HOSPITALITY ON THE GO

PART THREE

HOSPITALITY ON THE GO

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. (1 Peter 4:9 NIV)

Have you ever known someone with the gift of hospitality? They are the first to invite the new neighbors for dinner. They are always hosting showers or luncheons or small group gatherings.

When I hear the word hospitality, I think of my sister Linda. Her home is warm and inviting. There is something about the very atmosphere that smoothes away the cares of the day and soothes weary bones and harried hearts. I always thought her gift and her home were inseparable – until James.

Linda knelt next to James. She spoke soothing words to him. I studied my sister’s eyes. They were filled with deep compassion as she continued speaking to James. It was as if I peered into my sister’s heart and the doors opened wide to welcome James.

It was there, along the road, under a vast canopy of stars, I realized that the gift of hospitality God had so richly blessed my sister with was not bound by walls or contained under a roof. Nor was it reserved for the clean, the eloquent of speech or the well dressed – it was for anyone God placed in her path. The gift was skillfully woven into the very fabric of her heart by God Himself, and it went wherever she did.

Let’s stop at Roman’s 12:6-8. What gift has God given you? How has God used your gift to minister to someone else? Your gift is not meant to be hidden on a shelf at home. It is meant to go wherever you go, always ready to be poured out for the benefit of others and God’s glory. It is a gift on the go.

An original Conversations at the Well

Copyright by Diana Morgan March 29, 2011

IN NEED'S SHADOW

WEEK TWO
IN NEEDS SHADOW
As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
Matthew 14:15-16 (NIV)

We learned the injured man’s name was James. He had a number of wounds on his face, arms and hands, and was bleeding. He was unable to tell us what had happened or how he had come to be lying in the road. My hands were empty, I had nothing to offer; I couldn’t “fix” him. I suddenly felt very small standing in the shadow of James’ need.

The disciples must have felt so inadequate as they stood in the shadow of need cast by five thousand hungry people. The disciples thought it would be best to send the crowd to the nearby villages to buy food. But Jesus had told them to feed them. The disciples stood looking down at the little they had: five loaves of bread and two fish. What good could so little do against such great need?

They placed the little they had into Jesus’ hands. The little turned into more than enough to meet the hunger of five thousand people, with twelve baskets left over.

“I’m thirsty,” James said softly. I hurried to the car and found a bottle of water tucked in the front seat. “It’s not much,” I muttered under my breath as I made my way back to James. Suddenly, I was aware of His sweet Presence going with me, and decided to place the little I had into His hands – you know the ones with dark scars in the center. As I knelt next to James and watched him drink the water, I saw a little give relief to a great thirst.

My friend, don’t let needs shadow paralyze you. Instead, take the little you have, place it in His hands, and leave the results to Him. Glory!

An Original Conversations at the Well
Copyright by Diana Morgan March 21, 2011

DWELLING PLACE

DWELLING PLACE

I love the Word of God. When the Lord and I sit down together to spend time in His Word, the words seem to dance off the pages and into my heart, and weave themselves into the fabric of my very life like golden Word threads.

This morning I sat at the Well, my head bent over Psalm 27. The Lord sat so very near me as we read His Book together. His breath stirred the page, causing the words to rise up and enter into my heart. The words were these: "One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple” (Psalm 27:4 NASB).

Hmmm...“That I may dwell in the house of the Lord...” I closed my eyes and could picture myself walking, suitcase in hand, visiting houses. Occasionally, I would see a house that looked inviting. I carried my suitcase through the front door and stayed for a time, but didn't unpack.

But one day I met the Lord and He invited me in to relationship with Him. I entered in with wide-eyed wonder. He welcomed me with open arms. I carried my suitcase inside, you know, the heavy one with all the things the world says I need to make it through; so many different things to put on in order to make me acceptable; to fit in. He invites me to allow Him to take the heavy load I am carrying, and come and rest awhile. I place the suitcase in His hands, noting the scars.

