Day 5 – House of community

“That is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” Romans 1:12

When Joshua made his covenant with God in Joshua 24, he did not select only certain individuals to join him. He invited his community: Israel. He knew that the faith of God’s nation would remain strong if they served the Lord together as a communal house. A beautiful prerequisite for the Body of Christ.

The idea of community comes from the sense of responsibility we have towards each other. God encourages us to take care of our brothers and sisters – strangers, friends, or foes. Paul knew this full well too and in multiple epistles wrote that he can not wait to meet with them. Fellowship was important to him and an important lesson to teach the new church being established, and even us approximately two thousand years later. To stand fast as a house that serves the Lord, we should invite our community (like Joshua did) to serve the Lord together as a unified Body of Christ and to be encouraged by each other’s faith (like Paul describes). Maintain connections with each other and focus on building a community of love in Word and actions.

In my area, we started a lady’s prayer group every Saturday at 7:00 am. (Yes, I know it sounds early, but with a warm cup of coffee in hand and even warmer love from these sisters,  time quickly ticks by to 10:00 am!). Though we were strangers at first, we soon became very close. We pray for our community, area, city, province, and country. We pray for each other and try to help where we can. We dig into God’s Word with a hunger to learn as much as possible together. I saw Romans 1:12 come to live as I witnessed how encouraged we become through each other’s faith.  Now, it is not just me and my house that serves the Lord, but more than one house. A community of houses standing together as the Body of Christ, God’s house – serving Him.

Prayer: Father, the value of community is shown to us in the early pages of Your Word. We are stronger together and we are encouraged by each other’s faith. Lord, please help me to befriend my community so we can serve You together by learning from Your Word as our guide. I know that a strong community holds strong houses where people said: “Me and my house will serve the Lord. I ask today that You bless each house and community who chose to serve You . Amen.

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