How to Show Hospitality
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- Опубликовано: 23 июл 2024
- “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” - Hebrews 13:2.
Hey y’all! Join us on this episode as we share some of the ways we show hospitality and use our home as ground zero for ministry opportunities. As Christians, we ought to be opening up our homes as much as possible to bring others into the world of the gospel on display. Share meals, have fellowship, and involve multiple generations in your life as often as you are able to. This is how the early church operated and it serves as a model for us in the church today. Let us know your thoughts in the comments and how you practice hospitality also!
Milena's prayer walk video: • Want Your Life To Chan...
I want to shed light on a factor to consider when showing hospitality - discernment. Some families are very generous and hospitable, but lack discernment. Allowing people into their homes who are not God-fearing, for the purpose of witnessing to them, can lead to harm of their own family. Children who come from broken homes and/or exposed to inappropriate content can share information with the host children, within seconds of being out of ear shot of their parents, things that can haunt their little minds into adulthood. Offering rooms in our home to others can also lead to children being sexually assaulted. Many of the scriptures Jordan cited are Christians showing hospitality to other Believers. Believers meeting in other Believers homes to edify and build each other up. Proverbs is very clear about warning against letting the wrong people or non-believers into your home. Be hospitable, yes, but moreover be discerning. Pray before letting anyone into your home. Especially if you have young children. It takes seconds for a child to hear something they shouldn't or to be molested by a peer and/or adult.
I agree with this based on personal experience. I think it's both! Be as hospitable as your capacity allows but make sure to pray before inviting someone to your home especially if you don't know them well, doubly so if you have your own children to protect.
With that said, I definitely want to work on being more hospitable this year and breaking bread with people in my home.
Agreed! Your home is first a place of ministry and safety for your children (your primary ministry/responsibility) and a place of safety even for just yourself if you are a single woman. Especially As a single mom or single woman (with children no longer in the home), I would not feel comfortable inviting someone in I didn’t know much about. There are other ways to show hospitality outside of your home in these circumstances that do not require you to unnecessarily put your children or yourself at risk unwisely.
I agree with this! We had someone stay over our house for one night who was in a rocky marriage, he had just come to Christ a week prior, and he needed a place to stay. He opened up to us about his dark past and we saw his broken heart a bit, and while it filled me to be able to offer a place to stay, we definitely locked our door and the kids door that night.
I agree. Discernment and boundaries are still so important when showing hospitality. You took the words right out of my mouth.
THIS! I can attest to this happening, honestly 80% of the ladies ive met, have experienced darkness in their youth including me. I would never invite an unbeliever into my home but i would be 100% okay with meeting them in a public setting *not their home either* 😬 only to share my testimony. Im also forced to have inlaws visit from time to time and im over it but it pleases my Husband, i prayer HEAVILY to God before they come in tho!
I wont even allow a child over 5 to be alone with my child! 5 year old can expose children to inappropriate / demonic / sexual acts of sin.
We gotta be wise and prayerful but in a fearful way but in a spiritual way. Only through Christ we can have protection.
My mom had an angel visit her house when my oldest brother was a baby. It was a snowy night and the angel/man was outside by my parent’s window sobbing. My parents went and called him in because it was so cold outside. They gave him new clothes and food to eat. The angel didn’t say a word to them! He went by my brother’s crib where he was and stretched his hands and prayed over him. When he left in the morning there was no foot prints in the snow. Later on my parents had a prophecy saying that because you welcome me into your home, clothed me and gave me food, I will bless you.
So this isn’t a story of how I showed hospitality to an angel, but how God sent an angel to show hospitality to ME. It was a super snowy day in Michigan and I was driving to work, and I felt something was off when driving and was hearing a loud noise under my car. I pulled into a gas station and got out to start looking under my car for the problem, and a man came out of NOWHERE and without even knowing what was going on, he pointed to a build up of ice between my tires and the rim of my car, and said “I think that’s what’s making the loud noise.” He helped me kick the ice off, and when I turned to thank him, he was gone. I KNOW it was an angel God sent to help me. There’s no way a stranger knew why I pulled off the road before I even said anything, and appeared/disappeared out of nowhere!