He leads me along. There is so much to see; so much to take in. A house tells so much about the Master of it: their interests; what matters to them. We come into a room that is both spacious and yet so very intimate. I catch my breath at the beauty – there’s something about the light. A stream runs right through the room; the water seeming to dance joyfully as the light touches it. He invites me to sit awhile.

I notice a book; it turns out He is the author. He smiles and brings with Him a cup filled with water from the stream and places it in my hands as He opens the book – His book and sits down next to me. I sip the water as He speaks His Words to me; I am strangely refreshed. The water and His Word seem to pour into my very heart, and then I realize that His Presence has surrounded me; His Words giving me life and I find myself kicking off my shoes, and nestling into His Presence; to dwell there—I am home.

My friend, are you lugging a heavy suitcase around with you? The one filled with all the ways you have to make sense of life? There is only One who can do that; and He is the Author of life. Do you want to know Him? You can right now, right where you are.

Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16

God is inviting you into a relationship with Him, through His Son, Jesus. You can talk to Him right now. Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross to pay for my sins. Please forgive my sins and come into my heart. I give you my life. Amen.

Could it be that you know Jesus, but you are still running place to place, lugging that heavy suitcase filled with “religious” ideas and “how to” that you can’t even begin to live out. Have you lost sight that knowing Him is all about relationship with Him?

Look at Jesus' words to believers in Revelation 3:20.
20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends (Rev 3:20 NLT).

Your heart looks up at the sound of a familiar voice. You realize it has been a long time since you were still enough to really listen to Him. You walk the path to His door. You needn’t have worried about finding Him, He’s right there waiting – as if He has been expecting you.

He welcomes you and offers to take the heavy load off your hands. You surrender all you have been carrying into His hands as He leads you to a place of great beauty, where streams of living water flow freely. His Book is nearby; you blow the dust off the cover, the pages make that wonderful sound as you open wide His Truth.

He hands you a cup of water, as He sits next to you. His breath stirs the pages and His Presence surrounds you, covers you and His Word and Living Water fill you and refresh you. You look up into the eyes of the One who gave all for you and you realize you are dwelling in His Presence – you are home.

An Original Conversations at the Well
©Diana Morgan March 19, 2011

DETOURS OF COMPASSION

WEEK ONE
DETOURS OF COMPASSION

But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was and when he saw him, he took pity on him. Luke 10:33 (NIV)

Have you ever been so tired you couldn’t even see straight? All you want is to get home, climb into your comfy bed, snuggle down deep into the covers, close your eyes and drift into an undisturbed sleep. One minute you are headed toward the land of dreams, the next you are caught off guard by a detour sign. You have a choice to make: ignore the sign and keep going, or obey it, and go where you are being sent.

I yawned as my sister Linda maneuvered the car down the winding road. We had spent the day at a conference where we had heard wonderful speakers talk about God’s grace. We were literally minutes away from Linda’s house. I couldn’t wait to fall into bed and ponder all the things I’d learned that day as I drifted off to sleep. I sat quietly making my “end of the day plans” when it happened. We rounded a sharp curve and there they were: two men in the road.

The headlights pierced the darkness, revealing the scene to our now alert eyes. One man lay on his back; the other man knelt at the fallen man’s side. My sister swerved to the right while slamming on the brakes, the car screeched to a halt at the side of the road. Linda hurried to the scene to find out what had happened while I looked for a flashlight. She was back in a moment, cell phone in hand, trying to get a signal to call 911.

My heart ran breathless to talk to the Lord about it – He is never out of range. He was there waiting for me. I had just begun telling him about the men in the road when a car came flying down the hill. The driver appeared not to see the men as he sped toward them, but at the last moment, the car swerved to the left, narrowly missing the two men as the driver sped on his way without so much as a tap of his brakes.

My dear friend, travel with me to Luke 10:33 where we meet the Good Samaritan. Notice he wasn’t sitting at the side of the road waiting for the injured man to show up. He didn’t have it penciled into his day. He was traveling, going about his business when he came upon the man in the road. Others had come by and had simply gone around, but this man was filled with compassion and stopped.

