Good morning Lord Jesus, I come to you empty to be filled with your Spirit..
I love Acts chapter 4! It is a proclamation and testimony to the power of the resurrected Jesus our Lord and Savior! All throughout the chapter you can sense the presence and power the resurrection of Jesus provided in his believers. It is a picture of people and a church that have confidence in Christ. They have an expectancy that God is and will do great signs and wonders in their midst. It is a church filled with boldness derived not in themselves, but in the living Christ. It is the picture of a church filled with the anointing and presence of the Holy Spirit. A church that prays. A church that has complete unity of purpose that is radically meeting each others needs and affecting lives. It is a church that is on fire with the power of God! It is a church I so long to re-establish and be part of.
I read this chapter on the released power and presence of God in the resurrected Christ and the Holy Spirit in the church. The church is exciting, expecting, and seeing healings, signs and wonders. It is boldly standing up to powers and principalities, removing social barriers and injustice, and boldly spreading the gospel. People are banqueting together and participating in life together. And I so long to be part of that church. Why do I long for that church when there are churches on almost every corner today that are supposed to be places of the same presence of the resurrected Jesus who is alive and now present. The same Holy Spirit full of power moves among the earth today. The same kingdom of God is now at hand.
I was an Ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church (UMC). In 1786, the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, looked back on the revival begun during his lifetime. He seemed to think that it was well enough established that it would not immediately vanish after his death. However, he was not content with the survival of a lifeless sect that hung around, but failed to renew souls in the image of their creator. He wrote in “Thoughts Upon Methodism” : “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out." These words haunt me. It is as if Wesley continues to challenge all who call themselves Christians, to continue to have the zeal to “spread Scriptural holiness” that the early Methodists had. I can’t read this quote without asking myself the obvious question, not just about the UMC, but The Church in America in general, “Is the church in America a dead sect, does it have the form or religion without the power? Or have we held fast to the doctrine, spirit, faith and discipline with which the early church we read about in Acts 4 first set out?”
I lead a men’s Bible study on Thursday nights called Brothers, Bible and Beer that meets in a local brewery. We were discussing yesterday’s reading of Acts chapter 3 and the miraculous healing of the crippled man begging at the Beautiful gate by Peter and John speaking the name of Jesus of Nazareth over him. In our discussion of this miracle I asked our group, “When was the last time you experienced or witnessed a true miracle that you know was an act of God?” It was amazing how many men had to sit there and think, could not remember, or went back to a time in their childhood. If I was to ask you “When was the last time you experienced or witnessed a true miracle that you know was an act of God?” could you answer right away? Was it something that happened today? This week? This month? or would you have to sit and ponder over past years to think of one, if ever? This ties into today’s devotion, Where is the power of Jesus in your lives? Is your church, your faith a dead sect, does it have the form or religion without the power?
I, and I know you as well long to be part of a church like that in Acts 4. Long to be part of a church that others will look at and long to be part of, because it is full of the power and presence of the resurrected Jesus! Please read Acts chapter 4 and pray over and into these prayers today and over the weekend:
Pray the power of the resurrected Jesus over yourself, family, and church:
its power to save humanity vs. 4, 12,
Its power to heal. vs.9-10, 14. 22, 30
its power to provide us and fill us with the Holy Spirit v, 8, 25, 31,
Its power to fulfill prophesy, and sovereignty over time and our lives vs.24-29
Its power over all creation v.24
Its power to give us boldness in proclaiming the Gospel v.29
Its power to give us the ability to heal and do signs and wonders. V. 30
Its power to give our prayers power in and through the Holy Spirit v. 31
Its power to bring God through the Holy Spirit tangibly into our midst. “The place where they were assembled was shaken”. V.31
its power to unify us into one body v.32
Its power over all we posses v.32-36
Its power to fill all our needs v.34
Repent of ways you have continued on in a faith with the form of religion that is powerless and where you have contributed to your church being a dead sect. You received the power of the Resurrected Jesus at you baptism. Pray into that power. Ask God to remind, reveal and revive that power that is dormant within you. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you people, places, possibilities for your church to powerfully proclaim the risen Jesus, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts of my post above or your reflections from your reading of Acts chapter 3 with us in the comments box below.
