Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be high and lifted up, here in my heart and every moment of my day.
"As Jesus and the people with Him were on the road to Jerusalem, He was leading the way. His followers were amazed, but others in the crowd who followed were afraid. Again Jesus took the twelve apostles aside and began to tell them what was about to happen in Jerusalem. He said, 'Look, we are going to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be turned over to the leading priests and teachers of the law. They will say that He must die, and they will turn Him over to the non-Jewish people, who will laugh at Him and spit on Him. They will beat Him with whips and crucify Him. But on the third day, he will rise to life again" (Mark 10:32-34).
The road to Jerusalem is a hard road. "For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:14). The road may be hard, but You're the One who's "leading the way."
The road to Jerusalem was a road that promised suffering, rejection, and death. But it also promised resurrection life. It was a picture of a journey of obedience and faith for the sake of something so much better that would make every challenge and sacrifice worth it all for all that was to come. "For the sake of the joy that was set before (You), (You) endured the cross, disregarding its shame" (Hebrews 12:2). So the road to Jerusalem was not just the road to suffering and shame, it also became the road to joy. In Scriptures You never mentioned your death and crucifixion without also mentioning your resurrection.
Jesus, lead the way on my road to Jerusalem. Give me grace to endure and overcome all I'll encounter on the way, even as You give me the confidence of hope and assurance of faith that in the end will be my resurrection, You will raise me up to the fullness of life in you (John 11:25-26).
"For this slight momentary affliction is preparing (me) for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, (so I) look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). In the same way, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory about to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18).
Just as Your joy was set before You on Your journey to the cross along the road to Jerusalem, so is mine. And in the power of Your grace, my road to Jerusalem is my road to joy. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you allow Jesus to lead the way on your road to Jerusalem, enduring and overcoming all your encounter along the way, looking to Jesus and the fullness of His joy He has set before you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please 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. I've come to meet with You in our morning place in the deep communion of prayer--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.
"So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord--for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him" (2 Corinthians 5:6-9).
Here on earth, here in this earthly dimension of time and space where time unfolds chronologically, day by day, here I am in my physical home in Alabama. But at the same time, I also live in another dimension, in the heavenly dimension of Your Presence, where I also already have a spiritual home in Christ. It's in that heavenly dimension, which is just as real as this earthly dimension, that Your Word is fulfilled that You have "made us alive together with Christ--by grace (we) have been saved--and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:5-6). I'm here on earth in one dimension, but I'm also up there seated with You in another dimension. It's in that heavenly dimension that Your Word is fulfilled that already God "has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:3).
In that heavenly dimension, all of this is already done, it's already finished, it's already accomplished and completed. It's an eternal dimension, not limited by chronological time and space. And in Christ, I'm already a part of that heavenly dimension, as I abide in Christ and Christ abides in me (John 15:5). In that heavenly dimension, I already have a spiritual home, I'm already abiding forever in Your Presence, I'm already home.
So here on earth, in this earthly dimension from my physical home, You invite me to pray "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). And the more I allow You to align my will with Your will, my thoughts with Your thoughts, my heart with Your heart, there more my prayer is being answered as Your kingdom comes and Your will is done, here on earth, here in me and my world, as it is in heaven.
Just as You promised Your first disciples long ago, You continue to promise me and every one of Your disciples today: "In My Father's house here are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2-3). That's not a place to go when I die, that's a place in Christ that You've already prepared for me now by your saving works of the cross and resurrection--the place of Your Presence, where I'm already home.
Thank You, Jesus. You have "put eternity in (our) hearts" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). It's a deep longing to experience and live into the reality of what's already true in the heavenly realm forever here in the everyday lives or our earthly realm today. "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling.... He who has prepared us for his very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee" (2 Corinthians 5:1-5). Give me grace to live into this eternal reality more every day. Give me grace to embrace the truth that in You, I'm already home. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray this morning you grow in the grace of embracing God's truth that you are already home in Christ, and may you live into this reality more every day, where God already has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus in the heavenly places, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please begin 2018 by a commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Take me by the hand and lead me by the heart on my journey with You today.
As part of my devotion time in Lent I am reading through the passion narratives in the four Gospels. Today I read in the Gospel of John.
"After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, 'Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray Me.' ... Jesus answered, 'It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.' So when He had dipped the piece of bread, He gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, 'Do quickly what you are going to do.' ... So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night" (John 13:21-30).
Judas made a choice. And in his choice to betray You, he opened the door of his soul for Satan to come in. No doubt there were many choices along the path that led him to this ultimate, fateful choice that "prepared the way of the lord" of darkness to have a place of authority and power in his soul (John 12:6). Did you ever think that all your choices “prepare the way of the Lord” to have power in your soul? Either the lord of Darkness or the Lord of Light, the prince of the air or the prince of peace, Satan or Jesus. Bob Dillon’s lyrcs come into my mind, “Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, But you're gonna have to serve somebody.”
