Day 2 ‘An Open Table (Joshua 2:9-11)- Week of Prayer & Fasting Devotional

Joshua 2:9–11

“For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”

Rahab had heard the stories.

She had heard what God had done for his people. She had heard about the Red Sea, about the victories God had given them, and about the God who was leading them into the land. And what she heard changed her.

Rahab was not who we might expect to find at the centre of God's story. Yet she recognised something others had missed: the God of Israel is God.

Her story reminds us that God's mission is always bigger than we imagine. His grace reaches beyond the boundaries we create, and he is always at work drawing people to himself.

As a church, this invites us to ask: Who are the people we might be overlooking?

There are people in our communities who feel far from God, excluded, unseen or unsure whether there is a place for them. There are people who may never expect to find themselves welcomed into a church community, yet God may already be drawing them.

Today, let's pray that God would enlarge our hearts to see the people he sees. Where might you be heading today? Where might you walk, who might you be bumping into today? Which people do you know you will encounter, and where might be places you will be today that you do not expect any interactions? How could you change that today?

Let's pray for those who don't yet know Jesus. For our communities. For those who feel excluded or far from God. And let's pray that Kerith would be a church where the table is always being extended, across social, cultural, generational and economic boundaries. Pray that across all our sites we will be places of welcome, places where people feel at home.

The invitation is not simply to make room in our buildings. It is to make room in our hearts.

Dwell

• What does this show me about God's heart for people?

• What does it reveal about who God can use?

• Who might God be inviting me to notice, welcome or pray for?

• Where might God be asking me to extend the table?

Prayer

God, enlarge our hearts to see the people you see. Give us your heart for those who are far from you, those who feel excluded and those who are searching for hope. Help us to be a church where people encounter your grace and discover that there is a place for them. Show us who you are inviting us to notice, welcome and pray for today.

Amen.

Do visit our Prayer Page for more prayer and fasting resources for the Week of Prayer, and ongoing.