Good morning Lord Jesus, I rest in your love so I can give out your love.
Halloween is coming upon us. This past weekend I got my Halloween decorations out of my attic and back storage building and I am decorating my yard for our 12th annual Halloween yard party. It’s interesting to me that for many Christians this is a “hot button” topic to discuss. A neighborhood kid who lives down our street came by on his bike as I was setting up the yard. He asked if I was having the Halloween party this year. I told him yes we are. He said I love your yard, but my parents hate it. They drive the other way out of the neighborhood so they don’t have to drive past it and see it. By I love it! I posted an event for our Halloween Gathering to invite our neighbors on our Nextdoor App. A lady who claimed she was a Christian posted a comment that was really long and really antagonistic and un-Christian that basically said that I am a devil worshipper and all who celebrate Halloween worship Satan and are going to hell!
So as I did last year, I want to address the question: “Should we as Christians engage in Halloween or should we abstain?” In actuality if you start reading about Halloween’s roots, it’s hard to find an answer of where it came from. But, regardless of where it comes from, the question at hand should be: Why is Halloween celebrated today? For most of us, Halloween isn’t a time where we celebrate the dead, go and skin a goat and sacrifice it to Satan. For most of us, it’s a time to dress up our kids as a super hero and send them to strangers’ houses to get free candy.
It has become just part of our culture in the West and has very little to do with the “darkness”…it’s not good, it’s not evil…it’s just something we celebrate, like the 4th of July. I know we might have stories of darkness, but there are also many stories of overdrinking and evil happening on our other holidays as well.
The whole of the Bible talks of God bringing reconciliation and redemption to all things back to himself. That Jesus is Lord of everything and everyday. He bring peace to all things. Not only that but Paul speaks (1 Cor 8) to us about pagan festivals and says that there is nothing in them that is powerful, because there is only one God and everything and everyone comes through Him and have their being because of him.
Paul then talks about eating food sacrificed to idols…saying…it’s no big deal, unless you have a brother who would be deeply hurt by it because they struggle with the idol and eating of that meat because they actually used to worship that idol and eat those things.
Here’s how to contextualize Halloween: If you have a brother who used to worship Satan and they used to sacrifice goats and drink its blood, then it might be a good idea to walk through Halloween with them, guiding them so it would make that brother stumble. This does NOT mean, if you have a brother who merely thinks as his opinion it is wrong to celebrate Halloween that you should put it to the side. That’s never the intent with any of the passages of making a brother stumble…if that was the case, many of us would be in sin because of all the things we do that make other Christians merely uncomfortable. Jesus was not about making people comfortable.
And Jesus would have been in sin and made many people stumble with the life that he led around sinners as he ate and drank (yep wine) with them. Again…making a brother stumble and making a brother uncomfortable are completely separate issues.
With all that said, what are we to do with Halloween? If we are to look to redeem Halloween, what does that mean? If we are to do all things to the glory of God, what does that look for Halloween?
First, a few things you should probably STOP doing:
1. Dressing your kid up as St. Paul or Moses to try to prove a point.
2. Calling the Halloween Party at your church building a “Harvest Festival.” It is like an atheist calling a “Christmas Party” a “Holiday Party” and instead of saying “Merry Christmas saying “Happy Holidays” which seams to upset so many Christians. It’s just calling the elephant in the room a squirrel and it’s weird and disconnects The Church from the society around it.
3. Taking all your people away from being out in their neighborhoods and putting them into your building.
4. Wrapping a tract around an apple and handing it out to the kids who are trick or treating and calling it “evangelizing”
None of these things redeem anything, but just add to the notion that Christians want to be apart from the world and create their own subculture. Instead, let’s be like Jesus and celebrate it like he would have.
When we look at the life of Jesus and our God, we see that they always pursued the sinner and the world. They loved us right where we were and engaged us in the ways that we’d understand who God is and what He has done.
Not only that, but Jesus used the everyday celebrations as a way to build relationships so he could speak into the lives of those around him. He was continually at parties. So much so, that when Matthew was called to follow Jesus, it seemed normal to Matthew to invite Jesus and all the apostles back to his house to party with all his “sinner” friends. (Matthew 9:9,10; Mark 2:14-17) People knew that Jesus was about celebrating, he was about truth, he was also about pursuing and about building relationships with people. With that in mind, how can we then show people THAT Jesus to our communities during Halloween?
1. Be THAT House
You know “that” house. When you were a kid and you went to a house and said “trick or treat” and the person came to the door in a costume and smiled at you, complemented your costume, and they handed you a full size candy bar; it was like winning the lottery. You’d walk away from the house telling your friends, “They were really nice.” It was such good news, you’d tell strangers dressed up like a clown zombie where to find the goods. Everyone knew that house in the neighborhood and if you didn’t have one in your neighborhood, you’d travel what seemed to be miles to get to that house. Be THAT house. We have been blessed by God to be a blessing to others. Think about how this shows people the Father. Everyone is expecting to get a small fun size bar. It’s what they’ve earned by dressing up and having the courage to knock on your door and say “trick or treat.” What they know they haven’t earned is a full size candy bar…it speaks to this idea of grace and blessing.
You don’t need to tell the kids this, but it starts to tell the story of what your house is about to the neighborhood. Like the neighborhood kid ridding his bike past our house that stopped. It tells a different story than what they expect or are used to and this is exactly the story of the gospel. Spend the extra cash to make that happen. If you can’t afford it, get your neighbors or small group to all pitch in. Ask your church to put it in the budget for next year. As weird as that sounds your churches goal should be to reach it’s neighbors. Do whatever you gotta do…be that house! You’ll be amazed at what doors that opens with your neighbors to share The Gospel.
2. Be a Welcoming Presence
If our God is about pursuit, blessing and welcoming then what would it look like to be about pursuit on Halloween? How about instead of staying inside your house, be in the driveway or front porch. I know this isn’t available for everyone because of weather, but what would it look like in your neighborhood for people to feel welcomed to come to your house and feel blessed by it?
