Here is a devotion to start your day!
Also available now at Power, Love & Miracles:
Hidden Heroes of the Bible: The Empty Tomb. Chapters 10-12 [PLM+]
Mary Magdalene: When Jesus Says Your Name. The Bible Unplugged podcast, episode 72
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Hero: Lydia of Philippi
Hospitality, business, and leadership woven together
Scripture: Acts 16:11–15, 40
When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.
Reflection
Lydia meets Paul by a river, not in a synagogue.
She is a businesswoman—a seller of purple cloth, which was both costly and valued. She is also described as “a worshiper of God,” someone already reaching toward the Lord as she understands Him.
When Paul and his companions speak about Jesus, something happens inside her. “The Lord opened her heart to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul.” She believes. She and her household are baptized. And then she does what comes naturally to her: she opens her home.
“If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” She urges them until they accept. Later, when Paul and Silas are released from prison, they go straight to Lydia’s house to encourage the brothers and sisters there.
Her home has become the first gathering place of the church in Philippi. Her hospitality becomes the doorway for the gospel in Europe.
You might see your work and your home as “ordinary,” separate from “spiritual” life. Lydia’s story gently corrects that. Your workplace is a mission field. Your dining table can be an altar. Your guest room, living room, or favorite coffee shop can be a sanctuary where hearts open to God.
You don’t have to stand on a street corner and preach. You can open your home, your schedule, or your business with a quiet prayer: “Lord, let this be a place where Your presence lives and Your people are strengthened.”
Unassuming heroes like Lydia remind us that God often plants the seeds of new movements in the soil of everyday hospitality.
Centering Prayer
Lord,
Open my heart afresh to your word and Spirit. Show me how to use my home, work, and resources as places of welcome and strength for others. Let my everyday spaces become small chapels of your presence. – Amen
Practice for Today
Offer hospitality in some form: invite someone for coffee, share a meal, or create a welcoming space in your workplace. Do it consciously as an extension of God’s welcome.
Journaling Prompt
What would it look like for my home or daily environment to become a “Lydia house”—a place where people encounter God’s presence and encouragement?
Closing Blessing
Be a quiet host of the kingdom in your world.
Throw open the doors of your heart to God’s voice.
Let your table, office, or porch become a place of welcome.
Shine as a first light of the gospel where you already live.
Pray as You Go
Breathe in: Welcome me again…
Breathe out: … welcome others through me
