“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13: 8-10)
This past Thursday July 4th we celebrated Independence Day and all the freedoms, opportunities, and blessings this country makes available to each one of us. One of those rights, freedoms, and choices made available to us is we have is the choice to love our neighbors. As citizens of the USA we also have the freedom and choice not to love our Neighbor. However, Jesus, as our Lord of Lord’s and King of Kings You did not give us this freedom or choice. We all, as citizens of the kingdom of heaven are not given the option but the command to love our neighbors, to love our neighbors.
Yet most of us spend more time avoiding our neighbors than loving them. We get in the car in our garage in the morning, hit a garage door opener and pull out and head to work or whatever is on our agenda for this trip. We drive past our neighbors. We drive past the poor and the homeless and we pretend not to see them. On the way back home later in the day we repeat the same drive, ignoring and avoiding our neighbors. We push the garage door opener and pull into our garage and close the garage door behind us “successfully” avoiding our any contact with our neighbors, and never even stepping foot in our neighborhood. And if we go outside that evening it is on our back deck of our fenced back yard away from our neighbors.
We know the commandment to love our neighbor. We know that in the final judgment Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats, those who loved their neighbors from those who did not: “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world….‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me… “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” (Matthew 25:34, 40, 41, 45)
We know this, Yet we fence in our yards, build back decks, do not host Bible studies in our homes, and structure most of our lives to avoid our neighbors. We even call where we worship on Sunday’s “Sanctuaries” from the world. Loving your neighbor does nor “just happen.” Loving your neighbor takes intentionality. You have to intentionally set aside and prioritize margins of time in your day and week to love your neighbor. Again, on July 4th we celebrate Independence Day and all the freedoms, opportunities, and blessings this country makes available to each one of us. In my post Thursday, I reflected on how each of us who were blessed to be born in the USA have “Hit the Lottery” and we need to be generous. One of greatest blessings this country has provided each one of us is with houses and apartments to live in. Each one of our homes comes equipped with front doors. Doors that can used to be generous and opened up to welcome and love our neighbors. Or doors that can be used to shut off neighbors and keep them from entering.
Let us recommit to Jesus’ command to love our neighbors! Christians hang on their walls pictures and paintings containing the words from Josua 24:15, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” When in reality they use their homes to only serve themselves and are not using there homes at all to serve the Lord and to obey His command to love their neighbor. You can commit to prayer walking your neighborhood and start a Bible study, prayer group, or other gathering in your home. Invite a different neighbor every other week over for dinner. And join in with other ministries who :love their neighbors” by volunteering at the Manna House, Downtown Rescue Mission, First Stop, House of Harvest or other ministry. “Love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Just like planning a dinner party with friends takes intentionality: setting a date, setting a time, making a guest list and inviting, and planning a menu, loving your neighbors takes the same intentionality. If you do not prioritize dates and times in your calendar, if you do not pray over your guest list and unite, it will never happen.
Take a moment to watch this short video.
My family, watching this video breaks my heart and brings tears to my eyes. I pray it touches your heart as well. I pray today in remembrance of celebrating Independence Day, in all the freedom provided to you by the country, and out of love for God and your neighbor, you intentionally pray on how and where you can add margins of time to your life to love your neighbor. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us on this blog in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Help Us Help Them!
My wife Nancy and I are in a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this season in my life and that of my family. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice as I worship and wait in the communion of prayer. ...
"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity" (1 Timothy 2:1-2).
I looked at a coin on my coffee table and I read the words “In God We Trust”. Like a “pocket cross” or some other prayer reminder people carry in their pockets, do you realize that the coins you carry in your pocket are a reminder of who and where your faith and trust lies?
As we move on from July 4th and the remembrance of the birth of our nation, may we not forget the motto of our nation and may it become an authentic expression of the people of our land, in humility and honor, in faithfulness and obedience before You, O God. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance. The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their heart individually; He considers all their works. No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You" (Psalm 33:12-22).
And Lord, let the motto of our nation be the motto of my heart. By grace and in faith, may I trust in You and Your holy name. Forgive me for when I'm tempted to trust in myself or anything less than Your will as my destiny and Your Word as my authority. Give me a holy fear of the Lord to honor You and a holy love of the Lord to trust You. For me and for my nation, may You always be "our help and our shield," for in God we trust. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray that you pick up a coin and read the motto “In God We Trust.” I pray it reminds you who your faith is set in, and you trust in the Lord with all your heart, leaning not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledging Him and trusting Him to direct your paths--for you and for our nation, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of 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!
If you have been reading my blog posts this week you know because of the 4th of July holiday I have focused my last two posts on the USA and the birth of our Country. If you read my post yesterday you know how blessed I feel to be born in America and have “hit the lottery". The picture of the flag in this post is in front of my house. So this morning, do not to take this post out of the overall context of my reflections or feelings for our country. This morning I simply reflect on another aspect of this July 4th holiday. I am starting off my blog post today with a blog from one of my favorite missionologist, Michael Frost. My comments will follow.
“I don’t love my country.
There, I said it.
I’m a citizen of Australia, a relatively peaceful, prosperous, liberal democracy with a pleasant climate, kangaroos, beautiful beaches and an impressive opera house.
I’m grateful for the considerable benefits my citizenship brings. I’d rather be Australian than Syrian or North Korean or South Sudanese. I cheer enthusiastically for our national rugby team and politely explain to Americans how Australia and New Zealand are different countries and why being Australian is better.
But I don’t love my country.
(I don’t even really think it’s better to be an Australian than a New Zealander).
In fact, whenever I allow myself to give into those tribal inclinations to defend my country as better than any other I can’t sense the Holy Spirit behind that at all.
It’s tribalism. It’s factionalism. It’s divisiveness and superiority. It deceives me into overlooking the racism and injustice perpetrated in my country’s name and to focus on flimsy and ill-defined definitions of my national “character”.