In the spiritual principle of freedom that a true relationship of love requires, God’s Word sets before each of us the choice of "life or death, blessings or curses," boldly declaring, "Now, choose life! Then you and your children may live. To choose life is to love the Lord your God, obey Him, and stay close to Him. He is your life... (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). "For freedom Christ has set us free.... Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.... those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.... If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit" (Galatians 5:1-25).
So in the choice of Judas, we see the great tension of two great truths that are equally true at the same time: the freedom of our will and the sovereignty of God's wisdom and authority. Both are true. Judas had the freedom to make his choice; and it's his choice that allowed Satan to accomplish the desires of his evil plan, even if it was a foolish plan that played out into the eternal plans of God. "We speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2:7-8).
Jesus, you made Your choice; Satan made his choice; and Judas made his. As You said on Your journey to the cross, "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have the power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from My Father" (John 10:17-18). You expressed the freedom of Your choice in the Garden, determining, "Not My will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42).
Father God, You see every choice we will ever make. You're the God who sees the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end (Isaiah 46:10). "In Your book were written all the days that were formed for (us), when none of them as yet existed" (Psalm 139:16). And at the same time, You've given us the freedom to make our choices, knowing so many of those choices will have such drastic, dramatic effect for us and even for all humanity -- just like when You allowed Adam and Even to make their choices in the freedom of their will in response to the leading of Satan, even knowing how much Your heart would break and Your creation would suffer (Genesis 3:1-7). But even their choices have always been part of Your plan, just like the choices of Satan and Judas and Jesus have always been a part of Your plan -- a plan for our salvation and redemption that allows both our freedom and Your sovereignty, "destined before the foundation of the world, but revealed at the end of the ages for (our) sake" (1 Peter 1:20).
Come, Holy Spirit. In this season of Lent where I reflect on the choice that Jesus made to lay down His life for me, despite the choice Judas made to betray the Lord of glory, let me choose each day to entrust my life to God my Father through Jesus Christ my Lord. In the sovereignty of God, You've given me the freedom to choose. "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).
"In (Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according the riches of His grace that He lavished on us.... In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of Him who accomplishes all things according to His counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of His glory" (Ephesians 1:7-14). By the grace of God and in the sovereignty of God, I choose to live my life this day for the praise of Your glory. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, Jesus made his choice, Satan made his, and Judas his as well. As you begin a new week, I pray you will choice well how you live your life each day this week, and all the days of every week, in honor of the choice Jesus made for you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please 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. Lead me in the way that leads to life in You today.
"And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.' They immediately left their nets and followed Him" (Mark 1:16-18).
Simon and Andrew knew what they were, fishermen. But You saw who they were created to be, fishers of men. They knew what they could do, cast out nets. But You wanted to show them what You could do through them, cast out demons. But You wouldn't make them become something they weren't willing to be. So You spoke to their ears, while you moved in their hearts. And everything inside of them that was created to long for the coming of that day burst forth and said, "Yes, Lord. Here I am. I will follow You."
And "immediately" they left their nets -- and all that meant about life as they had know it -- and followed You. They were willing to hear and willing to come. They were willing to follow You and willing to allow You to form them and make them become who You created them to be.
Lord Jesus, give me faith like that to follow You today. Give me the courage to let go of everything that's anything less than who You created me to be. As much as I may think that I know what I am, You know better, for "all things were created through (You) and for (You)" (Colossians 1:16).
You created me and You call me to come, follow You and be fulfilled, as You fulfill Your plans through my life. "For (I am Your) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that (I) should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you hear with your ears and be moved in your heart to come follow Jesus today, and let go of every thing and allow Him to make you into all He created you to be, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please upport 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!
Father, Son, Spirit; Be though my vision of Lord of my heart.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” (Romans 1:16)
“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,” (2Timothy 1:8-10)
A group of us from ODC went last night and saw the movie “Tortured For Christ.” It was shown only last night, at one time across the country. It was the true story of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand. He was a Lutheran pastor in Romania in 1947 when the Soviet Union under Stalin took over the country and outlawed Christianity and atheism became the national religion. He helped lead an underground church until he was caught and spent 14 years being tortured in prison for his faith. It was a powerful and convicting movie that cut to the core of faith. As Richard said, “Did I believe in God? Now the test had come. I was alone. There was no salary to earn, no golden opinions to consider. God offered me only suffering—would I continue to love Him?” (RW)
There were so many powerful quotes by Richard Wurmbrand (RW) in this movie. My blog today is a collection of his quotes tied together with my reflections.
“We should never stop at having won a soul for Christ. By this, we have done only half the work. Every soul won for Christ must be made to be a soul winner.” (RW) To this I say amen! Jesus’ strategy was to “train and release” people, as was the apostle Paul’s. To win them over to Christ and then to send them out to be soul winners. The church today’s strategy is to “convert and retain.” To win them to Christ then to make a church comfortable and create programs to retain them. This leads to persons to believe they are not “soul winners” or not bold enough or outgoing enough to be soul winners. That is a lie. Our boldness is not based in us but in God and his boldness is limitless. “We are all little Davids. But we are stronger than the goliaths of atheism, because God is on our side.” (RW)
“If a Christian believed that his neighbor will be tortured in all eternity in hell, he should try day and night to persuade him to repent and believe. How sad this does not happen.” (RW) Again, Why don’t Christians who attend church regularly today have this conviction towards their neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and friends? “We were told by Jesus to go make disciples but we often just sit and make excuses” (RW)
Almost all the people in a church service if asked if they believed in Christ to stand and be recognized would be standing. However, “To believe in Him is not such a great thing. To become like Him is truly great.” (RW) That is discipleship.
