Good morning Lord Jesus, just as the rain is failing on the outside of my window, let your Spirit rain down on my heart and mind this morning.
“While they were eating, he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it. This is my body.” And after taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many. I tell you the truth, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (Mark 14:22-26)
This morning my reflection is a little more personal. Instead of reflecting on this morning’s Bible reading, Revelation chapter 10, my mind was drawn to remember and reflect onmy Facebook Memory that popped up from 3 years ago.
Every Thursday evening, I lead a men’s group called Bibles, Brothers, and Beer, B3 for short. We meet in a local craft brewery. We share our weeks joys and struggles, read and reflect on a passage of Scripture and it’s application on our life, and pray. I love our time together. We will meet again this evening. Today, my Facebook Memory reminded me of the special Thursday night it was 3 years ago today. Three years ago, on the small table in the corner of the brewery, with the small group of men sitting around it, I consecrated and shared the Lord’s Supper for the last time as an Ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church (UMC). The UMC had departed from what I understand to be Biblical Orthodoxy and God’s intention of creation, marriage, and human sexuality. So the following Friday morning at a Special Session Conference of the North Alabama Conference of the UMC convened at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. Myself and all the other pastors I have served alongside of in ministry for years, who are disassociating with the UMC, lined up and walked up to the UMC Board of Ordained Ministry, which includes the Bishop that ordained me. I handed over my certificate of credentials as an Ordained Elder in the UMC, and had them stamped with some sort of “void” stamp, signed by the board, and returned to me. I then turned and walked out into whatever God’s will was for myself and my family. It was a sad day, full of many emotions, as was the night before celebrating The Lord’s Supper for the last time in the brewery.
A lot of sacrifice by myself, but more importantly my wife, and two daughters went into following my calling into Ordination in the UMC. Shutting down my construction company and going from making six figures a year to my family qualifying for free lunches, food stamps, and social services. Laying all the “things” my wife and I purchased over the years on a table at our yard sale and selling them for 50 cents, and packing and moving away from family and friends to a city where we knew no one. Moving from a 2,500 SF home to an 1,100 SF home, all so I could attend seminary for 4 years. After seminary, packing up again, same yard sale process, saying good bye to dear friends, pulling my daughters out of school and away from their friends, and moving to another city where we knew no one, to plant a church from scratch out of the living room in our home. In pastoring new, different congregations over the years. Jesus has successfully lowered my salary every year since I turned my life over to Him. All the other men in my B3 group are retired or planning to do so in the next few months. There is no retirement in the future for me, and I will probably be the old man saying “Welcome to Walmart.” LOL! Jeus has led my family into unknown and difficult places and situations, that challenged my family financially, my relationship with my wife and daughters, and brought us to our knees in prayer. However, Jesus has also blessed my family over and over, never forsaken us, and we have lacked for nothing.
It was a 10 year journey to becoming an Elder. Two years of the discernment process in both the Episcopal and UMC churches, four years of seminary, a year of CPE training in hospitals and difficult situations, and three years of serving and study as a Provisional Elder. All this leading to when I kneeled down in a church before God; with two bishops, several Elders, and my wife laying hands on me; surrounded by a congregation affirming me, I surrendered and vowed to faithfully obey and serve my Lord Jesus. I am a loyal person, and walking away from this was so hard.
Ecclesiastes chapter 3 states, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven… a time to plant, and a time to pluck up… a time to seek, and a time to lose;.. a time to weep, and a time to laugh…”
So this morning I remember the sad, emotional day 3 years ago was for me, and my family. However, I am also reminded this morning that I am called to follow, imitate, and be obedient to Jesus Christ, not any religious denomination, church, person or other organization. And any sacrifices my family and I endure for following Jesus, pail in comparison to the sacrifices He endured for me. And I am thankful for my membership now in The Forged Network of churches in Alabama.
My family, I pray over any changes, challenges, directions, uncertainties, you find yourself in in this season of your life. I pray you are also reminded this morning that you are called to follow, imitate, and be obedient to Jesus Christ, not any religious denomination, church, person or other organization. And I pray that you also remember that Jesus has never abandoned of forsaken you, and he never will. You are not alone. I also lift you up all those reading this post in prayer this morning. If you have read my reflection blog posts in the past, you know I always end with the request, “Please pray the same for me as well.” I thank all of you who have prayed over myself and my family and journeyed with us over this past season of our lives, and I look forward to and I am gratefull for the season that lays ahead for all of us together, in Jesus’ name. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below.
Can You Be Generous?
As we close out the year, if you have the ability to be generous, I invite you tp partner with me and One Direction Community to support our ministries. My wife Nancy and I are still 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. We would be so grateful for your one time gift or monthly support. Thank you!
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You can mail a donation to One Direction Community P.O. Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Open the eyes of my heart this morning Lord Jesus to see only you..
In those days people will seek death, but will not be able to find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.” Revelations 9:6
If we could see in advance the consequences of our sin, no one would do it. However, sin allures us, we feel it empowers us and that we will benefit from the sin in some way. And so we embrace it. The first time you succumb to a a sin usually nothing happens. The sky does not fall, you get away with it, you benefit from it, it pleases you, and so you do it again. For a certain way on that trajectory you are in control. You hear people say, “I can stop at any time.” Yes you can, up to a point. Yet at some point in time you pass an invisible barrier that the sin has taken control over you. You cant say no. It is at that point you begin to experience the torment of sin. At that point you begin to sense the destructive dynamic of your sin, of what it is doing in your life, and you wish you could be free of it. You stop for a day or week, but then you fall back into it, The sin has got it’s hooks in you.
I have had people in my time in ministry come to me and talk about their sin. Wishing they could end it, wishing they could get rid of it, but they can’t. They are living in the present a foretaste of hell. They are experiencing the torment and suffering of their sin that has become their master and God. The now have an evil king ruling over their lives that desires to destroy them. “They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.” (Rev 9:11) Both the words Abaddon and Apollyon mean “Destroyer”. And because of the weight and torment of their sin and being a slave to the destroyer king, verse 9:6 is not a future prophesy, it is a reality to them today. “In those days people will seek death, but will not be able to find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.” Revelations 9:6
The essential act of Satan is destruction. In these passages we see the torment of sin. What can free you from the bondage of Satan? What can free you from the torment of sin? The answer is in that old hymn, “What can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again, nothing but the blood of Jesus… No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
My family, I pray today you admit any sin that is controlling your life. I pray you claim it, confess it, repent of it, claim the blood of Jesus over it, and release, and seek the help that may be needed to come out of the rule of the destroyer. Who the son sets free, is free indeed! In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
I want to encourage you to join me by also sharing with us your thoughts, comments, reflections, and prayers you received from today’s reading in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
TO GIVE CLICK HERE!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of all I am and all I do this day. ...
"Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, 'Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?' I said to him, 'Sir, you are the one that knows.' Then he said to me, 'These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship Him day and night within His temple, and the One who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:13-17).
The world seems chaotic. I don't know the depths of the ordeals I will endure or the trials of tribulation I will face, as I run my race and walk out my journey in faith through this broken and fallen world. But I know I want my robe to be washed in white by the blood of the Lamb. I know I want Christ to be at the center of the throne of my heart, with my heart full worship day and night in the temple of his Presence. I know I want to trust Jesus to be my Shelter and my Shepherd, to lead me and to guide me into his living waters and flowing fountains.
My time today on this earth is just the point where my present touches Christ’s eternity. And my eternity is secure in Christ. Therefore, so is my present, my past, and my future secure in Christ. So give me the grace to embrace every day, every challenge, every encounter as it comes. With You at the center of my heart and my life, I desire to launch out with all of heaven into what I can experience here on earth every day in my salvation of grace. "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb! ... Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!" (Revelation 7:10-12) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you live out today and every day centered in Christ, filled with worship, knowing the fullness of your salvation and assured in the joy of your eternity in Christ, in Jesus' name I pray! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share you thoughts and comments below.
“Then I looked when the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and a huge earthquake took place; the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became blood red; and the stars in the sky fell to the earth like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when shaken by a fierce wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the very important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?”” (Revelation 6:12-17)
There was a great earthquake. The foundations of churches and states would be terribly shaken. Such bold figurative descriptions of great changes abound in the prophecies of Scripture; for these events are signs and declare the end of the world and the day of judgment. Dread and terror would seize on all sorts of men and women. Because on that day neither political office positions, job titles, amount on funds in bank accounts or retirement funds, assets accumulated, house square footages, or personal competency and strength, can help men or women at that time. They would be glad to be like the poor and no more stand out or be seen in the world. Though Christ holds the title of The Lamb, he can be angry, and the wrath of the Lamb is exceedingly dreadful; for if the Redeemer himself, who appeases the wrath of God, is now our accuser, where shall we find a friend to plead for us? As people live and have their days of opportunity and seasons of grace in life, so God has his day of righteous wrath. It seems that the overthrow of the paganism of the Roman empire is meant here. The idolaters are described as hiding themselves in their dens and secret caves, and vainly seeking to escape ruin. In such a day, when the signs of the times show those who believe in God’s word, that the King of kings is approaching, Christians are called to hold to their faith and to a bold confession of Christ and his truth before their neighbors, family and co-workers. Whatever they may have to endure, the persecution and attacks of people in short run is our call rather than that shame of denying our faith which is everlasting.
My family, I pray as we begin a new week in the middle of the holiday season which is one that can be of excess, indulgence and opportunity as we remember the amazing grace of God displayed in the manger in the birth of Christ, we also remember to hold true to our faith, calling, confession and living out our life all conformed to that of Christ, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share you prayer requests in the comment box below.
As the year draws to an end, PLEASE give and help Nancy and I help them!
CLICK HERE TO GIVE
My wife Nancy and I in our ministries are 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 our lives and that of our family and ODC. Please partner and support us and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation now for next year, 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!
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC.
Good morning Jesus, Lord of my life, Light of my life, Lover of my soul.
This past Sunday November 30 we began the season of Advent in the church. A time of anticipation and hope as we await Christmas and the birth of Jesus, Emanuel, “Christ with us.” Advent is also the beginning of the church year. It is “New Year’s Day” in the church calendar. And just as we will make resolutions and commitments of on January 1st, the beginning of the secular New Year, I asked for us to make resolutions and commitments to The Church and our faith as we begin the new church year.
I ask us in the upcoming year, as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ in the world, if you are willing to be discipled by, and help disciple others in our church to imitate Jesus, so we in turn can disciple others to imitate Jesus. That for the next year to be obedient to a life of prayer and fasting that is extraordinary. To resolve to spend time in the Bible reading God’s word beyond the ordinary. That you will commit to join a Band group, an accountability group, and be willingly to become completely open, honest, and vulnerable to each other. Be willing to become both accountable to, and accountable over each other and to speak love and truth into each other. To be willingly to go deeply" inward," so we can be a church that leads others deeply "inward", a church that is not superficial.
I asked this coming year if you would be willing to make The Church the main thing you support with your tithing; tithes of money, time, prayer, and opening of your homes.
I ask in the coming year as part of The Church "outwardly," to agree to help be formed and form each other into missionaly focused lives. Who's heart weeps for their neighbors and the lost. Who's focus is not on themselves, but on others, on serving, on the cross. To be willingly to be stretched "outwardly," so we can be a church that stretches others "outwardly," and is not complacent in its view of the pain and injustice around them
I ask in the coming year if you are willing to make a covenant with each other in our faith, in The Church and with God, that to the best of your abilities and with the help of the Spirit, you are "all in" to the re-birthing and renewing of The Church. And if It sounds intense and serious to you, that is because it is. That is because there is an enemy, and adversary, Satan and his minions who are serious and intense in seeing that The Church does not revive and grow, or what does grow is worldly and self-serving church. The enemy wants nothing more than to see us: good, sincere, talented, gifted, and gracious people get destroyed or wounded, or help in the destruction or wounding of others, because they are trying to do a job they are not in covenant with God and committed to undertake. Trying to achieve this Holy objective without a covenant relationship and support of others, without prayer coverage or founded in God’s Word..
This is why I am encouraging you to start Band groups as they are so vital. My wife Nancy and I have discussed what blessing it is to help lead the gatherings in our and others homes, and out in our community in bars, the Waffle House, and others to have these become beacons of light in the darkness. We desire that you start up and help lead in these gatherings of light. To do so you need to be grounded in Word and prayer. For these beacons of light are also seen by the enemy, who rages against the light, and so he has placed a bullseye over churches, our community gatherings and over our house. When I pull out of my drive everyday and start to drive off, I always stop, and look back over at my house before I leave, and pray over my wife Nancy, daughters Paris, and Milan, and myself for protection and power. Satan rages against the light and the Jesus he sees in us. And as you commit to grow God’s kingdom, Satan will place a bullseye over you, as he also rages against the light in you, the love, the Jesus in you for our church and others, and, your participation in the birth of more light.
Yet we have nothing to fear if we covenant with God and put on the full armor of God. Because if Christ is for us, who can be against? Whom shall we fear? Nothing and no one, IF WE GO “All IN." "All in" in Christ, "All in" in prayer, "All in" reading the Word, "All in" Band Groups in supporting each other. It is when we think that we can play around and go "half in," "most of the time in, "some of the time in," against an enemy that is always "all in," that we are in danger.