For The Liederbach's, we are have our 12th annual neighborhood Halloween gathering. We are going to have fire pit in our front yard where our neighbors will be cooking hot dogs over the fire and making s’mores. We have coolers of drinks, bags of chips and snake cakes; and of course, LOTS of candy! For our 12th annual party I even rented a mechanical bull for trick or treaters to ride. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, we will prayer walk our neighborhoods and personally invite or put invitations in 450 of our neighbor’s mailboxes. Last year it poured rain, and our Halloween was wet. Every year though we have 400 kids trick or treat our house plus I don’t know how many adults that accompanied them come and hang out and cook a hot dog or s’more. It’s a way for us to come together and hang out and bless our neighborhood. It shows that we are more than about handing out candy, but we are here to bless their entire family and in a sense, welcome you into our lives.
Again, it shows something quite different than every other house. Last year a father with three young kids came up with them to our front porch to get candy. The father said, “The kids all discussed before we headed out they wanted to go to this house last. Save the best for last! Plus once we come here we always hang out awhile.” I put candy in his kids bags then they headed towards the fire pit and fun. We have been doing this for 10 years and the neighborhood now expects it and people come and hang out and have a great time meeting their neighbors.
If you can’t be outside, how can you bless the families that are walking around your neighborhood? Maybe offer coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc. to the parents and trick or treaters that come to your door. Again…think, “How can I be a blessing and show that we are a welcoming and pursuing people like our Dad?”
And this is a fact: Every year we have reached more non-Christians and have baptized more people we connected with who attended our neighbor Halloween Party than who attended any other of our other gatherings throughout the year including our Easter and Christmas gatherings!
3. Celebrate
It is not secret that Jesus loved to party. So much so, that people kept inviting him to parties. Pretty amazing to think about. If we have a Dad in heaven that loves us and accepts us, not for what we do or have done, but because of what his Son has done for us and now we are heirs to the throne of heaven…don’t we have the most to celebrate?
We should be defined as Jesus was defined: a glutton and drunkard. He was celebrating so much that the religious saw him as a glutton and drunkard but the sinners and the world saw him as a dude that they’d like to hang with. Where have we gone wrong here? Christians shouldn’t be the ones avoided for parties, but should be the ones that people are most excited to have come around because they bring the “better wine.”
We made it almost a rule in our house that if we are invited to a party…we are going and we are going to think through how we can bless that party as much as possible. We are always invited to parties because of this. People know what Nancy and I are about, they know we love Jesus. But they also know that when we enter a party we won’t make it weird, but we hopefully make the party more enjoyable by us being there. We have literally had people say, “if Jesus is like this…he was a lot different than we’ve ever been told.”
If you aren’t invited to parties…this Halloween is a great time to throw one. Throw a costume party, a pumpkin carving party, a cookie decorating party, have a photo booth at the party, have a party with games for kids. You can do all kinds of things for Halloween…it’s a party holiday. By doing this, meaning throwing an awesome party, you start to show off something different about you as a follower of Jesus and showing off who Jesus was and what he was about. And do this at your home in your neighborhood, don’t simply rely on your church to do this for you.
He was about parties because that’s where people were and that’s where people connect and share stories and start and continue relationships. Halloween is a really funny holiday when we think about it. But, it’s a holiday that is so easy to build relationships and bless the community and start (or continue) to show off what our Dad is like.
If instead, to “protest” against Halloween we turn off our front porch lights, lock our front doors, go to our church buildings and we have a “harvest festival” on Halloween, we show the world exactly what they’ve always seen about our God. He is closed off, judgmental, disconnected and waits for us to come to him. This isn’t our Dad…he is quite different. He is welcoming, he is gracious and merciful and he pursues us and can’t wait to celebrate with us. Don’t use this holiday to make a point. Use this holiday to point to the true reason we all get to celebrate and bless…Jesus.
If Jesus was still walking the earth in the flesh this Halloween evening he would not be attending a “Harvest Festival” in a church. He would be out in the neighborhood streets interacting with his neighbors and looking for the lost sheep. .This is what we read of about Jesus in the Gospels. Deep inside we know as His followers and His church this is true, so why do we behave the opposite? My guess is that if Jesus lived in our neighborhood, everyone couldn’t wait to go to his house to see what he was going to hand out this year. Everyone would be excited to go to Jesus’ Halloween party and couldn’t wait to invite him over to their party. My only question I wonder is “Who would Jesus dress up as for Halloween?” Who knows…but you know it’d be a killer costume.
My daily prayer is, “Lord send us the ones no one else wants.”
I would love for you to please share your reflections with myself or others using the comment box below.
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Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
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Good morning Lord Jesus, as I awake physically I seek Your Spirit to awaken me spiritualy so I can live out this day in Your Spirit.
“If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me. I Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it. And I won’t mention that you 0we me your very soul! Yes, my brother, please do me this favor for the Lord’s sake. Give me this encouragement in Christ. 1 I am confident as I write this letter that you will do what I ask and even more! (Philemon 1:19-21)
Paul began his letter telling his friend “I am praying you to put into action the generosity that comes for your faith…” and in these verses of his letter he’s challenging Philemon to not just know about submission, but to put it into practice.
In other words: show me, don’t tell me.
At the end of the letter, we get Paul doing the same. A runaway slave would have cost Philemon a lot, but Paul finishes with Christ-like words when he says, “If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me… I will repay it.”
This entire letter is Paul using his authority in love to challenge Philemon to rethink what it means to be a servant of Christ. And he does this by redefining Philemon’s relationship to his slave Onesimus. The goal of the gospel is to redefine our relationship to God, to others, and even to ourselves. If the first half of the gospel is John 3:16, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”.
… and the second half of the gospel is 1 John 3:16, “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.”