“The supernatural things have become the natural things in the underground church. Whoever has known the spiritual beauty of the Underground Church cannot be satisfied anymore with the emptiness of some Western churches. I suffer in the West more than I suffered in a Communist jail because now I see with my own eyes Western civilization dying.” (RW) Christ have merry, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.
“God will judge us not according to how much we endured, but how much we could love.”(RW) Richard in his small town and while in prison only had a small number of people he could love. Even Paul, in his journeys and his travels had a limited number of people to love. We today, with our resources, mobility, social media connections, and others communications have many times over the connection to people we could love. If we will be judged by how much we love, and we have almost unlimited connections to love people through them, why are we loving so little?
My family, as you prepare to walk out your door this morning, think about this question. “Where do your steps lead? We think about the traces Abraham’s walk left. After thousands of years Judaism, Christianity, and Islam still walk these steps. Winds and floods could not wipe them away. Paul walked in the bloodstained steps of Christ in self-sacrifice. For two thousand years Christians would follow his example. Be careful of your steps. You will not be the only ones to walk in them.” (RW) When you walk out your door, are you walking in love?
And think about this question, “Are you seeking Jesus? Where have you been looking for Him? As you begin your day, think through the various places you will be and the people you will be with; and envision Jesus standing next to you in each of those places.” (RW) Your soul was won for Christ, will you now be a Soul Winner? Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Speak to my spirit, Lord; I'm listening.
"The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. And those of the people who understand shall instruct many" (Daniel 11:32-33).
Even in the darkest, most challenging of times, You will have a people who know You and are growing in knowledge of You, a people who understand Your ways and are growing in understanding of Your ways. These are the ones with great expectations for "great exploits" and for great adventures of faith in what may seem like a faithless generation. These are the ones that search for great encounters with the living God in the midst of a lifeless, godless generation. These are the ones who will experience Your "great power" because of Your "great grace" in measures we've yet to see in the authority of Your name and power of Your love (Acts 4:33).
Lord, as I begin a new week, I want to be a part of all You're doing this week. I want to take my place in the unfolding of Your eternal plans. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, here on earth and here in me. Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Fill me up, mighty Holy Spirit. I am a child of God by the grace of God. So my Father God, I embrace with faith and great expectations the great exploits You will do through me in the name of Your Son and the power of Your Spirit. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you're anointed and empowered with great expectations of the great exploits God is going to do this week, because He is! May you be one of the “these are the ones” that searches for encounters with the living God, secure in the knowledge of our God and growing in the understanding of His ways for His glory in His His time, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Jesus, receive me, refresh me, and restore me in you, draw me close to you, then release me into the world today full of your glory.
“As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world... so that the world may believe that you have sent me….so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” John 17:19-24
Jesus’ has a “train and release” strategy, while overall the church today has a “convert and retain strategy.” Our metrics we use to determine if a church is successful reflect this. As a pastor of a United Methodist Church, the weekly church reports I turn in include number of people at worship services and number of members. There is no incentive to “train and release.” If a church did this well the metrics we use would actually reveal this church as unsuccessful.
The challenge is to make the Gospel the center of our lives not just on Sunday mornings, but every morning of every week. This means ending the distinctions between “full time,” “part time,” and people with secular employment in our team and leadership structures, language, and teachings. We need to encourage all to model whole life, gospel-centered missional living who understand their workplace, homes and neighborhoods are the location of their mission.
The vast majority of Christians have not been helped or equipped by the church to see that who they are and what they do every day in schools, workplaces, clubs, and their neighborhoods is significant to God. Nor that the people they spend time with in those everyday contexts are the people God has called them to pray for, bless, witness to, and share the Gospel with. So we pray for our Sunday school teachers, and not our schoolteachers. We pray for our missionaries going overseas into their foreign mission field, but not the electricians, shop owners, accountants, and managers going daily into their local mission field. We simply have not envisioned, resourced and supported people to share the Good News of Jesus in our everyday context. We need to encourage and embrace the fact that during the week our church members are dispersed throughout their city and even the world. We are already infiltrating the kingdom of Satan. Day by day people in our churches are rubbing shoulders with unbelievers in their workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, and clubs.
My family, I pray you see that as you head out this morning to school, work, the gym or wherever you are going, you are heading out into your mission field. You are heading out to meet the people God has called you to pray for, bless, witness to, and share the Gospel with. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!!!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please 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. In these first moments of my morning that begins a new week, I want to take some time to start my day giving my full attention to You alone in the communion of prayer.