You all have wonderful and amazing gifts and hearts open to God that can and will be used to building Gods kingdom and his church. I see it in each one of you. God see’s it in you. He created these gifts in you! The question you need you honestly answer this New Year, this Advent, is if it is The Church, at this season in your life, that God called you and created you into, that you are willing to go “All in” and help build for His kingdom. I pray it is so. If so, you do so knowing that you will experience both the immense joys and immense pain that is required both in giving birth and in re-birth. You need to know for certain you will experience both. They are as certain to happen, yet unknown as the joys and pains parents know they will experience from birthing a child. Yet they also know and understand the covenant it requires of them in giving birth.
Why am I asking for your commitment, why I am asking for these things to be your focus? Your souls and hence the soul of The Church, since it is made up of us, people with souls, will be affected.
Everything is coming together to confirm this in me.
And here’s the thing: God is going to grow his kingdom, regardless of what I or we in the church decide. Plain and simple: He is going to use those things, those people that are all in, and remove those things that are not.
God will use this same answering machine message towards his churches as He used in Revelations chapter 2 & 3.
“ʻI know your works as well as your labor and steadfast endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have even put to the test those who refer to themselves as apostles (but are not), and have discovered that they are false. I am also aware that you have persisted steadfastly, endured much for the sake of my name, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you: You have departed from your first love! Therefore, remember from what high state you have fallen and repent! Do the deeds you did at the first; if not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place - that is, if you do not repent.” Revelation (2:2-5)
Repent: turn, change, what you are focusing on, magnifying, submersing yourself in.
First Love: relationship with Jesus: prayer, Bible, Accountability.
Question: Where is the mighty church of Ephesus that Jesus spoke those words to above today? Answer: It is gone, erased in the sands of time. It did not repent, it did not change, it did not return to its first love..it was shaken. It received a message from God asking it to go “all in”. It did not. So God removed from Ephesus its lampstand, its light, its influence…turned out the lights..
And if this can happen to mighty Ephesus, a church God once used mightily, if God removed its lampstand, its light, its influence, it can happen to any church, including yours.
Ephesus’s lampstand was removed by God, but He did was not destroy it immediately, like He did with Sodom and Gomora with fire and brim stone or something. Ephesus simply slowly died over time. There are many examples of a church or ministry continuing on after the initial anointing of God, that birthed that church of ministry departed from it. Ephesus is an example. The Temple is another.
My family, As we move into the season of Advent and “New Years Day” of The Church. I ask you again, “What are we going to commit to, to go “all-in” with, and what are we going to magnify this year? I pray you seriously discern this, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share you prayer requests in the comment box below.
As the year draws to an end, PLEASE give and help Nancy and I help them!
CLICK HERE TO GIVE
My wife Nancy and I in our ministries are 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 our lives and that of our family and ODC. Please partner and support us and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation now for next year, 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!
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC.
There are more people in prison in the USA than any other country.
· 2.4 Million people, 6.8%,
· China, 1.6 million, 1.1%
· 1,719 state prisons, 109 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,163 local jails, and 80 Indian Country jails as well as in military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals,
· Every year 600,000 people enter prison gates, 10.6 million people go to jail
23% of people illiterate
· 32 million adults can’t read in the US, 14% of our population
· 22% read below 5th grade level
· 19% of high school graduates can’t read
· 85% of juveniles who interact with the juvenile court system are considered functionaly illiterate
· 70% of inmates in US prisons can not read above the 4th grade level.
Gun deaths from mass shootings, suicides and murders in the US
· suicides account for 60% of gun deaths in US
· murders 37%
· other 7%
· Mass shootings 165
· Other countries higher because of war, military, Government
· Not number of Guns, Switzerland, all have guns.
· We are not the only country that has guns, but we are the country that people are using them to kill each other.
· Almost 18,000 murders last year
· Nearly 45,000 suicides
Opioids addiction, prescription, heroin,
· 40% of OD prescription
· 2007 doubled
· 2017 tripled
· more than 72,000 people were killed by drug overdose in US in 2018
Church attendance falling
· in 1948 only 2% of population considered themselves to be non religious
· it did not hit double digits, 10% until 2002, 54 years went up only 7%
· from 2002-2018, 16 years it has doubled to 20%
Love of God is diminishing
But there is always Hope in darkness
In the 18th century there was Hope in darkness
1/4 women were prostitutes
Slavery was legal and the norm. Not only slaves imported from Africa, also People who could not pay debts.
· Meal consisted of bread and potatoes
· For every 1,000 children born in early-18th-century London, almost 500 died before they were 2, generally due to malnutrition, bad water, dirty food, and poor hygiene.
· Orphans roamed the streets; because they didn’t attend school, they had little chance of improving their situation.
· England suffered from gin drinking. It was cheap and it was sold everywhere as you did not need a license to sell it. Many people ruined their health by drinking gin. Sadly for many poor people drinking gin was their only comfort.
· Smallpox was a plague.. Even if it did not kill you it would leave you scarred with pox marks.
· Cruel Sports like cockfighting and Bull baiting
The early 18th century was noted for its lack of religious enthusiasm and vigor.
· The churches in England were declining, loosing their influences on society, attendance was dropping
· The love of God was diminishing.
Where was the hope in this darkness?
The great evangelist George Whitfield began preaching andmtwo brothers, John and Charles Wesley, were called them out by God
· John Wesley traveled all over the country, often preaching in open spaces, markets, in bars, in work places.
· Charles Wesley, who wrote hymns, took the melody of Tavern songs and put them to Christian lyrics.
· People jeered at John’s meetings and threw stones at him.
· John Wesley said that after preaching in a town if he was not driven out of the town, spat upon and had items thrown at him, He wondered if he had preached the Gospel
· Wesley persevered. He never intended to form another religion (The Methodist Churxh) or separate from the Church of England. He died and Anglican Priest.
· He wanted hope in the darkness, He wanted to stop the diminishing love of God in the church and stir people’s hearts to increase their love of God.! He wanted a revival! To see a movement of God. And that is what he started with his desire for social holiness and montra of Sola Scriptura, only Scripture, one book for all people.
The revival and movement of God then swept into Wales and Scotland
Then, a New Era, the Victorian Era was ushered in.
The revival then swept across the Atlantic to America.
· Where Most people in North America lived by back breaking work and usually lasted from dawn to dusk.
· Rum drinking became an epidemic as well as beer.
· Church was declining. Love of God was diminishing.
A great religious revival began in the North American colonies.