… then the whole gospel can be summed up in: show me, don’t tell me.
You can tell Jesus all day that you love Him, however if you do not demonstrate your love for Jesus to others, it is a fruitless love. Your personal knowledge that you are forgiven, redeemed, saved ,and have eternal life in Jesus Christ has absolutely no impact at all on your family, neighbors, and the world unless you share it and show it.
In his introduction to Philemon, Eugene Peterson says, “Every movement we make in response to God has a ripple effect, touching family, neighbors, friends, community. Belief in God alters our language. Love of God affects daily relationships… it all gets worked into local history, eventually into world history.”
Lord Jesus, as I read these words of Paul which are inspired by you I hear you also say to me, “I am confident as I write this letter that you will do what I ask and even more!” In other words you are saying to me as well, “Submit to me and show me, don’t tell me.” Show me in my relationship with you Jesus where I need to redefine and restore some of my personal relationships as you asked Philemon to do with Onesimus. Reveal to me where and how in my day to day life I can tell people Jesus loves them, and then show it. Challenge me as well to rethink what it means to be a servant of Christ.
My family, I pray this morning the heavenly Father stirs up the gift of His Holy Spirit in your lives and challenges you to rethink as well what is means to submit to and to be a servant of Christ. I pray today you will not only tell people Jesus loves them, you will show it too. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below with us from todays reading.
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 lift up my eyes and open up my heart to deliberately, intentionally begin my day in the deep Presence of God. ...
"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:4-7).
Father God, pour out Your Spirit upon me today through Jesus Christ my Savior. Let me live into the fullness of my inheritance as a son of God, now and forever. Let the understanding and the experience of the fullness of my salvation by true in the thoughts of my mind also in the nature of my heart.
I've been reborn and I'm being renewed -- all by Your mercy and grace, all by Your goodness and loving kindness. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You've done a deep work in me; and "I am confident of this, that the One who began a good work (in me) will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). In Jesus' name pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you may desire, seek, and be renewed by the Holy Spirit as you begin your day, and every moment of every day, as the One who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below with us from todays reading.
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. Help me hear Your voice and listen for Your leading, as I begin this day in the communion of prayer with You, my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ...
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is He who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people of His own who are zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:11-14).
Lord Jesus -- "our great God and Savior" -- manifest Your glory today. I know one day You will return in a spectacular, indescribable, world-wide manifestation of Your glory for all to see (1 Thessalonians 4:16). But at the same time, I know You also desire there to be a manifestation of Your glory here in my heart and in here through my life every day. "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (Colossian 1:27).
You forgive my sins and purify my soul. You fill me with Your Spirit and anoint me with Your presence and power and purpose (1 John 2:17). And You send me out into my world, zealous for You with a passion for my Father's kingdom to come and will to be done, here on earth and here through my life, "to display (Your) glory" as one of those "called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord" (Isaiah 61:3).
When You walked this earth to show us the way to honor God with our lives, You said, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become My disciples" (John 15:7-8). So Father God, in Jesus' name, I embrace Your Holy Spirit to manifest the glory of Christ through my life in my world today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you will be continually filled with the Holy Spirit of the Living God, abiding in Jesus and His word, that your life may be a manifestation of the glory of Christ in your world every day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below with us from todays reading.
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 come before you and your spirit desiring to be healed, restored, and refreshed as I begin a new week that is a gift to me..
“From Paul, a slave of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of Godʼs chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth that is in keeping with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began.” (Titus 1:1)
Jesus, the background for the concept of being the Lord's slave or servant is found in the Old Testament scriptures. For a Jew the concept of being a “slave to God” did not connote drudgery, but honor and privilege. It was used of national Israel at times, “You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe in me and understand that I am he” (Isa 43:10). But being "servants (or slaves) of the Lord" was title of honor that was especially associated with famous OT personalities, including such great men as Moses, who Joshua honored by saying of him, “I was forty years old when Moses, the Lordʼs servant sent me from Kadesh..” (Josh 14:7), God declares this title of David, the man with a heart after Him, “The Lord said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have made a promise on oath to David, my servant (Ps 89:3I; as well as in 2 Sam 7:5, 8). And God spoke the same title over Elijah, “The Lord had done what he announced through his servant Elijah” (2 Kgs 10:10). All these great men were honored to claim the title of "servants (or slaves) of the Lord."
Lord Jesus, today in this world and the kingdom of man the word “slavery” has a negative connotation, and for many good reasons. However in Your Kingdom, being called your slave or servant is a title of honor and privilege. You Yourself set the example of the honor of being a slave to the Father. “But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43-45).
By Your Spirit Lord, humble me to surrender all that I am and all my rights to you as my Lord and master. My wife and my children do not need a man who leads by control or dominance, but out of servanthood, sacrifice and love. Those I encounter today do not need to encounter a person who looks down on them, but stoops down below them and washes their feet. I don’t want the people who’s path I cross to encounter a prideful self made man, but a man formed by surrender to your cross of love. And myself being a man who’s heart lives for the applause of men, all this is only possible in and through starting my day in the washing presence of Your Spirit in me.
My family, I pray today you reflect on something you probably would not imagine as you start your day, of becoming a slave, a servant of our Lord Jesus Christ and savior. As only in total surrender to Him, will you achieve complete freedom in your life, In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends
Please share your reflections and prayers on this passage with us in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
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!
“For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths…however, be self-controlled in all things, endure hardship, do an evangelistʼs work, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:2-3, 5)
We are all called to Evangelize and share the Gospel of the love, grace, and forgiveness found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When I read the word “evangelist” this morning my mind went to Billy Graham. He was one who did the work of an evangelist and fulfilled his ministry. Another man who did this was James Orr. They were both men with sound doctrine that spoke out against and into the “itchy ears” of their day. One of my favorite stories involves both of these men.
