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"The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.  He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul."  

Delightful bites from the Word of God.

Christ in YOUR Christmas Part 2

12/14/2022

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Today we continue our Mary musings. Last time we explored Mary's love and knowledge of God as a reason for God choosing her for perhaps the greatest mission ever completed by a human, outside of the life, death, and ressurection of Jesus. 

Today, I want to examine her responses to the things that happened in her life. When Mary was first approached by the Angel Gabriel, she was afraid. I would have been too! And the information she received couldn't have been easy to hear. Let's think about this. 

She was a virgin, pure in thought and body. She more than likely had a good reputation. She was engaged to be married and life was looking like it was working out pretty well. Then BOOM! She's pregnant and Mary's got some 'splaining to do. Can you even imagine what Joseph thought when she told him what sounded like the most cockamamie story he had ever heard? Seriously, what man would have believed that? It must have seemed that her marriage went right down the tubes. 

Then there's the little concern about the law of the land. In Jewish law, audultry was punishable by death. Although not married, engagement was more like marriage is in our culture and she would have been considered an adulteress. So now, she was facing a  life of disdain and reproach, if she managed to keep her head. And all of that for being completely innocent.

I don't know about you but that might have made me very angry and tempted to question the love of God. Afterall, she lived a pure life, she loved God and had kept herself according to His law and now God was placing her in the worst possible position that a woman could face in those days. 


(Meanwhile, a few months earlier, Mary's cousin Zacharius had also received some rather unbelievable news. He and his wife Elizabeth were going to have a baby after being barren for their entire lives. Zacharius argued with the angel since he and his wife were "old and stricken in years." As a result, the angel shut his mouth and caused him to be mute until the baby was born.) 

Now this is what is interesting to me. Both Zacharius and Mary questioned the angel. Zacharius doubted that it COULD happen at all while Mary only questioned only how it WOULD happen. "
And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."

Now, let's bring this home. When your life completely falls apart, when God allows hardship, loss, and devastation to invade your life, when He changes the total trajectery of your plans, goals and dreams, how do you respond? Do you, like Mary automatically respond "behold the handmaid of the Lord" or do you argue with Him trying to convince Him that this is not a welcome change? Do you consider yourself blessed as Mary did or do you begin to grow suspicious of God and His love? Are you so in love with God that your faith in His Divine plan causes you to submit to Him once again in total trust and humility? Are you okay withyour life will looking nothing like you imagined? Are you willing to give up all the blessings you have in order to do what the Lord is calling you to?

Are you a doubter or a questioner? Are you a Zacharius or a Mary?
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Christ in YOUR Christmas Part 1

12/9/2022

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 What do you do to keep Christ in YOUR Christmas? It is so easy to get caught up in all the trappings and responsibilities (some self-imposed) of the season, so to keep Christ in my own personal Christmas, I ponder one aspect of the Christmas account in scripture each year. 

In the past I have focused on the miracle and implications of the incarnation, the different Bible characters, how God chose to speak to men throughout that time, the supernatural events that involved nature, and others. This year, I chose Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

Although I identify most with the Apostle Peter before Pentecost on a personal level, (sincere but lacking wisdom, impulsive, and generally blundering my way through life), the person I aspire to be like is Mary.

Out of all the women God could have chosen to not only birth the Saviour, but raise Him, God chose Mary. I want to be the kind of woman that God could choose for such an important assignment, don't you?

In the next couple of blogs, I want to take a look at the characteristics that made Mary the kind of woman that God could choose to use! 

Mary KNEW and LOVED God.

She attended the synagogue and was educated in the scriptures as much as all the women of her day were. She had heard the prophesies concerning the coming Messiah. She knew that He would be born of a virgin. I'm sure she never imagined that she would be that virgin, yet still, she believed God's Word would come to pass and she was waiting for it. From the words she spoke both to the angel and in a moment of praise, we can see that Mary was a God worshipper. He was no stranger to her. 

By the time she reached Elizabeth's house, we see that she had fully comprehended and embraced being God's choice to mother the promised Messiah. In a spontaneous moment, her praise of God burst forth from her spirit as she declared; 
  

Luke 1:46b
“My soul exalts the Lord,
47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 For He has had regard for the humble state of His bond-servant;
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.
49 For the Mighty One has done great things for me;
And holy is His name.
50 And His mercy is to generation after generation
Toward those who fear Him.
51 He has done mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
And has exalted those who were humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things,
And sent the rich away empty-handed.
54 He has given help to His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
55 Just as He spoke to our fathers,

To Abraham and his descendants forever.”


In order to be used of God, I must know Him! I must love His voice and be responsive to His leadings. I must believe that God is still working in the world and using women to bring about the fulfillment of His plan for this sick and dying world. I must be like Mary. 

Oh that God would fine tune my character to the point that He could use me for such a grave and glorious assignment. Oh that He would cause His revelation to be so real in my heart that praise would burst forth from my mouth everytime I meditate on it. Oh, to be used as Mary was for whatever purpose God has planned for my life. 





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