· Later it was given the name 'The Great Awakening'.
· It was aided by William Tennant, a Presbyterian preacher
· Jonathan Edwards, and Francis Asbury, who trained under Wesley started circuit riders sent out them out into towns.
· They started holding Camp Meetings, where people from surrounding towns would gather in a field or open space to hear the Gospel, sing hymns, hear testimonies.
· They started a Revival!
We now stand on the precipas of a new era. We are now “the hope in the darkness”
· We stand in the same place, in a land where the Love of God is diminishing
· We live in a same time where people are looking for hope in darkness.
· We serve the same Lord Jesus, as we read in Revelations 4 of the Lamb who conquers.
· The same Lord who sits in the throne room of God that Wesley, Whitclif, Asbury and the others served.
· We have the same presence, power and fire of the Holy Spirit in each of us that rested on the original disciples at Pentecost, was the source of the earlier revivals that brought to life the preaching of the Gospel with power, put boldness in hearts to share it, convicted those who heard it, and transformed communities.
· We have in us the DNA of a revival. The DNA of revival is in each one of you. Do you realize that? In you is the DNA of a revival!
· The DNA of a revival is in each one of you.
o Not just to be saved
o Not just to serve at House Of The Harvest or Manna House.
o Not just to start or be part of a Band or accountability group.
o Not just to open your home to others to start a house church or other gathering
o Not just to be a light of Christ in your workplace
o But to set fire to your community and begin a revival of God.
Read, The Revelation of Jesus Christ (found in The Book Of Revelation). If you want to summarize John’s vision in 25 words or less, it is:
A call to radical discipleship as a faithful citizen of God’s new Jerusalem in the midst of a fallen Babylon world.
Jesus speaks to the seven churches, Where in each of them in some way their love of God is diminishing, and he ends his message to all of them the same way. “To the one who conquers”
Ephesus: To the one who conquers, I will permit him to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.ʼ
Smyrna: The one who conquers will in no way be harmed by the second death.ʼ
Pergamum: To the one who conquers, I will give him some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on that stone will be written a new name that no one can understand except the one who receives it.ʼ
Thyatira: to the one who conquers and who continues in my deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations –
Sardis: The one who conquers will be dressed like them in white clothing, and I will never erase his name from the book of life, but will declare his name before my Father and before his angels.
Philadelphia: The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never depart from it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God .. and my new name as well.
Laodicea: I will grant the one who conquers permission to sit with me on my throne, just as I too conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
“Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it,” (Rev. 1:3)
What does it mean to Conquer? The above “Conquer” is in the Aortist tense in Greek, which translated means not just has conquered but is conquering. Like being Potty trained. Once you are potty trained, you do not stop, but continue daily in that training.
The tense is single, “the one” who has conquered. So it is addressing not only the church collectively, but each one of us individually. Each of us with the DNA for revival.
Who is the one who conquers? The one who lives out radical discipleship as a faithful citizen of God’s new Jerusalem in the midst of a fallen Babylon world. You receive all the promises today!
We stand on the edge of a new era.
We stand on the edge of a new era with a powder keg, a powder keg of love!
We sing the song, “It may look like I’m surrounded but I’m surrounded by you. This is how I fight my battles! This is how I become one that conquers!
This is how we stand on the edge, become hope in darkness and usher in a new era of revival!
My family, I pray this morning as you walk out your door you understand and embrace the reality that you are the hope in the darkness to the current world you are walking out into. And you are the one who conquers, 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
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 Jesus I begin my morning intentionally drawing closer to you, who longs to draw closer to me.
ʻI know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot! So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth! Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, and need nothing,” but do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked," Revelations 3:15-17.
My morning blog post is different today. In stead of of blog I have written I am asking you to read a short article entitled, "Dear Christians There is One Thing Worse Than Being An Atheist."
“As Christians, we tend to think that atheists are in the most dangerous spiritual state. Indeed, they are in a dangerous state. But not the most dangerous. The atheist is surely closer to redemption than the “Christian” who hangs onto the name but empties it of its substance. There is nothing worse than being a casual Christian who lives, and acts, and thinks, and in most every way believes just as the atheists do. It is better to be an unbeliever and know you are an unbeliever than to be an unbeliever and think you are a Christian.
Whenever the “decline of Christianity in America” is discussed, the focus is always on the dwindling number of professed believers. But that is not really the problem, nor is it the truest evidence of Christianity’s decline. If the Church had lost 5 or 10 percent over the years, but the remaining 70 to 75 were truly on fire with the faith — if they were authentically and substantially Christian — our culture would still be in fine shape. It is not in fine shape. By their fruits you shall know them, and the fruits of our “Christian country” seem strongly to suggest that we are not a Christian country at all. And if we are not a Christian country, despite our majority Christian population, then we must consider whether America’s Christians — many of them — are really so much different from her atheists.
Let’s consider two hypothetical people:
First there is Bob. Bob is not Christian and does not claim to be. If he were pressed to pick a label, he’d probably call himself an agnostic. Bob lives a normal American life. He doesn’t think much about spiritual things. He doesn’t consider his own mortality. He does what normal people do. He loves porn. He drinks too much on the weekends. He watches a lot of TV. His goal in life is to be comfortable. He seeks pleasure, not joy. He works in order to enrich himself. Whatever money he has, he spends or he hordes. He is nice to people but he will not sacrifice anything for them. He is fond of his wife but he will leave her if his feelings ever fade. He is affectionate towards his kids but he will leave them, too, if his home life becomes too boring or too difficult. He is a normal person. A nice person. An empty person.
Then there is Jim. Jim calls himself a Christian. He does not think much about what that label means. He believes, vaguely, ambiguously, that something like God probably exists. He accepts that Jesus Christ died for his sins, but he accepts it like he accepts that Bangkok is the capital of Thailand. He accepts it passively, disinterestedly. He doesn’t believe that the fact — if it is a fact — has any bearing whatsoever on his life. He thinks very little about these things at all. He doesn’t contemplate spiritual matters. He doesn’t consider his own mortality. He doesn’t pray. His inner life is mostly indistinguishable from Bob’s. His external life is entirely indistinguishable. He does everything that Bob does, indulges in all of the same vices, and feels the same lack of guilt while he indulges them. His life is spent pleasing and enriching himself. He is no more likely to sacrifice, no more likely to refrain from sinful activities, no more likely to remain faithful to his wife and his children. He is a normal person. A nice person. An empty person. He “believes,” yes, but there is scant evidence of this belief, and the belief means almost nothing to him.
