In Tulsa, Oklahoma, we had one of the worst storms I have seen in an awhile.
You might have seen it on the news or live here, but we had up to 100mph wind. THAT’S CRAZY!
Thankfully, our home didn’t take much damage, but we did lose power.
It was very inconvenient due to the busy week and the things I needed to plan for the upcoming week.
This challenge opened my eyes, and my heart became more thankful. That’s the beautiful thing about challenges – there is always something to be learned and gained. We can even be grateful amid chaos.
For me, that was simply the act of hospitality.
Before you cut me off and stop reading, I challenge you to open your heart.
Hospitality was something highly encouraged in the bible to do.
Verse upon verse, we are told to show hospitably. The Lord wants us to have and develop this trait.
But ask yourself, how often do you see this anymore?
How often do you show it?
Hospitality in Greek comes from the word philoxenos meaning “loving strangers.”
I was overwhelmed with amazement when people began to reach out and open their homes to me until my electricity returned. It should be all about this: helping and welcoming one another!
Extending your hand when someone needs it or opening up your home to someone who is in need is something Christ has called us to do. We are all called to meet each other’s needs as God’s hands and feet.
The body of Christ is called to do for one another and strangers – those we don’t know and may not be believers.
I love that the definition of hospitality is “loving strangers” because that requires us to get out of our comfort zones which I believe has caused the deterioration of the love of hospitality.
We only know how to love those who love us, not those who don’t, so we stay in that bubble. (Luke 6:32)
Hospitality is the perfect picture of the love of Christ and should be shown more often in today’s age.
Christ’s love drives hospitality.
To love all, whether stranger or not, is a heart that beats like God’s.
How can you begin to show hospitality to those around you?
Hebrews 13:2 says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
1 Peter 4:9 says, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
Romans 12:13 says, “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”
Matthew 25:40 says, “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'”
Did you know the gift placed in you is not only for you?
Whether it is a spiritual gift like preaching or teaching or something like having the heart to serve, God gifted you for the benefit of those around you!
Ephesians 4:11-13 shares with us that our gifts are for equipping and edifying the Christian body.
In other words, they help perfect and build up believers in their walk with God.
1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
What did that verse say to do with your gift?
SERVE OTHERS.
We were created to need each other in the body of Christ.
Everyone has something that someone else will benefit from experiencing or receiving.
It pleases God to see you sow the things placed on the inside of you into someone else’s life.
Our gifts should be bringing glory to God, not ourselves.
When we use our gifts to help others, we lead them closer to God!
If our gifts attract glory to us instead of Him, we need to check our hearts.
You are HIS hands and feet here on earth.
I challenge you today to look for opportunities to sow your gift.
I had the privilege of doing that this week, and man, the joy that it brings into others’ lives, my life, and I can only imagine God’s heart, is amazing!
There is nothing better than seeing someone grow in the things of God because you choose to step out and use your gift.
The best way to discover a gift in you is by seeing an opportunity or need and filling it. You never know what might come from it!
A man sharing poetry on America’s Got Talent said, “The cost of love. When you love someone so much, you can’t imagine life without them.”
I couldn’t help but think of how this saying relates so much to the love of our Father.
This line from his poem reminds me of John 3:16, “That God so loved the world that He gave His ONLY begotten Son.”
We all know this verse, but it bears repeating and is the foundation of our walk with God.
The giving of the Father’s ONLY son was a high cost but worth paying to save YOU!
Our sins caused a separation from life with the Father, but He couldn’t imagine a life without you. You are His creation and masterpiece.
He so profoundly desired an intimate relationship with you here and forever.
The only offer that could be made for such desire was Jesus. This is where our gratitude and love springs from. He first loved us, showing us this through Jesus’ sacrifice, so we could have the chance to love Him back.
That’s how much God loves you!
I want you to know that today, no matter how much you feel unloved by those you desire to show love back, there is One who already gave everything to show His love!
Take that part of the shared poem and remember God’s love for you.
Let it remind you that you are loved every day and forever!
And ask yourself this question as well, “If God gave everything because He loved me, no matter the cost, have I loved Him in that same way?”
What has God asked you to give up?
The cost might be significant, but what you’ll receive is better.
And when you obey, it reflects your love and obedience to Him.
Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, who he waited years to receive as a promise from God, yet as an act of love and obedience to God, he was willing to give him up. (Genesis 22)
I love to golf on a breezy summer day with friends, but one thing that cannot be beaten that I love is the favor of God.
God’s favor brings about protection and provision.
When traveling to minister, the first thing I ask is that you pray one minute a day for me so that God will allow me to have favor wherever I visit to preach.
Without God’s favor, we cannot accomplish what God desires for our life. Of course, he wants to shower His favor on all His children, but there is a part we play in receiving this.
There is a kicker to God’s favor.
And it’s our OBEDIENCE!
God delights in the children who obey His voice or the Word. When we do so, we will see that favor unleashed in every area of our lives!
We must trust in Him. Yet, like the disciples, many of us look toward our current possessions to determine or bring about our provision and protection.
When the disciples asked Jesus to send the crowd away after ministering to their needs, so they may get food before it was too late, Jesus replied (in my paraphrased form), “Why don’t you feed them?”
They began to look at what they had as not enough, not realizing they were with the Master, who could bring about provision.
So, What are you looking for?
Is it your resources or God’s?
God can bring about provision from what you already have!
When you obey what He has asked you to do and choose to act on that word, God will bring more and better than you had in mind.
I am blown away by the many times God made a promise in the bible to someone, but before that promise was a command that was to be acted on in obedience before the promise could be fulfilled.
God will meet our every need, but are we doing our part?
Obedience brings favor.
Obedience brings blessing.
Your obedience is what leads to the fulfillment of God’s promise.
Listen for His voice, surrender, obey, and let God do the rest!
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