Day 21-23: Live Dead Journal Challenge - Worship, Flexibility and Hospitality

Amazing how all three of these subjects tie so much together if we look a little further than the surface of the words themselves. How often do we just stop during the day and thank God for the breathe we breathe, the nation we live in and the resources we have available? Something our late pastor said many years ago has stuck with me and forever will - he said, "Ungratefulness is one of the ugliest things in the world." We cannot live a life of worship if we are constantly ungrateful and counting what we don't have - worship to me is living a lifestyle of gratefulness because yes, we are worshipping God for what He's given but it also acknowledges who He is! He is a Redeemer and true worship means that we must have revelation of our redemption, then we can truly pour out the oil on His feet. We must pour out our offerings and worship to Him without reserve. Helen Nest shares in this devotional the words that a worship leader shared during a service, "If you are still measuring out your offerings, you haven't seen His worth."

Flexibility keeps us in a place of dependence on God, it means that we are not in complete control and that we give the Holy Spirit room to work in our lives. We are to make plans and not just sit around, but flexibility helps us see the good, helps us be grateful and keeps us teachable. In our society, we are much more task oriented instead of people oriented, which sometimes (almost always) means that we are more intent on our job at hand than the people in our lives. How desperately we need a balance! Flexibility is key to that equalizer.

This ties now into hospitality, our homes can be one of the most powerful places to affect a life for God. It is rarely convenient, but it is worship to God. It is the way we see people, if we are going to ask for God's viewpoint and perspective, this is one area that we are going to have to allow Him to change. Invite someone for a meal, pray for them, listen to them.


Prayer for Unreached People Groups: Ndzwani, Oromo and Bara