Both Bob and Jim are in a dire state. Jim, I think, has it worse. Jim has the same spiritual emptiness and the same moral indifference, but he also has the false sense of security that the “Christian” tag affords him. Bob is honest about who he is and what he believes. He knows that he has rejected God. He knows that he doesn’t have God in his life, and so there is always a chance that one day he will come to feel that absence, hit rock bottom, and then begin the slow and painful climb towards the light.
Satan, after all, is not an atheist. He is much closer to Jim. You might say he was the first Jim. And now Jim is following him, ever so comfortably, ever so confidently, into Hell.”
As the Lead Follower of One Direction Community trying to get people to embrace becoming disciples of Jesus Christ, of spending time daily reading their Bible, iset aside time for real prayer, and gathering in a Band for true accountability, my greatest struggle are Christians that have "found comfort in a label" of calling themselves a "Christian." They have at one point been baptized, got the Tee shirt to prove it to themselves and others, and may even wear it to church now and then. So they are "good" in their faith, and wear the tee shirt to rationalize leading a life that is absent from signs or fruits of their salvation. Compare your life to Jim and Bob and that of Jesus. Who are you a disciple of? 4 things Jesus committed himself to and set as an example what true followers of Him engage in daily that neither Jim of Bob do: Jim and Bob do not set aside time daily (1) embracing God in his Word and (2) in prayer. Bob and Jim are not (3) in a Band, Reunion group, or other from of deep Christian accountability. Jim and Bob do not (4) serve others on a regular basis. Jesus embraced and encouraged all four of these. Honestly, how many of these four are a part of your daily life? Are you committed and honestly prioritizing and embracing these four things as a "Disciple" of Jesus and embracing his cross? Or are you a simply using the label "Christian" like Jim and wearing the Tee Shirt?
My family, We are nearing the day we celebrate the birth of Christ, Emanuel, “God With us.” I pray today you will seriously and honestly reflect on not the label of being a "Christian", but your true relationship with Christ. 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!
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too." 2Cor. 1:3-6
If you read my reflection blogs fairly regularly, you know that many of my morning posts flow out of encounters with people were by simply listening to them I was granted Holy entrance into their lives. This this time of year the holidays are supposed to lead to conversations of hope and joy. For some though, it is the opposite. I just had conversations with the two daughters of a good friend of mine and co-worker at Lowes. With out warning or any signs, he had a major stroke, brain aneurysm and bleeding. I visited him that night in the hospital, and the next day he passed away. He had shared the day before his stroke how he was looking forward to driving down to Florida to Spend Thanksgiving with his family. Instead, his daughters carried his cremated ashes down to have a family funeral. A young man shared that his family did not invite of include him in their Thanksgiving meal and he had no where to go. A young woman shared with me because of the stress and anxiety of life she is in she is walking around work all day seeing like she wants to cry and cant shake it.
We all, including myself have suffered from loss. Loss of a spouse, parent, or other family member; a recent divorce, loss of a job, a recent move away from family. Or the challenges we find ourselves facing are stealing our hope and joy. All these things can create emotions of sadness and depression. And we all, including myself, need others, someone to simply listen to us share our feelings to get through it. We all need real conversations with real people. Not just an on-online Facebook, text or other post and comments.
I post a blog daily to in someway allow us to be in conversation and share our life and faith together, Though I ask for readers to share their reflections and thoughts, it is usually a one- way conversation in which I am the one talking, However, I want you to know I am here for you. I want you to remember my door is always open, the coffee pot is always on and my sofa is always warm and a place of peace and non-judgement. Any one,, whoever you are.... who simply need to chat are welcome to contact me anytime. It's no good suffering in silence. I have cold drinks in the fridge...tea & coffee in the cupboard and I will always be here....You are never not welcome!! Starbucks and Waffle House are open where we can gather to talk as well or go grab a beer somewhere and talk. You never have to go through a difficult season in life alone. You never have to suck-it-in, white knuckle it and push through a gloomy overcast day of depression, loneliness, addiction, fear, frustration, or bleak thoughts alone. It's always good to talk but its even better to listen, and to be listened to. Some days this hits closer to home than we think. I'll always lend an ear and a shoulder and my heart. My hands are always ready to raise in prayer. I know it may be out of your comfort zone or feel very awkward, but please call/text me Gary Liederbach at 256-302-3785. OR reach out to a friend, family member, counselor, or somebody to talk too.
My family, I pray you read the passage from 2 Corinthians again. Then reflect on your life situations today. Maybe you need to call someone today to talk. I know if you pray to the Holy Spirit, he will lead you to a name you need to call and simply listen. Or maybe the same Holy Spirit will lead to a person’s name you know may be going through a life situation you need to call or go visit; not text, not FB, but actually call and talk to face to face. Or a co-worker or class mate you need to step out of your routine and ask to listen to them, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Pease share your reflections and prayers with us in the comment box below.
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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!!
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Discipleship Training.
One of my passions is helping churches or small groups understand and embrace their call to be disciples of Jesus in their community. I offer and lead discipleship trainings in person and on-line. If you are interested I would love to talk to you bout it. Email me at garyl@onedirection.community.
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Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let my day begin here in the communion of prayer, immersed in Your Presence, seeking You and Your leading--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
As I listen, I hear in my heart the sound of a mountain stream. This thought comes to my mind--"the sound of many waters." ...
"Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across His chest. He head and His hair were white as wool, white as snow; His eyes were like a flame of fire, His feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and from His mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining with full force" (Revelation 1:12-16).
Like the many waters of a mountain stream, let the Word of God wash over me and pour through me, cleansing me and refreshing me. Let the words of Your voice purify me and sanctify me "with the washing of water by the word" (Ephesians 5:26). "As the deer longs for flowing stream, so my soul longs for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?" (Psalm 42:1-2)
When John heard Your voice like the sound of many waters, he fell down at Your feet, in deep humility in honor of Your manifest Presence of Your glory (Revelation 1:17). But then You lifted him up and told him not to be afraid, but to be about the work of the Kingdom You set before him (Revelation 1:17-19). When we humble ourselves in Your sight, You lift us up (James 4:10). When we draw near to You, You draw near to us (James 4:8). When we listen for Your voice to be led by Your Spirit as the children of God, You speak and You lead (John 10:3; Romans 8:17; Isaiah 30:21).
Thank You for the sound of many waters rushing through my spirit like a mountain stream this morning. Thank You for reminding me to forever be seeking Your Presence and listening for Your leading throughout the moments of my day. "There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High" (Psalm 46:4). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family,I pray the Holy Spirit cleanses you and refreshes you with the washing of the water by His word as you read today’s reading. May it flow through you, listening for the voice of the One who speaks like the sound of many waters, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friends!
