As we approach the Christmas Season, I have been reminiscing about years gone by. One family tradition I cherish most occurs on Christmas Eve. Since our girls were very small, Pam and I would gather our girls together on the night of December 24 and read “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” and the story of Jesus’ birth found in Luke chapter 2. We wanted them to grow up understanding the real reason we celebrate Christmas and teach them to keep Him at the center of all the festivities.
Each year, as we’d all gather together (sometimes with grandparents, uncles, and aunts included) and read through the story of our Savior’s birth, I’d always enjoy the poetic nature of how the King James Version was written. Specifically, verses 7-11: “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Can’t you just hear the beautiful rhythm of Truth in that passage that overflows with Joy and Hope?
This last month, as I was going back through the scriptures about the birth of our Lord, something stood out in Luke chapter 1 that I believe will give you a fresh perspective on His birth and how we receive His promises.
When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, he said something that caught her off guard. He said, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” What verse 29 says caught my attention. It says Mary was “troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.” Sometimes, we can get even more out of a scripture based on what it isn’t saying. It doesn’t say that she was frightened at seeing the angel. Her first response was confusion at Gabriel’s words. It troubled her that he called her ‘highly favored’ and told her that ‘the Lord was with her’ and that she was ‘blessed among women.’ She found this difficult to understand because she didn’t view herself this way. This shouldn’t be too surprising to us as many times we, too, have a hard time seeing ourselves how God sees us. You see, angels are messengers of God. Gabriel was speaking the words that God had instructed him to speak. God saw Mary as someone who was highly favored and blessed among women. It’s comforting to know that God sees us way more favorably than we often see ourselves. We tend to be hard on ourselves and believe the perspective of others and the lies of the adversary. But if anyone would have a proper perspective of us, wouldn’t it be the One who created us and sacrificed everything for us?
As we continue through this passage, we see that after Gabriel tells Mary that she will be the vessel by which God would bring forth His only Son into the earth, Mary still remains confused about how this could take place, considering she was still a virgin. This is understandable, right? If we were in her shoes, we’d likely have questions about how this promise of God could come to pass. I mean, we do it today in our own circumstances. We see in the Word that it’s God’s will to save, bless, heal, help, prosper, comfort, strengthen, and deliver us, etc. We tend to look around at the conditions surrounding us and our qualifications. Perhaps we consider what others have said about us, and we quickly resist and sometimes reject the idea that we could be benefactors of what God has already promised and paid for us to receive.
I think this is where many believers today get stuck. They know God loves them, and they know He can fulfill His promises in their lives but they get stuck in a state of doubt as they put more stock in their feelings, current circumstances, and their own shortcomings than they do God’s desire to bless and help them. As such, they fail to receive what He has sacrificed for them to have.
The Victory Comes Through The Word
Jesus was born to save you. He left His heavenly home and entered this world to take up residence inside your heart so He could help you navigate every day of your life and then help you to overcome and have victory over all the challenges that arise.
We can all learn a lesson from Mary. Although she was confused and found it difficult to understand, she says something in verse 38 that made all the difference as to whether she would receive this promise from God or miss the greatest opportunity ever afforded mankind. She responded, “I am the Lord’s servant; let it be to me according to your Word.” Wow! This is the part that really stuck out to me as I was reading through this passage. Mary was able to set aside her confusion. She was able to overlook her own insecurities about herself, and despite not fully understanding how all of this was going to play out, she chose to make the Word of the Lord her truth. This is how we receive the promises of God. This is how we get to enjoy all the great things Jesus paid for us to have. This is how miracles take place!
We all need to get to the place where we give the Word of God first place in our lives.
We all have situations that confuse, hurt, and catch us off guard. We all face challenges we don’t understand and can’t imagine how God could ever see us through and give us victory. I call these “Days of Contradiction.” Where it seems all of your emotions, all of the conditions around you, and everything others are saying seem to contradict the Word of God. Despite all that natural ‘evidence,’ we need to move past those observations and make what God said our reality. This is how we walk by faith.
2 Corinthians 5:7 says that as believers, we are to walk by faith and not by sight (or any of our other four natural senses). That means that we are to navigate our lives by what God has said, not by what we see, feel, hear, understand, or can rationalize.
When the Bible says in 1 Peter 2:24 by His [Jesus’] stripes you were healed, and Exodus 23:25 says that He’s the God who takes sickness and disease from the midst of us, and Psalm 103:3 says that He heals ALL your diseases, then that’s God’s promise, and so that’s His perspective.
When the Bible also says in Psalm 103:3 that He forgives you of all your iniquities and Jeremiah 31:34 that He no longer remembers our sin, then that’s His promise, and that’s His perspective.
When Psalm 23:1 says that He is your Shepherd, so you won’t lack anything, and Ephesians 1:3 says that He has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing (empowerment to prosper) in Heavenly places in Christ. If we’re already in Christ and, therefore, have access to this spiritual empowerment to prosper, then that’s His promise, and that’s His perspective.
When Isaiah 54:17 says that no weapon formed against you will prosper and Psalm 91 is full of God’s promises of protection, that’s His Will for our life.
We could go on and on outlining God’s promises for us but walking by faith and receiving victory requires minimizing how we feel and maximizing His Word. It requires that we make His perspective our perspective, allow His Word to become our reality, and refuse to be denied.
We must grow to the place in our faith walk where we can boldly declare, “If God said it, I believe it, and that settles it!”
We see this power when Mary’s relative Elizabeth says to her in verse 45, “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” Mary’s ability to overcome how she saw herself, disregard the conditions, situations, and limitations, and believe the Word of the Lord spoken by the angel Gabriel is what positioned her to receive the fulfillment of that Word. Look at that verse again. “Blessed [empowered to prosper] is she [Mary] who believed [the Word of the Lord].” When we choose to believe God’s Word, His Blessing comes upon us to empower us to receive the very thing He promised us. That verse concludes by saying, “There will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” I love that! God is faithful in ensuring His Word comes to pass. He watches over His Word to perform it. All He is looking for is someone who can believe it beyond their own perspective, doubts, and feelings.
Come on, say this with me, “Look no further, Lord. I believe, and I receive.”
So, as we enter this Christmas Season, let’s not only remember to keep Christ at the center of CHRISTmas but also learn to give the Word first place in our lives, especially when we don’t understand, and there are contradicting feelings and circumstances. By responding like Mary, “I am the Lord’s servant, let it be to me according to Your Word,” we can position ourselves to receive all that He was born, lived, and died to give us.
Feature Image: Bigstock.com | Scripture quotations are taken from the KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible.
