Advent: Would You like a Holy Ghost Break?

Luke 1:39-45    (NLT)

³⁹A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town ⁴⁰where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

⁴²Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, "You are blessed by God above all other women, and your child is blessed. ⁴³What an honor this is, that the mother of my Lord should visit me! ⁴⁴When you came in and greeted me, my baby jumped for joy the instant I heard your voice! ⁴⁵You are blessed, because you believed that the Lord would do what he said." 

According to John Lightfoot Commentary, it is most likely that Elizabeth and Zechariah lived in Hebron, which was know to be the 'the city of Aaron's offspring.' (see commentary)   The distance between Nazareth and Hebron is over one hundred miles.  So whether Mary walked or rode a donkey, it would have taken about four days to travel.  It is most likely she would have had a traveling companion, because women, especially young teens, would not have gone out in public alone.  Was she part of a caravan heading south?  One thing we know, there were no Motel 6's along the way.  Mary had to have been a brave and determined young woman.

But she was a young woman, and she had just been through a profound, life-changing encounter with God Almighty.  She had said yes to a life that would be misunderstood by neighbors, family and friends.   All who say, "Yes," to God will have experiences that are gossiped about and ridiculed by others, sometimes by those closest to us.  Where do we go for comfort and edification in those times?  We seek out the Lord, but also brothers and sisters in Christ who have had similar experiences.  When we come together and share our testimonies in times like these, we receive strength and courage to soldier on. 

As we look at the initial encounter here between Mary and Elizabeth, what gets my heart rejoicing is the Holy Ghost break out time!  From the moment Mary says, "Hi!" the party begins! John is dancing in the womb, Elizabeth gets filled with the Holy Spirit and begins to prophesy! And don't you know the joy that must have hit Mary as she realized, "Praise the Lord, Elizabeth really knows!!!" 

We were not created to walk this path alone.  During this Advent season, let us seek out holy fellowship.  Draw near with those who we  can encourage and build up as well as receiving the same from them.  I almost see it as a time of tarrying and praying and pressing in to the Lord, much as the disciples must have done in the upper room as they awaited the Gift from on High!  This is a season of great expectation!  It is a season to huddle together and share those deep mysteries, both the joys and the sorrows, we have experienced with one another.  

It is a time to believe the Lord will do as He said!  Be blessed! 

Pray with me:  Father, thank You for these two awesome women who said yes to the plan for their lives.  They helped to change the world! Thank You, You have not left us alone, but sent Your Holy Spirit to fill us and to make us one.  Help us to make the time during this all too busy time to come together with our brothers and sisters and share our hearts and lives, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. I want to shout, "Glory!" with someone!! In Jesus name, amen.

Do You Want a Heart Like Mary's?

 

Luke 1:26-38  (NLT) 

²⁶In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, ²⁷to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. ²⁸Gabriel appeared to her and said, "Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!"

²⁹Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. ³⁰"Don't be frightened, Mary," the angel told her, "for God has decided to bless you! ³¹You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. ³²He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. ³³And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!"

³⁴Mary asked the angel, "But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin."

³⁵The angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. ³⁶What's more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she's already in her sixth month. ³⁷For nothing is impossible with God."

³⁸Mary responded, "I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true." And then the angel left. 

I cannot imagine the wonder of  what it must have been like for Mary, a relatively young woman, to receive this glorious visitation from Gabriel and the news that she was the chosen mother of Jesus.  Reflecting on this passage, what stands out above all else, for me,  is Mary's unequivocal response.  

Mary put her total life in the hands of God.  She knew there could be severe penalties for being found pregnant in her single state.  But, it appears she did not hesitate even a fraction of a moment.  She trusted God's word above her knowledge.  She was willing to go through whatever would come at her for His sake.  

I am reminded of Jesus' words to count the cost of following Him. (Luke 14:25-28, 33) (The Message)  

⁵One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, ²⁶"Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters--yes, even one's own self!-can't be my disciple. ²⁷Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple.²⁸"Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it?...³³"Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple.

Being a follower of Jesus is not an easy path.  But once we have tasted the goodness and love of the Lord, there is no other way that matters. 

Pray with me: Father, give me a heart like Mary.  A heart that says, "I am willing to accept whatever You want."  Make me fearless, trusting and eager to do Your will.  Help me remember to pray daily, that everything You have said, will come true.  In Jesus' name I ask, amen.