I want to encourage you to join me by also sharing with us your thoughts, comments, reflections, and prayers you received from today’s reading in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Recommended Course on Revelations
If you want to do an in-depth study of the Book of Revelations, I highly reccomend the course by Dr. Robert Mulholland. Dr. Mulholland was a professor of mine when I attended Asbury Theological Seminary. It is an in-depth. seminary level study that is comprised of videos recorded of him teaching in the actual classroom for the entire semester of the class. It is found on Biblicaltraining.org. A resource I also recommend for solid, biblical training.
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I begin today in the spirit of complete gratitude for your Gospel of Grace.
"Always rejoice, constantly pray, in everything give thanks. For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
This morning, instead of a personal reflection of mine, I want you to take a moment to watch this short 4 minute video. This video is my Thanksgiving go-to every year as it is a great reminder of all we have to be thankful and the many ways we are blessed. I probably need to watch this video once a week as a constant reminder to be grateful, and remove any feelings of entitlement or reasons to complain I may feel about my life. Share this video with your family and guests before you sit down for your Thanksgiving meal.
My family, I pray today as we prepare for the day of gratitude and thankfulness you will reflect on all God has done, is doing, and will yet do in your life, in Jesus name! Please pray the same for me. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us in the comment box below.
My prayer every morning is, “Please send me the ones no one else wants.”
As The Year Draws To An End, PLEASE Give and Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a 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 now for next year, 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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Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC.
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Continually come into my heart; continually flow out of my heart. Help me abide in You always, as You abide in me. ...
"Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink; instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete" (2 John 1:12).
Jesus, You've created us for relationships that are close, personal, and intimate at varying levels that are appropriate to the levels of relationship and trust You've established in our lives. And while we can communicate through texting, social media, electronic technology, gaming, and sometimes even paper and ink, there's something significant and ireplaceable in speaking face to face, looking one another in the eyes, extending a touch, and exchanging an embrace. Your Spirit draws us out of isolation, distancing and loneliness into friendship and fellowship with one another, "not neglecting to meet together ... but encouraging one another" (Hebrews 10:22). And then "our joy may be complete." We, the body of Christ were created for deep intimacy with each other. You prayed that we may have the same intimacy as you do with the Father, “so that they may be one just as we are one.” (John 17:11). We need to be in deep Christian fellowship with each other.
Lord, free us from isolation and loneliness in Your Body. Align our hearts and relationships with You and with one another according to Your sovereign purposes and plans for our lives. "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help" (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).
During this Holiday season when we are thankful for many things, one of the things we are most thankful for is the gift of personal relationships in our life. One of the most precious gifts you can give someone is the gift of a personal, face-to-face conversation.
You're always with us to help; and at the same, You also position the ones You have chosen to cross our paths and to walk with us in the relationships of our journey to be an extension of Your hands to help us and an expression of Your face to look into our eyes and encourage us. And you’ve chosen each of us to do the same to others. And then, together, "our joy may be complete."
You're a God of personal relationship -- relationship with You and with one another. Give us courage and faith to trust You and to set aside time to allow others to have access to our lives. Give us the courage and faith to go past simple interactions with people, to intimate conversations with people. Give us the strength and courage to love others, and allow them to love us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray as the Lord established His personal intimate relationship with you, you will establish plans in your calendar to personally meet with people in your life to fulfill all His plans and purposes for you so that your joy may be complete. I pray you make plans to offer the best gift you can give someone. It is not purchased at a store, but is the gift of irreplaceable time, valuing them enough to offer them time to listen and converse with them over a cup of coffee, a beer, or a meal. Please pray the same the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
I want to encourage you to join me by also sharing with us your thoughts, comments, reflections, and prayers you received from today’s reading in the comment box below.
My daughter Milan and her fiancé Al are the couple in the photo above. They are still working through the challenges of securing Al’s Visit and US Citizenship so they can be “face to face” for life in marriage. Click on this link for their story and to help.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Lead me in the way that leads to life today. ...
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God…This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith. Now who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God “ (1 John 1, 5)
My faith in You empowers me to conquer the world. If I could fully trust You and fully entrust myself to You, there's nothing in this world that could hold me back or shut me down. Instead I would be part of Your movement to change the world with all who believe. I would be like Your first fiery disciples who were "turning the world upside down" (Acts 17:6).
Come, Holy Spirit. Help me trust Jesus more and more every day (John 16:14). Help me believe, and help my unbelief. Cause my faith to arise with a fiery and fearless passion to follow Jesus to the ends of the earth and turn this world upside down. In Jesus' name I pray.
My family, I pray the Holy Spirit will increase your faith in Jesus more and more every day until you have faith to overcome the world and turn it upside down. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer each weekday by the leading of the Holy Spirit. I want to encourage you to join me by also sharing with us your thoughts, comments, reflections, and prayers you received from today’s reading in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
“Dear friends, if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we reside in God and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world…If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in If anyone says “I love God” and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And the commandment we have from him is this: that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too.” 1 John 4:15-16, 21-22.
Good morning everyone,
A few years ago I had to go give blood for tests as part of my annual health check-up. I went to Quest Diagnostics off of Governors Drive. I went in, signed my name at the window and went and sat down in the waiting room. It had a large glass window facing the street, and there where about 15 people in the waiting room. I was there about 5 minutes when outside the window, a woman who was apparently homeless pushing a shopping cart of stuff walked up to the window. She was dressed in sweat pants, two jackets, and winter hat. She parked her cart in front and came in the door. Everyone’s eyes in the lobby was looking at her. She walked to the check-in window, signed in and handed the nurse some kind of Medicaid form. She then turned around looking across the waiting room area for a seat to sit in. Every ones eyes in the waiting room dropped or turned away from her, hoping that she would not sit next to them. As fate would have it she walked and sat down next to me.
It was apparent to me and others, by the strong smell of body odor that was filling the air around us she had not bathed in quite awhile. Frowns and wide-eyed looks were given to each other of those in the room. After the lady sat down next to me on my right, she bent over and started digging through a large beach-bag type bag she brought in with her filled with all sorts of items. She finally pulled something out and when I looked over at her I was surprised to notice it was a Bible. I looked over and saw she had opened it to 1 John chapter 4. Her eyes caught mine looking at the Bible and she asked me if I read the Bible. I said yes mam I do, and that I love 1 John. She said, “God has been convicting me that I am not loving others like I should. That I am becoming judgmental of others and their appearances and I need to repent and love others more freely.” Knowing in my heart that I had just judged her by her appearance and smell, I said, “mam, thank you so much for sharing that with me. It is a sermon myself and everyone in the waiting room needs to hear.” She asked me to pray for her to love others more freely. Just then my name was called by the receptionist, as I got up I told her we could talk and pray more when I got out, and went through the door into the other offices.