28 Days of Acts
I am asking all of us as a church, as a family, as a community of faith to come together as we begin pray over a new revelation, a new manifestation of Jesus into the vision and ministries of our churches and our lives. I would like us to dedicate ourselves to pouring ourselves into his word and prayer as we seek God’s will and direction for our lives. To aid us in this I am asking us to commit to one another and join together in these 5 things:
1. There are 28 chapters in Acts of Apostles, so we will read one chapter a each weekday for the next 28 weekdays.
2. If you are not in a Band group, start up or join one. A band group is the Wesleyan name for accountability groups of 2-3 people of the same sex that meet weekly. We need to both encourage and hold each other accountable to time in the Word, Prayer, and our daily walk with Christ and to discern what we hear Christ speaking into our lives.. Do not delay, pray to God who to ask you which one or two persons to invite to join you, and do it. Ne excuses, no delays.
3. Set aside just one hour a week (you can do more than one) away from distractions and spend that hour in solid prayer.
4. Fast one day a week in prayer.
5. Daily Lunch + prayer: Everyday when you sit down to lunch, you pray over your meal. After your prayer over the meal, add a 30 second prayer over yourself and your church and its ministries for God’s vision and leading.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community and my family to jump down into the pits and help lift up those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please 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! Thank You! .
Lord Jesus, thank you for your love, grace and mercy that constantly surrounds me..
“And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God…. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all” Acts 3:5-8, 16
“The faith that is through Jesus”. Note how this verse explains how the claim to "faith in Jesus' name" works and what it means. To appeal to the name is to point to the person, Jesus. Just saying, “In the name of Jesus” is not a “magical” phrase that brings miracles. But it points to the person Jesus, that by faith the one speaking has positioned his life relationally with and can “introduce” Jesus into the situation and speak with his authority.
It is not clear that the lame man expressed faith before the miracle. So it was not by his faith he was healed, but by that of Peter and John’s. This could well be a "grace-faith miracle" where God grants power through the apostles to picture how much a gift life is (Luke 17:11-19). In Luke Jesus heals 10 lepers not by their faith. I sometimes hear in the church, even in my small circle of friends it said about someone who is ill or going through some trial, “We prayed for them, but if they do not have faith or believe, there is nothing we can do for them.” Or “I heard recently, “Their mother practices Wicca and as long as that takes place in the house we can’t do anything.” I cringe when I hear that. First of all THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO FOR THEM, IT IS ALL JESUS!! Only he can heal/change/restore their situation. And so by saying that, you are now speaking for Jesus and limiting who he can heal, how he can heal, why he can heal, and his power of restoration, to your limited human capabilities or understanding.
Peter and John did not ask if the man had faith faith before they healed him. They did not ask him if he understood the doctrine of Justification by faith or the need for repentance or if he was baptized. They simply pointed him to, and introduced him to Jesus. And our Christology (understanding of Christ) is that grace is at his core. And his grace is emphasized here in this passage. All throughout our day Christ graciously provides for us, heals us, restores us, and provides for us, Not because we deserve it or earned it any more than the crippled man at the gate and not because we asked him out of deep faith. And if we are honest, most days we do not even thank him. But he does it out of his love and grace towards us.
Lord, help me to be gracious towards those in my life: my wife, my daughters, family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and others. Even harder, help me when I encounter those lame, diseased, broken, abusive, addicted, and foul, dumped by the gate. People who may even reject you, that I do not withhold or try to limit your grace towards them, but bravely embrace your amazing grace and in the name of Jesus, point them to you. Help our church be a family of faith that just as grace is at the core of who you are Jesus, grace will be at the core of who we are as well.
My family, I pray today you do not limit the power of Jesus and who you share Him with by your limited understanding of Him. But, introduce Jesus to everyone you meet today. I pray you ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind anyone you have refrained from offering grace to out of religious piety or personal judgement, and seek them out, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God Bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts of my post above or your reflections from your reading of Acts chapter 3 with us in the comments section below in the comments box.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
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 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! Thank You!
