We wish you a “Merry Christmas” is a phrase that is
uttered throughout the holiday season, but I’d like to express a
different kind of greeting.
I wish you a “Mary Christmas.”
What do I mean by that?
“For the Lord God is a
sun and shield: the Lord willgive grace (favor) and glory: no good
thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly.”(Psalm 84:11 KJV)
Welcome to this Special Christmas Edition of Daily Favor.
You are welcome to leave comments or prayer requests below.All are private. I would love to hear from
you and how Daily Favor has worked in your life.Contact me by leaving a message in the box at
the bottom of this week’s post.
The Mary Miracle
What exactly am I suggesting with a message of "Mary" Christmas?
Why, I'm asking God to give you the Mary Miracle.
No, not the virgin birth, but the miracles of favor bestowed on her as a child of the Living God.
“For whom He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He
might be the firstborn among many brethren."(Romans 8:29 KJV)
When we look at the first Christmas to the last, where do we find Mary? Her journey with the Lord Jesus was manifested when God showed favor upon His servant.
It continued at the manger in delivery, then at the foot of the cross and finally waiting in the Upper Room. Wherever Mary was, Christ was, and wherever Christ was, Mary wanted to be.
The Bible tells us that Mary was "blessed" and highly favored. The word "blessed" in this instance means "happy" with favor.
Angels were
present at the Mary Miracle.In fact, these
supernatural beings were highly active in her life from the beginning of conception to birth.
Heavenly angels came at the appointed time, appeared at
the appointed place and come to the appointed person(s) for this miracle.
The angels didn't pass judgment on Mary. They spoke and explained what would happen to her, assured her of God's provision for the process, and pronounced the event when it was time to reveal the Savior Jesus.
May God's favor send angels to help you through each step of your journey, and assure you that He will be there through the entire process.
Know that
you are Highly Favored
Reading what
we now know as the Christmas story from the passages written by Matthew and
Luke, there is no doubt that Mary received favor from God when
He chose her to give birth to Jesus.
Like Mary,
God has a miracle He has reserved just for you.No one else has been selected for this event, but you. This favor is designed for your journey alone.
The Lord has something wonderful set apart
that He wants to “birth” in your life, but your answer must be like Mary’s …
“be it unto me according to Your will.”
What God wanted to do through Mary changed the world, but it came with a price. Her reputation, place to live, friends and family were all compromised when she said, "Yes" to God's plan. Was it worth it? I think Mary would say it was.
The verb form of highly favored is only used two times in the New Testament, that being in Luke 1:28 (KJV) where it is directly spoken to Mary ...
“And the angel came in unto her, and said,
Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou
among women.” (Luke 1:28 KJV)
and in Ephesians 1:6 ...
“To the praise of the glory of His grace,
wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1:6 KJV)
The second is directed to the church of Christ, the Body of Believers, you and I. "You are accepted in the Beloved."
The Mary in
You
Yes, Mary was a virgin, but she was no different than you or I when it comes to the things of this world. We don't get to experience the virgin birth, but we all get tired, confused, troubled and wonder why things happen to us just like Mary.
The difference is that when these things came upon Mary, she had favor on her side to see her through what God had in mind for her journey. Although she wondered or pondered things in her heart as the Word says, she was open to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
God wants to bestow His favor on your life also. He didn't show Mary favor through an abundance of miracles in her life. There was only one true miracle, Jesus, but her life needed favor on it to fulfill the promise of God to us.
I'm praying that God will give you the Mary Miracle for your life and bestow favor on each situation you may encounter until it is fulfilled.
Heavenly
Father,
I ask that you give the gift of the "Mary Miracle" of favor to help Your children walk out the call You have on their lives. May it be full of blessings, joy and gladness with angels compassed around them as they pursue holiness.
May their lives reflect the Spirit of the Lord in all they do. May confusion and trouble be far removed as they open their heart and lives to Your will as Mary did.
In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.