Who You Gonna Believe??

Luke 1: 18-25  (NLT) (Copy and pasted from studylight.org)

¹⁸Zechariah said to the angel, "How can I know this will happen? I'm an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years."

¹⁹Then the angel said, "I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! ²⁰And now, since you didn't believe what I said, you won't be able to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly come true at the proper time."

²¹Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out, wondering why he was taking so long. ²²When he finally did come out, he couldn't speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures that he must have seen a vision in the Temple sanctuary.

²³He stayed at the Temple until his term of service was over, and then he returned home. ²⁴Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. ²⁵"How kind the Lord is!" she exclaimed. "He has taken away my disgrace of having no children!" 

Just prior to this passage, in verse 13, Gabriel had said to Zechariah that his prayer had been heard, and that his desire for a son was to be fulfilled. I have to ponder all the prayers I have sent to God that have not come to pass...yet.  One of the most common prayer sent to God by most Christians would likely be salvation prayer for our loved ones.

 I am reminded of the most dramatic answer to prayers that I know went out perhaps 60 years prior to the answer, and that was the salvation of the man I call Uncle Bill.  He was the uncle of a friend of mine, who received salvation as a very old man, on his deathbed.  His wife had preceded him in death and she had prayed for his salvation their entire marriage.

It is not hard to identify with Zechariah's disbelief.  Often in our human frailty, we look at the flesh and not the miraculous.  Yet,  Gabriel was astounded that Zechariah doubted.  Gabriel's attitude was like,
 " Look dude! I came from the face of God!!! You think I came for my own benefit? Are you that faithless??  Dude, if you can't speak words of faith and gratitude, you won't say anything at all for the next nine months!" 
I think I want to grasp the intensity of Gabriel's words, and apply that intensity to my faith in God.  Jesus told us that whatever we ask in His name it will be done for us, when we abide in Him. (John 15:7)

Do we really believe that? Do we need Gabriel to show up to tell us our prayers have been heard?  (Though I think that would really be cool!!) 

I am thinking that our words really need to be words of faith.  When we know we have been heard and that the answer is on its way, the proper response is, "Thank You!"

Pray with me:  Father forgive me for all the times I have doubted Your words to me. I place my life in Your hands. Thank You for always hearing my prayers.  Thank You for the answers that are even now being sent.  Thank You for the answered prayer that I may not see in my lifetime, but You are faithful. It will be glorious to see the results of our prayers on the other side!  In Jesus' name, amen.

 

Advent: The Season of the Spirit and Power of Elijah!

Photo by Paula Muehlendorf Shaw 2012

In preparing my heart for the coming of Jesus Christ during this season of anticipation, I decided to divert a bit from my usual blog posts and do a study of the Advent story in Luke.  God willing, I will post daily whatever revelation the Lord gives as we journey through these passages.

Luke 1:5-17   (New Living Translation NLT)
(The scripture text is copy and pasted from www.studylight.org)

⁵It all begins with a Jewish priest, Zechariah, who lived when Herod was king of Judea. Zechariah was a member of the priestly order of Abijah. His wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. ⁶Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God's eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord's commandments and regulations. ⁷They had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and now they were both very old.

⁸One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. ⁹As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary and burn incense in the Lord's presence. ¹⁰While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.

¹¹Zechariah was in the sanctuary when an angel of the Lord appeared, standing to the right of the incense altar. ¹²Zechariah was overwhelmed with fear. ¹³But the angel said, "Don't be afraid, Zechariah! For God has heard your prayer, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son! And you are to name him John. ¹⁴You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice with you at his birth, ¹⁵for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or hard liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.  ¹⁶And he will persuade many Israelites to turn to the Lord their God. ¹⁷He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah, the prophet of old. He will precede the coming of the Lord, preparing the people for his arrival. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will change disobedient minds to accept godly wisdom." 

This story begins during the reign of the most evil king Judea had ever seen.  Herod had accomplished extraordinary feats, re-building the temple in Jerusalem, literally turning "Samaria into a Greco-Roman showplace, complete with theater, racetrack, pagan temple, and streets lined with colonnades and statuary.  On the coast he built a similarly lavish port city of Caesarea." (See Alfred Hoerth's , Archaeology and the Old Testament, 1998, p 421) But he was viciously protective of his throne.