I was only in the room for the few minutes it took the nurse to draw a few vials of blood. When I went back out into the waiting room to leave I looked to where the woman and I had been sitting, however she was not there, nor anywhere in the room. So I thought she had got called back to see a nurse as well. However, when I walked toward the exit door I saw that her shopping cart she had parked in front was also gone. I walked outside and looked around the parking lot and she was no where to be found. I turned and looked one more time through the window into the waiting room and still did not see her. So a little puzzled by this. There was no way she couId have seen a doctor and left before me. Did she just sit next to me, share her bible reflection, and leave? Did it really happen? I walked to my car and driving off looked for her again, but did not see her.
I believe I encountered Christ that morning, and he smelled and looked like nothing I expected or preferred him to look like. But then again, I have found he never does. I think Jesus wanted to remind me of that. We pray at times for Jesus to let us know he is real, that he knows us and to reveal himself to us. If He does encounter you and sits down next to you, it most likely will not be in a way we envisioned.
My family, I pray Jesus encounters you today in a way that stretches your image of him and opens your eyes and hearts and releases you to love Him and others more freely, 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., myself and my family, as we try to bring justice and grace to those on the margins God has placed in our path and I refuse to walk around. Please begin 2024 by a commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
TO GIVE, CLICK HERE
Good morning, Lord Jesus. First things first, as I begin my day embraced my Father, centered in Christ, and filled afresh with Your Holy Spirit.
"His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Thus He has given us, through these things, His precious and very great promises, so that through them (we) may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:3-4).
Jesus you've already given me everything I need. Knowing You and Your nature, trusting You and Your will, helps me rest and receive all You've provided for me in my personal and intimate relationship with You. "Grace and peace (are mine) in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus (my) Lord" (v. 2).
Help me to believe and embrace these "precious and very great promises." When I need protection or provision or power, when I need hope or healing or help, when I need guidance or gentleness or goodness, when I need faith or fruitfulness or fulfillment, You've already promised it and already provided it. It resides in my heart which is a tabernacle and storehouse of your glory and riches. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place.... according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us" (Ephesians 1:3-8).
You are faithful and true, so worthy of my trust. So I take You at Your Word and embrace You by grace to believe in Your promises by faith. "And my God will fully satisfy every need of (mine) according to (Your) riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever" (Philippians 4:19). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you may believe and embrace the precious and very great promises of God in every area of your need and every moment of your life, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share you prayers and reflections with us in the comments box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Please support and partner with my self and my family as we serve those God crosses our path with in our community with your one-time or monthly financial gift by clicking link below.Become our partner and support us in our ministries by becoming supporting us monthly or with a one-time gift.
https://www.onedirection.community
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of my heart and every moment of my day. ...
“Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)
"On that day the Lord with His cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will kill the dragon that is in the sea" (Isaiah 27:1).
The "twisting serpent" -- who tries to twist my words so that others don't hear what I've truly said and how I said it, who tries to twist the understanding of motives and intentions of my heart to mean something else in the mind of the hearer, who tries to divide and conquer, who tries to deceive and confuse, who tries to harden hearts in opposition to Godly unity to keep us from speaking the truth in love or hearing the truth spoken in love, who locks it's teeth around our most vulnerable members and drags us down under the water where there is no breath of Your Spirit to guide our hearts and give us help -- is a wicked serpent. It's a wicked spirit of darkness "looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).
"Who could pry open its jaws? For its teeth are terrible! The scales on its back are like rows of shields tightly sealed together... They interlock and cannot be penetrated.... Its eyes are like the red of dawn. Lightning leaps from its mouth; flames of fire flash out.... Its breath would kindle coals, for flames shoot from its mouth. The tremendous strength of Leviathan's neck strikes terror wherever it goes. Its flesh is hard and firm and cannot be penetrated. Its heart is hard as rock, hard as a millstone. When it rises, the mighty are afraid, gripped by its terror.... Leviathan make the water boil with its commotion... Nothing on earth is its equal, no other creature so fearless. Of all the creatures, it is the proudest. It is the king of the beasts" (Job 41:14-34).
This evil entity of darkness is wildly at work in our world -- within our nation, within our relationships, even within our own hearts, seeking to steal our faith, our hope, and our love to make us broken and divided, "double-minded and unstable in every way" so that we can no longer "receive anything from the Lord" (James 1:8). It's full of pride and instills the pride of hardened hearts that can no longer hear truth. It convincing its victims with a certainty they are right in their twisted beliefs and justified in their opposition to all who would deny or fail to embrace their version of truth -- twisted and distorted, though it is. It stirs up strife with its fury and wrath to intimidate and accuse, to judge and condemn, and to crush the life out of its prey.
So give us eyes to see, ears to hear, wisdom to understand, and humility to allow You to search out our hearts and our minds to reveal its grip upon us -- upon our nation, our relationships, and our own hearts. And let the "cruel and strong and great sword" of Your Word and Your Truth cut off its head, break its teeth, and silence its voice (Psalm 3:7 and 74:14). Wield Your mighty "Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" as You empower us to "pray in the Spirit at all times" to "keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:17-18).
This is a spiritual battle -- to be fought with the spiritual "weapons of our warfare" -- weapons of humility, faith, discipline, obedience, and hope; weapons of the Word of God, the Name of Jesus, the Power of the Blood of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony (2 Corinthians 10:3; Revelation 12:11). "For our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly place. Therefore (we must) take up the whole armor of God, so that (we) may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm" (Ephesians 6:12-13).
Come, Holy Spirit. Give us eyes to see the nature of the battle around us and even within us. Come pierce this writhing dragon, this twisting serpent who seeks to "kill and steal and destroy" (John 10:10). Even in the midst of the battle, let us "Praise the Lord! ... For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the humble with victory! ... Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy.... Let the high praises of God be in their hearts and two-edged swords in their hands ... to execute (Your) judgment decreed. This is glory for all His faithful one. Praise the Lord!" (Psalm 149:1-9)
Come have Your way in us and in our world. Displace the darkness with Your Light. You're the God to proclaims Your Good News of into our hearts and our world, who comes in Your power and love and truth to "bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God!" (Isaiah 61:1-2)
We are witnesses of Your glory and warriors in Your Kingdom, with our faith and hope and love in You. "Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; my Rock and my Fortress, my Stronghold and my Deliverer, my Shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues the (spiritual enemies of my soul) under me.... Bow Your heavens, O Lord, and come down; touch the mountains so that they smoke. Make the lightning flash and scatter them; send out Your arrows and rout them; Stretch out Your hand from on high; set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hand of (my spiritual enemies), whose mouths speak like, and whose right hands are false.... (Blessed) are the people to whom such blessings fall; (blessed) are the people whose God is the Lord!" (Palm 144:1-15) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you take up the whole armor of God and stand firm to withstand the twisting serpent in every form it manifests itself in your land and your life, to see the victory of the Lord who has defeats our foe with the piercing of His Word the power of His Spirit, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your comments, reflections, and prayers from today’s reading with us in the comments 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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Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. In these first moments of my morning, I offer You the first thoughts in my mind, the first desires of my heart, and the first words from my mouth -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
"After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the power forever and ever!" (1 Peter 4:10-11)
It seems all the world is suffering at some level right now. Some more than others. Some differently than others. But all suffering at some level. Even for those who seem to be somewhat unscathed at the moment, they also are moved by the sufferings of their neighbors and our world, for when one suffers, all suffer (1 Corinthians 12:26).