Most of you have heard of the Rev. Billy Graham. James Edwin Orr was a Baptist Christian minister, hymn- writer, professor, theologian and author. He was born in Belfast Ireland in 1912 to parents who were both British and American. At approximately the age of 19 in 1931 Professor Orr began evangelizing in Europe, America, Australia and South Africa. Orr moved to the US, enrolled in Northwest University, and in 1940 he was ordained a Baptist Christian Minister During WWII. He served in a chaplain in the US Airforce in the Pacific. After the war he went back to England to study for a PHD at Oxford University. While there working on his PHD he also taught a class on at Oxford on Evangelism.
One day Prof. Orr took his students on an excursion, a field trip to places in England with major historical significance. Places that had been strategic in the building up of the church and the Christian faith. One place they visited was the Epworth Rectory which was the home, living place, study place of one of the great reformers of the church, John Wesley. Wesley was also the founder of the revival in the Anglican Church that led to the formation of the Methodist Church. John Wesley put in place much of the theology of where many people attend church today. Not just the Methodist churches. Allot of the foundational formation of our faith was crafted by reformers like John Wesley.
John Wesley would pray, he would teach, he would preach, he set up Band groups and class meeting trying to awaken the church and usher in a revival in the church. He and other reformers prayed that revival would break out in mass in England and here in the US.
He prayed in the US and Wesley helped usher in the great revivals that swept through America in the 19th century where people in masses were coming to know Jesus Christ as Lord, where the heavens seemed to be opened up in remarkable ways and the Holy Spirit was moving and presence was felt as lives were changed. Revival broke out that made our history books and we still look back on now and recognize the great fire of God’s sprit that spread during that time. It’s because men like John Wesley were on their knees praying that God would move.
So these theology students led by Professor Orr went and visited Wesley’s rectory. Professor Orr led the students through the kitchen where Wesley’s family would, cook meals and the dinner table they sat and ate. Then he led them to the study and library where Wesley studied. Students enamored at the old books… many had Wesley’s notes written in the sides of them and sentences highlighted. They spent time looking at the old binders and some of his hand written notes on the desk.
When they finished Professor Orr moved them upstairs to Wesley’s more intimate quarters of the home. They went into his bedroom and they all filed in the room and went around his bed. And as professor Orr was talking one of the students noticed two small circles in the carpet on the side of the bed carpet where the carpet was worn down to the backing. The student asked professor about the worn patches. Professor Orr explained to them that those two patches were the actual places where Wesley’s knees hit the floor first thing every morning as he began his day with prayer. Wesley would pray not for a minute or two, but for several hours every morning that revival and renewal would take place. From his daily, constant, long and hard times of praying his knees had actually worn down the fibers in the carpet. Imprinted the carpet with his knees.
Thee students stayed in the bedroom a few minutes more as Prof. Orr talked, then left and went downstairs and out the door to the bus to go to the next site. Professor Orr stood at the bus door counting the students as they entered the bus and realized he was one student short. So he went back in the house and walked through the kitchen, study and then went upstairs into the bedroom. Looking over the bed he saw the bowed head and shoulders of a student who had planted his knees into those well worn patches on the floor made by Wesley. And he could hear the student praying, “Do it again Lord, and he heard the student weeping out loud as he said, “Lord, would you do it again Lord. And Lord would you do it again with me?” Professor Orr waited a minute, then he walked around the bed and gently put his hand on the students shoulder, and quietly said, “it’s time to go.” And rising from his knees, Billy Graham got up on his feet and joined the others in the bus
And then God did it again.
My family, God wants begin an awakening of faith and his presence in your life, and that of your spouse, your children, your family, your church, and your neighborhood. However all awakenings begin with simple acts of evangelism by simple people in simple places like you and the place you live. And all awakenings of faith first begin with prayer. I pray now in my morning “worm spots” where I pray and write my devotions every morning, that you will develop your own “worn spots” of prayer. I pray you will ask God “to do it again this you,” In Jesus’ name. Pleas pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below.
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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. Help me hear what You're speaking into my spirit to begin my day centered and grounded in You and Your Word--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16).
We are in our 10 month of reading through the new testament together. We are doing this because we live in a broken world where unfortunately violence, hate and evil is present. It is full of challenges, and sources of anxiety and fear. Satan is real and he is an enemy that desires to hurt, kill and destroy you and everything you love. Satan is a million times stronger than you! And he hates you! And he hates your marriage, he hates your family, he hates your church, he hates your peace and joy, and he hates your cat and dog!
When Satan attacks me and he does, it is memorized Scripture that allows me to hit the devil in the face with a force he cannot resist to protect myself and my family from his assaults. WHAT ARE YOU HITTING HIM WITH? Are you armed with a Sword which “is the Word of God” Ephesians 6? Or are you going into battle against a superior enemy weaponless? Husbands, how are you protecting and fighting for your wives and your marriage? Mothers and fathers, how are you protecting and fighting for your children? The church today of Christ is under attack, what are you and your church members fighting with? God’s Word says The gates of hell will not prevail against the church! We are called armed with the Sword of the Word of God to attack Satan and all his vile spirits who want to destroy us.
How anybody who is bold enough to call himself and claim to be a Christian, which is putting a huge bullseye on their back for the enemy to see, and then walk through this deviled ruled world unarmed without a sword in their hand is beyond me! And then wonder why bad things happen to good people!!!
8 more ways memorizing and knowing Scripture transforms your life
1. Memorizing Scripture makes it possible to meditate on Scripture when you cant read your Bible, and meditation is the key to deeper understanding and transformation. If you are going to meditate on Scripture day and night like Psalm 1 declares, you need to have some of it in your head.
2. Memorizing Scripture strengthens my faith, as faith comes from hearing, hearing from God and that happens when I am hearing the Word of God in my head.
3. Memorizing Scripture shapes the way I view the world and forming and transforming my mind to God’s view point. On everything. Do not be conformed, but be transformed by the renewing of you mind.”
