Weekly Prayer Request: ILI Regional. Santa Clarita, Feb. 19-21,2010

HOSPITAL'ITY, n. [L. hospitalitas.] The act or practice of receiving and entertaining strangers or guests without reward, or with kind and generous liberality.

Noah Webster Dictionary

Our prayer request for this week focuses on hospitality. Our pattern has been to have local members of the church host our out of town attendees, as an act of hospitality consistent with the Gospel. This is an act of agape love and is, for our culture sadly, not a discipline that we typically attend to. We tend to see ourselves as somehow removed from obligation to our brothers and sisters for a whole host of cultural reasons.

Yet, the Bible(and many other cultures) treat hospitality as a most important act of corporate concern for humanity. Intimacy with God is one of our core values that we teach at ILI. And what better way to demonstrate our love of God than opening up our homes and lives to brothers and sisters in Christ – being open to intimacy with the Body of Christ. Some great scriptures include:

· Romans 12:13 – we are to be …’given to hospitality’

· Matthew 10:40-42 – what Jesus has to say about hospitality to his disciples: ‘He who receives you, receives me and he who receives me receives Him who sent me.”

· Hebrews 13:2 – what the author of Hebrews has to say: ‘Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing, some have entertained angels.’

Let’s lift up a prayer of supplication this week that the doors of hospitality – Jesus style – will be thrown open to us. Even to those of us “angels” who may have a rust spot or two on our halos!

Blessings,

Mike Brown- Elder