my sufferings. You don’t miss an opportunity to teach me how to learn to love, how to learn to trust, how to learn to rest in You and Your plans for me.
As I keep turning to You, keep trusting in You, there’s no sin You can’t forgive, no hurt You can’t heal, no chain You can’t break, no wall You can’t break through, no stronghold You can’t pull down, no life You can’t change. You can redeem it all.
You are my Redeemer. And I know my Redeemer lives. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
My family, may you know your Redeemer lives, as He keeps giving you the grace to keep trusting in Him, allowing Him to be at work in you and everything you go through, making you more like Him every day, 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.
Take 4 minutes to be reminder your redeemer lives in song.
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.
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This morning I continued spend time in James’ letter in the Bible, chapter 4. I spent time reading it in 5 or 6 different Bible translations comparing nuances of this chapter. And I also read it in “The Message” Bible. The following is simple yet powerful thoughts taken directly from this Bible translation. I am posting them for my reflection this morning.
“Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.
2-3 You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.
4-6 You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.”
7-10 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.” ( James 4:1-10, The Message Bible)
My family, when I finished reading these verses the lyrics from U2’ song came to my mind, “If you want to kiss the sky you better learn how to kneel, on your knees boy!” I do not know when was the last time you literally got down on your, or spent face time (face first on the floor) in a posture of submission and got serious in holy prayer before. God. You are relying on and trying everything else to keep you head afloat above all that is going on in life., I pray today you try humbling yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. Gog 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 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.
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Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of my heart and the center of my thoughts. Be at the center of all I do and say. Be at the center of every way I live and move and have my being in You today. ...
“From one ancestor (God) made all nations to inhabit the earth, and He allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for Him and find Him--though indeed He is not far from each of us. For ‘In Him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:26-28).
The last couple mornings I have been reflecting on seeking to be inline with what God wants, not want I want for the purpose and direction of my life. His Will, not my will. And allowing, even expecting, His interruptions in my daily life plans. Because God, you love me so much that You’ve strategically positioned me according to Your sovereign purposes. You’ve determined where I would be born and when I would live. And though You’ve foreseen every challenge I would face, every choice I would make, You’ve invited me to search for You and find You in the midst of every moment of the journey of my life. In finding You, You’ve given me my identity as a son of God and called me into my destiny to be conformed into the image of the Son of God (Romans 8:29).
So let my life be centered in You, committed to Your will, submitted to Your ways, surrounded by Your love. Let Your Holy Spirit fill my human spirit with the fullness of Your Presence and Your power to live and move and have my being in You (Ephesians 5:18). Secure in my identity, may I fulfill my destiny. May I always know You’re never far from me, that You’re always with me--just like You promised (Matthew 28:20). In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
My family, may you be secure in your identity, fulfilling your destiny, knowing God loves you so much that as well are strategically positioned according to sovereign purposes, 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 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!
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Yesterday morning, I wrote my devotion on “I want it my way” and not my will but God’s” And I walked out the door not knowing God was going to put what I prayed into practice.
I do maintenance/ handy man work on the side as tent making funds to help support Nancy and I and make ends meet. Yesterday I went to install a toilet for an elderly black couple in their 80’s. I met them at Lowes this past Monday when I was working my one day a week shift. Installing a new toilet is normally an one hour job. So I had my day planned out on this. However, the job ended up taking 4 hours! When I go there the man named Sylvester stood and stayed in the bathroom while I began working watching me and everything I did. I thought to myself, “Great! One of those guys!: I could not get one floor bolt loose on the old toilet and had to break base to get it up. When I did I saw that the toilet mounting flange that is glues PVC and going into a concreter slab was cracked, broken, and needed replaced. I had to use an internal PVC cutter and cut out the old flange. Then I had to leave and run back to Lowes to get a new flange. I did this and the new one was the wrong size. So I had to run back again and get another flange. It would not slide into the old pipe and I had to scrape and sand down inside of old flange to get it to go into pipe. I finally got new one glued in and began installing the new toilet. I opened the box of new toilet, went to install the base and discovered that the new toilet bolts were in the box, however the nut for the bolts and plastic caps were missing from the hardware package. So I had to run to Lowes again to get nuts and caps! This job and my day was not going anyway as I had planned!
Here is the thing. When I came back after my second trip to Lowes and I was working on the toilet with Sylvester standing over me watching, we began to talk. He asked me what I did and I told him I pastored and led ODC. He began to share and it turns out he has been pastoring for almost 50 years! He went to seminary back in the 60’s and began pastoring small, impoverished, black churches in Montgomery, Al in 1966. He pastored in Montgomery for over 20 years and then moved up to Birmingham and pastored there. The last years of his ministry he spent traveling the country encouraging black congregations and teach evangelism skills. And like myself, he had been to Africa on several occasions encouraging and training pastors there as well.
The stories he shared and our conversations were holy and amazing. My plan for the job was to get in and get out. God’s plan for me was to stay and listen to the gift of Him in and through this man. And It took God using a cracked toilet flange, and two trips to Lowes, to slow down, get off my schedule, stop being annoyed by the man standing in the bathroom, and talk, but mainly listen to him.