"The hand of the Lord came upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones.... Then He said to me, 'Prophecy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live ... and you shall know that I am the Lord.... I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,' says the Lord" (Ezekiel 37:1-14).
You told Ezekiel the dry bones were Your people who had lost their hope and felt cut off from the promises of God (v. 11). Showing him the dry bones, scattered in a valley, You opened his eyes to see the truth of their present reality. But in asking him, "Can these bones live?' You were inviting him to also see how You created them to be (v. 3). Those dry bones needed to be filled with a fresh breath from God (v. 5).
So You sent Your servant by the Spirit of the Lord to speak life to them. And as he did what a sight he saw! "Suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.... and the breathe came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude" (v. 7-10).
Daddy Abba, my Father God, fill me with Your Holy Spirit today (Ephesians 5:18). Send me to speak life. Open my eyes to see Your people; my neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and friends in the truth of how they are in their present reality; but at the same time, also open my eyes to see them as You created them to be. Give me words of hope for the hopeless, words of welcome for the lonely, words of encouragement for the discouraged and depressed, and words of life for all who need a fresh touch from heaven through the breath of Your Spirit.
You invite and call all of us to prophecy and speak life to one another (1 Corinthians 14:1). You invite all of us to encourage and comfort and build up one another with Your words of life, spoken in love, at the leading of Your Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:3). I embrace Your invitation, I embrace my call to speak life wherever You send me today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you will speak life, in the power of the Holy Spirit, everywhere our Father sends you today, 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.comzmunity
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 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 the Holy Spirit.
"But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:5 NKJV).
At age 99, Rev. Billy Graham has fought the good fight of the faith and finished his race, fulfilling his ministry, giving his heart and life to do the work of an evangelist. He was an inspiration me and deeply inspired so many others to lay down their lives and follow Christ, sharing the love of God and the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth, from our neighborhoods to the nations and everywhere in between. All along the way, enduring many afflictions and overcoming many challenges, he lived out his faith with honor and humility, leaving behind an eternal legacy of integrity.
He lived a no fairy-tale life in some kind of supernatural immunity from the struggles and battles we all face on our journey through this broken and fallen world, but he did live a faith-filled life as a worthy ambassador of Christ and beloved son of God. I smiled when I heard the quote and famous story of his wife, Ruth, who was asked if she ever considered divorcing Billy Graham and replied with such humor and wit, "Divorce? No.... Murder? Yes!" Thank God for the grace that all of us need--even Billy and Ruth Graham.
In my own spiritual journey into full time ministry, as I have read over the stories and accounts of spiritual leaders and fathers in the faith, I was deeply moved by a story of Billy Graham's frustration with the fruitfulness of his ministry before the famous Los Angeles crusade that seemed to launch a fresh season of ministry. A couple of elderly saints, passionate women of prayer, spoke to him and prayed for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit and fervently prayed for the Holy Spirit to move powerfully in his meetings, as the story goes. The legacy of souls saved and lives changed through the power of prayer and the move of the Spirit is life-long testimony to his desperate dependence upon God alone for the fruitfulness of his life of ministry. He humbly reflected that prayer made the way for any success he had.
Seeing the photos and reading all the stories this week moved me in a way that something stirred deeply in my spirit. I felt the same when I was so blessed to visit Wittenburg Castle where Martin Luther lived. There's something that can move us and inspire us when we honor those who have gone before us, when we welcome and embrace that same Spirit that moved in their hearts to move in our hearts, and when we lay down our lives for that same Spirit with that same message of the Good News of Jesus Christ to flow through us as it did through them. We honor our mothers and fathers of the faith, that their legacy may live on and the work of Your Spirit may continue.
This morning, I honor and esteem the life and ministry of Rev. Billy Graham. And I recommit my life to fulfill the ministry You've entrusted to me and are unfolding before me. Lord, give me grace to seek to live it out in humility and honor, in a legacy of integrity, desperately dependent upon You alone. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen
My family, I pray you're inspired by the spiritual leaders and fathers in the faith who have gone before us. I pray you seek to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill your calling and ministry in the ways the Lord sends you just as He sent them, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please begin 2018 by a commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, here with me now and in every moment of my day.
"For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard" (Isaiah 52:12).
You're the God who goes before me. You're the God who comes behind me. You're the God who's always with me, even within me--never leaving me, never forsaking me, but forever seeing me, knowing me, and understanding me, even with all my quirks and needs, even with all my sins and failures. You're the God who created me and loves me and has plans for me that will come to pass, all in Your way and all in Your time. You are God and You are good and You are a good God to me.
So I don't have to worry about what lies ahead, and I don't have to worry about what's left behind. You've already been there, just like You'll always be there. My part is to simply trust in You and embrace Your mercy and love for me. As I do, there's joy in the journey and anticipation in the adventure; there's peace in every step and there's hope in every challenge. You've already gone before me and You remind me every day it's a good place You've prepared and set before me (John 14:1-3). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me. (St. Patrick Breastplate Prayer)
My family, I pray this morning for great joy in your journey, anticipation in the adventure, peace in every step, and hope in every challenge, knowing the love and Presence of our good God who goes before you and behind you and always with you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. My Lord and Savior, my God and King, come have Your way in my heart and life today.