“Merry Christmas Beloved!”
Until next year, may Jesus
make you happy with His favor.
Maybe you don’t know the Living God that I
know, but would like to have this kind of favor in your life also.Click on the above tab “Tell Me” for more
information on becoming a child of the Savior.
Content and Image Copyright from Favored1. Do not copy. A.N.A. logo by
J.C.Penney, Inc.
Scripture
reference was taken from the New King James Bible Version provide by Gateway Bible
Have you ever prayed,
“God why don’t You do something about this situation?”I know I have.
Looking around this world in distress you
might think that God has forgotten about His creation, but you can be sure He
hasn’t.
The problem is that we don’t get it … that God has
already done something when He placed you and me in this particular time period
of history.
Jesus says, “I have
done something. I created you to carry on My work.”We don’t have to carry this message of joy to
the world, we get to do it!
With the message of starting a *spiritual fire still on
our minds, that’s what we did last weekend.We did something, and gave God His praise.It was a most wonderful weekend with the
Lord’s favor falling all around us, with blessings as we carried the message of
Christ the Savior is born.May I share
what happened with you?
You are welcome to leave comments or prayer requests below.All are private. I would love to hear from
you and how Daily Favor has worked in your life.Contact me by leaving a message in the box at
the bottom of this week’s post.
For those who have been following my *husband’s progress
you know that he hasn’t been able to walk a great distance.Knowing this I was concerned how we would be
able to give out packages to the children for the annual community Christmas
parade.It’s something I look forward to
each year, but saw no way that we could do it under these circumstances.
God already knew that we would need to do something
different back in January when we began our journey with A.N.A. (a new approach).I can see now how He was
lining things up for this past weekend.
In the early summer we met a young couple who ministered
to orphans when they were collecting food outside a grocery store.We went back into the store and purchased a
few things that were on their food list.
Later that day I was feeling we should do more, so we
went shopping again and brought the food to them at their church a few weeks
later.This was in June, and that was
the extent of our connection.
After our visit with our friends on November 30th,
God reminded me of this couple’s ministry.My husband called them to see if they would be able to help us
distribute the items this year.They
were delighted to help, but asked if it made a difference where they handed out
the religious items.We said no, but
that we would do what we could in our area.
God had prepared our hearts with the teachings on looking
at a new approach on how we do things along our journey, with it coming full
circle this Christmas season.
Following His Plan
The plans were set that we would deliver the boxes with
all the items to Lela who was working at Big Lots for the holidays.There was no set time except between 10 am -
6:30 pm.One of the things we hoped was
that we wouldn’t miss her when she left for breaks or lunch. When I entered the
store she was just getting ready to go on break.It was perfect timing.
She followed me out the store door and to our car.We were about to drive over to her car when
the space next to ours opened.Quickly I
jumped on the opportunity, “You go get
your car and we can unload ours from here.I’ll stand in the spot so no one takes the space.”
We used any box we could find to transport them.
Now my husband was a bit apprehensive about what I
suggested, because there was a mass of vehicles moving about looking for
parking spaces.He need not worry, for
the Lord caused the traffic to go in a different direction.
No one tried to take the space!After we unloaded the boxes from our car to
Lela’s my husband told me, “I glad you
didn’t have to tackle somebody trying to pull in your spot.”
This hard working professor, Lela, was working extra
hours to help pay bills and renew her visa to the Ukraine.She was planning a trip to the orphanages
after Christmas.
This is another place where God’s hand was at work.The children in the Ukraine won’t miss
Christmas, because they celebrate it according to the Orthodox Calendar.Christmas will come to the Ukraine on our
January 7th, 2015!How great is our God!When we follow His plan He extends His favor
so things work out for His glory and our good.
God’s Protection Plan
Finishing our transaction with Lela we decided to get
lunch.When we left the business my
husband looked at the bill. He noticed that the item he ordered was on sale and
they didn’t charge the extras on my meal either.