During our conversation Sylvester told me the doctors told him something was wrong with his heart and he was going in for tests Friday (tomorrow). He said he has no energy and gets tired easily. When I finally finished the install Sylvester’s sweet short wife came into the bathroom to look at the new toilet. She said “My name is Ivory, just like the soap!” I asked them if before I leave I could pray over Sylvester’s tests, and them as a couple. I had my anointing oil in my pocket as I always do, and I anointed Sylvester’s forehead, the three of us held hands, and I prayed over them. When I was finished, Sylvester asked for my oil. I gave it to him and he anointed my forehead, and then holding hands again, he prayed a holy prayer from the depths of his ministry, over my life and ministry.
When we finished praying, we hugged. And I invited them to my house that night for our Weds. night house church to share a meal, prayer, time in the Word and share his story of evangelism with us. Sylvester said as I told you earlier, I am weak now. Let me get these tests over Friday, and then hopefully we can come next week.
My family, I pray over you as I learned, that in your plans you always allow for 2 interruptions to them, by God and by people. And receive the blessings that they contain, 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 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!
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Good morning, Lord Jesus. Grounded in Your Word, filled with Your Spirit, I draw near to You as You draw near to me--here in my heart and here in my day (James 4:8). ...
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that’” (James 4:13-15).
Too much of the time, I go about the moments of my day making my own decisions for my life as if I know best. But the truth is I don’t know best. Only You know best. “Instead (I) ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, (I) shall live and do this or that’” (v. 15). I ought to say, “If the Lord wills, then let it be my will.”
Help me be more humble. Help me recognize and repent of my pride of insisting on my will apart from Your will, my lordship instead of Your Lordship, me being in control instead of entrusting control to You. Help me set aside my pride of insisting on my own will and my own way, to do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it, in my own power by my own wisdom. You resist the proud, but give grace to the humble (v. 6).
Give me Your grace to humble myself to first take time to seek Your wisdom and Your will before just trusting and insistingly on my way. As I humble myself to willingly choose to be desperately dependent upon You alone, then I’ll have receive the blessing, guidance, power, and favor of the One who knows best in all I am and in all I’ll do. As I humble myself in Your sight, then You will lift me up, then You will guide my steps and direct my path--day by day, one step at a time (James 4:10).
So this morning Lord. I seek You first--first in humility rather than pride, first in seeking Your will and Your plan for my day and all the decisions along the way rather than insisting on my own. Come lift me up into Your Presence and into Your will, as I trust in You and acknowledge You as the One who knows all about me, who knows what’s best for me, and who knows what’s best for all You’ll do through me this day and every day. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
My family, may you seek first the kingdom of God, seek first the will of the Lord, and be led and blessed by His blessing, guidance, power, and favor in all You do in every way He leads, in Jesus' name. Amen. 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 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!
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Good morning, Lord Jesus. As deep calls to calls, my spirit calls to Your Spirit in the deep communion of prayer. Help me begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.
"But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord!' But he said to them, 'Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in His side, I will not believe.' A week later His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' Then He said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it in My side. Do not doubt but believe.' Thomas answered Him, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those have not seen and yet have come to believe'" (John 20:24-28).
I like Thomas, I see a lot of me in him. What some would call doubt, I would call determined discernment, insistence upon truth, a high value for un-flaky faith, keeping it real. Before I was a minister, I was a General Contractor. Things had to be true to the blue prints, architecturally sound, and built right. And as I began to grow in my faith, it was important to me to believe what was true before I could preach it or teach it as true. And I suppose after these many years of my personal journey of faith, I'm still that way.
But like Thomas, what's helped me so much in my journey of faith are my personal encounters with You Jesus. Thomas' personal encounter with the risen Lord made him a believer. And it's the same with me.
I've encountered You in the midst of my guilt and shame where I've deeply regretted what I've done. In Your resurrection power, You forgave me and empowered me to forgive myself and cleanse me from my shame. I've encountered You in the midst of so many moments of failure and heartache, of feeling rejected and unloved, of being misunderstood and judged, of confusion and frustration, of finding myself weary, discouraged, and worn out, and in so many more of those moments when I wish I could just put my finger in Your hands and my hand in Your side. But every time, You've put Your hands around my heart and breathed Your Spirit into my life to lift me up and dust me off and send me along with even more faith, more trust, and more love for You than ever before. Every one of my personal encounters with You have made me a believer, believing even more strongly in every encounter.
In that powerful moment of Your undeniable Presence, You turned all of Thomas' wavering doubts into a bold declaration of faith--"My Lord and my God!" It's actually the highest and most direct declaration from any person in all the Bible that Jesus is Lord and God. And it's a boldness of faith that never left him after that encounter. Thomas was martyred in India for his faith with a spear through his heart that never stopped loving You or beating passionately for You to preach Your Word and minister in the power of Your name until the day he died.
