Believing for the Impossible
October 24, 2009
“Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name 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 the house of Jacob 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 upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called 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 barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
A miracle is an extraordinary welcome event that is not explicable by natural laws and therefore is considered the work of a Divine agency. When miracles occur we have ‘found favor with God.’
God’s grace is unmerited, undeserved favor, and God’s divine enablement in a particular situation. Favor is God’s approval, support, advancement or…I like this one, overgenerous preferential treatment!There are times when God just favors us. We do not deserve it; we’ve not labored for it. We’ve just been chosen, as Mary and Elizabeth were, to demonstrate God’s glory for a particular purpose or role in the earth. In this case to birth the Messiah and his forerunner John the baptizer.
We ask Mary’s question at times in the form of excuses (we would say reasons) of why God can’t do His work through us, “How can this be?” ”I’m too old (or too young). I’m a woman. I don’t have the education. I don’t have the money. I don’t know the right people,” and the list goes on.
With favor the answer is always the same: Only by the power of the Holy Spirit. For nothing is impossible with God. It’s impossible for you, but not for God!
So stop looking at yourself, your limitations and your lack of resources and accept the Word of God as it has been given and say like Mary, “Be it unto me according to Your Word.”
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