4. Memorizing Scripture makes God’s Word more readily accessible in overcoming the temptation of sin because God’s warning and promises are the way we conquer the lies and discerptions of the devil.
5. Memorizing Scripture guards my mind making it easier to detect error and this world is filled with error because the ruler of this world is a liar.
6. Memorizing Scripture allows me to share everywhere and anytime relevant words of God.
7. Memorizing Scripture provides the strongest and sweetest words for ministering to those in need. Ever been caught off guard by somebody in need? You don’t need to be caught of guard!
8. Memorizing Scripture provides the pathway for fellowship with Jesus because he speaks to me here. Authentically, powerfully, speaks to me here. And that leads to my transformation.
My family, I pray over you a deep hunger and stronger desire to spend time today reading and memorizing your Bible to know both the Word of God and the power of God in your life to fight back against the devil and everywhere you go to share the message of hope and love through Jesus Christ, 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
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. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God, You are the same yesterday and today and forever. Steadfast and true, faithful are You. Empower me to be faithful too. ...
"If we are faithless, He remains faithful -- for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Timothy 2:13).
Jesus, as I sit here and reflect on these verses this morning, a song is streaming in the background with the lyrics, “Oh the overwhelming, never ending reckless love of God..” Some Christian songs today speak of Your reckless love -- reckless because it's so overwhelming and we're so undeserving. Some speak of Your unfailing love -- unfailing because it never ends and always wins. But above all, I've experienced Your relentless love -- relentless because You never relent, You never retreat in Your passionate pursuit of my heart -- no matter how undeserving or unfaithful, how timid or compromising, how I've been tempted to turn to the world or put up a wall or settle for something less than all You've desired for me. "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23). That's relentless love.
So who could resist Your relentless love? Why would we run from Someone running so hard after us? What a picture You gave us in the parable of the prodigal son when You showed us the relentless love of a father running to embrace his lost son. "But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him" (Luke 15:20). You are that Father, just as we are that son that could never run far enough away and never do wicked, selfish enough things that could make You stop loving us. That's relentless love.
Father, forgive me for ever resisting Your relentless love. Forgive me for ever taking it for granted. Forgive me for ever squandering the blessing and invitation of a lifetime of intimacy with You. You are so worthy of my relentless love in return. I love You because You first loved me; I pursue You because You first pursued me (1 John 4:19). You "have loved (me) with an everlasting (relentless) love" when there's nothing I could ever do to ever earn it or deserve it (Jeremiah 31:2). So this day, here in a deeper surrender of my heart and vulnerable intimacy in Your presence, I embrace Your relentless love for me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen
My family, I pray you fully accept the invitation embrace the relentless love of our passionately pursuing God in a deeper surrender of your heart and vulnerable intimacy in His presence, 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
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. You are One with the Father, One with the Holy Spirit. Be One within me today, as You lead me in the way of life in Christ. ...
"I know the One in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to Him" (2 Timothy 1:12).
This past Monday I was in Lowes helping a woman customer in her late 60s. She said she needed to put grab bars in their shower. She told me how her husband was outside doing yard work when he got dizzy and had to sit down. He went to his doctor who sent him to the hospital for tests. It was discovered that he had cancer in his brain and it had metastasized into other areas of his body. His prognosis was not good and chemo and radiation treatments were about to begin. She started tearing up as she said in a second their whole world just changed. They both had retired a year ago and were looking forward to spending time together traveling, spending time with their kids and grandkids, and each other. Now those plans and dreams were all gone. I held her hands and prayed over her in aisle 34 of Lowes. I prayed over her husband for complete removal of the cancer in his body. I gave her my cell number and told her I would come install their handrails for them and to please call me if I could help them in anyway.
Lord, I know You and I trust You. The more I know You, the more I trust You. The more I trust You, the more I love You and thank You for all You've done for me and all You've done in me.
And though life can be hard and the challenges can be tough, though the battles against our hope and faith can be very real and very intense, we don't lose heart as we keep entrusting our hearts to you. You never promised it wouldn't be hard, but You promised You'd always be with us no matter how hard it gets.
You said, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall be burned, and the flame shall not consumer you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior" (Isaiah 43:1-3). You said, "I will never leave you or forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). You said, "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).
I believe You. I trust You and I love You. And by the power of the grace of God, I will "guard the good treasure entrusted to (me), with the help of the Holy Spirit living in (me)" (2 Timothy 1:14). "For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day" (2 Timothy 1:12). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray what ever deep waters you may be going through from the trials and challenges of living in this broken world. I pray this morning that your heart will not be troubled and your faith and hope will be secure in the One You've come know and trust, who always loves you and is always with you. If you know of someone, a family member, classmate, co-worker or neighbor that is going through deep waters, call them today or go talk to them and pray and share this message with them, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me.
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
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. I want to start my day deliberately inviting You into the center of my heart and at the front of my mind. ...
"As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life" (1 Timothy 6:17-19).
Jesus, compared with ninety-nine percent of the world, I'm sure I'm considered "rich" in Your eyes -- as well as just about everyone I know and all of you who who read this blog this morning. We have food and shelter and more than we need almost all the time. You "richly provide us with everything for (our necessities and far more) our enjoyment."
And at the same time, You're not comparing me with anyone else. My only comparison is to you and Your cross. As Jesus, you are the only one I am to conform my my to and imitate. You're looking into my heart and invite me to have a heart like Yours. You invite me to ask myself if I have a desire and the power to "do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share." And You invite me to consider how well I'm stewarding my heart and all these resources of my finances, my home, and my time You've entrusted to me.
Have I been "storing up for (myself) the treasure of a good foundation for the future? Have I been "(taking) hold of the life that really is life" or taking hold of things far less generous and setting my hopes on things far more uncertain?
