In the natural God has been expanding my husband and I and quite literally giving us room to hold more. We just traded our 2 seater car for an older car that seats 7. We close on a fixer-upper home this month that will allow us to build a whole guest section to house traveling missionaries. In the midst of all this, God has been teaching us much about hospitality in preparation. While much of it has been for us, God has put it on me to share a word about ENTERTAINING that applies to many in the body in such a time as this.
If this is for you, in this season God is highlighting two very important things. The first is
MAKING ROOM.
God is making room in your life. This space has a purpose. While it may feel empty or stagnant now, God is preparing you for something very different than what you’ve done in the past. With space, comes room to ENTERTAIN. Here’s that word that He kept nudging me to look into. The specific word in the Biblical Greek is “anadechomai”. This is important because this isn’t ONLY the typical “entertaining guests” that we think of- that’s another word. This word means:
“entertain anyone hospitably:
entertain in one's mind
to embrace them with faith, assume, to receive,“
The Lord is speaking this question to you: What are you entertaining?
When we entertain people, many things happen. We rearrange our schedules. We prepare food and drink. We think through the preparations needing to be made for these guests. We sometimes spend financially on preparations for the guests.
There are things COMPETING to be entertained by you. There are the things of the Lord (the mission He’s calling you to, the faith He’s asking you to hold to, the assignment for this next season), and there are the things of the enemy that would try to come against that.
So hear again, what are you entertaining? What are you arranging your schedule according to? God’s voice or the voice of worry, fear, or apathy?
What are you FEEDING in your mind? Are you feeding faith and watering the seeds of promise God has sowed in your heart? Are you reminding yourself of the visions and words He has given?
What are you PREPARING for? Are you preparing for the worst? Are you frozen, shielding yourself from what ifs? Are you living in such a way that you are literally expecting what God has specifically spoken to you to come to pass? Living in expectancy of God’s promises is like living in expectancy of guest. You are watching. You are waiting, but it’s an ACTIVE wait that involves PREPARING for what you have faith is coming.
Are you sowing your money where God has told you to sow, or are you holding it?
These questions will be like a compass in coming days, keeping you pointed back to the Lord and what He’s saying to YOU specifically over your life.
Entertain can also be defined as “give attention or consideration to (an idea, suggestion, or feeling)”. What ideas, suggestions, or feelings are you giving ground to? Ask the Lord to wash these things in His truth. He’s speaking this over you:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.”
Psalm 32:8-9
He is giving you CLARITY now that your CIRCUMSTANCES can not provide. Don’t be steered by what you FEEL (like the bit of a horse), but be steered by the teaching of the Lord.
Be careful what you “embrace with faith” and “receive”, and make sure that it is LIFE giving and HOPE giving and bringing you closer to the Lord. This Greek word we are diving into is the same used in Hebrews 11 when it says Abraham embraced (entertained) the promises of God with FAITH. It’s a living mentally according to spiritual words as opposed to physical evidence.
I mentioned there were two parts of this that God put on my heart. The second part is joy. Part of the definition of entertaining is to amuse or bring joy. It’s no coincidence that much of the attacks right now are to keep us stranded in hope deferred, blind us to immediate hope, sequester us in fear as opposed to gratitude, and just plain keep us from enjoying this day that the Lord has made! In this season, let your heart be entertained by the Lord. We cannot give out what we haven’t received, so let the Lord entertain you. Let Him prepare a place for you. To feed and water you. To pay attention to you and love on you. Let Him fill you with JOY- not as the world fills, but in an unshakable way. Be refreshed. Laugh again.
As we ENTERTAIN the things of God, we will experience a FULLNESS and a LIVELINESS and UNITY. As we entertain the things of the enemy, it will keep us DELAYED, trying to divert us from the fulfilled hope that is SO CLOSE.
God is making room for a new thing in your life! Fill the space wisely with what you entertain.