According to God's Word

Talk Video

 

Luke 1:26-38 ESV

 

“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’

 

“And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’

 

“And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.”

 

I love this story, not just because it is about the conception of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, but because it is a story of enormous faith being acted out in the life of a woman of God who loved the Lord. Mary loved the Lord and that is why God chose her to bear the only begotten Son of God. But this was God’s design for her life even before the creation of the world, and even before she was conceived in the womb of her mother. This was God’s design and purpose for her life, and she willingly accepted that.

 

Now Mary was human just like us, so when the angel first visited her she didn’t comprehend what was happening, and so she tried to discern what was going on. And when the angel told her what God’s plan was for her life, she asked a question about how this would take place, not because she doubted God, for she did not, but because this was definitely a very unusual calling and she just needed to understand how that was going to work so that she was prepared for what was coming.

 

For, if you consider her circumstances, she was a young girl who had not been with a man, although she was engaged to be married, so it was a logical question to ask as to how she would be pregnant and have a son if she was still a virgin. And in accepting that call, it was not just accepting what the angel told her was going to take place, but certainly what she knew might happen to her when people learned she was pregnant. They would assume that she sinned and that is why she was pregnant, and that could have cost her her life back then. So, she was accepting that, as well.

 

But I love how she responded with, “Behold I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And you know, this is the kind of response all of us should be giving to the Lord when he calls us to do his will and when he calls us to specific areas of ministry, especially if they are ministries considered “outside the box” by other humans, although they are not outside God’s box. For so many Christians think inside a box created by other humans and so they are not willing to walk by faith and not by sight in following the Lord Jesus wherever he leads them.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLBqmcoKTSs

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Jesus, Lead Me  

 

An Original Work / July 22, 2011

 

Jesus, lead me all the way.

Be my hope and be my stay.

Gently lead me where I should go,

So Your Spirit, I want to know.

Open up my heart to You.

Fill me with Your love and truth.

Make my heart want to obey.

Be my Lord today. Gently lead always.

 

Jesus, lover of my soul,

Cleanse my heart, and make me whole;

Be transformed in my heart today,

As I turn from my sin and pray.

Make Your will known to my heart.

May I not from You depart.

How I long to hear You now,

As I humbly bow. Jesus, hear me now.

 

https://vimeo.com/113559147