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28 Days of Acts
I am asking all of us as a church, as a family, as a community of faith to come together to begin to pray over a new revelation, a new manifestation of Jesus into the vision and ministries of our churches and our lives. I would like us to dedicate ourselves to pouring ourselves into his word and prayer as we seek God’s will and direction for our lives. To aid us in this I am asking us to commit to one another and join together in these 5 things:
1. If you and not in a Band group, start up or join one. A band group is the Wesleyan name for accountability groups of 2-3 people of the same sex that meet weekly. We need to both encourage and hold each other accountable to time in the Word, Prayer, and our daily walk with Christ and to discern what we hear Christ speaking into our lives.. Do not delay, pray to God who to ask you which one or two persons to invite to join you, and do it. Ne excuses, no delays.
2. Set aside just one hour a week (you can do more than one) away from distractions and spend that hour in solid prayer.
3. Fast one day a week in prayer.
4. Daily Lunch + prayer: Everyday when you sit down to lunch, you pray over your meal. After your prayer over the meal, add a 30 second prayer over yourself and your church and its ministries for God’s vision and leading.
Good morning Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I begin my morning in thanksgiving for your love grace and mercy that you rain down on me..
This morning I used The S.O.A.P.S method (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer, Share) of reading a passage of Scripture and gleaning what it is speaking ito my life through observing the context, setting and background in the passage. Reflecting in the Spirit how it applies to my life today. Praying the passage back to God and over me. And discerning how I am to share what I gleaned with others. Using SOAPS daily is good way to soak and self-feed yourself on the Word of God.
1. SCRIPTURE: Acts 2:22-36 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, wonders, and miraculous signs that God performed among you through him, just as you yourselves know - this man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles. But God raised him up, having released him from the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held in its power. For David says about him,
ʻI saw the Lord always in front of me,
for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced;
my body also will live in hope,
because you will not leave my soul in Hades,
nor permit your Holy One to experience decay.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of joy with your presence.ʼ
“Brothers, I can speak confidently to you about our forefather David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. So then, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, David by foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his body experience decay. This Jesus God raised up, and we are all witnesses of it. So then, exalted to the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out what you both see and hear. For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says,
ʻThe Lord said to my lord,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”ʼ
Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.”
2. OBSERVATION: I observed that Peter's evangelistic message to the crowd contained nothing about him and his works or his efforts, but only Christ's death and resurrection, and his Lordship. And that Peter included Scripture in the message he shared to allow the Word of God to be the authority of his messaged to allow God to speak into the hearts of those listening.
3. APPLICATION: As I attempt to lead, grow and make disciples in my church, be a spiritual leader in my family, and each my neighbors who don’t know Jesus Christ,, my success has nothing to do based on my boasting, clever speech, on works or efforts,. But just like Peter, my success will be based on my loving them enough to tell them of Jesus and His saving works on the cross and the sharing of Scripture with them.. If I leave that out, no matter how nice I may be to people, my popularity may increase, but my ministry will decrease.
4. PRAYER: Jesus, just as I could not initially save myself but my salvation was only made possible through my claiming you as my Lord and through your works of redemption, I cannot continue in my salvation today without claiming the same. I cannot lead and grow a church by my pulling a lever or by my efforts or means. My “job” in your church is the relentless pursuit of who God has made me to be. And anything else I do is sin and I need to repent of it. It is only in my relentless pursuit of who God made me to be that I can become everything my church needs me to be. I cannot lead people somewhere I am not trying to go myself. I don't have to have arrived. I don't have to be perfect, but I do have to be on the same path. And that is why for so many the church experience has been so shallow, because so many leaders have never descended into the depths of their own souls. Help me to descend Lord to where all that is left is you Jesus.
5. SHARE: Help me proclaim simply Christ, Christ crucified, Christ resurrected, to those I meet today. Especially those at the WH this morning.
Please share your reflections and prayers on my 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 Me Help Others Out Of Their Graves!
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 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! Thank You!
28 Days of Acts
I am asking all of us as a church, as a family, as a community of faith to come together to begin to pray over a new revelation, a new manifestation of Jesus into the vision and ministries of our churches and our lives. I would like us to dedicate ourselves to pouring ourselves into his word and prayer as we seek God’s will and direction for our lives. To aid us in this I am asking us to commit to one another and join together in these 5 things:
1. If you and not in a Band group, start up or join one. A band group is the Wesleyan name for accountability groups of 2-3 people of the same sex that meet weekly. We need to both encourage and hold each other accountable to time in the Word, Prayer, and our daily walk with Christ and to discern what we hear Christ speaking into our lives.. Do not delay, pray to God who to ask you which one or two persons to invite to join you, and do it. Ne excuses, no delays.
