Today, I pray that everyone who takes on this prayer challenge to seek God’s face and to take the time to spend with The Lord and others in prayer will be blessed with a powerful move of the Holy Spirit in their lives for chains to be broken, physical infirmities to be healed and for deliverance to be won. I pray that God will provide for all of your needs according to his riches in glory and that he will reveal his will and his heart to your heart through his Word and through his Spirit as you meet with him! ~Blessings on you, in Jesus name! ~Briana
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
Luke 1:26-38 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most Highwill overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
In the most mind-blowing way, the God of the universe placed his eternal plan to save mankind and his very Son into the hands of a very young Jewish girl. Mary was probably just between 13-15 years old at the time she conceived Jesus. This was the usual age for marriage at this time period for girls.
Mary was chosen by God for this incredible task. God incarnate would be carried in her body. The message. The hope. The long-awaited Messiah of the nation of Israel, and ultimately the savior of the world would be nursed by her and held by her.
He would look into her eyes from the crook of her arm and he would watch her reactions and hear her words and attempt to emulate them.
What a crazy plan. The fate of the world rested in the hands of a girl and her betrothed carpenter. And God proved that it was possible. All things are possible with God. He is sovereign and he rules over the hearts of mankind. He was able to keep Mary and Joseph and teach them to be the parents of Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. The power of life, the seed of salvation was birthed into their home.
Imagine the awe and wonder as they held the Messiah and felt the excitement! How incredible this newly born baby and how real and palpable was the presence of God in the room all the time.
But, the secret is this: the baby didn’t stay a baby. He grew. He became a toddler. He grew in understanding. He learned to speak. What was his first word? And to raise a perfect child…not metaphorically, but literally the perfect child. Every new turn and growth a surprise and a chance to catch their breath. As parents, we know the feeling of joy in seeing a child grow, but how did this feel? Very the same, but even more so…
And then he began school and to memorize the holy scriptures. The very Word of God grew and began to put to heart the Word that embodied his very Spirit. His physical mind began to advance and grow the way that we grow. He experienced the same struggles and temptations, except he was perfect in every way.
He grew into a teenager. He not only survived puberty, he passed with flying colors! All in the hands of Mary and Joseph, who rested in the hands of the Father in heaven. Did Mary and Joseph matter? Definitely, they did! How this blows our minds.
And even so, as their son grew and entered his public ministry, Mary watched from a distance, sometimes never getting to speak with her son, but always submitting to the plan of God. And here, as the cycle of life continues, she put God’s plan back in God’s hands again. The Word of Life, the Truth and the Way, the Savior of the World whom she carried would now carry her and carry her sin and carry her nation and carry her world to the cross.
Now for the greatest sacrifice, for on that day Jesus was not the only one sacrificing, but his parents…his Father in heaven and his mother on earth…both laying down their hearts as Jesus saved the world.
And the plan of God, buried again, not in a woman’s body now, but deep in the earth, looked dead and gone. It seemed to be over and it seemed all was lost, but it was not. Because, unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it cannot produce life.
So, on the third day, Jesus Christ, the son of the living God raised up from death and the plan of God was fulfilled, as our sin and our death was left in the tomb. God was victorious. All because Mary’s mouth said, “Let it be done to me,” and Mary’s hands took Jesus’s hand and Mary’s heart gave him up to his ministry.
Today, God is wanting to birth something new into your life. Or perhaps he already has…but is it in the toddler stage or even the teenager stage? I am not even speaking of children, but of God’s plan for your life and the new life he wants to have come out of you. The work of God in your life, your church, your community…it is growing in you and through you. Or is it?
God saves the world in his sovereign power, but he uses us to fight the battles and plow the fields. He uses our willingness and our open hearts, submitted minds, and eager hands to bring forward the work of his kingdom. Otherwise, we would just go about our days, as believers, with lazy Christianity, which is not Christianity at all.
If God can trust Jesus in Mary’s young hands, how much more can he trust you with the task he has called you to? You may be in a stage of life where it feels like something has died inside of you. Sometimes that is right before the resurrection! Is that death because of a sin you participated in? Then God can overcome it and begin a new work! Is it from a weakness? In your weaknesses, he is strong. You may feel that the wonder of the baby stage is wearing off and you are overwhelmed with the toddler stage of your ministry or your calling or even what God is delivering you out of personally. You feel you will never get out of it. Just be faithful. God causes all things to grow!
Do not be afraid. God is in control. It is God’s will that none should perish, but all come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ! God wants the best for you and not the worst. But, sometimes God’s best looks like us sacrificing and dying while we wait for the resurrection. But remember, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believers in me will live.” In order to be resurrected from the dead, you need to die to something.
What is God saying to you today? Are you willing, like Mary and Joseph, to say “Here I am! Send me! Let it be done to me as you have said?” Or are you forgetting that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in Christ Jesus?
LET’S PRAY!
Prayer for our hands and feet:
Father, in Jesus name, we worship you! We exalt your name above all other names! We thank you for all that you are and all you have done for us. We thank you for the beautiful gift of Jesus Christ and that you birthed our salvation into the world through a meek, humble and lowly young girl named Mary.
God, Mary is highly favored and blessed among women. May we be willing to do your work, like she was. May we be submitted to your will, as Joseph was. May we be open to the work of your Holy Spirit and may you speak to us in dreams and visions and through your very Word to give us the truth we need for walking with you in righteousness today.
Father, in Jesus name, fill me with your Holy Spirit and power. May I walk in the anointing you want to put on my life. May the work you want to do on this earth be done through me. May you use my life to build your kingdom here in the hearts of men and women!
Father God, I am not alone, because you are with me. You will be with me through every phase of my life. You help me in all situations, whether in abundance or in times of want and despair to be thankful and hopeful. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! Give me eyes of faith to see where you have me and why. Give me eyes of faith to trust your plan and to trust that your intention is to reach everyone around me with the Holy Spirit for Jesus.
Lord God, as you have trusted me with your plan, I trust you. I put my trust in you to clean me up! I have things in my life that are not pleasing to you and need changed. Clean up my mouth so that only fresh water comes out of it. Cleanse the bitterness from my mouth, and ultimately my heart in Jesus name. Grow me up in Christ. I don’t want to stay a spiritual infant, toddler, or even worse. Help me grow into a warrior for Christ, in Jesus name. Grow me up into a prayer warrior or whatever you made for!
Remove all falsehood and lies from my heart and my mouth. May my mouth, like Mary and Joseph say, “I am willing!” Remove the power of lies from my heart, in Jesus name!
I am your child and you have given me authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy, nothing will harm me. I pray against Satan’s plans to come against my life and to destroy me, in Jesus name! I pray that you will dismantle his weapons against me and turn his plans back against himself, in Jesus name. I pray that your angels will minister to me and my family that your angels will fight for us, so your will can be done in Jesus name!
God, if I have been complacent and only living for myself, please put a holy fire inside of me. Give me a burning for you. Teach me the path you want me on, in Jesus name.
Father, in Jesus name, I pray for my family and my friends who don’t know you. You call us to make disciples! I pray in Jesus name that you will reach ______ with the power of the gospel in Jesus name.
Father, bring me into the lives of those who need you. Help me to shine like the stars in the heavens.
Father, in Jesus name, bring healing and comfort. Help us to pray for the fatherless and the widow. I ask for your blessings to be with the world-wide church that is undergoing persecution, in Jesus name. Work in mighty ways today!
God, keep me on task! In Jesus name!
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