"Moses said to the Lord, 'See, You have said to me, 'Bring up this people'; but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.' Now if I have found favor in Your sight, show me Your ways, so that I may know You and find favor in Your sight....' He (the Lord) said, 'My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.' And he (Moses) said to Him (The lord), 'If Your Presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people, unless You go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and Your people, from every people on the face of the earth.' The Lord said to Moses, 'I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name'" (Exodus 33:12-17).
As I sit here in the quiet of my morning, I thank You Lord that You know me by name, that Your Presence is always with me wherever I go, that I have found favor in Your sight, that I am one among Your people who are distinct from all other people on the face of the earth--not because of anything I've done, but all because of what You've done for me, not because of who I am apart from You, but because of who You are within me.
Those who know me, know I usually begin my prayers with. “I thank you Lord for Your love, grace, and mercy that constantly surrounds us.” So show me Your ways and empower me to walk in them. Show me Your Presence and remind me I'm never apart from You. You've blessed me and favored me, You know me by name and go with me to live out my destiny in the security of my identity as a child of God. I've found favor with You because You found me, because You've lavished Your love, mercy and grace upon me, and because You've called me Your own. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray that like Moses, you will earnestly ask of God, “show me Your ways, so that I may know You and find favor in Your sight.” Then you walk in the ways of the Lord, embraced by His Presence every day, surrounded by his love, grace and mercy everyday, having found favor in Him as the child of God you are, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are worthy of it all--all my heart and mind and soul and strength, O Lord, my God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
"Then Peter began to speak to them: 'I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him. You know the message He sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--He is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. We are witnesses to all that He did both in Judea and in Jerusalem" (Acts 10:34-39).
Anointed "with the Holy Spirit and with power," You "went about doing good" everywhere the Father sent You, as You walked this earth as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man living in compete communion with the living God. "Being born in human likeness" and "being found in human form," You are our Model and Mentor, for the Spirit-filled life lived out by a child of God (Philippians 2:7). You were fully yielded to the will and ways of God, doing what You saw the Father doing, speaking what You heard the Father speaking, always available and completely empowered to go about doing good with the heart of God.
Anoint me today with Your Holy Spirit and with power! Empower me and send me to go about doing good, with the authority of Your name and nature of Your heart. As You said to Your first disciples, You continue to speak to me and every one of Your disciples in every generation: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses (wherever I send you)" (Acts 1:8). Lord, let it be so in me today and every day. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you begin your day spending time one-on-one with Jesus and receive his anointing and empowering by the Holy Spirit of the Living God, to go about doing good as a witness and disciple of Jesus Christ in the authority of His name and nature of His heart, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
“The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” (1 Cor. 15:47-49)
A voice says, "Call out." Then he answered, "What shall I call out?" All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever. (Isa 40:6-8)
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. On this day we receive a gift, a reminder, one that we only hear in the church. That we are all going to die. In a world that continually advertise living longer, products that take “years off your life”, and contain the “secret of the fountain of youth” and immortality, the church is the only place left that reminds us we are going to die. We are not immortal, we do not control our own destiny. Has death been defeated by the Jesus’s works on the cross? Absolutely. Will death be completely destroyed and trampled away in the new age to come? Absolutely. Has death been de-clawed, put on a leash and domesticated in the world today? Absolutely not, as the horrible school shooting in Florida yesterday confirms.
Ash Wednesday reminds us of this. It reminds us we are going to die to remind us how truly priceless is the gift of life. It reminds us we are going to die, so today at this very moment, we can truly live.
“God hath given to man a short time here upon Earth, and yet upon this short time Eternity depends…” Jeremy Taylor
Ash Wednesday reminds us we are going to die so we can prepare and order our life for our time of death.
“Have we not had all our life-time to prepare to die; so many years to make ready for one hour; and are we so unready and unwilling yet? What have we done? Why have we lived?” Richard Baxter
Right now do an exercise that may seem strange. Close your eyes right now and create a picture in your mind of your physical death or being physically dead. Take a few minutes to do it. What did you see? How did it make you feel?
Today death and dying are isolated and removed from society, homes, families, and unfortunately the church. The dying are isolated in hospital rooms, and nursing homes. They are cared for by dying “professionals” and Hospice workers. And in doing so the amazing gifts, wisdom, mentoring, and teaching from one who has walked a life alongside Christ and are about to encounter him soon are lost and never heard. The holy experience of death is removed from family homes, and churches to funeral homes. The name “funeral home” itself is our way of rationalizing that people are still dying in a “home.” It is not a home, it is a place of business. If we called it a “funeral store” that sounds to cold. If we call it a “funeral church” then theologically we are creating two churches that separate the living from the dead. So we call it what by rationalization makes us feel good, a home.
