We hosted our first 2023 Happy Hour Fellowship (HHF) gathering a couple of weeks ago. (Find out what HHF is here.) Once again, it was a gathering for the gratitude and testimony books.
We always pray and prepare weeks in advance for the day. The preparation includes inviting the Holy Spirit and asking Him what He wants to do. We ask Him to guide us from the simplest things, like what should be on the dinner menu and how to set up the gathering room, to the more higher priorities, like who we should invite to be our worship leader and speaker. This preparation also includes cleaning our home from top to bottom, steam cleaning and vacuuming our carpets, mopping and shining our floors, and moving furniture around to accommodate all of our guests. We don't have to do all of that, but we like having our home ready to welcome everyone.
We believe our guests can have heavenly encounters before entering our home. We pray they will embrace the Lord on every street they drive on in our neighborhood; we pray for an extra measure of peace as they are on our driveway. When they walk inside our home, in the foyer, eat dinner, fellowship, and sit in their chair ready to worship, we declare the Holy Spirit will overwhelm them with His presence. When we first started HHF in 2016, our kids would pray and ask the Holy Spirit for a word and/or picture for each guest. They would sit over each chair and place their art on it, believing it was what that person who sat on it needed. More than a dozen times, people have shared that the art and word were specific to them. Praise God! I have recently heard that some still carry the art in their Bible or taped up on their bathroom mirror. How kind it was of God to use my children to speak to His people. We still encourage our children to be involved with our family ministry. One of the ways is to have them sit and pray over each seat and release prophetic words for those they feel led to speak to.
For this gathering, the Holy Spirit specifically instructed us not to have a worship leader or guest speaker. He was going to be our primary focus. He told me this would be an example for others to host similar gatherings in their homes and not to be concerned about who would lead or speak but just be willing to host His presence. I wasn't sure how this would play out, but He gave me His instructions, and I obeyed.
I'm so thankful I did because the time was intimate and sweet. People shared how the worship time was pure and without distractions. They openly shared their revelations and testimonies for others to take hold of and be encouraged by. We prayed for one another and believed in each other's healing. We personally and collectively sought His presence. Our time together was focused on Him only.
Based on one of my word themes for 2023, Hallowed, our worship songs were dedicated to who our Lord God is and the reverential fear we are to have for Him. And then a dear friend shared that the Lord gave her this verse during our gathering, Psalm 25:14 "The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them." And she went on to share that she smelled an incense manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Praise God!
I shared what happened at our HHF, hopefully, to encourage you to do something similar. Ask the Holy Spirit what you can do to host gatherings in your home. It doesn't have to be on a big scale like HHF. Make it personal to you and what the Holy Spirit is guiding you to do. I firmly believe we each have the unique opportunity to do more and not wait for the local church to do it. We can take the people in the book of Acts as our example, who met in homes, broke bread together, and welcomed and waited for His presence.
"Daily they met together in the temple courts and in one another's homes to celebrate communion. They shared meals together with joyful hearts and tender humility. They were continually filled with praises to God, enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were coming to life." ~Acts 2:46-47 (TPT)
"Now, this means that when we come together and are side by side, something wonderful will be released. We can expect to be co-encouraged and co-comforted by each other's faith!"
~Romans 1:12 (TPT)
"This is not the time to pull away and neglect[ a] meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing. In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning." ~Hebrews 10:25 (TPT)
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