During the time of Herod's reign, when John the Baptist and Jesus were born, Herod's sons began to vie for the throne. He had three sons put to death! Knowing this, helps to understand the kind of man who would have no qualms killing all the first born sons throughout Judea when he heard the news about Jesus from the wise men. 

I love how many layers of meaning are in the scriptures.  Take the names of those mentioned in this passage.  Zechariah means remembered of Jehovah.The Lord ordained the man through whom the front-runner of Jesus would be, would be a man named for that very time. The Lord remembers His promise to save His people. 

The Lord also remembered Zachariah's cry for a child.  He and his wife were past the age of child-bearing.  In the tradition and law of the era, Zachariah would have been totally within his rights to legally divorce his wife, Elizabeth.  The fact that he did not tells us he really loved her.  We can with all certainty assume they asked God for a child. Imagine the honor in knowing that your child was a totally prophetic child of God.  John was the name the angel told Zachariah to name his son. John means beloved of God.  Beloved doesn't just mean loved, it means greatly loved!

I believe we, as proclaimers of the Good News, "Jesus is coming!" are also greatly loved of God! And we can go out into the community around us in the spirit and power of Elijah! This is a season of the prophetic!  Let us build up! Let us encourage! Let us declare the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Zechariah was also a priest in the division of Abijah.  Abijah means my father is Jehovah. Of all the divisions of priests, how awesome is it that the one whose name proclaims Jehovah as Father is serving at the time of the beginning of the Advent of Christ's being born, the Son of God and Son of Man?

The division of Abijah was also the eighth division.  Eight in the Bible stands for new beginnings.  The beginning of the New Covenant is starting here, in the sanctuary, with a pronouncement to Zehariah of a soon to born son who would prepare the way of the coming of the Redeemer of the world, awakening the hearts of God's people to repent and receive their King!

Pray with me: Today, Father, I ask You to search my heart.  If there are any ways in which I have turned from You or from my children, reveal them to me so that I may repent. If there are any ways my mind has become disobedient to You, forgive me and change my mind to receive Godly Wisdom! Let me, like your servant John, go out in the power and spirit of Elijah this Advent season.  Prepare me, Oh Lord!

  

Do You Prefer the Truth that Hurts, or Lies that Make You Comfortable?

 Luke 21:27-28   (RSV)And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."  

Matthew 25:31-46  (RSV) 31 "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. 34 Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? 38And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? 39 And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?' 40 And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44 Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?' 45 Then he will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' 46 And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."


Today, I was reading a blog that spoke of the passage from Luke 21:27-28 that describes the Day of the Coming of the Lord as simply our redemption drawing near, dismissing the idea of there being any judgement attached to that day.  This is a dangerous conclusion made from  taking one scripture and building a doctrine around it without keeping in context with the entirety of God's Word.  In Luke, Jesus was speaking of the end times, and if you read the entire chapter, He warns them to stay alert.  In Matthew, Jesus warns of the day of judgement that must occur.

If we neglect to warn of the coming judgement, it will be as if the blood of those who are lost will be on our hands.  While I fully support the Day of His Coming will be a time of great rejoicing for those who love Him and know Him, and follow Him, it will be a day of horror to those who have opposed Him.

Too many in the Church have watered down the hard sayings of Jesus.  Recently, I copied a scripture into my Facebook status that was Jesus' own words to us.  Here it is:

Mark 3:28-30 (The Message)
"Listen to this carefully. I'm warning you. There's nothing done or said that can't be forgiven. But if you persist in your slanders against God's Holy Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives, sawing off the branch on which you're sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives." He gave this warning because they were accusing him of being in league with Evil.

A dear Christian friend told me, "That's frightening and feels like you pointing a finger at someone Anna."  I don't think he even recognized the Lord's own words!  

Our western Christianity has been infiltrated and watered down by the politically correct, all inclusive, false love, a love without truth. 

May we never cease to tell of our wonderful Savior's love for us, and that He came to save the world from the sin and evil that destroys humanity. Without turning to Him and receiving the eternal gift He gave us through His birth, death and resurrection, we will receive His judgement.  

During this Advent season, let us prepare our hearts by meditating on the depth of love it took for God Almighty to lay aside His divinity to be born the Son of Man, knowing we would brutally mock, beat and "smite Him from the earth." (from Hallelujah, My Father, words and music by Tim Cullen)

Blessings, Anna Marie