And yet so many Christians appear to equate national loyalty with faithfulness to God.
Billy Sunday, the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century, once wrote, “Christianity and Patriotism are synonymous terms, and hell and traitors are synonymous.”
It’s a trap, surely, to confuse the Christian faith with the religion of American patriotism.
Remember, the term patriotism derives from the root word, patris, meaning “fatherland”. Surely, those of us who put our faith in Christ accept that our Father is God, not our nation.
And before you go saying the Bible teaches we should be patriotic, it doesn’t!
Sure, in Romans 13 Paul calls on the church to be subject to political authority. And when writing to Titus, he explains that the Roman Empire is a strange blessing in that it keeps the peace and allows the church to flourish: “…remind them (the believers at Crete) to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed.” (Titus 3:1)
Moreover, Paul not only commends obedience to authorities, but also that we pray for them. I Timothy 2:1-2 states,
“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quite life in all godliness and dignity.”
It could be argued that to pray for someone is to love them, but note that Paul’s motivations in Romans 13, Titus 3 and 1 Tim 2 are all somewhat self-serving. He doesn’t want Christians to become enemies of the state because it will impede the spread of the gospel.
I can’t distil from any of these passages the least inclination in Paul that the early Christians should love the empire and feel patriotic about their citizenship in it.
In fact, Paul’s injunctions to live at peace in the empire sound more like the prophet Jeremiah’s advice to the Babylonian exiles. When the Israelites were conquered by their mortal enemy and forcibly repatriated as hostage-slaves to Babylon, God encouraged them to live at peace on foreign soil:
“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters …. Increase in number there; do not decrease” (Jer. 29:5-6).
But more than that, God tells them to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jer. 29:7).
Far from promoting patriotism, both Paul and Jeremiah appear to be liberating the people of God from it, telling them they can make our home anywhere. In other words, it is the duty of the people of God to seek stability, peace, and prosperity wherever they go. This includes supporting the nation in which we live, but not loving it.
Polycarp, a 2nd Century bishop, was martyred for his faith around AD156. He was aged in his mid 80s by then and much loved by all who knew him. Even the soldiers tasked with his execution wanted to offer him a way out. They told him all he had to do to avoid being burned at the stake was to light incense to the Emperor and declare, “Caesar is lord.” But Polycarp refused: “Eighty-six years I have served Christ, and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”
That was awfully unpatriotic of him.
I take David Gushee’s point that because gratitude is an important Christian quality, we do well to show our thankfulness to God for the opportunity to live in free and prosperous nations (for him, the US, and me, Australia). Okay, but is that the same a loving my country?
For those of us in Christ, our citizenship is in the kingdom of God. Any nationality we adopt is only provisional. This is Paul’s view, as best I can figure it out. He drew heavily on the benefits of Roman citizenship without ever investing his identity in it.
Likewise, we can’t focus our identities around being American or Australian, British or South African, as if this means anything in the eternal scheme of things. Otherwise we fall into the idolatry of patriotism, believing that any one nation’s or people’s cause is more worthy than another’s. That kind of thing only leads to bloodshed and suffering.
I think it’s fun when on national holidays we eat provincial cuisine and watch local sports and recall our nation’s history and give thanks for the advantages our citizenship affords us. And I think it’s beautiful when the followers of Jesus can bow their heads on such days and recall they have been set free from parochialism and condescension, racism and militarism, and can thank God their citizenship is in a coming kingdom of justice, reconciliation, wholeness and peace.” (Michael Frost)
Here are my comments: The first church I pastored was a small country church and the majority of the parishioners were senior citizens. When I walked in the church I noticed they had pictures of church members and family members of the church who were veterans wearing their uniforms hanging on the wall along the back and side of the church. They had hung them there for a Memorial Day service several years ago and were never taken down. In the front of the church behind the prayer rail and altar to the right of the cross that hung in the center of the front wall, stood a large American flag on a pole in a brass stand. I was appointed to the church in June and I was only there a few weeks when I led my first service during the July 4th. I can still remember the opening hymn for that service that Sunday was “Amazing Grace.” A powerful hymn and a popular hymn, and the congregation sat in their pews as they sung it, most from memory, looking around at their neighbors and the woman leading the singing. Because it was the July Fourth Sunday, the next hymn they sang was “God Bless America.” As soon as the sweet lady behind the piano began playing the melody of the song, the whole atmosphere in the church changed! I hate to say it, but to one of deep reverence and importance. The whole congregation left their pew seats and stood up. They placed their hands over their hearts, stopped glancing at their neighbors, their eyes focused forward on the American Flag up front, and they sang louder and with more passion to this song than they did to the great hymn of the faith before it. And I remember thinking to myself, if somehow it was possible for someone to walk into that church who knew nothing about Christianity or the USA; maybe someone from outer space who had no idea what the cross or the American flag meant. And they simply observed the church service and the congregation and its worship; Who or what would they perceive as the reason the church was gathered and the main focus their worship was directed towards? It would not be the cross and what ever it stood for, but the American Flag and what it stood for.
Or if a person from another country attended that church with the veteran’s pictures on the wall and flag up front, how comfortable would they be in that service?
This troubled me. Now being a pastor and only at that church a few weeks, I knew that If I pointed this out to them and asked for the removal of the American Flag from up front and the taking down of the pictures of the veterans from the walls, it would be suicidal to my ministry there. So I Prayed, I Loved the congregations, and waited until I had enough ethos and a relationship with them to make a point. When Christmas came, the ladies of the church set up a large and beautiful nativity scene in the front of the church near the altar. One Sunday morning before the service, I took a small American flag, and I stood it up in the nativity scene right behind the manger that baby Jesus was laying in surrounded by Mary and Joseph. As the ladies who set up the nativity scene and the congregations came in that morning, they saw the nativity scene and the flag stuck in it and they complained to me and said, “Why did you put that American flag there? Jesus was not American. The flag does not belong there.” I said, ”Exactly!” And motioned with my head to the flag at the front of the church.
