“Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.”  1 Peter 4:9 (NLT)

CHALLENGE

Don’t delay: CONNECT today!  Hospitality begins with a warm smile for everyone you meet.  Remove the barriers that have kept you from showing hospitality in the past, and reach out and touch a life today!

PREPARATION

  • Praise God for who He is
  • Confess your sinfulness and need for cleansing
  • Allow His Spirit to draw you near
  • Listen as He speaks to you

REQUESTS

  • Lord, show me today someone in need and how You would have me help them.
  • Remove the barriers preventing me from being hospitable.
  • Help me to be cheerfully obedient.

THANKSGIVING

  • Thank God for hearing you.
  • Trust that God is at work to accomplish His will.

OPTIONAL READINGS

QUOTATION

“Things gain meaning by being used in a shared experience or joint action .” – John Dewey

LIFE STORY

It was a cold, stormy winter night back in 1982, when a young couple and their parents were traveling through our small village community. The unknown roads to them were virtually impossible to see through the blowing snow.  When they reached our village, they stopped and came inside the little country corner store that my parents owned. They were looking for direction – for a nearby inn, a place they could take shelter and peacefully wait out the storm. To their dismay the nearest hotel was 40 minutes away, in good weather!  With no place to turn, my father offered, perhaps insisted, that they stay at our house. We provided for them a warm meal, warm beds and safety.  For us, it was not the nice thank you note and beautiful hand sewn kitchen placements that we received in the mail a couple of weeks later, it was the warmth, and overwhelming sense, that God used our family that stormy night, to bring peace  into a traveling family’s heart.

God’s Word in Roman’s 12:13 tells us, “When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them.   Always be eager to practice hospitality.” Jesus demands our personal involvement in caring for others’ needs.  Our acts do not depend upon our wealth, ability or intelligence. He asks that we be available and willing.  He also asks that we do not hesitate to accept hospitality as it is offered to us.

Contributed by:  Suzanne Isaac