The dying are not social outliers but are an integral part of the community of faith. Why should not a living Christian be exactly of the same spirit with a dying Christian? The dying have something valuable to teach the community of faith, they serve as resources for the entire faith community. Death highlights the significance of every person’s life. The dying remind us of the value of life. Death does not need to be frightening experience but can be a time of gratitude and joy for believer. Freedom from fear of condemnation. Spending time with the dying helps to prepare us for our own death, A pattern to follow.
Take some time now and throughout your day and reflect on these passages of Scripture that look at death. John 11:23-26; All the resurrection narratives; Romans 8:38-39; Romans 14:8-9; 2Corinthians 5:6-8; 1Corinthians 15 (esp. 15:19); Philippians 1:20-24; Philippians 3:20-21; 1Thessalonians 4:16-18; 1Thessalonians 5:9-11; 1Peter 1:3-5; 1 John 3:1-3; Revelation 21:3-5
My family, I pray today you will spend time today reflecting on something you rarely do, "you are going to die." How does that make you feel? How does that influence your priorities? How does that influence your stewardship of your finances and resources? How does that effect the way you allocate your time, live your life, express your love? In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning Jesus, fill me with your Spirit and l renew your presence in me.
“We have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:9-10).
“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Romans 15:4
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the 40 day season of Lent. As I have been explaining in previous posts, in the Lent season, people give up physical pleasures like chocolate, sweets, dining out. …ect. Since it falls on Valentines Day, at ODC we are holding our “Ash Wednesday” gathering tomorrow. We are not that legalistic in religion practices and at the heart of God is love, therefore we hope you will spend a special time with the one you love today, and tomorrow we will hold our solemn gathering.
As I have reflected on this week, Lent is a time of reflection and preparation of our hearts to one that earnestly desires God
In previous posts I have examined how we become disciple of Jesus worth multiplying. The answer was simple; Spend more time in prayer than ever before, spend more time in the word than ever before, spend more time in Christian accountability than ever before. Spend more time in service than ever before. Simple, but not easy. The season of Lent basically is a 40 day period that we re-focus and re-center our lives around being a disciple worth multiplying.
Spending time in the Word and prayer is how we allow the Holy Spirit to “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10) Use these 40 days to re-commit and re-form your will to daily time in prayer and the Word.
One of the reasons people say as to why they do not spend time daily in prayer and reading the Bible is they forget. We seem to dismiss things that we forget as not being a sin, as how can we be held accountable for something we forget to do? Say you pull into your company’s parking lot and park in the presidents parking space. You receive a memo saying please do not park in that space to which you reply, “Sorry, I forgot.” The next day you park in the presidents spot again and you get the same memo not to park there to which you reply, “Sorry, I forgot again.” If you continued to park in the presidents spot all week claiming to forget, the president of the company is going to call you in, as there comes a point that it is not a matter of forgetting, but a matter of your will. If you are not spending time daily reading the Bible and in prayer, you may one day forget, or because of some crisis not have time to do it, however, if you neglect to do it consistently, it is no longer a matter of you forgetting or not having time, it is a matter of your will that is set against it. And then you find yourself in a place that your will is set against God’s. For who’s will is it that does not want you to pray or read God’s word, God’s or Satan’s? The word Satan means “apposer.” It is a “heart issue.”
Lent is a season we address “heart issues.” Lent's emphasis on conforming your heart’s will to desire to spend time in the Word and prayer is not as some legalistic task or something you are to do, however it is something you are to become, because abiding in Christ is a life giving source from which you receive. Jesus tells you, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Jesus tells you, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10).
My family, I pray today as we begin this 40 day season of Lent, you will through the searching of the Holy Spirit, examine the will of your heart. Where it aligns with God, where it opposes God, and repent and re-shape your heart to one that’s will is to earnestly desire God. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!!!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
I begin my day entering into your presence Jesus my Lord.
I will continue my reflection from yesterday on the season of Lent and Ash Wednesday. In yesterday’s blog I explained what is the season of Lent in the church. It is a 40 day period of self reflection and, repentance and preparation while looking ahead to Easter and the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection and conquering of deqth. During Lent, most Christians use three things as aides to help them focus, listen and pray to God: Fasting from things, Service/taking on things, and Prayer
FASTING: Some people have been known to go without food for days. But that's not the only way to fast. You can fast by cutting out some of the things in your life that distract you from God. Some Christians use the whole 40 days to fast from candy, tv, soft drinks, cigarettes or meat as a way to purify their bodies and lives. You might skip one meal a day and use that time to pray instead. Or you can give up some activity like worry or reality tv to spend time outside enjoying God’s creation. What do you need to let go of or “fast” from in order to focus on God? What clutters your calendar and life? How can you simplify your life in terms of what you eat, wear or do? Read Isaiah chapter 58
SERVICE: Some Christians take something on for Christ. You can take on more times set aside to read your Bible. You can collect food for the needy, volunteer once a week to tutor children, or work for reform and justice in your community. You can commit to help a different stranger, co-worker or friend every day of Lent. Serving others is one way we serve God. Read Isaiah chapter 58.
