Be Hospitable!!!

Hello everyone,

How are you doing on this day? I hope well and bubbling in the Lord.

Primary Text

“Use hospitability one to another without grudging.” 1 Peter 4v9 (KJV)

“Practice hospitality to one another (those of the household of faith). [Be hospitable, be a lover of strangers, with brotherly affection for the unknown guests, the foreigners, the poor, and all others who come your way who are of Christ’s body.] And [in each instance] do it ungrudgingly (cordially and graciously, without complaining but as representing Him).” 1 Peter 4v9 (AMP)

“Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.” 1 Peter 4v9 (NLT)

The Bible encourages us to be hospitable. Synonyms for hospitable include welcoming, friendly, warm, open, generous, kind, cordial and sociable. Imagine when you are hospitable to someone else. You never know the extent of what your hospitability has done to bless the other person. Someone told me recently how when a child of God cries out to God, He uses other people to be a blessing to that person. Would you be a vessel to be used of God for others? Now, while we are hospitable not because of what we want to receive from the other person, God might use your hospitability as a conduit for blessing you, or encouraging you, or reassuring you of His promises. For instance, after the Lord visited with Abraham, He reassured him of the child that would be born to him. Moreover, afterwards, He revealed His plan concerning Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham and he had a chance to intercede for the land. For the great woman of Shunem, it turned out that she was barren, and Elisha wondering how he could repay her for her troubles, ended up prophesying that she would have a child, and she did.

Supplementary Text

“One day when Elisha came, he went up to his room and lay down there. He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call the Shunammite.” So he called her, and she stood before him. Elisha said to him, “Tell her, ‘You have gone to all this trouble for us. Now what can be done for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army?’” She replied, “I have a home among my own people.” “What can be done for her?” Elisha asked. Gehazi said, “She has no son, and her husband is old.” Then Elisha said, “Call her.” So he called her, and she stood in the doorway. “About this time next year,” Elisha said, “you will hold a son in your arms.” “No, my lord!” she objected. “Please, man of God, don’t mislead your servant!” But the woman became pregnant, and the next year about that same time she gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had told her.” 2 Kings 4v11-17 (NIV)

Prayer

Heavenly Father we thank You so much for who You are and for Your word. Father we ask for generous hearts, and the grace to be hospitable, without grudging to others. Please help us to see the opportunities around us to do this, in Jesus name, amen.