With a beautiful, fresh snowfall, I’ve put on worshipful Christmas music, and the song, Mary Did You Know, was playing. I am considering this lovely young woman, Mary, a servant of God who was chosen to be the vessel through which God would deliver our Savior into this broken world.
Some 2000 years later, our world is still very broken, but there are believers who shine brightly for their King! We who have claimed Jesus as Lord and Savior have a calling of our own to embody the fullness of Christ by the indwelling Holy Spirit within us.
This revelation to man began in Mary’s physical womb. The Christ-child conceived by a virgin allows Jesus’ precious life to come to us. Those of us, who are also willing to surrender to Him today, carry His message of life to others.
We have the privilege of lighting the way for others. Yet some are not. Why? Perhaps guilt and shame have weakened their hearts. For some, it is a result of shame or sinful choices such as self-will and pride. For others, it has come through the evil actions of another, a childhood sexual abuser, or a lack of understanding about what the indwelling Christ came to do. He is the innocent Lamb who came for you and me. And why? to take away the sins of the entire world, including our shame and guilt.
You Can Know too
It can appear that the Enemy has stolen truth from the hearts of men, women, and children; many are living far below their mission and purpose as children of God (John 10:10). Where are you at? Have you settled for less than God’s will for your life?
Beware of the two common defaults many slide toward: the self-centered life of a younger prodigal brother or the religious life of the elder brother which Jesus told us about in Luke 15:11-32. Have you not yet grasped the extravagant love that comes from a relationship with God the Father? He longs for intimate fellowship with you each day.
True freedom and liberty will not come to surrogates or religious observers, but to those who have, like Mary, surrendered fully to the Father’s will. This surrender will involve callings that look different for each of us. There was only one Mary. Yet we have purpose, like her to share Christ. There is a multitude that God has chosen to follow Him – indeed, He calls all to do so.
Like the elder and younger brother, in Jesus story, there was shame in both of them; the younger over a sin-filled life and the elder over a self-righteous life. They both had access to an extravagantly loving Father. Yet only one came to realize it! This Father will not turn anyone away who comes to Him as this young brother did in humility and repentance over his sin.
Mary faced the shame associated with pregnancy outside of marriage; Joseph endured public misunderstanding and confusion about Mary’s pregnancy. It took courage for them to believe and stand upon faith through their mission of birthing and raising the Messiah. But their shame was not over sins committed, but through the misunderstanding of others, and God’s plan. Mary and Joseph modeled surrender, and so can we.
Don’t Let Shame Hold You Back
I’m praying for you who are struggling with pain from your past as we approach this Christmas season. You may have apprehension because your soul still suffers from the results of betrayal and sin committed against you. I’m asking the Holy Spirit to come to you in a new way. It may be as astounding as the Angel’s message to Mary was. Look for Him; seek Him as the wise men did. God led them to Jesus; He desires for you to find your peace in Him also. He will lead you to people in a family, called the Church; not a perfect people, but a Perfect Savior.
Consider laying aside the normal flurry of activity, busy gift giving, and commercialized forms of relief; rather, give yourself the best gift that you could receive this Christmas, that is, Jesus Himself. Learn to surrender to Him, and see what wonders He will do in you and through your life.
Photo Credit: Jesus of Nazareth Film, Pixabay.
right, and some light from the surface above travels down the hole. Your heart leaps temporarily, “perhaps today I will be rescued from here”. But soon the darkness and hopelessness of your lost condition sweeps in again, you are stuck, alone, in the pit, afraid you’ll never get out; at the same time afraid you’ll be discovered.
Appropriate FEAR
I’ve heard various illustrations over the years of hopelessness and rescue. One of them goes like this: A horse fell into a large dry well, there was no way out, it was hopeless. But then a deliverer came along and carefully began shoveling dirt into the hole until it elevated the horse to a higher and higher level to where, viola! — the horse stepped out on the surface!
My prayer for you is Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
already happened on occasion with this person; you must realize that there is a deep, deep stronghold that comes with habitual sin — especially sexual idolatry. Coming out requires much more than confession and repentance, intensive restructuring with God’s Word and accountability is mandatory. Don’t agree to just let it ride and become their monitor; that will not work.
Action Steps: If you feel sin is present, don’t allow fear and suspicion to rule your heart. Instead, take steps toward having a conversation about what you are feeling with the one involved (Mt. 18:15-17). If this fails, find one or two to come along and assist you.
Humpty together again. That’s right, no human can put us back together. When we come to broken places in our life, only God, our creative designer, can recreate us. If we fail to recognize God, we’ll go around the bend again, and we will have picked up additional substitutions (heart idols) along the away. Eventually, adding all this together, the fall later becomes greater.
enter into relationship with our Father through a new birth experience. He talked to Nicodemus about this exchanged life in John Chapter 3. If you’ve not experienced this yet, read there and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal this to you. Jesus took the sins of the world upon Himself so that we could have a relationship with God.
describes the destructive results of unresolved anger in a person. He mentions so many effects, that it makes you want to really examine your heart to be sure you are totally free of any hidden anger. He explains that sometimes people have become so good at denying or suppressing anger they don’t even realize it’s there until the lid blows! It was April of 2014 that my lid blew. A series of events led up to it and wow! it was devastating. It was the beginning of my road to getting help to change some proud, and self-protective patterns in my life.
someone who could really receive God’s love and begin to love the way He does. So now, after much surrender and remaking, I can look back and say, “Thank you Lord, for everything.” All the pain, rejection, sorrow and heartache was worth it. He took a vessel that was completely broken and continued to make me into someone that He could now use fully for His purposes.
Nancy Demary 