PRAYER: Christians also use Lent as a time of intentional prayer. You can set aside times to pray daily, prayer walk, use the Prayer Wheel daily, create music or art as a prayer to God, or savor a time of quiet listening. All can be ways of becoming more in tune with God.
I am going to reflect deeper on the means of grace of fasting. I believe it is the one thing of the three above most people have the most difficulty understanding. Isaiah chapter 58 is my go to chapter when trying to explain fasting.
"Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.
3 'Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?' Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?
6 "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
11 And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
(Isa 58:1-11)
God, when I read your inspired words through Isaiah, I understand the fast that You choose for me is a fast from my flesh, a fast from selfishness and self-centeredness. It's a fast that frees me from the tyranny of my self and turns my heart to the things on Your heart.
Give me Your heart, Lord. Open my eyes to see the needs of those around me and fill my spirit with the power to do something about it. Give me time and passion for people like you have, in the ways that I can make a difference. Let me be part of the move of Your Spirit in my city and spheres of influence to rebuild the "ancient ruins," to "raise up the foundations of many generations" and "be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets" (v. 58:12). Let me first seek these things in me.
Fasting is not about ancient rituals or even faithfully executing spiritual disciplines. Fasting is about putting You first, as Your Spirit overcomes my flesh so You can change the world around me through my life. This is the fast You choose. (v. 5) So by the power of the grace of God at work within me, let this be the fast I choose. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray today you will reflect on the question, “What is the fast you choose for me God?” I pray you will reflect on what forms of fasting, service and prayer God wants to use in these upcoming 40 days to draw you back into deep discipleship with him. in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts and experiences on fasting 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 begin 2018 by a commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Father, Son and Spirit, as I begin to move and breath at the start of a new week, create in me a clean heart…
“And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” (Luke 22:14-15)
Jesus, at the beginning of the Lord's Supper says to those around him, "And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." v.15. Jesus in complete love earnestly desired to be with and pour into the lives of those around him. And he earnestly desires to be with you. In two day we will enter into the season of Lent in the church. A good question for each of us to honestly discern this Lent is, "What do I earnestly desire?" “What is it that you earnestly desire in life?” The answer to that question is incredibly important because what you desire will control the one thing that controls everything else in your life; your heart.
What is Lent? At Jesus' baptism the sky was violently torn open, the Spirit of God descended like a dove and landed on Jesus, and a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, My Beloved, with whom I am pleased." Afterward, as told in Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus was sent, literally driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. There he fasted and prayed for 40 days. During his time there he pressed deep into the Holy Spirit so when he was tempted by Satan, he had the power, found clarity and strength to resist temptation. After his 40 days of prayer, he was ready to begin his ministry and announce for people to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
Lent is a 40 day period before we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus when we set aside 40 days to more intentionally focus on prayer, repentance, pressing into the Holy Spirit, and discerning clarity of our lives and ministries. Maybe you needed some time with God to sort through the major changes happening in your life. Maybe you needed to set time away from family, friends and your familiar routine in order to see God more clearly. Perhaps you want some intentional time with God to search for direction and answers of your calling. Like Jesus, we need to take some serious time to pray and listen for God.
Unless the Spirit moves me in another direction, I am going to spend the next couple days meditating and reflection more on Lent and are need to set aside time to fast, pray, repent, and spend time in the Word.
My family, I pray this morning you will set aside a block of time and be bold enough to ask the Holy Spirit to help you honestly reflect on the question, What are the things I am desiring now that are controlling my heart? And then, “What do I earnestly desire?” In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Guide my heart and guide my steps as I look and listen for Your leading today. ...
"They brought in the ark of God, and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and they offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being.... He appointed certain of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel.... Then on that day David first appointed the singing of praises to the Lord by Asaph and his kindred: O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name, make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praise to Him, tell of His wonderful works. Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His Presence continually!" (1 Chronicles 16:1-11)
The first Psalms sung out from the tabernacle of David were songs of thanksgiving and praise, of Your glory and power, with the promise that all who seek You and Your strength and Your Presence would rejoice forever in their hearts. For 24/7 they lifted up their praises in worship and prayer to You and for 24/7 You poured Your peace and Your joy into their hearts. As they rejoiced, they were continually "re-joyed"--"re-joyed" 24/7.
Re-joy me every day, Lord. Re-joy me today!!! Rebuild the tabernacle of David in me each day (Amos 9:11; Acts 15:16). Let my heart be the tabernacle of your joyful presence. Let me begin every day lifting up my praises to You in worship and prayer and then continue 24/7 in deep unto Deep of constant communion with You, as I abide in You and You abide in me (John 15:4).
As I'm "re-joyed," the joy of the Lord will be my strength (Nehemiah 8:10). And as I live out the moments of my day--"re-joyed 24/7," may I be a source of “Re-joy” to those around me who are in desperate need for joy . In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray today you are "re-joyed" 24/7, by beginning your day abiding in the Lord as He abides you. Praise him from the tabernacle of your heart in worship and prayer throughout the moments of your day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please begin 2018 by a commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. King of kings and Lord of lords, be King of my heart and Lord of my life this day and every day. ...