I love how You take our greatest weaknesses and turn them into our greatest strengths. In the very places where we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the power of Your grace, You give us authority and passion in Your Spirit to testify to Your love and help others encounter the One who's done so much for us. I love how You turn sinners into saints, brokenness into breakthrough, and even General Contrators into preachers! Thank You for turning my doubts into declarations and my failures into faith. Lord Jesus--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--You are "my Lord and my God!" And I love You with all my heart and offer all my life to You again this day. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray today you will seek personal encounters with the risen Lord that will turn your doubts into declarations and your failures into faith, with a passion to love and serve your Lord and your God with all your heart, 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 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!
“And Jesus *said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.” His mother *said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:4-5)
There are many books and trainings out there by various authors on what it means to be a disciple. Mary, the mother of Jesus, gives us her instructions on being a disciple, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” She breaks discipleship down to its simple core, “listening and doing”. We are called to actively listen to Jesus, to seek Him out and hear His voice. “My sheep hear My voice…. and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27). We seek. listen to, and hear his voice when we open our Bibles, when we bend our knees in prayer, and when we become vulnerable in accountability with other believers. And then once we hear what Jesus is telling us, we without delay obey it and do it. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” (1John 5:2-3)
To call your self a Christian means you are saying you are a follower of Christ. To follow someone you have actively to listen to them, and you have to obey them. Being a disciple then is simply, Listening to what Jesus is telling you to do, and then doing it. How are you daily actively listening to Jesus, to hearing his voice and fallow Him as a Christian every day:? Are you intentionally setting aside time daily to read your Bible, and pray? Are you in a Band group (accountability group) that meets weekly? How are you intentionally and actively being obedient to what you hear? Again, what accountability do you have in place? If you are not in a Band ( accountability group) the first thing you need to do and obey is intentionally get into one. Going to church worship services and gatherings are important and we are commanded to worship together. However, when you walk out of that building are you walking out thinking church is over, or are you walking out having heard from Jesus in the songs, message preached and prayers and walking out ready to obey what you heard and begin “real church.” Inside a church service we actively hear from Jesus, it is when we walk out the church doors we intentionally obey what we heard Jesus tell us to do.
Jesus, remind me through your Holy Spirit this morning that the core of your call over my life to be a follower of you is not mainly found in rituals, religion, and routines. It is found in listening to your voice and obeying what I hear. Let me hear Mary’s words above as if she is speaking only to me, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Mary practiced what she preached, as when she heard what God was asking her to do, and her reply was, “And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) Let me have the bold obedience of a Mary, who was just a 16 year old girl.
My family, I pray this morning you take time to actively listen to what Jesus is telling you to do. You may have already heard His voice speaking to you in your heart. And I pray you then intentionally and without delay, obey Him and do what He has told you to do. 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
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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. Thank You for meeting me every morning, here in my chair today and here in my heart, wherever I am each day.
"May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).
Daddy Abba! My Father God, You are the God of hope (Romans 8:15). You fill my heart with all joy and peace, as I believe Your Word and trust Your nature. You fill me with the power of Your Holy Spirit, that I may abound and overflow in even more hope still. "For You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord!" (Psalm 71:5)
When my hope is in You instead of the fleeting pleasures, uncertain security, and ultimately unsatisfying materialism and disappointing promises this world has to offer -- there is an authentic joy and genuine peace that fills my soul and satisfies my heart. Only You can provide that.
I'm reminded of the old hymn that proclaims this eternal truth: "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.... When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.... On Christ the Solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand." My hope is in You, Lord. Fill me with all peace and joy in believing today. Fill me afresh with the power of Your Holy Spirit, as I confidently trust in You, O God of hope. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you will begin your Monday and new work week with hope, filled with all joy and peace in believing, filled afresh with the power of the Holy Spirit today, by the God of Hope, 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
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
Cornerstone by Hillsong
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of all I am and all I do today. ...
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32 KJV)
You are for me; and You are with me. You abide right here within me. I in You and You in me (John 15:4).
So what have I to fear? What need is there to worry? ...
“The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Strength of my life; of who shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)
Remind me of this Truth as I face every challenging circumstance. Remind me of Your Presence as I fight every battle.
Yes, there will battles to fight and circumstances to face as I go through the days of my journey through this broken and fallen world. But just as You are at work in this world to redeem it, You are also at work in me--redeeming me, shaping me, growing me, defining me, encouraging me, empowering me, maturing me, making me more like You each day through all I go through (1 John 4:17).
So what can stand against me? What can come against me that You will not ultimately turn around and use for me, as You’re conforming me in the image of the Son of God?
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:28-29).
By the mercies of God, You’ve given me faith to believe in You, to trust in You, with all that I am and all that I have, as You freely offer to all who will receive and embrace the powerful, merciful, ever-present love and grace of God at work within us (John 3:16).
So as I rise up now and go out into my day, I go with God. I go with the One who’s with me and abiding within me. And there’s nothing that can stand against me, nothing that can challenge me, that You will not use to make me more like You today. “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
My family, may you know the Lord our God is with you and within you, for you, making all you go through to make you more like Jesus each day, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. 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. 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!