As I stated in the beginning of my reflection the flag hanging in the picture is in front of my house. When I look down my street, the are many houses with Americans flag hanging in front of them. This was similar to Memorial Day and other national holidays. However, I have never looked down my street, no matter what the holiday of our faith was; Easter, All Saints Day, Pentecost…etc and seen more than half the house in my neighborhood with crosses out or Christian banners hanging in front of their homes. Why are we so bold to proudly declare to everyone without reservation our patriotism and love for our country, however not our love for Jesus?
"Then God spoke all these words, saying,“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:1-5)
Please share your thoughts and reflections to my blog 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, I prioritize you as I begin my days that I may prioritize serving others throughout my day.
I am reflecting this morning on today’s celebration of July 4th and the birth of our country. I believe that as Christians we are called to claim are citizenship as citizens of God’s kingdom and to view the whole world as our neighbors. We are to imitate Jesus and have a world view of salvation, “God so loved the World” (John 3:16). Yet though we are citizens of heaven, those of us who live in this world in the USA are truly blessed and need to be exceedingly grateful and exceedingly generous. The USA is truly an amazing country of wealth and opportunity. We who live in America, most of the time can’t see how blessed we are to live in the USA, as illustrated by these stories of people I have encountered who have hit the lottery.
A while back I went of a mission trip for over three weeks to Southern Darfur in South Sudan, Africa. I was part of a team that worked with the children and people ravaged by the war and genocide by the Muslims of North Sudan. We dug five water wells to provide drinking water to those affected by the poisoning of their wells by the North. At the completion of one well a Sudanese woman and her three small children came to the well to drink and bath. I had brought bars of soap with me and I gave one to the woman. She took the bar of soap and cried out in a high shrill cry that is typical of African woman, “Aiy yi yi yi yi yiy yiyi !!!! She moved her naked children to the well and started pumping water and soaping them down, continually crying out full of joy! To her she had just hit the lotto! God knows if she had if ever had a whole bar of soap in her life and she treated it like gold as she washed herself and her family.
My wife Nancy and I for years were part of a group that walked “The Hill,” a, poor, high crime, high drug use area of Guntersville handing out flyers inviting the families to a free community Thanksgiving Day meal hosted by Guntersville FUMC. Every year, as Nancy would say, my heart would be impacted by a couple families I came in contact with and I would “adopt” them. I would bring their names to the small group I belonged to and we would buy them food, cloths and other items for them for Christmas. One Christmas Nancy and I brought these items to a poor family I met. The mom had a small son around kindergarten age. I remember the boy going up to the box of food and his eyes got big as he saw a large jar of peanut butter. He grabbed it and came up to me and Nancy and asked if he could have it, if it was really his? We said yes. The boy hugged the jar of peanut butter and shouted and danced anround the small living room of his HUD apartment! To him he had hit the lotto! Then he sat down on his barely furnished living room on the concrete floor, took the lid off the jar, and with the biggest grin and joy started eating the peanut butter out of the jar with a spoon. I remember thinking, if I had given my young children a jar of peanut butter for Christmas they would have pouted and looked at me “like really?” Yet to this poor boy, this jar of peanut butter was an unimaginable gift, he had hit the lottery and treated it like gold.
A couple years ago I served on a Chrysalis team that served and shared the Gospel for 4 days with a group of teenage boys. One of the boys I got to know asked me to talk. He told me about some family abuse and neglect he lived in. Tears came to his eyes as he talked about his grandma that passed away that he loved. He said she was the one that loved and was always there for him. He told me how she lived in this huge house. “It was like a mansion!” he said. It had a big kitchen and lots of rooms. He and his brothers and sisters would go over there often and she would cook them grilled cheese and help them with their homework. Then the teenage boy said they would run around and play in her large house and yard. He pulled out his cell phone and showed me a picture of him and his grandma in front of a home. I asked if that was his grandmother’s house behind him. He smiled and said as he showed me the picture, “Yes! It is a double-wide trailer with a built on front porch!” Honestly, I must confess when I think of a “huge house”, “a mansion”, a double-wide trailer with a porch does not come to my mind. But to this boy, because of the poverty he came from, in his mind he hit the lottery when he got a grandma who lived in that double-wide that he could escape into and his memory of it was priceless, like gold to him.
Each of us who were born in the USA have hit the biggest lottery we could ever imagine for which we rarely give thanks to God; Being born I the USA. When each of our heads came out of our mother’s womb it could have been anywhere in the world. It could have been in the bush in a grass hut in war torn Khartoum Sudan, Africa. A slum of half a million people in India. In a tent behind a barbed wire fence in a Syrian refuge camp. However, by some miraculous chance our heads came out in a hospital bed in the USA. We did not earn it or deserve it or were entitled to it. We simply hit the lottery. We won an ultimate prize that billions of people in the world dream and long for, and many desperately try to gain everyday, the prize of US citizenship.
Because of this all of us need to be more generous and none of us have a right to complain. I was doing that the other day with my wife as talked to her about our ministry. We raise our own support ad I was telling her how if we just had one person of all the “rich” in Madison give $50k donation we would be set for a year. I was complaining about our financial situation. And then God brought to my mind the stories I shared above and many others, and I shut up and repented.
If I ever feel like complaining, that I am “owed something,” or that “ I’m entitled to to something” or that “life’s not fair,” I need to go pull out my birth certificate. Then look at the line of “Nation of Birth” that is stamped USA, and remind myself ”USA” means Ultimate Sweepstake Award. And then shut up, fall on my knees and thank God, and go be extremely generous.
My family, I do not know what struggles our hardships you are going through, I am not trying to make light of them, and I am praying for you. However, I pray you fall to you knees and thank God that you are going through them in America. I pray today as the greatest way to celebrate the birth of our country, you simply shut up and go out and be extremely generous today, 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!