Our shopping was finished in that area and we were about
to leave the parking lot when the back right tire was flat!Leaning over hubby took out the warranty on
the tires from the glove box.We drove
around to the back of the lot to the store where we purchased the tires.They were able to take us within a few
minutes.
With nothing else to do, I went into the store by the
back entrance.There was one thing we
couldn’t find on my shopping list.The
salesman for the automotive garage was standing behind the counter. Nudging my
husband I said, “Ask him … ask him if
they sell soldering irons.” We had already looked and didn’t find one.However, I remembered our lesson on asking
from this summer.
Hesitatingly the clerk said, “The only kind I have is a small one.I’ll take you to it.”We
followed him and it was the exact one we needed.It wasn’t in the tool or plumbing department,
but in the automotive section.Who would
have looked there?Not us, but God knew
it was there all along. All I had to do was ask.
Going back to the sales counter we paid for the item and
sat down outside the garage.Come to
find out there was a screw in the tire.Looking out the window we saw the mechanic putting air in all the tires,
something my husband was about to do.God
protected us and our tire was fixed before we left the lot.
“The real need for our
world is not that we do EVERYONE'S part; just that we do OUR part. And with all
of us working together, we will transform the world.”Shane Stanford
We Did, He Did
Having a flat tire wasn’t in our plans of course, but the
Lord knew it would happen.Our day
wasn’t over and we still had the Christmas parade later that afternoon.
By the time we got home there was only fifteen minutes to
get the remaining packets together to distribute.I knew my husband couldn’t carry anything
heavy.When I counted the remaining
items, there were only about 50 left. They would fit in a small recycle bag and
I could carry them.
I got my photo of the horses!
It was hard trying to take pictures, but I did the best I
could between handing out the gifts to the children along the parade
route.All of a sudden my camera battery
quit.
My prayer was, “Lord, all I want is to get a photo of the
end of the parade and the horses.”
God granted my request.I was able to take two more photos and the camera shut off.Our day of sowing, blessings and favor was
complete.
We did something for God and He did something for
us.There was no bargaining, no
pleading, just simply doing something out of love from both parties.God rewards those who faithfully serve and
allow Him to work out situations His way.
“On my office wall is a
picture of a small child who lives in a remote village in sub-Saharan Africa.
She is an orphan, having lost most of her family to the HIV/AIDS crisis. Each
day, the little girl eats only half of her meager lunch. She takes the other
half and puts it into her travel sack, so that she can take the leftovers to
her dying aunt.
The world might look at
this child and assess that her little life has little to offer. But don’t tell
the child’s aunt. Without this child’s sacrifice and maturity, her aunt would
have no food and would die. In spite of this child not being able to do much
for her dying aunt, she does something, every day. The real need for our world
is not that we do every part; it’s that we just do our part. And working
together to do that something God calls us to do-all of us working together-we
will transform this world.” Shane Stanford
This Week’s
Challenge:
Do Something
There is only one way the world is going to see Jesus
through us, and that is if we do something that reflects His love, grace and
mercy.
Our challenge for the week is to do something different
than what the world is doing.Do
something you don’t normally do, but that you have wanted to do for some time.It’s time to be the fire, not just the
spark.
God is doing something in this world, and He chooses to
do it through us.
In prayer ask God what that something is.What exactly can you do for God that would
reflect you are made in His image?Here
are a few ideas:
·Adopt
or sponsor a child for the coming year.
·Adopt
a pet.If you’re not in position to do
that, you can sponsor one.
Maybe you don’t know the Living God that I
know, but would like to have this kind of favor in your life also.Click on the above tab “Tell Me” for more
information on becoming a child of the Savior.
Content and Image Copyright from Favored1. Do not copy. A.N.A. logo by
J.C.Penney, Inc.
We wish you a “Merry Christmas” is a phrase that is
uttered throughout the holiday season, but I’d like to express a
different kind of greeting. 
What exactly am I suggesting with a message of "Mary" Christmas? 