"But Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.' Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Whey do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the seas on the dry ground.... Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and chariot drivers.... Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.' So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. AS the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained" (Exodus 14:13-28).
The physical warfare the children of Israel faced under the Old Covenant speaks to us of the spiritual warfare we face under the New Covenant. All that they endured and learned in the physical realm of their day "serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us" for all we endure and learn in the spiritual realm today (1 Corinthians 10:11). Pharaoh and his armies speak of our spiritual enemy and his armies who pursue us to destroy us--"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. (You) came that (we) may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). "For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).
In the example and lesson of Moses, You told the Israelites to stand firm, to stand still and see the deliverance of the Lord. And at the same time You told them to go forward through the sea when You rolled back the waters. In standing firm and standing still, they were not to be merely passive in Your deliverance. They were to be actively obedient to take their steps of faith through the waters to the other side. Likewise, You were the One who parted the waters for Israel to pass and then closed the waters to destroy her enemies. But at the same time, Moses was not to be merely passive in his faith, but actively stretching his rod over the waters to open then and then to close them. You were their Deliverer, the battle belonged to the Lord; and at the same time, they were called to be actively engaged in their deliverance through the warfare they faced. And so it is with us.
Moses stretched out his rod over the waters. What is our rod of authority? The Israelites walked in obedient faith through the waters. What are our steps of faith? They walked across on safe and dry ground that had been at the bottom of the sea. Where is our place of our safe and holy ground?
Lord, you have armed us with the "weapons of our warfare" (2 Corinthians 10:4). Thank You for "humility," that we can humble ourselves in Your sight to willingly choose to be desperately dependent upon You alone to be our Salvation, our Healer, and our Deliverer. Thank You for "intimacy," that we can draw near to You, forgiven from sin and secure in our identity as children of God, favored by our Father and resting in Your Presence. Thank You for "authority," that we can pray and speak in the power of the name and the blood of Jesus, grounded in the Word of God, confident in the certainty of Your promises and provision and protection. Thank You for "praise," that we can worship You in spirit and truth, looking up to You to behold Your glory as You change us into Your image from glory to glory, setting our minds and hearts on the things that are above, on the things that are eternal, seated with Christ in the heavenly places, and forever abiding and embraced in the unfailing love of Your Presence.
Help me keep learning and living into all You've provided for my deliverance from my spiritual enemies in every spiritual battle I'll ever face. Thank You for Your unbreakable promise in Your unfailing love that "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37). "Thanks be to God, who give us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Corinthians 15:57). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you continue to grow and lead in the mighty weapons and means of grace the Lord has given you in humility, intimacy, authority, and praise that you may know His victory and deliverance in every spiritual battle, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. O Lord, my God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--take hold of me and every dimension of my life--spirit, soul, and body.
"They said to him, 'Where is your wife Sarah?' And he said, 'There, in the tent.' Then one said, 'I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.' And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, 'After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?' The Lord said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh, and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son'" (Genesis 18:9-14).
Last night God’s grace came to me in an unexpected phone call from a friend of mine who is an amazing an prayer warrior and prophet named Ken. He called to say he was in town and headed to my neighbor Wayne’s house, who is also lover of Jesus. I walked two houses down to Wayne’s house at 9:00pm and walked back to my house at 12:30am after spending over 3 hours in deep prayer together over seasonal issues in our lives. This time we spent together was set by God. The passage above from Genesis came up in our prayers so this morning I turned to it and read it again.
Reading the passage, I was reminded that there is a "set time ... in due season." And God You're the One who sets the time and the season, not me. Sometimes Your promises seem "too wonderful" and even impossible. Sometimes when I look at my life through my eyes it seems my chance has passed, I missed the moment, my ship has sailed, my window of opportunity has closed. Sometimes it even seems likes the door of destiny has been slammed in my face. "But God..." (Genesis 8:1; 20:3; 21:12; 31:7; 45:8; 48:21; 50:24; ect., ect., ect. throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelations; over and over and over again; more than I could ever ask or imagine...).
"But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love which He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-7). To which I say praise God!!!
Give me grace to firmly believe and patiently wait for the "set time ... in due season" for every promise You've spoken to my heart by Your Spirit and through Your Word. Whenever I'm tempted to be the setter of my times and seasons; whenever I am tempted to question or laugh, to scoff or doubt, remind me of every time it looked so impossible and unbelievable "but God...." For this saying is sure and this Word is true, "For God all things are possible" (Mark 10:27). "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him" (Lamentations 3:25).
There is a time and a season for all things, according to Your will and Your ways for every one of us (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). You make all things beautiful in Your time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And You have shown Yourself so worthy so many times of my patience and my trust. So as for me, I will put my trust in You--in the God whose promises are always Yes and Amen (2 Corinthians 1:20). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray today you begin your day by looking back in your past and remember every time something seemed impossible, “But God…” I pray you see every promise of the Lord to you by His Spirit and through His Word come to pass and make all things beautiful for you in His time and in His way, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!