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Christmas Reading Plan | Week 4 | Day 2
Prayer
God Help me to accept the challenges you want to grow me with.
Bible Reading: Luke 1:26-38
Read these verses three times slowly.
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 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 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.
Reflection & Questions
Have you ever been given a task that was really difficult? No, mowing your lawn as a 16 year old does not count. Maybe it was a work project that felt really complex like it was beyond you. Maybe it was a DIY project that got way out of hand. Whatever it was, we have all been given opportunities where we have felt like a challenging task was ahead of us, yet we dug in, curled up our fists and said, “challenge accepted.”
Mary the Mother of Jesus ran into such a challenge. She sees an angel, like on full display with its glory and naturally she doesn’t reach out to shake his hand and say, “hello sir, you new around here?” Nope. She was just in complete shock. And let’s not forget the news this angel from heaven had to share. Imagine all the shocking moments. “Mary, you’re highly favored by God, so you’re going to get a super challenging assignment. You’re a virgin that’s going to get pregnant, don’t worry, it’s the Son of God. He’s going to be the most important person that ever lived. As his mother, you will lay down your life to raise him, and then in turn, he will lay down his life to raise people from the dead.” What’s Mary’s response to such a hard task? “I am the Lord’s servant… May your word to me be fulfilled.” In other words, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, and Merry Christmas!
If God were to bring to you a challenge like that what would your response be? We like to think we would say yes, but let’s be real, saying yes is harder than we think. Maybe this Christmas God is challenging you to drop the alcohol at the dinner table? Or who knows maybe God is challenging you to reach out to your family member that has been distant from the family for a long time. Or it could be that the challenge God is giving you, is something yet to be revealed. If God challenged you like he challenged Mary, would you have the same response? Would it be “HECK NO,” or would it be, “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.”
- How is God challenging you this Christmas? What is getting in your way of accepting his challenge?
Prayer
God thank you for the example that Mary is for us today. God I pray that this Christmas I accept your challenge, whatever it might be.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
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Questions?
Ed Applegate