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!
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16
Tomorrow e will celebrate the July 4th holiday and the birth of out Country. I prayed over our country this morning. The statistic is given that there are over 185 million secular functioning people that do not know any basics of the Bible in America. This makes America the third largest mission field in the world.
Those 180 million people are members of your family, co-workers, classmates, fellow gym members, waitresses, and your neighbors. I watched the movie the insanity of God. It iss a movie on persecution of Christian and the sharing of the Gospel in dangerous places in the world. One scene of the movie looked at China. In China, even though there is horrific persecution of Christians taking place in that country, millions of people are coming into the saving faith in Christ Jesus and the church is booming. The interviewer there asked them why that is? They answered their persecutors who are atheists attack those who the share the Gospel and will not share it today or any day with anyone. So we share the gospel daily. If we go through the day and do not share the Gospel with anyone, who’s side are we on, Jesus’ or our persecutors? If we do not share the Gospel today, we choose to side with them. As how is our silence in sharing the Gospel any different than there’s is? There is the sin of omission. Failing to do what the gift of your salvation compels you to do.
You can’t do it wrong. You do not have to be a theological expert. Most of those who are sharing the Gospel in China have not read much of the Bible. Some of their underground churches have just got a copy of a book of the Bible or two passed on to them.
Read Ephesians 3:7-13; Acts 4:12
My family, I would ask you then to take time, yes time, to write out the Gospel. Have you ever wrote out the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Write it out to enforce and remind you of it, so you will have more clarity and comfort in sharing it. Then pray over what you wrote, and ask the Holy Spirit to give you an unavoidable opportunity to share it today, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you for my friends!
Please share your reflections from reading my friends email with me and others in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
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“In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great - but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” Ephesians (5:28-32)
This morning instead of me writing a reflection, I am sharing with you a reflection I received from a good friend of mine in an email yesterday. His marriage is trying, he does not want a divorce, and we have have been talking and praying over it. His “Revelation” as he calls it speaks into the heart of Pauls words from the passage above. I was blessed and reminded of the high calling and holiness of marriage when I read it. I asked him if I could share it with others to remind them as well, leaving his and his wife’s name out of it of course, and he agreed. Here is the email he sent me.
“Gary,
I wanted to share with you a revelation I had this morning while praying. I also want to get it down in writing while I can, but I’m fighting A LOT of distractions this morning. Almost like someone doesn’t want me to dwell on this… Now who would do that? Maybe… SATAN?!?! (You have to picture Dana Carvey doing his Church Lady skit for that one)
Anyway, I was praying this morning tell Jesus that I believe, I trust, I love, but I want a deeper relationship with Him. I want to really know Him. I want a personal, intimate relationship with Him and really feel His presence in my life like a best friend, but then I realized Best Friend doesn’t quite mean what I want. I don’t want a God that I can hang out with, drink beer, howl at the moon and tell each other lies about the girls we dated. That’s absurd!
So, I had to think about what I do want in a relationship with Jesus. It came to me that it’s a 2-way street; what I want from Him and what He wants from me. Or to state it from the other side of the same coin, what He’s willing to do for me and what I’m willing to do for Him.
I know He’s done EVERYTHING for me; the whole Bible is the story of what He’s done for me! It also tells me what He wants from me, Love and obedience out of Love and Trust, not obligation. These are very BIG concepts and make me feel very far away from a close, personal relationship with Jesus. I understand them on an intellectual basis (as far as my mind can handle) but it’s hard for me to put this into a personal perspective.
I had to pull back a bit and ask myself “What do you want in a relationship with this God who did all this for you?”. That’s an idea I can handle, even without coffee. What I want is to know Him, really know Him, deeper than a best friend or even a brother. I want Him to be on my mind all day, and to be missing Him when I wake up in the morning and can’t wait to spend time with Him and I want to feel His presence like He’s physically here with me and can give me big hug when I’ve had a bad day and can guide me and give me direction on the best days.
Keeping in mind the He is God, I also want to be in awe of Him and worship Him and learn about Him and obey Him. I want Him to be God in this relationship so I can trust Him and know He’s got this, no matter what comes up, even if what He says to do seems illogical. I want Him to be the leader in this relationship. We’re not equals, and I don’t want Him to be my equal because I’m a mess, but I still want that intimacy from a one-on-one relationship. I want to feel like I’m the only one in the world when I’m with Him and feel His love for me and love Him and respect Him and worship Him. I want to be his Bride; both as part of the Church and as an individual. I want Him to be my Bridegroom and know that He loves me and can protect me and provide for me!
And then it hit me. BAM! This is what I want in my house, in my life, and in my marriage. I’m not saying my wife should worship me and obey me even when I’m illogical. (Well, maybe a little) I'm saying I want her to know that I do love her and will protect her and provide for her. I am her Bridegroom. I love her and will do anything for her, even die for her. I want a close, personal, intimate relationship with her and really know her and miss her when we’re apart. I want her to know I’ll give her a big hug when she’s having a bad day and I can guide her on her best day because I love her. I want her to know she can trust me because I trust Jesus. I want her to feel secure knowing that I’ve been appointed as the head of the house by Jesus, just as He is the head of the Church, and if I’m following Him it’s going to be OK, even when it seems illogical. I want her to know it’s a HUGE job and I can’t do it alone but with her and Jesus we can make it. The 3 of us are in this together and if we cling to each other instead of trying to do this alone it’s going to be alright.
I realize it’s my job to do all this for her just like Jesus, my Bridegroom, does for me. I must love if I want love. I must obey if I want to be obeyed. I must respect if I want to be respected. My actions and thoughts and feelings are my responsibility and I’ve been negligent. I can’t change my wife, but I can change and show her Jesus. She desires all these things from me so that she can trust me as her Bridegroom. She wants to know that whatever happens, I’ll be there for her just like Jesus is here for us. I need to be the Bridegroom to her that Jesus is to me!!!”