"The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good..." (Luke 6:45). Come, Holy Spirit. Come be at work in my heart, giving me good desires in alignment with the heart of my good Father, who’s heart is always extremely generous with me. Give me the desire and empower me with opportunities to "do good, and to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share" today. Let me be a good steward, a faithful son, and a fruitful disciple with the "good treasure" You've entrusted to me. Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray our generous God will pour out His Spirit in you and instill in you a generous heart. May you who have been richly blessed allow His blessings to flow through your life today and richly provide for the needs of others, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
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
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 sit here and listen to you and you listen to me…
“Do not address an older man harshly but appeal to him as a father. Speak to younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters—with complete purity.” (1 Timothy 5:1-2)
Paul’s above words of counsel to his disciple Timothy echo Jesus’ command to His disciples, “This I command you - to love one another.” ( John 15:17) In the world today we find ourselves battling against a storm caused by the effects of the Charlie Kirk and Michigan church shootings, Wars in Palestine and Ukraine, Political, Social and Racial issues. And some people in their anxiety to get through this storm react with harshness and animosity towards one other. Even people in the church lash out towards their family members, and their Christians brothers and sisters. Paul’s counsel to Timothy is counsel we all need to hear and be reminded of today. We are all family, all invited to and welcomed at our father’s table as a family. “So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith.” (Galatians 6:10)
“So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of Godʼs household, because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22)
My family, I pray today you will be nice to people. I pray you will speak to one another in encouragement and love. Sharing a kind word with a co-worker, classmate, or someone God crosses your path with today may be the only kind word they hear today. And we all need to hear words of encouragement and love spoken over us, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friemds!
Please share with me and others your reflections and what God is speaking to you from todays reading in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- help me sense Your presence, hear Your voice, and follow Your leading, as I begin my day seeking You. ...
“By pointing out such things to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, having nourished yourself on the words of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. But reject those myths fit only for the godless and gullible, and train yourself for godliness. For “physical exercise has some value, but godliness is valuable in every way. It holds promise for the present life and for the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:6-9)
As I read this passage this morning two good friends of mine who are father and son came to my mind. Their mother and wife passed away a few years ago at this time and passed on from this side of eternity to the next came to my mind. Kerry was a wife and mother who was an amazing woman and a mighty spiritual warrior. My wife Nancy served on the Kairos prison team that went into Tutwiler women’s prison this past weekend sharing the love and grace of Jesus with the women incarcerated inside. Kerry also loved and served in this ministry. Kerry “pointed out such things to the brothers and sisters".” She was one who “trained herself for godliness” and took hold of the “promise for the present life and the life to come.” Because of this, in her last breath of her last battle here on this earth, death had no victory and death had no sting. She was delivered through death into eternal life in You, the One who is "the Resurrection and the Life" (John 11:25). Truly she has "fought the good fight" and received his eternal reward in the fullness of Your presence and death had not sting on her.
"For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' This sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:54-57).
So I join with her son, husband and family and all who remember her and love her dearly to both celebrate her victory and her life in the Spirit with You in heaven, even as we still remember her, miss her, and grieve our loss of her life here in the flesh with us on earth. And I join with others who have lost love ones that “nourished themselves on the words of the faith and of the good teaching” and “trained themselves for godliness” Thank You that in You, we do not have to "grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have died" (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).
Through Your victory of the resurrection, we will all rejoice with You and with one another again. In that way, even through hard times like death when our hearts are both full of hope and sorrow at the same time, we hold fast to the promise of Your Word, "Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning" (Psalm 30:5). Kerry is experiencing the healing of the resurrection; and at the same time, we need the comfort of Your resurrection love here in our hearts as we celebrate her victory in You.
Holy Spirit of God, encourage us to nourish ourselves in Your Word, prayer, and accountability groups that “holds promise for the present life and for the life to come” so it will comfort us and strengthen us through the night times and hard times we endure through the battles of this world, as we look forward to that glorious morning to come. "Thank be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you nourish yourself through reading Scriptures, prayer and accountability groups so you are strengthened and comforted through every battle you'll face through the night time, knowing joy comes with the morning in the resurrection love of God in Jesus Christ, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share with me and others your reflections and what God is speaking to you from todays reading in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
As the lead Planter of One Direction Community, I’m often asked how our organic simple church movement is doing and if I feel we are accomplishing all that I had hoped. I had a conversation with a person on this at the Waffle House this morning. The answer is no. We are not the movement that I hoped for… yet. But that is partly because I have always felt that part of what we were doing was preparing the church for what is coming: persecution. I see our work as sowing seeds for a future harvest, and I believe that future is getting closer every day. Am I some fringe conspiracy theorist or “prepper”? No. But I’m not impartial on the question. In all of history, the freedom we have experienced in America in our lifetime is actually an anomaly. The Bible makes clear that those who follow Christ will be hated and will endure persecution. I suspect there is good reason for my thinking, but if I am wrong and persecution doesn’t come, I have not lost anything. But if it does and we are unprepared then we have lost much. We have this generation to make a difference in and will give account of what we did with the time given to us. I feel called to prepare God’s people for a future that is less open and free, but far more fruitful.In these past couple months because of the coronavirus and social restrictions we have had many of our freedoms taken away.
One of the heroes of my faith is Watchman Nee. God used him (and others like him) to prepare the church in China before the Communist revolution took over. He launched the “Little Flock” movement, which was a radical departure from the Western church model that had been planted in China prior. It was smaller, simpler in structure, met in houses, inexpensive and reproducible. The churches that met in smaller gatherings in homes were led by ordinary people with real jobs. He brought the same sort of preparation that I have been devoted to enacting.
When the communists took power in China they arrested the church leaders (like Nee), seized all church property, kicked out all missionaries and burned all Christian literature. However, these organic expressions of simple churches meeting in homes that Nee started not only survived…they thrived. The Cultural Revolution of Mao Zedong sought to eliminate all religion from society in China, but instead mobilized the church and it grew from about 2 million Christians in 1949 to over 60 million during the Communist persecution. It is estimated today that there may be upwards of 85 million Christians in China.