What about you? How will you respond to the “detours of compassion” the Lord places in your day? Will you stop and follow Him or will you speed past without so much as a tap to the brake of your daily routine.

This would be a great time to stop and talk with the Lord about it.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SHELTERING ROCK

“Let me dwell in thy most secret place, under thy shadow.”
The Valley of Vision – A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Have you ever been afraid? Have you faced something you didn’t want to face and felt you were facing it alone? Did you want to run and hide? I understand.

“Mrs. Morgan,” the woman said as she glanced at the chart in her hand and then looked my direction with a smile. I stood, looking pleadingly at my husband to somehow rescue me. He looked sympathetically into my eyes as he said, “I’ll be right here waiting for you.” He smiled, trying to look reassuring. I knew he would be here waiting, but he couldn’t go through it for me, or even with me. There was nothing to be done about it; I had to go through it. I followed the woman through the door and it closed behind us with a decided click, and I suddenly felt so very alone.

Moments later found me lying in a rather awkward position, the oral surgeon giving me the first of several injections as he went over the details of the surgery one more time. He checked my heart rate and blood pressure for the third time since he’d given the last of the injections, and then the surgery began.

My right hand was gripping the wrist of my left hand so tightly that my fingers began to go numb and my heart beat wildly. The surgeon had been hard at work for over an hour when he asked for yet another picture to be taken of the area. Was that seven or eight pictures, I had lost count. “Let’s get a biopsy of that tissue right there,” the surgeon said. My thoughts quickly picked up the surgeon’s words and began running wildly about. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, my imagination grabbed the thoughts until fear grew within me.

“Let’s remove that area of bone, right there,” the surgeon said. It felt to me as if a crew armed with jackhammers had set to work in my mouth. My heart collapsed in a helpless heap, allowing imagination and fear to take over.

Suddenly, a song rose up in the midst of my clamoring thoughts.

“I AM your hiding place. I will fill your heart with songs of deliverance whenever you are afraid; put your trust in Me.”

The song became louder. My heart listened, daring to peer out from the corner where fear thoughts had driven it. The song rose, strength in every note until my heart sat up, looking around for the source of the song. That’s when I saw it; a towering Rock, and a Shadow coming from it.

Movement caught my heart’s eye as imagination with fear in tow came rushing toward me to knock my heart to the dust. Without hesitation, my heart ran to the Rock and dove beneath it, straight into the Shadow. Immediately, the Shadow surrounded me. I realized then that I wasn’t alone at all. Jesus, the Rock was ever-present there in the midst of what I was going through. What’s more, I couldn’t hear imagination’s fear thoughts from the Rock’s Shadow, only the song which had grown sweeter and my heart joined in and sang and sang there in the Sheltering Shadow of the Rock.

Later, after I got home, I sat quietly at the Well, holding an icepack over my jaw. Him whom my heart loves was there sitting quietly with me. We sat together studying online about a woman’s walk in His grace with some friends of His and mine. It was a sweet time sharing about His grace.

The online study came to a close and I thought about His grace. It was His grace that allowed my heart to rest in His sheltering shadow. I was never alone. Never. My heart moved in closer to Him, and my soul sat in the Rock’s sheltering Shadow and then He took me to some places in His Word that He had marked with His heavenly hi-lighter. Places just right for a weary child of His to sit awhile with Him.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
(Psalm 91:1 NASB)

For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God…
(Psalm 18:31 NASB)

My heart began to sing, though my lips and my jaw were too swollen to join in.

“You are my hiding place. You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance, whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.”

My body was weary from the surgery, my eyes grew heavy, and my heart nestled down and I slept there in the Shadow of the Sheltering Rock.

You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance (Psalm 32:7 NASB).

Beloved, what are you facing? Is it a hard thing; a thing no one can go through for you? If you know Jesus, then you are not alone. Don’t allow Satan to deceive your heart. Run to the Rock. There, your heart will find shelter, and a song. A song of deliverance, sung over you by the Deliverer Himself. Almighty God.

Glory!

An Original Conversations at the Well
© by Diana Morgan March 6, 2011