Anonymous Husband
My family, I pray that all you husbands and wives, and those of you considering marriage to another, have this same revelation concerning your marriage and spouse, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections from reading my friends email with me and others in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I could use your financial support for One Direction Community, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
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Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me start this day and work week embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit.
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back" (Luke 6:38).
In the ways of Your Spirit, we reap what sow. The harvest of our lives reveals the seeds that were sown in our hearts. And every seed bears fruit after its own kind. "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. I you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:7-9).
You've given me good seed: Your Word, Your Spirit, Your Life, all sown into my soul. Let it grow up in me, into maturity, into a "harvest of righteousness" where all is right with God, right with others, right within myself, all by the power of Your grace at work within me each day (Philippians 1:11).
So let my plans, and my actions this weekend be an expression of what You've done in me. You've sown so much of Your grace into me, a "good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over." Give me the wisdom and the desire to sow Your grace into every encounter I'll have today and this weekend. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you experience the good measure of God's grace in your life today and throughout this weekend, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections from reading this post with me and others and your prayers in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
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!
I sit and open my Bible and open my heart and mind to receive you love and guidance over my life today.
Last night at our House Church gathering in our home I played this video below by Michael Frost. In it He shares a message drawn from Jesus’ priestly prayer found in John 17. He highlights the facts that each one of us is God’s gift to Jesus, God’s gift to each other, and God’s gift to the world. He demonstrates this by sharing an amazing story of transformation in a slump in Cambodia, And He asks us all this question we all must discern, “To Whom are you sent?”
So fo my message this morning I am posting the video by Michael Frost to watch or play and listen to the audio of it sometime today. I would love to hear your comments after watching/listening to the video. Post them in the comments box below.
My family, I pray by listening to this video you will come to a deeper understanding that you are a gift from God to Jesus, A gift from God to eat other, and a gift from God to the world, and be able to answer the question, “To whom are you sent.”. In Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Please support and partner with myself and my family with your end-of-year financial gift as we serve as local missionaries to those in our community Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!
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Good morning, Lord Jesus. This intimate time I begin my day with is my life-line. My personal prayer time with You in the morning sets the path for all the other times throughout my day. You're always with me and You're with me deeply and intimately in these first moments of my morning, keeping me fully aware and actively engaged with You throughout all the other moments of my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.
"I keep the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body rests secure.... You show me the path of life. In Your Presence there is fullness of joy; in Your right hand are pleasures forevermore!" (Psalm 16:8-11)
Thank You for the joy of Your Presence. Thank You that it brings You joy when I embrace You and Your Word and Your Presence with me (John 15:11 and 16:24). And with the promise of Your Presence to Your first disciples and to all Your disciples in every age, You speak to our spirits today saying, "I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you" (John 16:20). By the abiding Presence of Your Holy Spirit, "the Spirit of Christ", with us and within us, we can see You and embrace You, again and again, every moment of every day (Romans 8:9).
You promised, "I Am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). So You are! And so my heart is glad and my soul rejoices in the fullness of joy in the intimacy of Your Presence, every day to the end of the age! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you experience the joy of the Presence of Jesus in your heart -- as you begin your day in the intimacy and communion of prayer with Him and throughout every moment of your day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Please support and partner with myself and my family with your end-of-year financial gift as we serve as local missionaries to those in our community Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!
“When Jesus entered the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd, he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but asleep.” And they began making fun of him” (Matthew 9:23-24)
Curtis Sergeant is an amazing man who has planed thousands of churches around the world, and consults with NGOs (Non Government Organizations and CPMs (Church Planting Movement) leaders around the world. He told me the story of when he was over in Asia in a secret location, where CPM leaders had gathered from around the world to pray, train and equip each other. Curtis said they had just gathered, when news came to one of the leaders that two of his church planting operatives in a city had just been put to death. The leader told Jesus he had to go back immediately. Curtis told him he was so sorry for what had happened, however he said all who had gathered had traveled great distances to get here, and great security and secrecy had been in place to allow this meeting to happen, could the leader just stay for a few hours of a day and fly back tomorrow. The leader looked at Curtis and said, I need to go back now to pray and see if Jesus will raise these dead men. Curtis thought to himself what he would do if a couple of his operatives were martyred and put to death. He would notify their family of the incident. Inform his board and discuss who they would send in to replace them. Contact the media to control and get a media story out. However, flying out immediately to go see if Jesus would raise his dead operatives back to life would not be on his list. The leaders faith and expectancy of the poser and ability of God both amazed and convicted him.
If I were to ask you, ask those in the church the question, How many believe that God can raise the dead?” I think most if not all hands would go up. If I asked the question, “How many expect to see God raise the dead today?” Many fewer, if not all hands would remain at people’s sides. Having a belief that God can raise the dead and expecting that God will and is raising the dead are two very different things.
Our simple, maybe even strong belief for many in the church that God can raise the dead comes out of our cognitive brain. It is a fact or data we hold to be true. It is like our belief in the fact that Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the USA. What impact does your belief in the fact that Abaraham Lincoln was the 16th president have on your live today? None. What does your simple head knowledge that God can raise the dead have on your life today? None. The churches simple belief in the fact or truth that God can raise the dead has not and cannot impact on our daily life today without an expectancy that God will and is raising the dead today.
In Matthew 9:18-26 is the story of Jesus raising a young girl back to life. When Jesus tells them he was going to raise her back to life the crowd around him did not believe or support him but they laughed at him. If someone told you after the death of someone that they were going to pray and see if God could raise them from the dead, and if they asked you to come pray as well, would your thoughts be similar to those of the crowds?
