We Belong

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional Podcast, episode 1576. Today's devo is called We Belong.

Hey there, we're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to-do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five-minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast. Well, happy Monday, everybody.

It is Gabby Alessie Kaladiud coming back to you with a full week of devos. And it's been a full month since I've seen you all. And since I have been on the podcast the last time, I have announced some very fun news that I want to share with you guys as we kick off this week. Drumroll, please. I am pregnant. This is super exciting. Yes, I am pregnant. I am probably up to July. What would I be, Solange? Like how many months pregnant? Four months pregnant, maybe? My due date is late December. It's actually the day after my birthday. So it'll be my little birthday gift. So you can do the math, but I think I'm around four and a half months pregnant right now. And it's been really, really exciting. Almost five months pregnant, according to Solange. I'm almost five months pregnant. So we are almost halfway there, or just about over halfway there, and we're super excited for it. And it is a baby boy. So our son will be coming to us at the end of this year, and we are just so grateful. Um, our church has been calling this year the year of harvest, and truly, this has been our harvest for me and my husband. And yes, it is soon, but we wanted to jump into it. And we love children and we love babies, and we're ready to start our family. Um, I want to jump into the devo today because if not, I'll make this whole thing about me and I can't, because it's about the word of God and getting into the word of God. And all of July, we've been talking a little bit about the whys behind certain things in our walk with the Lord. You know, how or why do we read the Bible? Why do we read it in a certain way? And this week, I really wanted to focus on why do we go to church? This is something that could be controversial to some people because there's a lot of believers that believe you don't need to physically be at church to be a part of the body of Christ, or you don't need to physically be in the room to know God. And of course, I do believe that you don't need to physically be at church to know God. But we also have to recognize and realize that we belong to the body of Christ and we belong to the family of God. And that's what I want to talk about today. That's why I've called this Devo, we belong. In Hebrews 10, 24, verses 25, it says this let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other. I want us to look at this verse because it's talking about as the body of Christ, it's saying, let us make sure that we consider one another, that we we stir up love. The word provoke might sound negative, but really what it's saying is stir up each other, stir up love and good works, but then it talks about not neglecting meeting together. Don't forget to come together. And I said it earlier. As believers, when we pray that prayer and Jesus enters into our heart, it's not something that just happens to us, meaning Jesus comes into our lives. We are now brought into his kingdom and to his family. It's a joining of the two. It's similar, like when you get married and you come into covenant and relationship with your spouse. It doesn't mean that now your husband is just part of your family. No, you are joined to his family as well. And so when you come into a relationship with Jesus, we are joined with him. And now we are adopted into the family, and now we are considered a part of the body of Christ, a family member of the body of Christ. And so, as family, it's important that we don't forsake or neglect meeting together. You see, my family, we'd get together every Sunday afternoon for lunch. We always have lunch after service on Sundays because we like to, my mom will cook, we like to talk about the service, we like to get together and just bond after such a busy morning that we've had in ministry. Well, when one person, it's very funny how our family works, the pressures of family. When one person's person misses a week, everybody kind of gives them some grace. You know, maybe they had a hard week, they had a hard time, they were busy, they're tired, whatever. But if they start missing two weeks in a row, and then they don't show up for a third week, we all start to question what's going on with them. Why? Because there is a culture in our family that we get together, we gather with one another, we have lunch together on Sundays, we talk about the service. This is part of who we are as a family. Well, the same is said for the family of Christ. Part of our DNA is to gather together. It's to come together on Sundays. Maybe you work on Sundays, but your church has a Saturday night service. Whatever it might be, we can't neglect, we can't forget, and we can't ever get off course by forgetting to be together and come together on Sunday mornings. The body of Christ will encourage you, will stir you up, will provoke love and good works just by stepping into the room on a Sunday. So I encourage you, if you might be somebody that goes, ah, I don't really need to be in church to know God, or I don't really like the church environment, I understand. I get it. Maybe it's something it has hurt you in the past, maybe something affected you, maybe somebody somewhere tainted your view of church. But I want to remind you today that our church, it's the body of Christ and it's the gathering of the family. And if you believe in Jesus and you've been adopted into his family, then it's on all of us to keep meeting together. So my challenge to you this week would be make it a point to be at church on Sunday. Why? Because we belong to the body of Christ. Come on, let's pray. Father, we just thank you that you've placed us in your family. We thank you that you've called us, that you've brought us in. And Father, we belong to you. I help or I pray that you would just help us, Lord, remind us, stir us up to gather with other believers and to be an encouragement to those around me. And I pray over anybody that might be struggling with church hurt or they've been affected by a pastor or a leader and it's ruined their ability to go to a church and trust other people. Father, I pray that you would heal that. That you would heal that hurt, that you would heal that heart, that you would completely cover and remove all of the feelings that they might have towards church, God, because remind us all we are part of your family. And it's important for us to gather together every single week. So we thank you for it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

So there you have it, your five minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend. Leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.