2. Set aside just one hour a week (you can do more than one) away from distractions and spend that hour in solid prayer.
3. Fast one day a week in prayer.
4. Daily Lunch + prayer: Everyday when you sit down to lunch, you pray over your meal. After your prayer over the meal, add a 30 second prayer over yourself and your church and its ministries for God’s vision and leading.
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I worship You and welcome You into my heart and into my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ...
We are in the season now as we move from the Holiday of Easter towards Pentecost. So today I Am going begin a time reading through Luke’s book of The Acts of the Apostles to help us focus on Pentecost and the birth of The Church.. I would like us to use this time to as a community spend these days in prayer and fasting over The Church in the World. our individual churches that are part of the body of Christ, and each of us as its members.
Intro to Acts:
The Book of The Acts of the Apostles, or as commonly simply called “Acts” picks up where Luke’s Gospel leaves off, recording the birth of The Church and the early progress of the gospel as Jesus’ disciples took it from Jerusalem throughout Judea, Samaria, and the rest of the Mediterranean world. The story begins with Christ’s ascension and the events of Pentecost. As Gentiles begin responding to the gospel, the focus shifts to Paul and his missionary journeys. Acts forms a bridge between the four Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, showing how the apostles carried on Christ’s work and providing a historical background for Romans through Revelation. The Acts of the Apostles is the second of two New Testament books written by Luke. Like his Gospel, Acts was a letter to Luke’s friend Theophilus, written sometime in a.d. 62–64
"While staying with them, He ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. 'This,' He said, 'is what you have heard from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.... You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth' " (Acts 1:4-8).
Lord Jesus, just before You ascended to Heaven from the Mount of Olives with all your disciples looking into the sky, You told them to wait for the promise of the Father, for the coming of the Holy Spirit. They knew You personally in their relationship of faith and they believed in Your resurrection as the Son of God. But there was more. You commanded them to wait for more.
They were never meant to go to work for the kingdom of God in their witness of faith without the power of the kingdom of God at work within them. Though they had great faith, though they had a personal relationship with You as Lord and Savior, You told them they needed more. You told them they needed to wait. They needed to wait to be empowered by Your Holy Spirit, to be baptized, saturated, immersed, and filled to overflowing with Your Holy Spirit. You said, "See, I am sending upon you what My Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49).
Your first disciples were to wait with hungry hearts and expectant faith for their baptism with Your Holy Spirit. And so are we. We need You and we need Your power at work within us to be Your witnesses wherever You send us -- whether across the street or to the ends of the earth. We need to be baptized, saturated, immersed, and filled to overflowing with Your Holy Spirit, clothed with Your power from on high. We are to be the body of Christ, filled with the Spirit of Christ, continuing the ministry of Christ in this hurting, broken, and fallen world.
So as we Embrace The resurrection of Jesus and move towards Pentecost Sunday in May, let us open wide our hearts every day for the coming of Your Holy Spirit. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus. I embrace Your promise, my Heavenly Father. Come, Holy Spirit of the Living God. Baptize me afresh today and everyday with Your power from on high. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family,I pray you will embrace the promise of the Father and be baptized with the Holy Spirit to be empowered to be a witness of Jesus everywhere He sends you each day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Asbegin our 28 Days reading through Acts and praying together by reading Acts chapter 1, here are some thoughts to pray on:
Pray over and into your personal, and church’s collective "Baptism of the Holy Spirit." v.5
Pray into the the power each of you received by the Holy Spirit in your baptism. v.8
Pray over your personal and our collective call as a church to witness to your community, the surrounding communities, our state and country, and unto the nations.v. 8
Pray for the return of Jesus. v.11
Pray that every member of your church will take seriously and embrace this call to pray and fast, and we will seek with one mind God's anointing and calling on us. v.14
Pray over your personal call to be a witness to the resurrection of Jesus. v.22
Pray over the leadership role in your church God is calling you to take up and step up into. v. 24
Pray over your commitment to embrace the 5 items I listed in yesterday’s post.