Day 74: Open Your HOme for Ministry

Scripture to Memorize:
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Proverbs 31:30
Passage to Read:
On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us . . . .
After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia's house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them.
Acts 16:13-15, 40
Prayer:
Dear Lord thank you for the example of Lydia. May you find in me, as Paul found in her, a place of prayer. Thank you Lord for the spiritual companionship of faith prayer warriors. Forgive me the times that I have willfully avoided gathering together with your saints. I confess that sometimes our gatherings have ended up being for every purpose other than prayer. Help me place more emphasis in our gatherings on faithful prayer.
Holy Spirit keep my heart open to the people you will send inot my life in response to my prayers, even as you sent Paul in answer to Lydia's prayers. I pray that I will be known as a worshiper of God. When I gather with others help it to be a time of prayer and encouragement of one another. In Jesus name, Amen.
Personal:
Again today Donna's lesson leaves me feeling a bit disappointment because at this time I am not able to follow her instructions. She begins the lesson by makeing some points about how Lydia was the first-century Proverbs 31 woman. These are

• Lydia was a business woman who sold high-end fabric.
• She was also a worshipper of God
• She was a hard worker but not a workaholic
• She honored the Sabbath gathering with a group of other godly women
• She immediately opens her home which tells us that her home was in good order

Donna points out that our homes are not to be a place where we can congratulate ourselves because it is beautiful, clean, etc. but a place that can become a center for God's work in our communities. Lydia was not "inviting over the women from the church missionary society. They were all either seekers or brand-new believers. But she didn't hesitate to invite them all over."

Donna also points out that when Paul and Silas got out of prison they went to Lydia's house. She asks when they went to "Lydia's little house church and greeted--who? The sisters? The sewing circle? The ladies' Bible Study? No, it says they met 'the brothers'. . . .We don't know how the other women responded: we only know what Lydia and her household believed. Paul and Silas were the only known male believers on the entire European continent and they were in jail. Yet when they were released from jail, it appears that a thriving house church was meeting in Lydia's house."

Donna says that our homes should be places where we can kick off our shoes and be yourself but our home can be more than that it can become central to the work of God in your neighborhood. There is more and more emphasis on the importance of small groups that meet in people's homes and include people from the immediate neighborhood. Donna then tell of a woman who lived in Bogata', Colombia who had opened her home for a weekly Bible study which grew to the point where once a week they had to remove all of the furniture on the first floor so they could bring in three hundred chairs for the Bible study. "God only knows what he can do through one woman on her knees who is willing to say, 'Come to my house. Let's learn about God together.' God only knows, but wouldn't you like to find out?"

Affirmation: I open my home to the work of God (I pray that some day my house will be big enough to do that but until then my labors in my house are my work).

Practical:

"Pray and seek God's direction. What does he want to do with your home? How can your home serve the kingdom of God? Consider hosting a small-group Bible study, youth group meeting, or some other gather."