Also, this podcast episode was very encouraging/challenging to me as I am super into the mindset of the home being a safe haven from the world and being very selective about who you let in and when you let them in. I need to ask the Lord to stretch me and help me in this area!
Wow, incredible story!!
On a road trip after having a flat tire, we prayed for an angel. A man showed up and helped us. There was not a speck of dirt on the bottom of his shoes(since we had prayed for an angel, I was checking details and saw the bottom of his shoes as he knelt to work on the tire). His clothes were also perfect!…not a wrinkle or any imperfection at all! Thank You, Father!🎉
So this was not related to showing hospitality, but such a faith builder as God answers prayer and is still in the miracle business today!
This past Holidays, we were staying in the mountains in Georgia and the road up the mountain was extremely narrow and wet/ muddy. Our car got stuck in the cliff of the mountain (scariest thing ever experienced) in the pitch dark. We were still a ways away from cabins/ people and in seconds a man WITHOUT shoes came to our rescue. I want to emphasize it was during the holidays, so COLD around 30s…why anyone would be roaming around the cliffs of mountains!!! He said that he lived a few miles down but so many people have gotten stuck there over the past few days. What made us ALL 6 of us in the car know it was an angel was because how fast he got there. We had literally just gotten stuck, how would he have been looking out for us (miles away) in freezing cold - pitch black of night? It was absolutely crazy experience and we are all forever marked by this encounter. Like forsure Gods angels were covering us.
Years ago, I came out of the grocery store to realize that I had locked the keys in my car. My husband was back at our house, and it would have taken him a good bit to get to me. We didn’t have a spare, so he was going to try to get in some other way. I had all of my groceries and started thinking we would have to call the police potentially in order to get in. It was the weekend, and we knew a locksmith would be so expensive. After a minute or two of standing by the door, and man walked over and said “Are you locked out of your car?” I was embarrassed but admitted it! Haha. He replied, “I used to be a locksmith, and I keep my tools in my car. Would you like me to open the door for you?” He got the door open in no time, and was so cheerful to do it. I can still see his perfectly round face, and I still wonder if he was an angel! So cool to hear others experiences like this!
Aww this is so sweet!! 🥹
I totally think an Angel saved my from drowning when I was about four or five. We were at my moms condo pool and I just didn’t know how to swim. I was edging along the pool Andy hands slipped and I started to sink: my older brother tried yo dive down and get me but a man had jumped in and got to me first. My mom said when she finally realized I had drowned the man already pulled me out and had me laying on the ground and I believe did CPR or just made sure I was able to breathe. She said he stayed long enough to make sure I was breathing and then he disappeared. What made her think it was an Angel was that he wasn’t at all dressed for the pool. He had jeans and shoes on. And this was a private pool only for that condo where you need a key to go in and out. And my mom said she didn’t recognize him but she’d lived there for a while and knew/had seen most of her neighbors already. Plus when she tried to ask if anyone knew him they all said no and that no one even saw him leave. It was like he just vanished. Pretty cool
I worked for an outreach organization a few years ago. We helped a lot of people in different seasons of life. I met a man that struggled heavily with his mental health. The more I talked to him the more I realized how special he was. He was the most generous, kind and compassionate person. He was often overlooked by everyone because of the preconceived notions they had about him based on appearance alone. I truly believe he was an angel. I see him around our small town often and usually right when I need to. I feel very blessed to have gotten to know him. ❤
I love this episode. I grew up and am still a part of a bible church that meets in homes. Our pastors also do not have homes of their own but go from home to home of members of our church. Our doors are always open and it is a beautiful thing.
This story I still think of so often because it blows my mind!
Me and my colleague had been out to grab lunch and as we were walking back to the office, we walked past a homeless man. He was very cheerful, smiling at everyone went past!
As we walked passed him, he asked a couple of they had a pound they could spare him. They checked the wallets and bag but didn’t have anything on them. He was so kind and told them not to worry.
Me and my colleague continued walking and I don’t know how to explain it but I could hear that she was talking to me but I couldn’t hear any of the words she was saying. I just felt the Holy Spirit say ‘check your purse’ and I pulled out £1.50.
