“…Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be considered impossible.” Luke 1: 36, 37, NKJV
God, we are anxiously awaiting the message of love that is wrapped up in Your Word; so please speak to us LORD. In Jesus’ name we pray; Amen
It is almost Mother’s Day here in the United States, and in many other countries of the world. According to CARLSBAD.com, “May, of 1908, was the first Mother’s Day Observance as we know it today.”
Today, we will be looking at Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus, our Savior. I believe we can say that the story of Elizabeth in the New Testament, has some similarities to Sarah’s story, in the Old Testament. They both had their children in the evening of their lives. Both of them obviously thought they would never become mothers. They both discovered that, “with God nothing will be considered impossible.” Yesterday, we dedicated some time to talking about the difficulties of wanting to have children, and not being able to. Today, let us see if we can discover what other hidden message(s) there might be in this story for all of us.
In order to do this, I will have to fast forward into tomorrow’s story. Mary goes to visit Elizabeth. Scripture tells us that at this encounter, four very significant things took place! Elizabeth’s baby, “leaped in her womb…for joy,” Elizabeth was “filled with the Holy Spirit.” She pronounced a blessing upon Mary. She prophesied (Luke 1: 39-45)! Under the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit, let us try to unpack some of the spiritual gems that are buried in this gold mine!
Seek the company of people with whom you can connect spiritually! There is so much that we do not understand about conception, and carrying a child in our womb. From my personal experience as a mother, I have observed that oftentimes what goes on, on the outside, affects positively, or negatively, the reaction of the child within the womb. When these highly spiritual women met, the baby, who was “filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb” (15), joined in the celebration, and leaped for joy! Have mercy! This is an experience worth having!
“…Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” How we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit; especially in the days in which we are living! My earnest prayer, is that when we come together, as brothers and sisters in Christ, our interaction with one another, will facilitate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God!
“Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Our meetings should constitute times of blessing! Since God alone can bless, we need to be filled with His Holy Spirit, so that when we open our mouths, others can receive a blessing!
“But why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me…? Blessed is she who believed for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord” (43, 45). Blessing and prophecy are intermingled here. I believe that our children, our youth, our couples, our single parents, our elderly, our leaders, all, should leave every meeting with the brothers and sisters, with a vision of the beautiful future of hope that God has in store for each of us!
May this Spirit-filled account of these two women of God, serve to inspire us to have more meaningful encounters with each other!