REWARDS OF HOSPITALITY PART 2

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Ex 10, Luke 13, Job 28, 1 Cor 18
Hebrews 13:2 says be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
BIBLE VERSES: 2 Kings 8:1-6
In part 1 of these series, we discussed about one of the rewards of hospitality. In 2 Kings 4:8-17 is the story of the great Shunamite woman and Elisha. This woman took it upon herself to host the man of God every time he passed by. After a while she took her hospitality to another level by making a small upper room on the wall for Elisha so that he can also spend the night. Unknown to this woman, the God of Elisha was taking note of all these. Few weeks before a major famine broke out in Israel, the Lord sent Elisha to inform this woman that there was going to be famine in the land for seven years and she needed to leave, 2 Kings 8:1-6. She obeyed the man of God and moved to Philistine. This was how God fed her during famine. When she came back after the famine, the Lord ensured that everything that belonged to her was giving back to her. All the produce from her land for the last seven years was giving back to her all because the God of Elisha decided to repay her back for her hospitalities.
Sometimes back I had challenges at work and was out of work for almost three months. During this period, I could not keep up with some bill payments. One morning I received a letter giving me ten working days to pay a particular bill or face court action. I turned to God and began to cry to Him. The tenth working day fell on a Friday and failure to pay the bill by 3pm the next Monday would automatically result in court action. The Sunday before the Monday, a particular brother who had been promising to visit visited me. When he arrived, I went to make him a cup of tea as it was very cold. I could have offered him some hot snacks too but I had none at home and had no money to buy any. To make matters worse, I had an almost empty can of milk to make tea with. As I was about to add part of the little milk left to the tea, the Holy Spirit nudged me to add all the milk in the can. The question is if I use all the milk (little milk) in the can to make tea for him, where will I get milk for my tea? I obeyed and decided not to drink tea. The brother enjoyed the tea and we chatted. When he was about to leave, he handed me some notes. I thanked him, we prayed and he left. Later when I checked, the money he gave to me not only covered the bill but was enough to get myself some snacks and at least two cans of milk. As we discussed yesterday, at times opportunities to practice hospitality precedes a breakthrough. The opportunity to host this brother preceded the answer to my prayer request. Not only that, God used that little cup of tea to provide for me during famine.
KEY WORD: Hospitality feeds during famine.

CREDIT WITH GOD

Psalm 20:3 says may He remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt sacrifice.

In Acts 9:36-42 is the famous story of Dorcas. She loved the Lord and loved helping people. She helped the sick, the broken hearted and everyone who needed help around her. When she died , they sent for Peter .When Peter arrived they began to show him the good works Dorcas had done . Peter seeing all these had no other option than to beg God to release her from heaven back to earth and God answered. From reading this story, we see God relaxing His rule for Dorcas. As a matter of fact the bible says in Hebrew 9:27 that it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this judgment. The same God who declared that it is appointed unto men to die once had to suspend this rule because of Dorcas’ credit with Him. When we talk of credit with God, we are not talking of tithe and offering. We are talking of something major the Lord can look at and decide a case in your favour.

A king who had good credit with God was Hezekiah. The bible records in 2 Kings 18:2-6 that he did what was right in the sight of God. Verses 5 and 6 of 2 kings 18 says He trusted in the Lord God Israel, he held fast to the Lord and did not depart from following God but kept God’s commandment which the Lord had given through Moses. On his death bed in 2 Kings 20:1-6, God was so happy with his service that he added another fifteen years to his life. This brings us to the question, can God look at our walk with Him and decide to add fifteen years to our life. Have we served God to the extent that he will relax some of his rule? It is a rule that whoever sees God will die but because of Moses’ credit with God, God arranged a way for Moses to see Him without seeing death. As big as the bible is, there is only a record of God leaving heaven to dine with a family and that was the family of Abraham in Genesis 18.This happened because of Abraham’s record with God. He had touched God with his faith. It is not an easy task to convince God to come and dine with us, but it is something that can happen if we are prepared to work hard.

ACTION POINT: Take your service to God to another level today, so that you can have good credit with Him.

maximise your spiritual nationality

Friday 3 August                                  Bible in one year : Proverbs 29-31

Memorise: and they also, if they abide not not still in unbelief,shall be gaffed in :for God is able to graft them in again. Romans 11:23

Read: Romans 11:15-24

All the fantastic promises God made to the nation of Israel were transferred to the new Israel of God birthed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 2:28-29 reveals that a displacement of natural Jews has occurred in the spirit;hence we spiritual Jews, right now have a central place in God's heart and occupy a major place in God's agenda for the last days. From this switch, we learn that nobody is indispensable and no nation or people are indispensable.Whatever the Lord has assigned to you,for which the grace to do it as being released, accept it and handle with all humility, thankfulness ,faithfulness, and dedication because if otherwise handled,you can be replaced.God has no plan to replace anyone who is faithfully occupying the position given to him or her; rather he wants to add more responsibility to the fellow.You shall not be replaced in Jesus name.If you are doing something in a wrong way and you are being corrected, but you think you know better, and so you refuse to change course, you are calling for the hammer. When it falls, blame nobody but yourself.

Another lesson here is that God is never moved by outward appearance or empty promises but by action and performance. If you want to move God, perform .Put an end to empty promises or boasts!He is not also not moved by outward shows but by the content of the heart.If you are a spiritual Jew- a Jew by the reason of your new birth experience in Christ Jesus , you qualify to claim all the promises God made to Abraham. So what happens to the nation of Israel? To be relevant, they have to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and become part of His body - the Church. Such people will be spiritual Jews as well as Jews in the flesh. However, Paul by the Spirit warns spiritual Jews not to show pride or any form of boasting because the same God who broke off the natural branches (nation of Israel) and grafted us into the olive tree, is able to brake us off too. What will determine whether you will remain or not are your works of faith , obedience, service and humility. Eventually , after the rapture of the church,God will resume His plan for the nation of Israel. Maximise your spiritual nationality while you have the opportunity.

ACTION POINT: List out 20 covenants blessings of a spiritual Jew. How many of these have you benefited from? Ask God to manifest pending promises in your life.