I went to put the 50p back in but again I felt the Holy Spirit say ‘give him all of it. So I stopped my colleague and ran back to him and said ‘hello, sorry to disturb you but I heard you ask someone for a pound and they didn’t have it - here you go’
He said thank you and as I looked next to him he had the Holy Bible displayed and as I walked away he said ‘God bless’
I came home and mentioned it to my mum and she immediately said she got chills and felt the Holy Spirit say that he was an angel! I regularly walk that way in town and have NEVER seen him again - and in the town I live in you tend to see the same people over and over again and I’m convinced he was an angel!
It wasn’t about hospitality but years ago my mum was at the shops with my little sister in the pram who was about 2 years old. My sister began choking on a candy and my mum didn’t know what to do and suddenly a lady walked up saying “I’m a nurse” and took my little sister and helped her. My mum then held my sister tight (as she had gotten the shock of her life!) and then when mum went to thank the lady she was gone, literally nowhere to be found. My mum always says it was an Angel sent from God.
When I was about 21 years old, so ten years ago…. I lost my wallet in a dunkin’ donuts. I got all the way home when i realized my ID, money, college Id, absolutely everything was in there and it was all gone. I panicked, and i prayed so hard. I was crying. Please God let me find my Id. i called the dunkin’ donuts nobody turned it in and they did not see it. less than an hour later my doorbell rang, I answered the door and a man in a white van, dressed in all white from head to toe handed me my wallet. He was so soft spoken gentle and sweet. He said he found it at the dunkin’ donuts. The entire encounter was probably about 30 seconds long as he handed me the wallet and was gone. I was baffled. something about the entire encounter left me with a strong feeling that he was an angel. I felt peace when he showed up, he had a glistening in his eyes, the fact that his car and outfit was all white was strange. I still to this day believe an angel brought my wallet back to me after God heard me plea.
now for the kicker- which convinced me he was an angel! this was ten years ago so my memory is muffled but i am 90% sure my ID had my college address not my parents home address. however, I was at my parents house where this being brought me my wallet and rang the doorbell. I remember after he left i kept thinking “How did he know I was here?! How did he have this address?!” WOW!
Wowww!! So cool! 🥹 goosebumps. God is so good!!
Thank you for posting! It’s right on time. I’ve been praying to have a heart of servitude instead of feeling like it is a chore.
A story of when I believe my husband and I encountered an angel. When we had began dating one day we were on the way back to my house then my car broke down. We were maybe half a mile away. A homeless man appeared quickly and helped my husband push the car until we were a street away. I ran inside and grabbed some money and I came back out and the gentleman was gone. We drove around for about 30 minutes and couldn’t find him anywhere.
I am hosting my husbands family and a few cousins today, so I am listening to this episode for the second time. I have been TERRIBLY guilty of trying to manage everything perfectly that I did NOT enjoy my company. I am praying today is completely different, relaxing, and enjoying the time with each other.
Thank you so much for sharing!! God bless you !! ❤
God is working in me. I've been doing morning devotionals and then at night watching the chosen. To see the Bible unfold in ways I can actually see, hear and feel is something completely different and exciting. The fact that you're discussing the chosen right now is opening up something within me. I just want to say thank you both for making these videos/podcasts because I'm telling you it's working. People are being awakened.
Yo i have been thinking about hospitality so much this past month, excited to listen to this!
You two make me smile. Thank you for this message. It is very encouraging for me.
I love this! We just purchased a house last week and my whole heart behind it is to host!!!
Such a good podcast! Thank you for sharing. Convicting to help us all do better with what God has blessed us with!
This mindset totally reminds me of my college days, I’d stay up sooo late to talk with friends and they would really start to ask about my faith in the wee hours of the night and I was so tired but like praise God because it’s so worth it! Now I’m married and my husband absolutely is the opposite of me, not a night owl one bit. We’re wanting to host more people tho, and side note- I’m super excited about my thrifted dinner table, it’s got two extra leafs and I’m so excited to have to use those some day! (U don’t need to be rich to find these items that might make hosting easier!) This video encouraged me thank u again milena and Jordan! What a beautiful ministry !