The church is the place that professes Jesus is Lord, but it does not do “Jesus is Lord” well. Can I say that? We say Jesus is Lord the same way we say Lincoln was the 19th president. We say it absent for the most part of any expectancy of power and presence in our lives.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism in which I am an ordained clergy said before he died looking into the future of the church, “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid, lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.”
Read Matthew chapters 8 and 9 and see the expectancy and power of Jesus.
My family, I pray you will walk out of your door expecting to see God raising the dead and doing amazing miracles in the world today, because he is! All in and through 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 would appreciate your prayer and also any support for support myself as we reach our neighbors with the gospel through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!
TO GIVE , CLICK HERE
Good morning Jesus, Lover of my soul. I start my day in that complete assurance of your love for me.
“While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue rulerʼs house saying, “Your daughter has died. Why trouble the teacher any longer?” But Jesus, paying no attention to what was said, told the synagogue ruler, “Do not be afraid; just believe.”…. When he entered he said to them, “Why are you distressed and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they began making fun of him. But he put them all outside and he took the childʼs father and mother and his own companions and went into the room where the child was. Then, gently taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up.” The girl got up at once and began to walk around ... They were completely astonished at this. “ (Mark 5:35-42)
Saturday morning I served at the House of the Harvest distributing food. I served alongside some amazing teenagers who get up before 6:00am on a Sturdy to serve. As we served we talked and I heard stories of what some of them are going through. So my heart and mind this morning is on our youth. Our teenage sons and daughters who are growing up in raw and unfiltered exposure to the world through the unlimited access to social media. Teenagers, who because of the proliferation of divorce, the break down of the family and the re-defining of family lack the safe place to be loved, mentored and guided through these experiences. Teenagers being exposed to “Sexting” and other sexual perversions. Teenagers, who because of societies perversion of what is “success” have egotistical and narcissistic role models to follow. Teenagers, who the ruler of the world is subversively whispering into their parents, teachers, and pastors ears, “Your daughter is dead.” V.35.
Over our teenage youth I cry out, Lord have mercy! Christ have mercy! Lord have mercy! I pray the Holy Spirit will surround them and protect and empower them. I pray that through men and women in love with Jesus, and direct revelation form the Father in prayer, they will experience Jesus taking them by the hand, bring them back to life, and get up and walk, run, and lead a renewal in our churches. communities and families.
“Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” After he took the children in his arms, he placed his hands on them and blessed them.” (Mark 10:14-16)
My family, I pray today you will seek out a teenager who needs the love and guidance of a mentor who is in love with and guided by Jesus. You may be 80, and they may be 16, however both of you will be richly blessed by the time you spend together. Pray over this today. in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!!!
Please share your thoughts and reflections with us in the comments box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I would appreciate your prayer and also any support for support myself as we reach our neighbors with the gospel through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!
TO GIVE , CLICK HERE
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I look to You and listen for Your leading to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit. ...
So I am still reading in Genesis. Thinking of the journey we're on in our world today, with all its uncertainties and unknowns, I'm thinking of Abraham, when You first spoke to him and called him on his life-long journey of faith in You.
"Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.... So Abram went, as the Lord had told him..." (Genesis 12:1-4).
Like Abram, in some ways I feel like I have no clue about where my journey ahead is leading me. "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going" (Hebrews 11:8). And at the same time, You've given me a measure of guidance without giving me all the details, You've spoken to me Your word without overriding my free will. Like Abram, I'm on a "need to know basis" and You call me to trust You alone with knowing what I need to know and when I need to know it. And the same is true with every one of us in our world right now.
Hundreds of years and many generations after You first spoke those words to Abram -- after You changed his name and changed his character, after You passed down the blessings and the calling and the destiny to his children and children's children -- there came a time when the sons and daughters of Abraham were finally crossing over to enter in to their Promise Land of their inheritance. You commanded them to follow the Ark of the Covenant, saying through Your leaders, "Follow it, so that you may know the way you should go, for you have not passed this way before" (Joshua 3:2-4).
It's a journey of faith and not sight, as Your Word says, "We walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). And Abraham is called the father of the faith, "the father of all of us," of "those who share the faith of Abraham" (Romans 4:16). "Hoping against hope, he believed.... being fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised" (Romans 4:18-21).
We don't call Abraham "the father of having it all figured out" or "the father who always knows best because he always knows what lies ahead" or "the father who never fails, never falters, never falls because he's so holy and perfect and pure in his own self-righteousness." No, we call him "the father of the faith" because "his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:22), because "he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God" (Romans 4:20).
The faith of Abraham speaks to us of Your invitation to put out all our faith in You. These are uncertain days and we've never been this way before. But by the power of Your grace at work within us, we will look to You, we will trust You, we fill follow You on our unfolding journey of faith in You, growing strong in our faith as we give glory to You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. As we do, we enter in to our Promised Land and receive "all the blessings of Abraham" in You (Galatians 3:14). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, may you be filled with faith to trust in God to lead us into the land and into these times He's set before us, where we've never been before, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your thoughts and reflections with us in the comments box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
I would appreciate your prayer and also any support for support myself as we reach our neighbors with the gospel through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758. Thank You!
TO GIVE , CLICK HERE
“Now the king of Syria was at war with Israel. He consulted his advisers, who said, “Invade at such and such a place.” But the prophet sent this message to the king of Israel, “Make sure you donʼt pass through this place because Syria is invading there.” So the king of Israel sent a message to the place the prophet had pointed out, warning it to be on its guard. This happened on several occasions.
This made the king of Syria upset. So he summoned his advisers and said to them, “One of us must be helping the king of Israel.” One of his advisers said, “No, my master, O king. The prophet Elisha who lives in Israel keeps telling the king of Israel the things you say in your bedroom.” The king ordered, “Go, find out where he is, so I can send some men to capture him.” The king was told, “He is in Dothan.” So he sent horses and chariots there, along with a good-sized army. They arrived during the night and surrounded the city.
