[hospitality: the practice of welcoming strangers, visitors, or guests into our lives with kindness and generosity]
Theme: Extending hospitality to the lonely.
Challenge: Write a card or letter to a friend of yours here in the area. Make an appointment to visit with someone you know might not have family nearby or who has recently lost a loved one.
Daily Prayer: One way God creates a hospitable spirit within us is through prayer. Throughout the month of November, let us together bring before God these specific prayers for the lonely.
Sunday: Bring before God those who experience loneliness on a daily basis. Pray that God might bring comfort to them through His Word and His Presence, known especially through the Church’s expression of them.
Monday: Pray for the widows and orphans in our community who know loneliness through loss or rejection. Ask God to comfort them with His truth that they are deeply loved and genuinely valued for who they are.
Tuesday: Ask God to be with those who are lonely due to their status as “outcasts” of some sort. For those who feel they don’t fit in or are rejected by others, pray that they would receive God’s welcome given to them in Jesus.
Wednesday: Pray for all those who feel lonely due to a difficulty in making friends or in finding a mate. Ask that God would provide for their need to connect with others by bringing the warmth of real relationships into their lives.
Thursday: Pray for those who feel disconnected from God—the spiritually lonely. Ask that He would bring His Comforter to rest upon their hearts, so that they might know His love and life.
Friday: Ask God to confront the evil of comparison that keeps so many feeling isolated, lonely, and less than. Pray for Jesus to come with power into the lives of our younger generation who are most susceptible to this scheme.
Saturday: On behalf of those who find it difficult to be vulnerable when it comes to encountering others, ask God for the strength to overcome fear that keeps them in isolation and loneliness.
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