I absolutely loved this episode! I love hospitality and I feel it’s a strong calling now and in the future. I grew up with my parents practicing a lot of hospitality and hosting lots of christian gatherings, I loved the communal aspect, always having people over. I pray to have a bigger house to be used for the kingdom of God 🙏
When you said hospitality, the Lord immediately brought back to me that time when he spoke “Shunammite Woman” and I read the story!!!!
When I was a young girl I had to get my earlobe cut open to retrieve an earring that got lodged inside the day after Christmas. They had no numbing cream available so it was very painful. I kept going to the bathroom, crying terribly, for some reprieve from the pain. There was a older black woman sitting near the bathroom and she comforted me and told me about her daughter who was there. I don't remember much of what she said anymore but her presence was so soothing. When I returned to the room to continue attempting to get the earring out I told my mom of the kind lady and the doctor told me nobody else was in the building especially no other children so there couldn't have been a woman with her daughter. I was only about 9 at the time so I still can't definitively say what happened but I knew in my heart that she was angel come to comfort me.
I recently did a study on this! Me and my husband are newly weds looking at homes and I wanted to remind myself of this kingdom perspective of what a home is for. Love you guys as always!
Aww congrats!!
Hubby and I just bought a home that’s a fixer upper and had a baby, so I really needed this episode. It’s easy to be embarrassed that my home isn’t where I want it to be yet, but it’s more important to have people in. I always feel blessed when people leave, and I pray they feel blessed as well!
It’s not about hospitality but about being safe. I take public transport and I live in a very well known city due to its high homelessness and drug pandemic. One time I was on my way home and this guy approached me and long story short tried to follow me home. There was a girl a cross the street and turns out she was watching the encounter and was able to talk to an older lady who gave me safe haven in her home while I waited for my dad to get me(while the guy circled the house)
After that day I have not seen the house or the two lady’s in that area. But I know they saved me because I later found out that same man had followed two other girls to their home and tried to sexually assault another.
God has been speaking to me about this!!! Confirmation, and Amen!!❤❤❤ I needed this guys! Thanks so much! May God lead me through this video!
Amazing! 🤍
So on the weekend I said to my husband “I really want to find a Christian book on how to be more hospitable”. Well Today we had people ask to stay with us because they have a conference in our city for a few days (they are missionary friends of ours and old mentors). We have young children, I’m super pregnant and sore, and no guest room set up in this new house yet. My mind immediately hesitated and I sort of let out of huff. I was quickly convicted that if it really is “inconvenient” for me, I could be missing out on a total blessing. Often we are blessed while we bless others. My heart posture changed - not that gaining the blessing has now become the motivator, but rather I am looking forward to time with them and see how the Lord wants to work during our time with them! Then I saw you guys posted this episode and I thought, divine timing Lord! So thank you guys. It was amazing to gain so much more knowledge on the heart posture of hospitality! ❤ much love to you guys!
Edited to add: the conviction was also real of Lord reminding me “didn’t you just say you desire to become more hospitable?” - He is so good in how he tests our hearts.
Absolute favourite book on this is ‘The gospel comes with a house key’ by Rosaria Butterfield - that book will stick in your mind forever. 😭
There also the book “Holy Hygge : Creating a Place for People to Gather and the Gospel to Grow” by Jamie Erickson, it’s super aesthetically pleasing too!
Entertaining angels: at my baptism I had a lady approach me (who I found out later was not a member/attendee of our church but had seen the baptism while walking by and her and her husband felt moved to come down) and after I had come out of the water she came to me and asked if I new what it meant to be a prophetic? I hadn't heard it referred to in that context and said no, still thinking she was a church member. She said that I would see people that seemed out of place or odd and I needed to tell those people my testimony.
I'm really simplifying the conversation but I had a really hard time wrapping my head around what she said to me and what her husband said to my husband. It made me cry at the sheer oddity of it all, but I had a realization that they were definitely angels sent by God to give us instructions in a way that we each needed to hear His call.