But You are "the God of all grace." And as we invite You into our sufferings, as we offer up our sufferings to You. For You come to "restore, support, strengthen, and establish (us)."
What might seem like is lasting forever, or at least lasting a lot longer than any of us desire, is only "for a little while." What we are suffering right now is not permanent. It's not forever. Shifting and changing and transformation and redemption is on the way. In fact, it's already at work in our world and in us. For You are already at work in our world and in us, causing it all to work together for good for all who are called according to Your purpose (Romans 8:28). And You have a purpose for us all (Jeremiah 29:11).
That's because You are "the God of all grace." You're "the God" -- the One who is sovereign over all, who sees the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end, who has the last word over our world and whatever sufferings we go through in our world. And Your heart is full "of all grace" -- full of mercy and love, full of the desire for our good and all that means for every one of us, both eternally and the moment we're going through right now.
So even as our minds think "how long, O Lord! (Psalm 13:1), our hearts hear You say, only "for a little while" (1 Peter 5:10).
Come, Holy Spirit of God. I open my heart to "the God of all grace." In prayer, as one in the Spirit and one in the Lord, with all my brothers and sisters around the world, I invite You into our sufferings and offer them up to You. And I thank You, Father, for the promise of Your Word and the power of Your Spirit that no matter who long it takes or what we go through in the present sufferings of this broken and fallen world in such desperate need of Your salvation and redemption, You are at work in it all. And through it all, You will "restore" and "support" and "strengthen" and "establish" us to be all You've created us to be. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, may you be restored, supported, strengthened, and established as the God of all grace empowers you to get through these sufferings and make you more like Him in the process, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts or comments on my reflection with others in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for myself, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commit in 2020 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.
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Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for the leading of Your Spirit, here in the embrace of my Father to begin my day in the intimacy of prayer.
“For who is going to harm you if you are devoted to what is good? But in fact, if you happen to suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. But do not be terrified of them or be shaken. But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess.” ! Peter 3:13-16
Today is Veteran’s Day. I believe these verses in today’s reading speak into Veterans. I also believe this verse does as well:
"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13).
This morning as usual, I read the chapter reading for today which is 1 Peter 3 and reflected on it. I then went over my prayer list of things and people needing prayer. I prayed over my family, over our needs and thanked God for our blessings. This morning I also prayed over our veterans and those currently serving in our military and their families. When I have to travel and be gone for my work or conferences, I hate to leave my family for a day or week of business travel. It is hard to imagine the sacrifice of the men and women who serve in our military who are away from their families for months or years.
Today our nation honors the men and women who have been willing to leave their families and comforts of home to go fight and die for our freedom and the freedom and injustices in the world. We're thankful for their service. We're thankful for their sacrifice. We're thankful that they answered the call with courage and conviction to willingly lay down their lives for us. We owe them our respect and honor them with our gratitude -- "respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due" (Romans 13:7).
And as I honor them, I honor You Jesus. You set aside the glory of heaven to humble Yourself in the likeness of human flesh and blood to lay down Your life for me -- "even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:5-11). You are the Veteran of the greatest war ever fought -- the war between heaven and hell, between good and evil, between forgiveness and sin. The battle scars You bear are the jagged nail wounds upon Your hands and feet forever for us (John 20:27).
Through Your sacrifice of love -- a sacrifice we really can't even begin to fully grasp -- our world that was condemned to die will experience a new heaven and a new earth through the sufferings of Your cross and the glory of Your resurrection (John 3:16). "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him" (John 3:17). We honor You and thank You. Thank You for Your service and Your sacrifice. "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ!" -- our Greatest Veteran! (1 Corinthians 15:57)
My family, I pray you will join me today in taking a few minutes to honor and pray for our veterans and their families as we set aside this day to remember them and give gratitude and respect. I pray you think of some simple act of kindness you can do today for a veteran. And I pray you will take time to thank our greatest veteran, Jesus Christ, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community/
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit. ...
This morning we read the words of the Apostle Peter: "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles (where you are passing through this world as strangers in a foreign land which is not your home) to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among (your neighbors), so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when He comes to judge (1 Peter 2:11-12). We just had an election last week. States are rezoning their voting districts and political lines are being drawn as our leaders struggle to pass a budget. In all this I hear talk about "battleground states" -- the places of the greatest battles because they're the most strategic states and battles there won can decide on election or bill. Each side devotes tremendous energy, attention, and resources to overcome the opposition and establish a position for victory. Victory in these battles prepares the way for victory in the war, so that the election or position is won.
And our human soul is the greatest "battleground state" of all. This is where the strategic battles are fought and the wars are won.
And these words of the Apostle Paul speak into the battle ground of our soul. "I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me" (Romans 7:22-23). And this: "Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other" (Galatians 5:16-17).
How do we position ourselves for victory in the battleground state of our soul? As the Apostle found, when he humbly sought the answer to this battle in his own soul: "Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:24-25 )
Come, Lord Jesus. Come by Your Holy Spirit -- "the Spirit of Christ" -- who comes to live and abide in our hearts to rule and to reign as Lord in our souls (Romans 8:9). The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, giving us life and victory in You (Romans 8:11).
In this battleground of my soul, my victory is won not by my might or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord! ( Zechariah 4:6.) Not by my striving but through my completely surrender to You. By the power of Your grace at work within me, "I die daily" to my flesh and surrender daily to Your Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:31). Day by day, battle by battle, my flesh is put to death and Your Spirit arises in new life in me. "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him" (Romans 6:8).
I want to come to the place where I experience and proclaim Your victory in my soul, In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you may be victorious in the daily battleground of your soul, putting death the flesh and surrendering more and more of you to more and more of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ abiding in you, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections or experiences on silence and prayer 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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