The prophetʼs attendant got up early in the morning. When he went outside there was an army surrounding the city, along with horses and chariots. He said to Elisha, “Oh no, my master! What will we do?” He replied, “Donʼt be afraid, for our side outnumbers them.” Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he can see.” The LORD opened the servantʼs eyes and he saw that the hill was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
(2Kings 6:6-17)
Last night at our House Church gathering we read and discussed over these passages. We reminded each other of who is on our side in our challenges, struggles and battles in our lives. We need to lift our eyes above the what is presented to us by the world and focus our eyes on of Christ and what he presents for us. We need to stop having anxiety on the challenges that surround us based on our limited competency and resources to fight them, and on the limitless, abundance or God’s provisions and power to face them and defeat them. We need to surrender, ask, knock and receive all the help God desires to give us.(Matt 7:7-8) We need to remind ourselves “if God is for us, who can be against us and that in all things we have complete victory through Jesus who loves us! (Romans 8:31,37)
We need to remember as the passage above assures us that God hears and knows all our struggles and thoughts. He knows what we are speaking and thinking in the quiet of our bedrooms and what is keeping us up at night. He will never abandon or forsake us. (Jeremiah 12:7). And we need to seek out the “Elishas” in our lives. People of God who we can confided in who will help us discern which place we are to go, not go, and the direction God is calling us to go.
My family, I pray today you will take a minute to remember who is on your side and as the lyrics to the old hymn say, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face and the things of Earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.” In Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us n the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
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Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart…
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).
Lord, I seek You with my eyes and with my heart. I seek You with passion and with faith. I seek You to find You and embrace You, to hold on to You and be held by You. I seek You first and throughout the moments of my day. And you reward me with a deep sense of Your Presence, with the confident assurance You'll never let go. As someone has said, "I'm safe and secure in Your no-slip grip."
Blessed are those who seek You with all their heart for they will be the ones who find You (Jeremiah 29:13). You said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8, NKJ). You are the God who gives good things to those who ask and seek and knock (v. 7:11). You are the God who always gives Your very Spirit to all who will humbly and passionately pursue You in spirit and truth (Luke 11:13). And so I set my sights to seek You by faith more passionately each day than the day before - as best as I can and all by Your grace.
Heart of my own heart whatever befall,
Still be thou my vision oh ruler of all!
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, may you set your sights to pursue our God with passion and faith, more every day. May you find Him and embrace Him and never let go of Him. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us n the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be Lord of my heart and all my desires, Lord of my mind and all my thoughts, Lord of my will and all my choices. ...
"Multitudes, multitudes,
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
The Lord roars from Zion,
and utters His voice from Jerusalem,
and the heavens and the earth shake.
But the Lord is a refuge for His people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.
So you shall know that I, the Lord your God,
dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
and strangers shall never again pass through it.
In that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the stream beds of Judah
shall flow with water;
a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the Wadi Shittim" (Joel 3:14-18).
I was reminded in the news this morning that Election Day in America is just around the corner. Multitudes will go down to "the valley of decision" to cast their vote and speak their voice and make their choice.
Come, Holy Spirit. May the decisions made by the multitudes be decisions led by Your Spirit, informed by Your Word, guided by Your principles of the Kingdom of God and the authority of Your Scripture. May every decision we make today as we begin our week and every day be viewed as important and be decisions for life and not death, for blessing and not cursing, exalting Your ways in our land as one nation under God.
"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne" (Psalm 89:14). And "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord" (Psalm 33:12).
If our choices are right and our decisions are true, the mountains and hills, the streams and plains, will flow with the blessings of God. "A fountain shall come forth!"
Lord, let Your Fountain of Living Water come forth in our land. Let there be revival, awakening, and harvest as never before, as the heart of our nation continues to return to You. Move in Your power. Move by Your grace.
Against all odds, move in impossible and mighty ways that only You can do, so that all will see and know that only You have done this. For "Nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37) and "With God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). As we await decisions of elections, may Your multitudes remember as we pray in faith for our land that "All things are possible for those who believe" (Mark 9:23). And no matter what will happen at the close of this day and through the days to come, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love (You), who are called according to Your purpose" (Romans 8:28). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, may you make your decisions this day and every day led by the Holy Spirit, informed by God's Word, guided by His principles and the authority of His Scripture, receiving an overflowing fountain of God's blessings in your life, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. And I join with you and so many in continued prayer over the elections and for all we're facing in our world. God bless you, my friends!
Please share your reflections and prayers with us n the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
Thank You!
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I welcome You into my heart and every moment of my day. ...
"But as for me, I will sing about Your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about Your unfailing love. For You have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress" (Psalms59:16 NLT).
Tuesday evening I drove down to my daughters house in Birmingham and spent two days doing maintenance on their home:: yearly cleaning maintenance of HVAC system inside and outside, pest control, basement water barrier maintenance, install new toilet, electrical, car maintenance,…act. What dad’s do for their daughters! One thing I love about hanging out with my daughters is we are a family of singers! My wife and two daughters are always singing and maybe breaking out a move. So though the work may not be fun, my family is and it keeps a smile on my face! Jesus love for you and me is the same way. Though our labor for his kingdom may not always be fun, if we listen while we are doing it we will always her Jesus singing his song of love and grace over us. It flows out of his heart of complete joy for us so we can have complete joy in our hearts!
Thank You for waking me almost every morning with a song in my spirit! It's Your Spirit singing in my spirit, just as Your Word invites us to do. "I will sing in the Spirit" (1 Corinthians 14:15).
And I sing with joy of Your unfailing love. I sing with joy to the One who is my Refuge and my Place of Safety -- to the One who rescues me from distress, who delivers me from evil, who heals me from hurt, who comforts me with care, who leads me in the path of life in You.
As for me, I will sing about Your power. I will sing about Your love. I will sing about who You are and all You do.