Contrast this with the church of Russia. The Russian Church was built upon the Western Church model and dependent upon three things: holy buildings, holy men in robes, and holy services performed by those men in those robes and in those buildings. When the communists took over Russia, like the communists did in China, they also seized all the buildings, arrested and persecuted all the leaders of the church. and burned Christian literature. Unlike the church in China, the church in Russia was devastated. It did not thrive, it died. There was a small remnant that struggled to survive underground, but the Christ followers were not able to see the exponential growth the Chinese church did.
Though I do not clam to be on the level on Nee, like Nee, I have been striving to bring health and simplicity back to the church, and with that an ability to ride out any storms that may come.
If for some reason your church buildings were forced to shut down (like with Covid) what would happen to your participation in your faith? Would your times spent in prayer and reading the Bible go up or down? When covid hit and your church shut down, did you start sharing the Gospel, your testimony, make disciples and leading a simple church in your home with your family or simply quit doing church? Is your faith and participation as a bride in Jesus’ church dependent upon three things: holy buildings, holy men in robes, and holy services performed by those men in those robes and in those buildings? Are you able to start up a simple church in your home? Why? Why not? You are personally responsible and accountable for your faith and sharing the gospel, without excuse.
My family, , I pray you will reflect on read 1 Timothy 3:12; John 15:20-21; 1 Corinthians 4:8-13; Matthew 5:10-12; and Luke 2:10-12. Then spend time in prayer reading again the last paragraph above and in prayer honestly reflecting on what is “church” to you, and how unstoppable and reproducible is your faith, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please post your reflections, questions, and prayers below in the comment box.
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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“I am grateful to the one who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me faithful in putting me into ministry, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I was treated with mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and our Lordʼs grace was abundant, bringing faith and love in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” - and I am the worst of them! But here is why I was treated with mercy: so that in me as the worst, Christ Jesus could demonstrate his utmost patience, as an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life. Now to the eternal king, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.”
(1 Timothy 1: 12-17)
Here is how The Message Bible elaborates on these passages.
“I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry. The only credentials I brought to it were violence and witch hunts and arrogance. But I was treated mercifully because I didn’t know what I was doing—didn’t know Who I was doing it against! Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus.
Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One—of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever.”
Deep honor and bright glory
to the King of All Time—
One God, Immortal, Invisible,
ever and always. Oh, yes! (1 Timothy 1:12-17) The Message Bible.
These passages remind me of someone, me. Those who know my past know that at one time in my life I was used by Satan as a user of people, a user of women, a user and dealer of drugs, a user of lies and manipulation towards my parents and friends,, who publicly denied the existence of God. I was “someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy.” I was one who “was treated mercifully” and had “Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus.”
My family, are you one of those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever? I pray right now in faith you will jump off the edge and splash down into the stream of God’s amazing, love, grace and peace. Do you know someone who is right on the edge? I pray you will walk out of your plans today to stand on the edge with them, lovingly hold their hand, and jump with them, rejoicing, laughing and splashing into the stream of God’s amazing, love, grace and peace, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your comments, reflections, or prayers with us in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
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. You're the Peace that surpasses all understanding. So I welcome You and Your peace here in my heart and mind and every moment of my day. ...
"Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all" (2 Thessalonians 3:16).
Your peace is such a discerning factor to help guide my steps along this journey of the adventure of faith. Through the years You've given me some steps to follow in seeking discernment -- whether I'm seeking to discern Your voice in my heart, a choice to make by the guidance of Your Holy Spirit, a prophetic word someone else is sharing with me or the body of Christ or one I sensing a leading to share with someone else, or a teaching, or a doctrine, or anything else where I need to know what is right and true or wrong and false:
My Five Key Steps of Discernment:
1. Does it conform to the written Word of God?
2. Does it conform to the character of God?
3. Does it bear witness with my spirit?
4. Does it bear witness to the council of others I trust?
5. What is the fruit?
The sense of "peace" is a key factor in each of these steps of discernment, but especially in number three -- "Does it bear witness with my spirit?"
Over the past few weeks, I've really been wrestling with discernment on the direction of my future calling and ministry, and my “tent making” to support my calling. I had a significant decision to make. As always, I started in prayer, alone and with my wife. Where I sensed it was ok, I took some initial testing steps of action, while continuing to take my discernment steps. But as I couldn't sense the complete peace I longed to sense as a firm confirmation for such a significant decision, I finally said "no" to the opportunity. And went to bed. The following morning, I praise You that I have such a deep sense of Your peace in my spirit!
We can all "miss it" when we seek Your guidance, because it's so easy for other things to confuse us, distract us, or otherwise get in the way. But I believe it's truly a "win-win" situation if we will first take time to humble ourselves in Your sight, to seek the leading of Your Spirit, and seek to "discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2).
Once we start in humility before You, if we "get it right," You'll confirm it. Even if we "get it wrong," You'll correct us and redeem our mistakes and even lead us back to the place where we stepped off the Your path of Your will to get us back on the right path again. That's just a working out of Your mercy and grace that we have in You as children of God and disciples of Jesus Christ. That's just a working out of one of my favorite life Scriptures that gets me through so much, on my journey of faith:
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23).
So morning by morning -- heart to heart, deep to deep, one step at a time -- I continue my journey with You -- full of Your peace and full of expectant faith to look and see what You will do! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, may you be filled with the One who is your perfect Peace, as you seek to discern the will of God for your life each -- morning by morning, and step by step, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Do you need to talk about something your are discerning and/or need prayer about it? You are welcomed to reach out to me. I wan’t to encourage you to reach out to someone you trust who will listen and discern with love and truth along with you.
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Speak to my heart and lead me in Your ways -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.
