Day 30 - LIFE 2: Invited by Jesus Christ

And you, dear friends in Rome, are among those he dearly loves; you, too, are invited by Jesus Christ to be God’s very own — yes, his holy people. May all God’s mercies and peace be yours from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 1:6-7

I is for inviting! As you know many great and even eternal promises have been made by God concerning your life and lifestyle. Remember, you do not have to go it alone! It should surely be a natural and vitally important process then to share what He has promised. Therefore, the second letter of our keyword LIFE is “Inviting”.

This means encouraging others young and old, nearby or far away, sometimes family or strangers. These may be casual links as well as close family and friends. Inviting others, in whatever form it takes involves God your Heavenly Father, Jesus your Saviour, plus the leading and guiding of God’s Holy Spirit.

In 2004 a group within the Church of England established ‘Back to Church Sunday’, which was an annual opportunity for churches to invite people to come with them to church. By 2014 this one Sunday had grown to five Sundays when people were encouraged to invite neighbours and friends to come to Church: Back to Church Sunday, Harvest, Remembrance Sunday, Advent Sunday and Christmas Carol Service.

Perhaps this year is the ideal opportunity to invite people to Easter services after the stop-start nature of the last two years of pandemic life. Those who have dropped out of the habit of coming to church, those whose circumstances have been adversely affected, those who we have got to know well from our Lockdown days.

Rest assured as a Christian yourself God has available a continuing line of folks that He wants you to invite “to walk with Him in their lives”. Yes, every day, we can have an aspect of invitation as you encourage, explain and uplift other lives under God’s guidance!

LISTENING then INVITING.

Prayer:

Dear Lord

Thank you for revealing yourself to me and those who contributed to my calling.

I will listen to you attentively for your future guidance as I seek to draw others towards you.

Amen.

Ray Avent