No matter what I may go through or what may try to go through me or run over me or try to hold me back or shut me down or shut me up, I will sing and I will praise, full of joy for Your unfailing love! They can't take that from me. They can't put a mask over that. They can't distance me from the One who created me and calls me by name to wake up every morning with Your joy in my spirit because You've poured Your unfailing love into my heart! "I will sing of the Lord's unfailing love forever!" (Psalm 89:1) In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
My family, may you be filled with the Holy Spirit of the Living God and wake up this morning and every morning singing of His unfailing love, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
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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
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. Yesterday we sang the song Surrounded at our worship service. I woke up singing it so I sing Your name over all, and surrender my all to You. ...
"(The king of Aram) said, 'Go and find where (Elisha) is; I will send and seize him.' He was told, 'He is in Dothan.' So he sent horses and chariots there and a great army; they came by night, and surrounded the city. When the attendant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, an army of horse and chariots was all around the city. His servant said, 'Alas, master! What shall we do?' He replied, 'Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than there are with them.' Then Elisha prayed: 'O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.' So the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw; the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha!" (2 Kings 6:13-17).
In the morning, when I rise, no doubt there are great armies of horses and chariots, armed with weapons of worry and fear, confusion and chaos, hopelessness and despair, ready to come riding down on my mind and my spirit to overwhelm and overcome me, battling to take my thoughts captive. They want to present themselves as big and mighty, too much to overcome and no chance to stand against them, projecting themselves to be much bigger and much stronger than they are. They want to demand my attention, the priority of my thoughts, in the very first moments of my morning to plunder the treasure of my time with You.
But my Master, You open my eyes to see! You lift my eyes to the hills where my help comes from! You open my spirit to perceive the truth I'm not alone, I'm not overwhelmed, I'm not overcome. You draw my heart into the intimacy of Your strong embrace and security of Your steadfast love. And You remind me "The One who is in (me) is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).
As I look to You and give You the priority of my day, the first thoughts of my morning, as my first act of worship in prayer and praise, my spiritual enemies don't look so big and mighty. In the light of Your truth and the Presence of Your Spirit, they flee away at the sound of my praise and the authority of my prayers in the power of Your name. "Let God arise; let His enemies be scattered; let those who hate Him flee before Him!" (Psalm 68:1)
Thank You, my Master, my Lord and Savior, for opening the eyes of my heart to see You, to know You, to experience Your Presence right here with me to overpower my enemies and overcome my adversary (Ephesians 1:15-21). Great are You, Lord! Mighty is Your name!
Thank You for Your Holy Spirit. Thank You for Your holy angel armies. Thank You that in You there are always many more with me than those against me! For nothing can stand against You and Your great name! (Philippians 2:9-11) And with You standing for me, nothing can stand against me, for I am always an overcomer and more than a conqueror in You! (Romans 8:31-39) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, May the Holy Spirit come upon you and the power of the Most High overshadow you and open your eyes tp see and know your identity and fulfill your destiny to the praise of God's glory through your life today, 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.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website: https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
Please commitment to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 5:7-8)
I work one day a week at Lowe’s on Mondays. Every Monday morning I leave at 8:00am and serve at Manna House in Huntsville until 12:30pm unloading the food trucks and help getting the food lines set up to distribute food to around 350 families later that afternoon. I drive home, eat something, then work a 2:00pm-10:00pm shift at Lowes. I started working at Lowes as a way to still connect and pray with people when my churches shut down for Covid and there was no Sunday services or weekday Bible studies or classes and the church was empty. All I was doing was live streaming a Sunday message. When covid restrictions finally ended I continued to work the one night a week to try to continue to bless the Lowes employees and customers.
I mainly work in the plumbing department. Last night I walked down an aisle to put back a return item and in the aisle was a man on the phone. He was shaking and there were tears in his eyes and running down his face. I intentionally stayed in the aisle taking longer than necessary to put back the items until the man hung up his cell phone.
I walked up to him and asked him if he was ok? He said with a big smile and tears running down his face “Yes! These are tears of joy! I am so happy!” I asked him if he wanted to share why? The man said his son and daughter in law are expecting their first child and are 2 ½ months pregnant. He said in his families genealogy there is a gene that is hereditary the cause severe birth defects. He has relatives that were born severely mentally and physically disabled. And his other son and his wife had a baby 2 years ago and it was born with severe disabilities. His son and expecting wife had a medical procedure done that morning to see it their baby had this hereditary defect or not. His wife had just called him and said they got the results of the test and the test came back negative! The baby was going to be born normal! I said. “Praise God!” and he said “Yes! Praise God!” and he hugged me and I hugged him back, both of us with tears in our eyes now.
I asked him if I could say a prayer of thanksgiving over the child and his family. He Said YES!!!. I asked the child’s name. He said it is just over 2 months old now. They do not know the sex yet or have given the baby a name. So we stood facing each other, with our hands on each other’s shoulders and heads bowed between us and tears falling to the floor, and I prayed a prayer of praise and blessing over the child and his family. When I finished with a big smile he hugged me again and said he was so glade I was there to share this good news with me. I helped him find the plumbing fitting he came in to get, we hugged again, said “Praise God” to each other and he left the aisle. And I started wiping my eyes and took a deep breath and tried to compose myself. Then, with a big smile on my face and new joy in my heart from the “church” I had just experienced, I left the aisle as well.
My family, this amazing blessing and deep encounter I was so blessed to experience simply came out of my asking another person, “Are you ok?” I pray today you take the blinders off of your days schedule enough to ask a co-worker, class mate, neighbor, or person who just happens to be in the aisle with you at Lowes of Walmart, “Are you ok?” And as the verse above states, ask and you will recieve, In Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
Please share with me and others your reflections and what God is speaking to you from todays reading in the comment box below.
Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower
One Direction Community
Email: garyl@onedirection.community
Website:https://www.onedirection.community
Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC
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