"The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, and lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved" (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).
Come, Holy Spirit. Give me a love for the truth. You are "the Spirit of truth" who "comes (to) guide (me) into all the truth" and "glorify (Jesus)" (John 16:13).
Pilot asked Jesus “What is Truth?” And in today’s age of AI and in your face social media posts trying to discern “What is truth?” can be a challenge. And in these days and the days to come, just discerning and knowing the truth will not be enough. As "Even the demons believe -- and shudder" (James 2:19). No, we need more. We need to Love the truth. We need to love the truth, just as a wise person loves correction and discipline (Proverbs 13:1). That's our antidote to the power of deception -- a love for the truth.
Loving truth is different from loving what we want to hear, loving what fits our feelings, loving what fits are lifestyle, or loving what we think is right despite knowing in our gut what You say God is right. And You've already warned us that we will be tempted to give into the pressures of our world to turn from the truth in the times to come: "For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
"The truth" is not simply a statement of faith or mental assent to accurate doctrine. The truth is a person, Jesus Christ. Jesus You are the Truth. You are "the Way, and the Truth, and the Life" (John 15:6). You are the One we need to love. Loving You, loving the One who is Truth, is the Way You've provided to lead us through the confusion, deception, and temptation to compromise to come.
You said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, because He abides with you, and He will be in you" (John 14:15-17).
As I grow in my love for You, I grow in my love for Truth. May my love for You, my love for Truth, my love for the Spirit of Truth within me keep me from being deceived in these days to come -- even by "the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, and lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception." In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you grow not only in your discernment for the truth but also in your love of the truth, in your love for the One who is the Truth every day, so that you are not confused or deceived to give in to the temptation to compromise with God's truth, now and in the days to come, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your comments, reflections, or prayers with us in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
I could use you’re the gift of your financial support for my family and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support my family and ministries through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, 102 Champions Green Drive, Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of all I am and all I do this day.
"This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might, when He comes to be glorified by His saints and to be marveled at on that day among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of His call and will fulfill by His power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thessalonians 1:5-12).
We must behold both the kindness and the severity of God. It's Your heart Jesus to be merciful and kind, full of mercy and love; yet it's our responsibility to respond and embrace the kindness of Your mercy and grace.
There are consequences--eternal consequences--for our choices. Jesus You are "not willing that any should perish, but all to come to repentance," yet we must be willing to humble ourselves to receive and embrace Your salvation through the means You've provided though Your sacrifice of love of the cross.
Let me never take my salvation for granted. May I live each day in gratitude of Your grace, "looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, dispised its shame, and has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endure such hostility against Himself from sinners, so that (we) many not grow weary or lose heart" (Hebrews 12:2-3).
So many of my mornings in the intimacy of prayer with You, You give me a deep sense of Your presence and love. This morning, it seems You're also reminding me that that this intimacy with You came at a great cost. It's honoring of Your sacrifice to see Your kindness in light of Your severity, Your mercy in light of Your judgment, and Your salvation of eternal life for all who believe in light the Your "punishment of eternal destruction" for all who do not. By the grace of God, may I honor You and Your sacrifice for me to never "neglect so great a salvation" (Hebrews 2:3). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray today you embrace with great joy the fullness of your salvation through God's sacrifice of love for you in Jesus Christ, never taking for granted and never neglecting so great a salvation provided for you out of deep love, in Jesus' name! May you share that good news today in every opportunity the Lord provides. 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!
Heal me this morning Jesus by your grace, so I may be a source of healing to others today by your grace..
“With flaming fire he will mete out punishment on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will undergo the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired on that day among all who have believed—and you did in fact believe our testimony. And in this regard we pray for you always, that our God will make you worthy of his calling and fulfill by his power your every desire for goodness and every work of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-18)
I am not a “Doom and Gloom” preacher. I do not use shame as a motivation to get those who don’t know Jesus, to change their ways and fall in love with Him. Paul declares a truth in this chapter, there will be an eternal separation from God for some one day. “With flaming fire he will mete out punishment on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will undergo the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength.” However his words and this letter are not directed to unbelievers, those who have not repented and turned to Christ as a warning to them. His word are directed to the church, those who are in Christ, as a warning and to remind them of the eternal consequences that will happen to their neighbors, friends, family members who do not know Christ.
He is not asking the lost, “Do you know where you will go if you get hit by a bus today?” As the lost do not know. He is speaking to believers in the church who understand eternal security in Christ, “You know what will happen to those who do not know Christ that get hit by a bus today and will be eternally separated from me, SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?” He reminds all believers in the church of Thessalonica that “among all who have believed—and you did in fact believe our testimony.” That the reason they are believers, the reason they are saved in Christ is because they heard and believed Paul and his co-workers testimony about Jesus. The Holy Spirit speaks through this and reminds us in the church today that the only reason we are in the church of believers is because someone:(a parent, grandparent, Sunday school teacher, friend…ect) shared with us and we heard their testimony of Jesus. If they had not we as well would be facing the eternal separation from God.
Paul reminds those in the church that we were saved and made brides of Christ for a purpose, to be “worthy of his calling and fulfill by his power your every desire for goodness and every work of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” We in the church are called to the work of faith which is leading others into faith in Christ by the same grace in which we received it. God is to be glorified in us. How do we glorify God? By leading others to Christ. As every person that perishes robs God of His glory but every person we lead to Christ increases God’s glory.
My family, “doom and gloom” preachers try to scare and shame unbelievers into accepting Christ by asking them, ”Do you know where you will go for eternity if you get hit by a bus?” I. like Paul want to direct this question more accurately to you my family who are in Christ in the church to motivate you out of love; You know of the eternal separation from God that awaits your neighbors, family. friends, co-workers and students sitting next to you, who do not know Christ. Will you love them enough to share your testimony with them today? Jesus earnestly prays that you will. In Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
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!