I’ve been praying on how to expand this part of my heart and I believe God sent me this video at the perfect time! Thank you for being obedient to the Lord ✝️🩵
Awesome! Praise God
My grandmother and I invited some Hmong people to sell their wares at our church. A tall man and a tall woman came up to us and said, “We like what you’re doing here.” We had never seen them before and we asked ourselves if they were angels. 💕🥰💕🙏🏻
One time I took the kids to a beach about 1 hour away from my house, I was coming out of the gas station there was literally no one around and I basically got stuck on the narrow curve and broke the side bumper of my car. Some guy in this pick up truck literally came out of nowhere like thin air and helped me pull the piece off my car put it in my car barely said anything to me and then left. Like he disappeared idk where he went 😂 idk maybe it was a regular person but I was distressed and he helped. When I drive off I cried bc I felt the presence of God was with me helping me.
Question 🙋🏻♀️
What to do when you show hospitality, you invited people over but it’s not reciprocated? I’m fighting so hard with that.
My husband it’s part of the ministry, a deacon, and we always have our house open for anyone. Families have lived with us for quiet sometime, young people too. We always invited people over, I cook or we buy food. And I believe we always have a good time. But we are almost never invited to anyones house. As a human it’s makes me sad and even harder to show hospitality. My husband it’s fine since he knows it’s for God’s glory so we keep on doing it. Any tips on that? Thanks 🤍
Remember, you treasure is in heaven and God sees everything you’re doing, all of your work and sacrifice. It is not in vain. We can only give, because we’ve been given so much. Not by other people but by the Lord our God. I pray that the Lord shows you how He’s working in the lifes of the people that you serve.
Milena you look so beautiful!! Love from another Michigan sister
Great video!
Could you please talk about, somewhere in near future, cleanliness. More specifically, when you have a home and you're afraid to invite someone in your home who has a lot of children, due to the fact that they will make house a mess and also be a potential illness hazard to your own baby (common kids illnesses such as cold, runny nose etc.)?
Thank you in advance, be blessed 🤗
Oh that's s huge pet peeve of mine too
I think I have encountered an angel. Here's what happened. I grew up knowing the Bible, but was abused by it, when I left home I tried faking Christianity because my community was predominantly "Christian". A few years later I left my country to teach in China and I finally broke free, I denied God and told everybody that I am an athiest. The truth is that I have always known there is a God, but due to all the bad things that were done to me as a kid and what I did later as an adult I just believed that there is no way that such a holy God would want anything to do with me. Kicking against the grouts is hard and while I wrestled with the weight of sin I was walking in a crowded street in China. An old Chinese man was walking towards me in the crowd, looked at me and said in passing "Jesus still loves you". I looked around and he had dissappeared within the crowd. This finally broke all my defences and for the first time in my life I really gave my heart to God and never looked back. Thinking back on it I believe that it was supernatural, it happened in a country where no one is allowed to talk about Jesus in public, with a population where very few people can actually speak English (almost none of the older generation can speak English) and people in Chinese society will never address a foreigner spontaneously. God is still moving and working amongst people in wonderful ways.
Wow ❤❤
❤❤
What about when people have overstayed their welcome? Like needing a place to stay and then it ends up being months or years?
**Special request**
Hi people, this is Anna-Maria, a 25 year old Christian woman from Germany who just graduated from midwifery school. I'm coming here with a rather odd request but I'm looking for someone that I can learn from, like a married couple that is just a few steps ahead of me in life as I believe that there is so much to learn from them. My vision is that I can stay with them for a few weeks and just do life with them (e.g. help cooking, cleaning etc.) and also help/volunteer in a church community. I'm really passionate about the topics that Milena is talking about recently and would like to dig deeper and learn from people who share similar values (but don't worry, my expectations are not too high, so the people don't have to be perfect on everything and just in case you're wondering, I'm also not coming to experience special adventures or anything expensive :)). I'm actually flying to Florida at the end of next week to visit a friend for some days but after that I don't have a place to go and I'm praying for that. So if anybody knows someone who would like to pour wisdom into a young woman, just let me know. I'm going to Florida/Tampa, so it would be cool if I find someone that lives near to that but I'm also open to go anywhere else. Just let me know in the comments and thank you again :)
Great video, however Jordan please learn the art of letting people finish their sentence before CONSTANTLY cutting them off. It shows lack of respect and no restraint.